Lanos 1.5 Clunk when shifting gear

[ChrisHarding]

Hi Guys

When I shift gear I'm getting a soft "clunk" noise from my Lanos... I figured it was Engine Mountings and I have changed the passenger side mounting and the rear mounting.. the driver side is fine....the clunk noise is better BUT it's still there????

Any idea what it might be????

Chris

[ChrisHarding]

Hmmm this might not be anything to do with mounts after all. After driving today this is what happens :

When you pull off in 1st gear all is perfect ... then change into 2nd and you get the little "clunk" noise as the clutch pedal reaches the top of it's travel ..it's only a little 'clunk' and must be when the clutch plate and flywheel make contact... It's most prominent in 2nd and 3rd but hardly noticeable when changing to 4th and 5th. If you drive around in 2nd and accelerate and de-celerate in 2nd gear there is no knocking/clunking that would be associated with the motor hitting something and now, really strange is that if you change from 1st to 2nd and drop the clutch you get the 'clunk' ..BUT once in 2nd gear you can de-clutch multiple times in gear and there is no noise at all...it's ONLY when you physically shift the gear lever into the next gear and then de-clutch that it makes the 'clunk'

Anyone had this strange event???

Chris

[PrecisionBoost]

One possibility is that your linkage may need realignment, sometimes if it's out by a small amount (due to wear ) you can get some clunking at first and later it will get harder to shift into 2nd.

I do it every time I do an engine swap ( which has been quite a number of times ) and I am familiar with the 2nd gear clunking.

There is a simple procedure, but it depends on whether you are mechanically inclined.

All you need is a small drill bit and a 13mm wrench, but you do have to get access under the car and know what it is your looking for.

Once you pop off the leather shifter boot, usually there is a small hole in the shifter and another hole in the center left portion of the housing for the shifter.

You move the shifter all the way to the left, drop in a drill bit ( ideally as litte play as possible ) and that sets the shifter into the alignment position.

Then you get under the car and there will be a 13mm nut on the bottom side of the clamp that attaches the gearbox linkage to the shifter rod ( shifter rod is the knurled rod sticking out of the firewall )

You loosen the bolt, and ensure the clamp is free moving ( perhaps a light tap with the mallet ) while making sure it's pretty much in nearly the exact position you started ( it shouldn't move much during re-alignment )

This relaxes the gearbox linkage into a neutral position, you then re-tighten the nut, remove the drill bit, put the shift boot back and your done.

Afterwards the clunk should have gone away and it should shift though the gears with less effort.


Again, you must be mechanically inclined to attempt this, if your not experienced you could throw the shift linkage out of position enough that the car will become undriveable.

[ChrisHarding]

Thanks !!
That is certainly worth a shot!! It's pretty easy to select gears at present and I also notice that when you shift down 4th to 3rd and 3rd to 2nd...there is no clunk at all..it only seems to be shifting 1st into 2nd and 2nd into 3rd....That's a pretty simple re-alignment procedure too... I think it would be a lot easier to do it on a hoist rather than trying to jack up the car...my local mechanic at best was guessing that the main gear train shaft was worn, but your explanation does make sense too as you have experienced the problem... !! I'll certainly re-align the linkage first and see if that helps

Much appreciated

Chris

[PrecisionBoost]

Hopefully it helps.

I should warn you that some shifters do not have the holes for the realignment procedure, if you do not have it, it will be slightly harder to perform the procedure I have described.

I'm not sure why 2nd gear seems to be the first sign of misalignment, I myself have been in the situation where I have felt that the shifting was fairly smooth only to find that insertion of gears was significantly better after realignment of the shift linkage.

Prior to realignment I needed to use two fingers to push it into a given gear, after realignment it slipped in like hot butter and could be shifted with my pinky finger.


Again, I hope it helps, I simply thought you might want to start with a cheap easy alignment to see if it cures the problem before moving onto more expensive diagnosis.