300 Tdi Downchange issue

Hai ppl. Merry Christmas folks.

Okies when you all done with the crimbo din dins if anyone could advise I'd appreciate it but my car is giving me a headache..

1995 300 Tdi, R380 gearbox obvs. 184,000 miles. New gearbox 40,000 miles ago, new Heavy Duty clutch 2,000 miles ago with that little clutch damper thing changed and the cylinder with the clutch fluid bottle attached, slave cylinder??

Anyways, car has ALWAYS made a rattle until you press the clutch pedal then it's quiet, otherwise on tickover it sounds like a Perkins diesel generator.. Press clutch in and no more rattle. New clutch and parts and HD clutch and fork and bits made no difference, release bearing was supposedly changed too so dunno why this is??

Anyways, prob not connected but today I drive back a journey of 120 miles, and now I do 30mph in third, I slow for a give way, try downchange to second and it does not go in AT ALL. It won't go to first either even if rolling at 1mph. Have to completely stop. Clutch out, clutch in, then into first and set off. It goes up gear fine but down it will not.

I am a bit ditzy with some things but I thinking either its low hydraulic fluid, a leak on the clutch system or an actual gearbox issue.
I been driving my V8 more than anything so cannot be sure but if memory correct the clutch bite point is higher up than I remember its near top of pedal and think before it was 2/3 up now it more like 3/4 the way up.
But would have thought this is not bad as the lower the bite point the more likely to have clutch drag which it doesn't appear to.

Someone please advise thankyoo

Check the bias plates not snapped of a bit broke off.

I would check bias plate too. Happened to me. Found out that it was jamming the gear lever. Nothing wrong with internals. Thankfully!

You know something I really don't think it's the bias plate. I just took it for a run and its getting progressively worse. Including reverse gear. I put it in reverse. Even with clutch in and all brakes off it would not roll backwards down the hill let clutch out slowly its as if the brake is on it gets to the verge of stalling then frees off and rolls so far then locks up again I fear a gearbox problem but has anyone any input before I book it in to a garage could it be something simple?

Was the slave changed with everything else?

Yep. Pretty much everything I could buy new from the LR dealer I did, slave, master, damper, fluid, and hd clutch, hd springs, hd clutch fork etc.

The last week I just got the car back as one of the trailing arms at the back left snapped causing the back axle to sway and be rear wheel steering, obvs I had to drive it 2 miles to the garage to have fixed but would this have caused rear diff damage that gives the car these symptoms? Gearbox works fine unless the car is rolling

Strange one. Might be worth re bleeding. They can be an arse to bleed sometimes.

How do I do this as garage fitted the parts?

If it was all done by a garage I'd take it straight back and tell them to sort it out. If its something they've done it should be free of charge.

The car drove fine till the trailing arm thing it worked when I got it back then after like 100 miles its being poo does it sound like rear diff could cause this as its when car is rolling it won't select it manages when at a dead stop tho

Help pls

could it not be the spigot bush in the flywheel? this would also explain the noise even though its a new clutch

Would it cause the lack of gear change when vehicle rolling?

to be honest im not sure but if the bush is knackered then the layshaft will be all over the place and it will only be centralised by the clutch plate which is not a good thing.the only other thing to check would be the gearbox oil.

spigot bush can be distinguished from release bearing in that its only noisy on biting point not when pedal is fully pressed ,noise on tick over is due to h/d clutch it was a big issue in the mid 90s with tapping noise on tick over which goes when pedal is fully pressed or idle raised ,they modified clutch plate ,unless part of bias plate is jamming ,failed bias plate hinders 3rd and 4th gear only as this is what bias plate is there to do ,the big issue with r380s is baulk ring wear

jamesmartin said:

spigot bush can be distinguished from release bearing in that its only noisy on biting point not when pedal is fully pressed ,noise on tick over is due to h/d clutch it was a big issue in the mid 90s with tapping noise on tick over which goes when pedal is fully pressed or idle raised ,they modified clutch plate ,unless part of bias plate is jamming ,failed bias plate hinders 3rd and 4th gear only as this is what bias plate is there to do ,the big issue with r380s is baulk ring wear

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As the garage did the job - take it to them and say : 'something is not right'

Otherwise it gets very expensive very quickly if that gearbox has to come out again ...

Mew
Okay I'll take it to the garage and tell them it not right. I hate having to have a garage fix it I want something to just once be easy so I can fix it and spend money on boots and not on hubs and gearboxes and trailing arms and god knows what

Dippypud said:

As the garage did the job - take it to them and say : 'something is not right'

Otherwise it gets very expensive very quickly if that gearbox has to come out again ...

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i dont think you could blame baulk ring issue on the garage

jamesmartin said:

i dont think you could blame baulk ring issue on the garage

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Is that the plastic ring thing ppl talk of that gets hot and melts or am I confused?

jamesmartin said:

i dont think you could blame baulk ring issue on the garage

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No James but if the noise may be due to the fitting of a non-modified clutch plate or a cheaper type that may have thrown a spring ...

then the garage should at least fix it for no cost ...