54 Diesel Gear Change Problem

[Lewissnow1990]

Hi all

this is my first car, so please bare with me. I brought my C3 (54, 1.4 D) a couple of months back and I love it. Great little car, but its been giving me problems.

When I change gears it takes a few seconds to kick in. In 4th I'll generally have to get it up to 50mph or close to 2500revs before changing up to 5th.

I suspected the Cambelt, which was due for a change anyway. So I put in in, full service, new cambelt etc. They told me that there was a broken seal which was causing a very small slow leak onto the gearbox and that the oil was nearly empty.

I took my car away, and for a week or so it ran great. Now though it's back to its old tricks:
Doesn't seem to have much power pulling away,
Takes a while to kick in to gear (it's better once it's warmed up, but still misses occasionally)
Doesn't always go into reverse.

I checked the oil, and it's fine. Levels are good. I do still need to get that seal fixed though so I'm wondering if that's the problem.


If any one has had a similar problem. Or has any idea on how to fix it. It'd be greatly appreciated. I've just had a baby and I don't want to break down on the A11 in winter with her.

Cheers

Lewis

 

[paul.h]

Welcome to the forum.

 

A few questions to help clarify the problem and hopefully somebody will be able to help.

 

Are the oil levels you mention the engine or the gearbox oil ?

Exactly where is the broken seal located ?

You say it takes a while to kick in to gear - do you mean it takes time to move the gear lever or do you mean once the gear lever has been moved in to the next gear, the engine takes time to pick up revs/speed/accelerate ?

When you change in to 5th at 2500 rpm, what do the revs fall to once in 5th ?

With the engine at tick over in neutral, what is the rpm and then if you slowly press the accelerator pedal do the revs gradually increase as the pedal is pressed ?

For changing in to reverse, if you put it in neutral and blip the accelerator and then try to put it in reverse does it then go in ok ? Our 2003 C3 petrol (and other cars we have owned) was like this sometimes and is probably nothing to worry about.