Struggling to get the gearbox to go into reverse

[Edbrez 0]

I'm aware that the gearbox has its unique characteristics but I'm wondering whether I can live with these frustrating surprises!!!

Sitting waiting 30mins for someone this evening on a cold evening. They show up and hop in the car and we go to leave the space im parked in. I try to engage reverse and no luck. I tried again, and then again trying to force the gearbox to go into reverse... no joy. I decide to run the gearbox through the forward gears successfully and then engage reverse and thankfully it went into reverse gear on the third attempt, although with an audible clunk sound.

I'm leaving now and driving along and I notice the car wants to creep forward in slow moving traffic with the clutch fully pressed. This is causing the engine to bog down a little and in slow moving traffic, cut out. Previously I've noticed that when the clutch pedal is fully pressed I can hear a slight sound of connection but the car has remained stationary,l. I've ignored it up until now. Clutch bites fine so I can't see a clutch issue.

I'm wondering if I need a clutch pedal realignment and/or new gearbox oil to resolve the gearbox engagement issue? Or is there something more concerning at play here? 

The car otherwise is faultless. Once up to temperature it runs smoothly. 1st and 2nd can be notchy when cold but otherwise I've had no issues.

I read somewhere that an adjustment to the shifter bolts slightly to the left can help the reverse gear engagement issue. The noise on engagement of the clutch when fully pressed sounds like a flywheel thing but I haven't enough experience to know what the cause is. I've had it since I imported the car from Japan and ignored it given the car performed perfectly when driven up until tonight. The forward creep is something new I just experienced today and I haven't a clue what is causing this and how to resolve it..

I'd appreciate any advice anyone can offer here.

If there is anyone from Ireland on here. Any recommendations of a suitably qualified mechanic in the midlands I could bring the car to. I don't fancy bringing it to Toyota as they'll turn their noses up at a JDM import.

 

 

[Rich196 103]

Sounds to me like the clutch is dragging, which is why you cant grab a gear. I would start by bleeding it.

[Edbrez 0]

17 minutes ago, Rich196 said:

Sounds to me like the clutch is dragging, which is why you cant grab a gear. I would start by bleeding it.

Thanks Rich. I read that elsewhere too but glad to get confirmation. Fingers crossed it'll sort the issue. I'll post an update once I know more.

[Church 209]

Have you also tried clutch pedal travel adjustment (but in other direction, to increase pedal dead travel)? Maybe it may fix slight clutch drag. If not, i'd probably take it to shop to diagnose clutch & TOB bearing state. Rest, like hard to get into gear, is common problem if clutch is not completely disengaging, and just symptoms that go by it. Reverse detent shouldn't be related to that.

[Edbrez 0]

So long story short....

Throwout bearing/ clutch release bearing was shot and I suspect the clutch fork was weak or flexing too much due to discovering an ORC twin plate clutch sitting pretty when disassembled. Jap imports are a treasure trove!

ORC clutch is near brand new and I'd suspect the known weakness of the early years clutch release bearing failing and the weak clutch fork lost the battle vs uprated over the top ORC clutch.

Replacing the clutch fork with the Verus engineering uprated unit (this is heavy duty when held in the hand vs stock unit), and also replacing the late model 2017+ clutch release bearing should hopefully resolve the gear selection issues I've been experiencing. I'm also replacing the shaft the clutch release bearing sits on due to a small bit of scoring evident on it when inspected.

The ORC clutch is rated to handle high torque so good to know if I end up going FI in future. On to that debate on another day :-)!