Guys,

I am in aus and have just bought a 360GLT. I have noticed that sometimes the car is hard to get into first gear when the car is standing still, i.e when going to take off after a green light. My mechanic has adjusted the clutch which helped the problem a bit but it is still hard to put the car in 1st sometimes.

Is this just a characteristic of these cars? perhaps coz reverse gear is located up near first? or perhaps because the gearbox is at the back and the linkage is fairly long? or should I be looking at synchros/bent selector fork/worn clutch. I dont think it is the clutch as I have no problem selecting any other gear

any thoughts would be a great help

thanks

michael

It will almost definately be the reverse gate on top of the transmission tunnel inside the car. If you take the plastic cover off then you will see this aluminum bracket, you can adjust it on two allen key bolts.
Adam

My car does the same, clutch and gear lever are adjusted properly, dunno what causes it but i'd say it is something to do with worn linkages or the gearbox itself.

When it is stiff to get into first, i have found it is better not to force it, but put it into another gear first, say 2nd or 4th, then try again.

Check gearbox oil. i had same kind of problem. It was hard to get 2nd gear in without crunching. I filled gearbox oil and the crunching stopped.

I think the problem MB1 is descirbing isn't a crunching, the lever just doesn't want to move into place, i replaced my gearbox a few months ago and both boxes do it, the new one has the correct amount of brand new fulid in it...

Yes but once my friends Golf jammed on a gear. And they firstly added some gearbox oil and it didn't take long until gearbox started work properly again.

Tourinki wrote:Yes but once my friends Golf jammed on a gear. And they firstly added some gearbox oil and it didn't take long until gearbox started work properly again.

Im not saying you are wrong in your suggestion, of course if you are low on oil or have the wrong one in there the gearbox performance is going to suffer, just that the problem MB1 descirbes is also present in my car, which has THE CORRECT AMOUNT OF BRAND NEW OIL! Changing it or topping it up isn't going to do anything in my case.

I had this problem. I cured it by changing the gearbox

Seriously though I haven't got round to stripping the old one down to find out what wore out.

dalahare wrote:When it is stiff to get into first, i have found it is better not to force it, but put it into another gear first, say 2nd or 4th, then try again.

Ditto - same method works for me too ...

300's also have a known fault where the gear change mechanism comes adrift from the floor pan.

There's a thread about it Here Fuse gives lots of help on how to sort it. He's off on military maneuvers at the moment so might not be around to answer questions.

When this happened to me I had similar symptoms. Like dalahare, I found that selecting 2nd and then slipping it straight up into 1st would usually get me in gear. Of course if this is your problem, the true fix would be welding.

I'd imagine it'd feel wrong in all gears if it was that - mine certainly did when it went on my black car.

I had the same problem, the gearbox never was very smooth into 1st, but it started to get a lot harder at a point.
It is often the plate under the shift lever like 340 GLT mentioned, adjusting it worked for me too.
Still doesnt like to be put in first at anything above idle revs, but I never need to shift to first on track anyway.

If it crunching then double clutching into first can help. I have this problem with reverse.

Ronnie wrote:300's also have a known fault where the gear change mechanism comes adrift from the floor pan.

There's a thread about it Here Fuse gives lots of help on how to sort it. He's off on military maneuvers at the moment so might not be around to answer questions.

When this happened to me I had similar symptoms. Like dalahare, I found that selecting 2nd and then slipping it straight up into 1st would usually get me in gear. Of course if this is your problem, the true fix would be welding.

Been there and done that too, good thing i have my own welder so it was more of an inconvinience than a major problem, i doubt any reputable welder would have climbed inside the car and started welding away within centimetres of carpet and wiring

I've had two 360s and they've both had this, not problem but, bit of character to them . It just takes a bit of getting used to. The gearbox only needs to be treated gently. Either de-clutch and try again or just slip it into second then up into first.

These cars are old ladies and need to be treated as such.

Regards, Giles