Hello all

I have an AU2 XR6 I'm sick of hearing the gears grind when I'm putting it into 1st or reverse from a dead stop, and occasionally finding it very hard to shift down into second for corners.

It was owned for 9 years by my dad then I got it about 9 months ago, a month later we took it in to replace the clutch pedal. When they began work on it the entire system went to s**t so they replaced the entire thing. 8 months down the track and the problem is beginning again.

I'm getting worried that maybe it's my driving. A mechanic did suggest that a mechanical system may not be heavy duty enough for the car and that it was a cost cut in production, but why did it survive for 9 years then die and then begin to die again.

If anyone has some suggestions or previous similar problems I would love to hear about it.

It isn't your pedal box or firewall flexing/breaking?

It's not the pedal breaking because we had the pedal replaced in the big repair. I don't think it's the fire wall breaking although your not the first to mention this. what other signs can determine if the firewall is breaking, because there doesn't seem to be any visible damage from looking at it from the engine bay.

The clutch cable may not have been adjusted properly. Go into the engine bay, pull the clutch cable back and turn the nuts about 2 turns. Go for a drive and see if that fixes your problem.

If it did, then someone did a dodgy job in setting the pedal height. Clutch cable could have also stretched.

By pedal repair, do you mean the pedal itself, or the pedal box? If it was the pedal, then have a look at your pedal box making sure it isn't flexing/breaking. 9 years sounds like a good time for s**t to break.

When my firewall cracked, it made a creaking noise every time I pushed the clutch in and then I had issues with getting into gear. Make sure you peel back the firewall fire proofing/sound deadening material in the engine bay and have a look behind it...not just where the clutch cable hole is. If you have to, cut the material so that you can lift it a little.