Before I learn to live with it I wanted to run this past the forum. In my 1970 Lotus Elan S4 I am having issues downshifting into second. I can upshift all day long and downshift smoothly into every gear except 2nd gear. The gate stays closed and will not open until I am at an extremely slow speed. What I find odd is double clutching, rev matching, etc doesn’t do anything. I would think if it is a synchro problem I could overcome it with changing my driving. It just will not downshift. There is no grinding, 2nd gear is just blocked. Since all the shift rods are internal, my question is there anything external I can do to make an improvement. Do I have to live with it until I pull the engine and transmission one day. Note I already changed the fluid, and replaced the master and slave cylinders. I also pulled the shift lever, cleaned and lubed and reinstalled. Note I did notice it isn’t the S4 anti sizzle shift lever but the earlier generation solid lever if that makes a difference.
Have you checked that the body or chassis hole for the lever is not blocking 2 nd gear selection ? It could be the wrong / mismatching blocker bars and synchro hub in the 2nd gear have been used in a previous rebuild as there were differences between early and later gear boxes
Yes when I removed the lever for lubrication I checked the hole and I have plenty of clearance. Thank you for the information on the blocker bars. In the future when I pull the transmission I can check.
I put Redline MTL in the transmission. The problem existed before the fluid change. I bought the car with this issue, so I don’t know when it started as that would help with my troubleshooting. Odd that I can up shift no problem but can’t downshift.
One item I was thinking about. Is it at all possible that the shift lever and or the shift lever tower can wear out and change the pivot angle of the lever? This Elan has about 85,000 miles on it and the last time the transmission was out was in the late 70’s.
I’d pull it apart and change all baulk rings bearings and seals. After 85000 miles it probably needs it. I understand if you’re reticent but until you get inside it you (and we) can only speculate as to the cause of your issue.
I should say that I have just done this to my gearbox. I really didn’t fancy doing it, but with a good deal of encouragement (thanks James, you know who I mean) I did it with no special tools and it turned out to be way easier than I had feared, My gearbox is not installed yet but the shift is slick and clicky (static). I refilled with MTL of course.
As Rohan said it does seem to be an assembly issue where the gearbox has been apart at some stage and either the 2nd gear hub has been reassembled incorrectly or aftermarket parts have been used that aren’t to the correct design. It probably isn’t the clutch but how is engagement of reverse gear? Reverse gear has no synchromesh and how it engages is usually a good indicator of whether or not the clutch is dragging. Seems to be a gearbox out job unfortunately.