First gear crunch

[badfelafel]

First gear seems to be getting worse this week

Instead of the slight grunch as you stick it into first, I can now feel some real resistance as it meets the gear, and often it does a big crunchy noise instead of just crunching gently in.

The flip question, thinking slightly outside the box, is how fast should the engine idle? Would a slower idle speed help??

Any advice much much appreciated

Thx!

[Kevin]

The flip question, thinking slightly outside the box, is how fast should the engine idle? Would a slower idle speed help??

Some boxes seem to be a bit worse that others have you tried putting it into 2nd first and then straight into 1st as this helps align the non sincro 1st gear.

[alex_holden]

Is the car moving when this happens? Normally you should be fully stopped before changing into first. If you are fully stopped and it's still crashing when you put it into first then perhaps the clutch isn't fully disengaging. Also make sure you pause for a moment between pushing the clutch pedal down and putting it into gear, to give the input shaft a chance to stop spinning.

If it's not crashing but it simply won't go in, return to neutral, let the clutch out briefly to realign the gears, and try again.

[Willie]

If you have a dynamo the idle speed should be slow enough for the charging
light to just glimmer on tickover. Have you checked the free play on the clutch pedal? One and a half inches for the later cars but only 3/4" on the earlier models.

[bmcecosse]

With non-syncro first it is normal to bring the rotating gears to a halt by pulling the lever into 2nd gear - then forward to 1st before starting away. Idle speed should be as low as reasonably possible - but it may also be the clutch is not freeing properly - is there free play in the linkage - and is it too much ?!