Noticed on my Leon today that its sometimes tricky to get it into gear, almost as if the clutch isnt fully disengaging.

It doesnt seem to slip, whether you boot it in second or in top gear at slow speed.

The biting point seems at about the right point in the travel, ie isnt too low or too high

Nothings been apart or fiddled with so its nothing I have done.

Its most noticeable if you have to stop then select first (though if you try other gears it wont go in either).

Any suggestions or ideas before I resort to taking it to the VW garage?

ETA is an FR TDi 150, chipped to 180bhp. 6 speed box. Same as fitted to the golf.

Thanks,
David

[Edited on 18/12/09 by flak monkey]

If it is still under warranty, then just take it in and ask them to sort it out.

If not it could just be that the gearbox is a bit cold in this waether or does it do it when warm too? could be a bit of clutch drag? if it is a hydraulic clutch then it could be a problem with a leaky slave cylinder causing the clutch to not fully disengage?

Just guessing but maybe one of these suggestions fits your symptoms.

Cheers

Mark

Is it cable or hydraulic?
I had the same symptoms on my old rover - turned out the fluid had leaked from the slightly loose bleed nipple.

Knock it back into second then into first and see if it helps, it sounds like the synchromesh.

had a similar problem on my old renault, turned out my cable had gone a bit "elastic" when some of the wire strands had snapped. managed to live with it for a few weeks till the rest snapped. but then it was un-drivable. should have fixed it at the warning signs. beware.

How many miles has the clutch done? They can cause gear selection problems towards the end of their life, even without slipping since as the fingers move outward (or inward on a pull clutch) you get less movement of the pressure plate for the same movement of the release bearing.

The car has done about 52k miles, so I would have thought the clutch would have lasted longer.

Hydraulic clutch

Its done it quite frequently today, but its the first time. Could be the weather, or just a coincidence I guess.

Does it whether its hot or cold.

It does it regardless of what gear you try and put it in, so I had ruled out synchro's.

You can also try any other gear first then try and put it in first and it still wont go in.

Thanks for the suggestions so far chaps. Will investigate some of them tomorrow. Though to be honest, theres not much I can see under the bonnet.

Fluid level is OK I think, I can only see the resevoir for the brakes, may have to get the torch out to have a look and see if the clutch has its own.

David

Would be worth a quick bleed of the clutch system if it isn't a major PITA to get to.

quote:

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Originally posted by MikeRJ
Would be worth a quick bleed of the clutch system if it isn't a major PITA to get to.

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Hi David,

There is loads on this subject on seatcupra.net

Some say they have had to change the master or slave cylinders and others have said that a change of gearbox oil to miller's cured the problem.

My old 03 plate petrol cupra used to crunch only when going into third gear and that had about the same mileage as your car.
I bled the clutch on that but made no difference. P/x'd it in the end for MK2 Cupra so never got to the bottom of the problem.

Cheers
Stu.

Edited: The clutch uses same fluid as brakes. There is a small take off on the reservoir that feeds the clutch master cylinder.

[Edited on 18/12/09 by stuart_g]

Thanks Stuart

Mine often gives a little crunch when going into second, you can't hear it, but can feel it through the quickshift.

Its not an Alfa sourced gearbox is it?