does this sound like the syncro prob in the gearbox?

Either sod all oil in the gearbox or worn synchros. If it was nearly all the gears, I'd go for low oil.

Those boxes (type 9 IIRC) suffer if the wrong oil is put in, they must have the mtx 75/90 red stuff

ah, the guy had it MOT'd in May, even though it wasnt due, and he had the gearbox oil checked at same time (cos he told me he had to pay a tenner at same time) and it was fine...

the guy was really really old, he collected me from the Bolton bus station in his wifes car, and i noticed he was slipping that clutch way too much and not too good anymore (hence didnt drive the starcraft anymore and only 400 miles last year)

wondering, once the gearbox is off, i can find the stamp, and better to get a new syncro fitted while its out..sort of thing Ford would carry? never had a Ford and if its a old Sierra or Granny engine/box, are they still available? cheers

The wrong oil has probably been added. Synchros are about 200 each, to order. I would try the right oil first and maybe look for a secondhand box, depending on which box you have it may be next to impossible to find one. The mainshaft for the diesel was different, it might be quite feasible to rebuild yours using parts from a standard donor sierra box, I did this with my xr4x4 box, using my input shaft and layshaft and the rest of the bits from a 'normal' petrol sierra box, this also gave me an extra high 5th as a bonus!

If your clutch plates sticking then you won't be able to change gear easily.

Why not root round for an old diesel Sierra / P100 that runs and just drop a known good engine and 'box in? Might save a lot of pissing about..

Mike P

Spot on advice there...needs to be the semi-synth stuff too if possible.

Don't bother repairing it. THey're ten a penny for the Type 9. Tons of them around. Mate of mine had half a dozen in his garage at one point. Sadly he's pissed off to Spain otherwise I'd have blagged one for you.

They were fitted to everything with a Pinto from the early 80's.

ah cheers...can it be drained and refilled or is it a replacement? damge to teeth, or something else if it couldnt circulate correctly?

Sods law the VW broke down so not got a vehicle, noticed no fuel getting in, so put a plastic can on end of fuel pipe to see if it was the pump...no thats fine, so no fuel getting from tank (i changed the filter) and when well underneath, the fuel tank is dented along with the brackets etc. which wasnt done before the accident, you can see where they have lifted it not right....so i guess now its at 3/4 empty fuel cant get sucked in, had been fine for the past couple of days.

yeah all starting to make sense now

engine was popped in a couple of years ago, so i dont want to risk the chance of getting a dodgy 2nd hand engine if this one is fine, had i not been too sure about it i think i would have gone along those lines

yeah, guess its possible who had it last put the wrong stuff in, oh well...

the wrong oil stops the synchros working correctly. there is no drain, but you are taking it off for the clutch, so you can take the filler out and lay it on its side for a while. or get a sucker and stick that in the filler hole. Although there are loads of type 9 boxes, the one with the right input shaft will be the problem, they all look the same, but the shaft sticks out more on the one you want.