Not going into gear upon startup

Ryster

Paid Member
Just wondering if a gearbox oil change would make any difference to this? Gear changes are a bit notchy but it's usually ok when warm, it's still not entirely smooth but it's not 'that' bad. No crunches or refusal to go into gear when driving, just when cold. It's only started the past two weeks, so oil change and a normal situation during cold weather or signs of problems to come?
 
cheapest and eaiset is oil change and re-bleed clutch...theres plenty on the subject in this section
 
Echoing Foxspeed, here 1st is the gearbox oil, easy diy, there are loads of oils out there and what works for does not for the other. Renault changed the oil they use to help with the problem. I have tried oils from Opie, but the genuine Renault stuff suits my box more. Biggest improvement I found was to change all the brake fluid and totally change the fluid in the clutch cylinder, finishing off with a reverse bleed. The clutches on modern cars seem to have very small clearance and as the fluid gets old it collects water, so even if the clutch is all good, you don't get full clearance, hence the tightness to get into gear. I bet if you switch the engine off it goes into gear fine. Personally according to Renault I need a new clutch. My own opinion is the oil causes the gears to stick slightly, especially when it's cold and the clutch does not disengage enough to allow everything to go in smoothly. If you play with the oil and give the clutch and brakes a good bleed, you will get the best you can. I have even contemplated using ATF (Automatic transmission fluid). Worked in all my Fords, used to be one of the first things we did, nice thin oil, takes loads of pressure.
 
cheapest and eaiset is oil change and re-bleed clutch...theres plenty on the subject in this section

Yeah been reading through some of the older posts and that's why I thought I'd ask. Presuming RS tuning or Birchdown should be able to do it. I've seen a few recommendations for oil, but seeing as your very clued up, is there any aftermarket oil you would specifically recommend?
 
I have pinched this off an American website.

As you are probably aware a modern ATF is simply a semi-synthetic gear oil with added and sometimes very specific formulated qualities
Its prime role is to lubricate the drive gear set - its other roles are "circumstantial" in that they may and do vary according to the nature of the individual components within the transmission. Sometimes they are formulated for a specific transmission or retarder or both and their abilities in heavy trucks is well known - they are robust!

Technical reasons calling for one gear lubricant over another also emanate not only the metallurgy involved but from the type of gear cutting/profile ( noise etc.) and design use/loading factors, bearing size and structure, shock loading requirement, anticipated temperature range in use etc etc.

The GM Dexron type ATFs have been used in manual gearboxes by various manufacturers for about 50+ years. If I remember correctly all MB cars for instance had such requirements from the early 1950s. Volvos even in the 1960s required ATFs and many light and heavy trucks have used them for decades. There is an established history!

The benefits of the ATF ( compared to a gear oil ) are its low pour point and its low viscosities both at 40C and 100C along with its inherent ability to handle very high temperatures. Usually the high VI tells the story too as it can be up to double that of some gear oils

This then enables a "robust" manual gearbox to have excellent very cold ambient gear selection characteristics along with a good shift "feel" at very high temperatures
The overall lower viscosity of the ATF ( compared to a gear oil ) also aids in cooling the components. Its formulation components have other "spin off" effects like anti foaming, seal and component cleanliness along with excellent thermal, shear and oxidation stability. Fully synthetic ATFs are sometimes used as a lifetime fill in manual gearboxes because of their overall stability and long term durability

Today's choice of gear lubricants is truly amazing. They range at least from a mono HD10w thru engine oils ( mineral/synthetic - mono/multi grade) to the GL API classified lubricants and the various ATF types available

It is wise to use only what gear/transmission lubricant the manufacturer calls for. If an ATF is called for, a fully synthetic version may also be suitable - if so it will normally make a difference by reducing component operating temperatures and provide improved shift quality
 
Thanks everyone, huge help. I'll try the Redline as that's what seems to have popped up on the threads quite a bit. My cars only done 9k and already has a new box in it so as you can imagine I'm almost banging my head off the wall. I'm not ragging it either!

will I require extra oil for the clutch cylinder? (Apologies if that's a silly question!) 2.1 for the gearbox, including clutch?

Hopefully this will just make gearchanges a touch easier, may as well get some other bits done whilst I'm at it like springs and exhaust so seems a good time to do it either way!