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[matt33]

just thought id ask on here first,,,i am having a few problems with 1st gear on my 1994 16v,,everytime i put it into 1st from neutral it crunches and to a lesser extent 2nd to 3rd,changing down into 2nd is fine as are all the other gears.
this is my second 33 and i know what to expect from the 33 gearbox, but can anyone shed anylight on this before i find i garage willing to have alook at it,,

cheers for any help you can give
Matt

[tvatavuk]

It's very common, for 1st and reverse to crunch from neutral.
After some time/practice most of us go to 2nd and then to 1st, to avoid crunch.
For reverse it's usualy 4th or 5th and then Reverse.

It's funny to see yourself when you enter higher class car or some soft Renault or similar car that doesn't need this but all the same your hand does it
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Tino Vatavuk
Little black dress which replaced Alfa Romeo 33 S 16v Permanent 4 GMo

[matt33]

cheers for that,,i have given it a try and it seems to work better and im glad there is nothing mechanically wrong with the 33,,but i have had the car for 7 months now and it has only started doing the crunching noises over the last week or so,,so hopefully i will get better with the gearchange 'technique',,
many thanks
Matt

[Tim]

Mine's done the same off and on ever since I bought it. I also adopted Tino's 2nd / 1st gear change procedure but it doesn't really make for good racing starts at the traffic lights does it
I wonder if any of those who have had the box out and changed the syncro rings ever improved this or was the 33 like this from new:?:
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If it 'aint broke.........it needs some more fixing!

[tvatavuk]

Besides new syncros which is good solution, but often there is also tooth or two missing( if you have no luck) on gears.
Gearbox rebuild is best, but if you don't have hand for changing gears, have gearlinkage in bad state you'll ruin it fast. Even new from factory gearbox needs some time to sync gears and if yiou go too fast, crunch...

There are also few things you can do,
- replace gearbox oil for new one,
- repalce bushes on gearbox selector rod with tighter.
- change brake fluid, or at least bleed slave clutch cyl.

Gearbox oil - full synth, semi-synth or original mineral + aditives, help gearchange a lot (and even more if you live where temp falls bellow 0 C) but don't stop crunches.
New bushes on selector will help in giving you more precise selecting.
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Tino Vatavuk
Little black dress which replaced Alfa Romeo 33 S 16v Permanent 4 GMo

[matt33]

i have ordered a new bush from the local fiat dealer and i will change that and at the same time i will put some new synthetic gearbox oil in ,,,(any recommendations??),,and hopefully that will solve it as i can't really afford a full rebuild.
i am getting the hang of the different gearchange method and it has helped a lot

thanks for all your help

Matt

[tvatavuk]

I use Castrol TAF-X 75w90, don't use anything thinner then 75 and thicker then 90. People are also using Shell fully / semi synth depending on its availability.

Usual warrnings
1. Sometimes old oil reacts with new oil, making black sludge. sometimes it's matter of days sometimes it needs few months, but if gearchanange starts to get very heavy it could be sign.
2. Synth oil is somewhat thinner so if you have gearbox oil leaks somewhere, reverse light switch, bad geabox cover seal, or selector, you could have bigger leakage and you could kill gearbox running it dry.
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Tino Vatavuk
Little black dress which replaced Alfa Romeo 33 S 16v Permanent 4 GMo

[matt33]

just to make matters worse now,, the clutch has completey given up,,do not know if this had anything to do with the crunching gears but i drove ok to work this morning but when i came to drive home i couldnt get a single gear and there was a awful squealing noise everytime i pressed the clutch
had a few quotes from some garages and its not cheap,,,
sad thing is i looked through the service history and it had a new clutch fitted 2 years and only 9000 miles ago for 350 pound

[tvatavuk]

Thrust bearing are known that sometimes they like to fail. When I bought P4 I decided to change slipping clutch kit with original (about same price as yours) AR part (made by Valeo) which failed after 10k Km, after 20k KM (less then a year) it made olympic circles on clutch cover (eated 75% of spring leafs on it) and carbonated clutch disc. Besides need for buying all thatt again I also needed new clutch thrust bearing fork & pin.
And all that price beacuse of 15€ part there (weakest link).
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Tino Vatavuk
Little black dress which replaced Alfa Romeo 33 S 16v Permanent 4 GMo

[Pipster]

same happened to me. Clutch bearing by Valeo has plastic housing. Keep to Sahs of LUK and you should be on teh safe side. BTW I replaced 1.5 i.e. engine with 16v engine because of this. It was cheaper to find 16v engine with working clutch that to fix the old gearbox + now I 've got a spare gearbox to play with.

[Serpent33]

Hope this helps. Moving to 2 then 1 or 4 then R helps especially when gears are locked and are unable to engage. By holding the clutch 3 seconds before engaging first or reverse largely reduces the crunch. It is a known technic is also endorsed by BMW.
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Each time I speed I say, "Dear lord, make me fast and accurate..."

[matt33]

thanks for all your help and advice
finally got the 33 booked into a garage in just over a weeks time to have a new clutch,gearbox oil,gearbox bush and ive managed to get a new gearlinkage as well,,,,,,,,,,just in case and hopefully with my new gearchange technique and the new clutch and gearbox parts that will have cured it

thanks
matt