[Millsy]

What would cause my Vitara gearbox to be stiff, it has been like it since I bought it 6 months ago, I changed the oil to synthetic and added G50 or something like that but did no difference, there are no noises at all it's just stiff?

[christover1]

Possibly worn or dirty shift mechanism under the gearstick

[Millsy]

christover1 wrote:

Possibly worn or dirty shift mechanism under the gearstick

Hmmmm, vehicle was never off road before I purchased and relatively low milage 118,000klms, is this part easily replaced if it is that at all?

[christover1]

There is little pins and shafts with ball bearing things,
complex if you not great at mechanical stuff..
They can gum up with old oil, not mud from off roading

[Millsy]

christover1 wrote:

There is little pins and shafts with ball bearing things,
complex if you not great at mechanical stuff..
They can gum up with old oil, not mud from off roading

Aha, I think I know the ones your talking about, this is a -"pull the box and strip job right"

[christover1]

Not sure, mines an auto, never looked at the manuals.

You may get access by removing gear stick?

[Millsy]

Could the stiffness be due to a worn clutch? It's just hard to go into the gate as if my clutch wasnt pushed all the way in, there is no grating and if you double clutch it slips in easily, starting to piss me off.

[swifty_ano]

I would say adjust the clutch and see if it improves

Also, take the gear stick out and make sure the shifter bush hasn't fallen to bits and is causing resistance.

[Scrawny]

What oil did you use?

[Millsy]

Scrawn wrote:

What oil did you use?

I believe it was Nulon full synthetic with their gearbox addidtive, the box was stiff before though.

[Scrawny]

If it's only stiff to engage gears but not to move lever then it's more a synchro or clutch problem. I would've thought full synth oil would have helped that problem tho. How many klms on the car?

[TZAR]

Why dont you try this

Push clutch all the way in put in reverse gear
push clutch 7/8 of the way in and put in reverse gear
push clutch 3/4 of the way in and put in reverse gear
push clutch 5/8 of the way in and put in reverse gear
push clutch 1/2 of the way in and put in reverse gear
push clutch 3/8 of the way in and put in reverse gear
push clutch 1/4 of the way in and put in reverse gear
push clutch 1/8 of the way in and put in reverse gear


make sure you fully release the clutch in between each test and give the engine a little rev. reverse has no syncros so this will help isolate whether it is a clutch problem or gearbox problem.

[Millsy]

Scrawn wrote:

If it's only stiff to engage gears but not to move lever then it's more a synchro problem. I would've thought full synth oil would have helped that problem tho. How many klms on the car?

Only 122,000 showing on speedo (condition would support milage), '97 LWB Vitara

[Millsy]

TZAR wrote:

Why dont you try this

Push clutch all the way in put in reverse gear
push clutch 7/8 of the way in and put in reverse gear
push clutch 3/4 of the way in and put in reverse gear
push clutch 5/8 of the way in and put in reverse gear
push clutch 1/2 of the way in and put in reverse gear
push clutch 3/8 of the way in and put in reverse gear
push clutch 1/4 of the way in and put in reverse gear
push clutch 1/8 of the way in and put in reverse gear


make sure you fully release the clutch in between each test and give the engine a little rev. reverse has no syncros so this will help isolate whether it is a clutch problem or gearbox problem.

OK could still select gear with only 2/3 clutch depressed so looks like it's probably syncro's, if car is stationary selects gear fine and after checking gear lever fitment into box and testing again it is a little rough going into second and first, the vehicle was a city vehicle so I imagine a lot of stop start 1st 2nd gear stuff so syncro's would have gotten a workout, can you just buy syncro's for a box I seem to recall just fitting them to a Mazda when I was 17.