Parked up for 1half year in garage, now wont engage a gear.

[elan_man]

Hi all,

Having put my baby in the garage at the end of 2005 for winter I have not pulled her out of the garage since. Knowing that last year was going to be busy for me I left her parked in the garage with the hand-break left off (to stop it ceasing the the disks) and left her out of gear.

I had come back to my baby this weekend, so that I can now get her back on the road, in for MOT, tax, ect...

Put the battery lead back on, lights pop up and back down all ok. Jumps into my gorgeous girl turns the key WOW, starts up straight away, tries to engage first, Nothing. Foot off clutch, re-apply, tries for first, Nothing. Try for any gear, Nothing. Tries for reverse and there was a bit of a grinding noise. Lets not try reverse again. Turns engine off and it found all gears as you would expect.

I am no mechanic but is this simply solved or a major problem???

[Sy V]

Manuals password on its way as requested.

Does the clutch feel normal?

Trying to think what this could be...sounds like a seize (of something). Gears when engine off vs no gears when engine running.

Thought time needed...

[Enright]

In the same way that the pads can sieze to the discs, so the clutch can sieze to the flywheel.

I've had this happen on other cars in the past.
This is what I did:

1) Try running the engine until the fans cut in.
Keep pressing the clutch every now and then.
The heat permeating through it may free it up.

2) If that doesn't work then turn off the engine, and move the car so that you have a clear run on the road in front.
Start it in first gear with foot on clutch.
If lucky then the extra load would free it up (with a loud ping or clonk).
If not, then there would be a bit of lurching and you'd find yourself moving forwards.
Keep foot on clutch.
At this point you have to either make the decision to turn off the engine, stop and try 1) again, or keep going.
Run around gently (and on quiet roads) for a while, doing clutchless changes if necessary and stalling it at any traffic lights.
Foot has to be kept on the clutch at all times while accelerating and decelerating.
The backwards/forwards force from operating the release bearing, combined with the rotational force of the engine against the inertia of the load should eventually suddenly just pop the siezed clutch and free itself up.

[dapinky]

Until someone who knows more about elans gives you the proper answer, i can only comment on my thoughts, and how i have solved similar issues.

On my Dolomite, this is a regular occurrence. If the car is damp when it's put away (or even cold!) then there is enough moisture in the clutch plate to enable rust to form, holding it stuck onto the flywheel.

If you have an assistant handy, you can check that the clutch is moving by watching the arm on the gearbox whilst the assistant presses the pedal. When it is held fully down, see if the arm will move any further by pushing it directly, under the bonnet.

If the arm moves with the foot pedal (hopefully full travel) then its looking like a clutch plate stuck to the flywheel.

There are varioyus techniques for freeing them off, ranging from mild to wild!

Firstly, always run the engine until HOT and the fans cut in - that will ensure that some heat has got into the clutch itself (bear in mind that if the car has been standing for a long time, there could be coolent problems aswell ) Don't allow it to overheat - keep an eye on the guage in case the fans are playing up (Don't you just love Lotus electrics!!!!)

Mildest way to start is:-
Turn off engine, engage fourth gear (with nothing in front of the car!), press down the brake pedal with right foot, clutch pedal with left foot and turn ignition key. The theory is that the engine will try and turn on the starter motor, the brakes will hold the car stationary and the rust holding the clutch to the flywheel will break free, alowing the engine to turn / fire, and all gears to engage fully operationally .

If the clutch doesn't free off after a few goes at this, it may be worth upping the ante.

Jack up the front of the car so both wheels are clear of the ground. place axle stands under the car and lower the jack. apply handbrake and CHOCK THE BACK WHEELS. (all in case the car falls!)
Try the same technique as in method one.

If this fails, whilst the car is in the air, put into third gear, start engine normally KEEP EVERYTHING/EVERYBODY CLEAR OF MOVING WHEELS! Put your foot on the clutch and gently apply foot brake, this may enable the rust seal to break. (if not, the car will stall and we have a few goes, each time adjusting the ferocity with which we apply the brakes).

If you get to the stage where its like an 'emergency stop' and the car just stalls without freeing, its time to get more brutal!

For this, you need a private road / track (I'd never advocate using public roads for this )

With nothing in front of the car, depress clutch, select 1st gear, turn engine on (having allowed a few seconds with key in possition 1 to reset the electrics etc). the car will lurch forward and as the engine fires, it will drive away. Maybe the clutch will free up with this, if not, as the engine speed increases, change gears (hopefully without too many graunches!) until you are doing about 25 mph in third gear (engine slightly above idle!). keeping your foot on the clutch as you go, hit the brakes (when theres no-one behind you!) and this may jolt it free.

If it still wont work, last stage is to repeat above, but get it into second or third, keep foot on clutch and rev the bol***s off it from 3000 rpm to red line - this may also work!

If none of these things work, you may have to resort to removing the gearbox and manually freeing the plate - but rest assured, i've only had to do that once - the above techniques usually work somewhere along the way!

always try the gentle way first and build up.
always have a fully-charged battery
always do it on a warm engine

remember this next winter, and start the car up every month in the garage, making sure that the clutch doesn't get a chance to rust up!

Good luck!

[elan_man]

Thanks to all on this little problem,

Tried the suggested,

1) Try running the engine until the fans cut in.
Keep pressing the clutch every now and then.
The heat permeating through it may free it up.

and

Firstly, always run the engine until HOT and the fans cut in - that will ensure that some heat has got into the clutch itself (bear in mind that if the car has been standing for a long time, there could be coolent problems aswell ) Don't allow it to overheat - keep an eye on the guage in case the fans are playing up (Don't you just love Lotus electrics!!!!)

Mildest way to start is:-
Turn off engine, engage fourth gear (with nothing in front of the car!), press down the brake pedal with right foot, clutch pedal with left foot and turn ignition key. The theory is that the engine will try and turn on the starter motor, the brakes will hold the car stationary and the rust holding the clutch to the flywheel will break free, alowing the engine to turn / fire, and all gears to engage fully operationally .


HEY PROSTO, It works!!!!!!!!

Thanks to everybody on this little issue, that got me threw it.

Now going to wash and wax my baby.

THANX

[Doug]

cool, go give the clutch a good thrashing to wipe all the rust off it and the flywheel