espace 3 gearbox woes

[nairn man]

everytime we get going the car is shuddering then once warm its ok. also gear changes are very crunchy but gear knob moves freely in the gaitor. is this a clutch master cylinder problem or what should i look into 1st before fearing the worst many thanks in advance

[nairn man]

i forgot to mention the engine type. its the g8t engine 2.2 td manual gearbox

[jack daniels]

it could be the master or slave cylinder contributing to the crunching. If you can get under the car you should be able to see if the arm on the slave cylinder is moving enough when the clutch pedal is depressed.

is the shuddering happening while you are using the clutch with your foot on the pedal or is it the motor that is shuddering?   Do you tow anything with the car?

[BrianM]

You need to see how far the push rod is throwing the clutch arm into the gearbox. If the bearing has gone then the slave cylinder may be at the end of its throw, so the rod is almost pushed out of it. I have had a petrol model that had this problem. The clutch release bearing had gone & the clutch was being operated by the clutch arm forks. I had to mig weld the clutch arm to make it good & replace the clutch.