no gears help

Hi my c3 has had a problem with the gears for a while now.when its put in 1st or reverse as i lift the clutch it jolts into gear.to stop it stalling i have to give extra reves.I changed the gear oil but it still does it.was driving and the clutch pedal went very soft then i had no gears at all it will go into 1st only.the rest of the gears dont engage and its like a stick in a bucket from inside the car..Does any one know how I get to the linkage where the gears meet the box im going to see if the problem is there? Imalso going to get a new clutch fitted as soon as funds allow.. thanks bottle04

Hi bottle04

bottle04 wrote:.was driving and the clutch pedal went very soft

The clutch actuator is hydraulic, using the same fluid as the brakes. If you have a clutch slave cylinder problem the clutch will go soft. Find the slave cylinder and see if there is a rubber to peel back and look for any fluid to determine a leak.

Its at the front of the engine, in this image its near the oil filter

bottle04 wrote:i had no gears at all it will go into 1st only.the rest of the gears don't engage and its like a stick in a bucket from inside the car..

Chapster has a fix for the 'stick in a bucket' gear linkage fault, the topic is here. It would be worth looking even if you just want to buy replacement cables from here and not do the fix.

bottle04 wrote:Does any one know how I get to the linkage where the gears meet the box I'm going to see if the problem is there?

Remove the air filter on an 8v, but not on a 16v, remove the air ducts and the fuel filter would give better access. The gear box is between the battery compartment and the engine. You may need to remove the battery box to get better access.


There is a broken gear selector topic here, which give a gearbox that can't select gears.

I had similar problem gear linkage had failed - bought second hand gear linkages for £50 and fitted them myself - not too bad a job for a competent DIY mechanic although it does feel like your ripping the guts out of the car - I`d never done it before and completed the job in about two hours which I didn`t think was bad - garage wanted to charge £350 fitted - so saved £300 on this Job.... didn`t need to jack car and ends of linkages were accessible under the bonnet - maybe with air filter and few easy bits removed