y0,

Went out about half an hour ago. All fine until I went from third to second stopping at some lights, and before accepting the gear, it made a reet nasty crunching and the stick popped into neutral. This was 2 mins after setting off. After that it was fine for the rest of the journey. Is this a common sign something's up and its on its last legs? Never happened before, its just I don't want to get in it tomorrow/next week and discover its well and truly ronnied in traffic or anything.

Also, just to say I've never had any gearbox issues before... It can be a bit wretchy for the first five minutes until its warmed up a bit, but other than that no issues. The synchro on its way out or something?

Cheers,
James

has it been peened?
if it were just a synchro spring then it'll snick most times it goes in to gear jumping out sounds like it may be worn bearing allowing the shaft to move back and forth under the torque loading( caused by the helical gears acting like a worm gear).

but it could just be something catching the gear selector- saggy tubes flappy cables? or even worn or split engine gearbox mounts

You need to consider how old the box is and how many miles it has done. As Sean said many things goes wrong when old and used (up) You may have the first signs off yet more to come. Gear boxes and I say around the world are often not serviced, except oil change. Maybe not in your case but 20+ years of driving with no service is pretty good going.
Maybe take the lid off and have a look

You did what? I never gear down when stopping. Freewheeling ftw

Ya it is cheaper to wear out your brakes than clutch and gear box

I probably spend more time in neutral then I do in gear...!

And James... don't become LT and break your car all the time!

I drive properly. Anyway thanks for the replies. I'll just see what happens I guess. I should also probably have mentioned that it has been peened and unwound once too.

but it could just be something catching the gear selector- saggy tubes flappy cables? or even worn or split engine gearbox mounts (Sean)


Don't overlook the obvious.

At least I'm in the same country as my car when I'm breaking it... aways down shift, set off quicker if the lights happen to change.

I,ve had it happen to me in the past it happens when changing down 3rd to 2nd when the shaft speeds are different especially when going slowly its the same as a starter motor when it slows down when the pinion bush is on its last legs.. You will find you can make it happen again at will if you do a slow movement of gear lever when going unusually slow 3rd to 2nd and keep the clutch pedal down for a much longer time in the proccess but in normal driving to wont . Have you bits of needle roller in the oil ????