Author Topic: problems pulling away from 1st gear in manual 'box jazz 1.4 es (Read 11758 times)

guest5249 · « **on:** February 03, 2015, 04:14:21 PM »

Hi chaps,

Just wondered if anyone can help with a strange issue our 2003 jazz suffers with. Car is a UK vehicle, 90,000 miles approx, manual gearbox, 1.4 litre, petrol.

My wife drives the car daily, and she is always complaining of problems with clutch control when driving in stop-start traffic, and when pulling away in first gear. (I have also suffered the same problems with the car, both my Wife and I are in our forties and both have over 20 years of driving experience) I have recently removed and cleaned (with carb cleaner) the exhaust gas recirc unit (EGR) and this certainly improved the idle of the car, and did slightly improve the problem of revs dying away when pulling off from 1st. However...the car is difficult to drive due to what I can only think is either gearbox ratios (first is very short, whilst second is quite long) or a fault, or slipping clutch or gearbox oil perhaps?. The car was bought as a cheap runabout, and I have no idea when the gearbox oil was flushed and changed. Likewise, the clutch.

to summarise:

Difficult to pulling away smoothly in first gear, even on a flat road with no gradient.
Difficult to smoothly transistion the biting point of the clutch pedal, with increase in accelaration without revs dying away or wheelspin !

Apologies if the symptoms I am trying to describe are not very clear. It's hard to put into words the problems we are having but if anyone can assist we will be very grateful.

SuperCNJ · « **Reply #1 on:** February 03, 2015, 06:15:36 PM »

All petrol hondas are known to have very low torque at low revs. This is just a trait of honda engines. Even the NSX didn't have much torque low down.

So if you're new to hondas this is something to note. The newer hondas are much better though. They have improved gear ratios to make it easier.

Anyway, to test whether the clutch is worn, park on an incline with the front of the car facing up. Handbrake on, 2nd gear, gas, find the biting point and see if the front of car rises slightly. You might need to give it some revs to do this as there isn't much torque.

If the car rises, then the clutch is probably fine and to be honest 90k miles isn't that much providing it wasn't abused.

Also, check if you have a seized brake caliper. Jack up the car and see if all the wheels turn equally freely.

guest5249 · « **Reply #2 on:** February 03, 2015, 09:06:23 PM »

Cheers CNJ. I will try that tomorrow as there is a steep incline at the end of my road.

I will get the gearbox oil changed too. Any pics/photos as to the location of the manual gearbox drain and fill locations are on a 2003 Jazz?

any other jazz owners with similar problems?

guest4283 · « **Reply #3 on:** February 03, 2015, 11:21:16 PM »

Clutch
-------
Clutch could be on its way out if most of 90k miles were city miles; lots of gear changes.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h7JJ_g2UuBI

Gearbox
---------

The plastic undertray will need to be removed (approx. 10 plastic clips). Picture is from a 2008 car but I think the basic mechanics pretty much stayed the same for first gen.

The fill plug is quite difficult to access probably needs a offset spanner. Obviously make sure you can loosen the fill bolt before you undo the drain bolt.

Technically car needs to be level when refilling, so that when oil just trickles out of fill hole you know you've put enough in. I'm gonna do mine when weather improves. Should hold a max of 1.6 litres I believe.

guest5249 · « **Reply #4 on:** February 04, 2015, 05:40:09 PM »

Many thanks guys for the tips so far. I was hoping to change the transmission oil myself but I think I will give the car to my local spanner man to do.

As for the 2nd gear hill test, the car passed with flying colours. Good strong bite from 2nd gear hill start with handbrake engaged. Bonnet lifted nicely.

Will let you know if there is any difference after a gear oil change.

finn_mccool · « **Reply #5 on:** April 22, 2015, 08:47:38 PM »

Any update Sc0tty?

guest4477 · « **Reply #6 on:** April 22, 2015, 10:22:07 PM »

Hi, changing the gearbox oil will not make any difference what so ever to the way you pull away from a standstill,one thing you do need to do when pulling away give some gas, they do not like starting off on tickover very easy to stall.