Exige SC clutch - reverse crunch

[NeilP 18 1 Vehicles]

In my 2006 exige SC im not sure if I've cables / adjustment issues or worn clutch

- reverse has a really good crunch when engaging

- 1st gets harder to engage when warm, most gears are difficult when stationary

- when driving there's no issues at all tho.

could it be gear cables / clutch needs bleeding & adjusting or potentially a new clutch? 

[Gazm 10]

No replies, that's disappointing. 

I have a similar problem with my Elise R 2006. 

[NeilP 18 1 Vehicles]

Hi gazm, drop me a PM.

Hi gazm, drop me a PM. When I get chance I'll reply. On the way back from Star Wars :0)

[NeilP 18 1 Vehicles]

Hi @Gazm, 

Here's what was happening:

From cold when selecting R from N I had a fairly loud clunk, not quite a crunch, but not a quiet slotting into reverse.

 

From warm selecting R from N I then had the crunching. If i put the car in gear then selected R, from say 1 and waited a few seconds, the crunch was noticeably reduced, but still there.

 

Engaging 1, and trying to select another fwd gear was hard. Didn't always slot into gear when stationary.

 

Whilst driving the gears seemed ok but I developed the habit of blipping the throttle between changes to help engage.

 

The clutch didn't feel too bad but was never smooth across the pedal travel and had a slight sponginess (slave was replaced previously).

 

What was explained to me:

From cold the trans fluids are more viscous so they help slow the shafts / align reverse from cold. 

When warm the synchro does all the work so any grinding during gear change can be clutch drag or synchro wear.

 

Not getting the gears @ N was the pressure plate not disengaging and dragging - causing R to crunch and making gears from N difficult.

 

So I either had clutch pressure plate failure (most likely as the clutch didn't slip) or box.

 

Result:

We took the car apart and yes, The clutch had failed - pressure plate. Had this replaced and it's a totally different car to drive.

 

I wasn't aware but it seems there was a Lotus recall due to clutch failure on exige S (correct me if I'm wrong) - some early cars had standard clutch shipped as a unit from Toyota. I can only imagine mine was never changed so we replaced with a TRD updated version.

 

[Bibs 7,665 4 Vehicles]

28 minutes ago, NeilP said:

From cold the trans fluids are more viscous so they help slow the shafts / align reverse from cold. 

 

 

Cold oil is 'less' viscous, ie more like honey than water. It causes fluid drag in cold gearboxes which they were explaining to you. 

[Gazm 10]

Thanks for the update. I'll do some trials on mine when I get home. Sounds very similar and expensive. 

[NeilP 18 1 Vehicles]

1 hour ago, Bibs said:

Cold oil is 'less' viscous, ie more like honey than water. It causes fluid drag in cold gearboxes which they were explaining to you. 

Sorry @Bibs, thats what i meant but wrote the opposite :0)