[alfa166man]

hi folks my poor GTV broke down tonight, it had trouble changing gears for a couple of weeks now, changing down was very tricky with a nice knocking sound whilst coasting.

Any way tonight it went cant engage any gears.

I'm pretty positive its the gearbox, but what i need to know is i have a 1.6 156 sitting in my drive (bottom end dead) can i (by I, i mean a mechanic) swap the gearbox over?

any advice greatly appreciated.

Thanks

 

[rgwm]

Simple answer - no. The 156 gearbox has a completely different clutch release mechanism...and different gear selectors....

But are you sure that its the gearbox and not the clutch? Can you engage gears when the engine isn't running?

 

[alfa166man]

yes all gears but 1st it wont go into it. if its the clutch what is the knocking when coasting?

 

[alfa166man]

another thing - the clutch has also felt very heavy at times, having to push quite hard, before giving up and just waiting, pust the cluch in again and it would be fine, but gear wouldnt engage without a little help from the revs.

 

[FoxtrotOscar]

As above, 156 gearbox no good, I'm afraid. You can however use the gearbox from 145/6, 155 or spider, with either 1.8 or 2.0 engine. People are going to say "the ratios are different", which is true, but in reality there's little difference. You're obviously going to need a new clutch too, possibly a slave cylinder as well.

 

[alfa166man]

cheers foxtrot, trying to decide now after what RGWM said wether it is the gearbox after all.

 

[alfa166man]

also if it is the clutch does anyone have any contacts for decent priced ones? Cheers

 

[alfa166man]

now being told gearbox linkage, after having a mechanic look at it, is that possible givin the symptoms, how would this make the clutch occasionly heavy? thanks

 

[rgwm]

now being told gearbox linkage, after having a mechanic look at it, is that possible givin the symptoms, how would this make the clutch occasionly heavy? thanks

It wouldn't......but of course if you've had clutch problems and have been having to force the gear selection the linkage could have been damaged....

Very difficult to diagnose things like this by remote control, I'm afraid.....If you can get someone to operate the clutch pedal whilst you observe the slave cylinder you'll see if the clutch release arm is being moved - if it is the hydraulics are OK, but it could be that the release bearing has been chewing its way through the clutch cover, which will cause the clutch not to be fully released - and cause gear selection issues.....

I'm afraid that it may well be that the box has to come out to sort the clutch - but obviously if that is the case you want to be sure that the gearbox is OK - no point replacing a faulty gearbox.....