Santro gear shifts suddenly into neutral

nura · 27th March 2007, 18:09

Right from the time I bought my Santro in 2002, it has had a peculiar problem. If I am driving above 35 kmph or so and the car gets into a pothole or onto a rough stretch of road suddenly, it protests by slipping into neutral gear. As I am a rather cautious driver, this happens perhaps once every 3-4 months, so it doesn't really bother me much. I would, however, like to know why this is happening. Can I request TBHP gurus to throw some light on the matter?

Pankaj401 · 27th March 2007, 19:59

Does it happen in a particular gear or all of them?

theMAG · 27th March 2007, 20:33

Your gear linkages are weak or your gear teeth are worn. Get HASS to look at your gearbox.

viper · 27th March 2007, 21:21

Hi,

Sounds like a problem with the synchroniser rings of the car. Please go the service centre and ask them to look into it. You are looking at a minimu expense of 1.5-2.5k for gearbox opening& refitting + cost of parts if any involved. Also count minimum 1 whole day for the same at the least.

Viper

Quote:

Originally Posted by nura

Right from the time I bought my Santro in 2002, it has had a peculiar problem. If I am driving above 35 kmph or so and the car gets into a pothole or onto a rough stretch of road suddenly, it protests by slipping into neutral gear. As I am a rather cautious driver, this happens perhaps once every 3-4 months, so it doesn't really bother me much. I would, however, like to know why this is happening. Can I request TBHP gurus to throw some light on the matter?

rks · 27th March 2007, 21:40

The same thing has happened to me a couple of times over the last 2 years. The car slips from fifth to neutral upon hitting a really rough patch or a huge pothole at some speed. When the car is in fifth I can see the gear shift lever really vibrating upon hitting bad roads at a reasonable speed. I don't plan to anything about it for the time being, until the problem becomes more frequent. The solution is to drive carefully so that one doesn't hit potholes or bad stretches at high speed.

nura · 27th March 2007, 22:53

Quote:

Originally Posted by Pankaj401

Does it happen in a particular gear or all of them?

I was asked this question in 2002 at HASS. I didn't know the answer then and unfortunately I don't know the answer now. Short of driving repeatedly into a pothole in different gears, how do I find out?

nura · 27th March 2007, 22:58

Quote:

Originally Posted by theMAG

Your gear linkages are weak or your gear teeth are worn. Get HASS to look at your gearbox.

Can they deliver a new vehicle with weak linkages and worn teeth? The problem has been there since I bought the new car in 2002. And it hasn't really got any worse in the 4.5 years since.

nura · 27th March 2007, 23:14

Quote:

Originally Posted by rks

The same thing has happened to me a couple of times over the last 2 years. The car slips from fifth to neutral upon hitting a really rough patch or a huge pothole at some speed. When the car is in fifth I can see the gear shift lever really vibrating upon hitting bad roads at a reasonable speed. I don't plan to anything about it for the time being, until the problem becomes more frequent. The solution is to drive carefully so that one doesn't hit potholes or bad stretches at high speed.

Thanks everyone for the valuable advice. Could there be a fault outside the gear-box? I would tend to agree with rks that the problem occurs so infrequently that one doesn't feel like getting the gear-box dismantled for investigation.
I have a feeling the problem occurs in 3rd and/ or 4th gears. Does that give any clues?

dj_2006 · 27th March 2007, 23:49

I too have witnessed the same thing with my Santro, very infrequently though ... I thought that this is not a problem but some inbuilt feature in the car

tsk1979 · 28th March 2007, 00:12

Were you in the habit of shifting your car into neutral from gear without using the clutch. I have seen this done in some cases, esp when car is parked in gear and switched off. So you just hit the shift and it comes into neutral. People who do this face this problem in the later years of the g'box

Other reason for this problem is hard shifting. If you kind of yank your gears hard.

So take your car to HASS and ask them to check the shift fork.

nkapoor777 · 28th March 2007, 11:47

Well i have the same issue with my 2004 Wagon R LXi. But that might be attributed to a trip to the gruelling Raid de Himalaya 2006. Did get quite a few knocks on my sump and gearbox! I think I might be inclined to get my gearbox investigated after reading all this.

nura · 28th March 2007, 17:34

Quote:

Originally Posted by tsk1979

Were you in the habit of shifting your car into neutral from gear without using the clutch. I have seen this done in some cases, esp when car is parked in gear and switched off. So you just hit the shift and it comes into neutral. People who do this face this problem in the later years of the g'box

Other reason for this problem is hard shifting. If you kind of yank your gears hard.

So take your car to HASS and ask them to check the shift fork.

I really don' have this habit of shifting from gear to neutral without using the clutch before starting the car. But I do press the clutch when turning the ignition key because I had read somewhere a long time ago that this is good for the starter assembly.
I am quite gentlemanly with the gear shifting too.
Thanks for your suggestion to get the shift fork examined. Does this involve opening up the gear box? If not, I am surely game for it.

iraghava · 28th March 2007, 18:44

This is a known problem in Santro's, my '99 Santro was plagued with this problem from day one. Despite complaining about it to HASS they never actually had a sure-shot solution for it. IIRC they did change some springs in the gearbox/gear shift mechanism 3-4 times but to no effect. In the end I learnt to live it since it used to happen once in a while.

theMAG · 28th March 2007, 19:05

Quote:

Originally Posted by nura

Can they deliver a new vehicle with weak linkages and worn teeth? The problem has been there since I bought the new car in 2002. And it hasn't really got any worse in the 4.5 years since.

Judging from your's, rks' and iraghava's experience this seems to be a common enginering flaw with those models of Santro. And iraghava's added experience of HASS not being able to do anything abt it points to the direction this problem will go in your case as well.

nura · 28th March 2007, 21:30

Thanks iraghava and theMAG. I wasn't really keen to do too much about the problem. After reading your comments I will conclude that the Santro doesn't like to be driven rough-shod and even the Hyundai engineers can't do anything it.

27th March 2007, 18:09	#1
nura BHPian Join Date: Feb 2007 Location: Kolkata Posts: 599 Thanked: 17 Times	Santro gear shifts suddenly into neutral Right from the time I bought my Santro in 2002, it has had a peculiar problem. If I am driving above 35 kmph or so and the car gets into a pothole or onto a rough stretch of road suddenly, it protests by slipping into neutral gear. As I am a rather cautious driver, this happens perhaps once every 3-4 months, so it doesn't really bother me much. I would, however, like to know why this is happening. Can I request TBHP gurus to throw some light on the matter?
	() Thanks

27th March 2007, 19:59	#2
Pankaj401 BHPian Join Date: Mar 2006 Location: Bangalore, India Posts: 215 Thanked: 6 Times	Does it happen in a particular gear or all of them?
	() Thanks

27th March 2007, 20:33	#3
theMAG Distinguished - BHPian Join Date: May 2006 Location: Avon, CT Posts: 7,217 Thanked: 1,807 Times View My Garage	Your gear linkages are weak or your gear teeth are worn. Get HASS to look at your gearbox. Last edited by theMAG : 27th March 2007 at 20:35.
	() Thanks

27th March 2007, 21:40	#5
rks BANNED Join Date: Nov 2005 Location: ?? Posts: 1,238 Thanked: 17 Times	The same thing has happened to me a couple of times over the last 2 years. The car slips from fifth to neutral upon hitting a really rough patch or a huge pothole at some speed. When the car is in fifth I can see the gear shift lever really vibrating upon hitting bad roads at a reasonable speed. I don't plan to anything about it for the time being, until the problem becomes more frequent. The solution is to drive carefully so that one doesn't hit potholes or bad stretches at high speed. Last edited by rks : 27th March 2007 at 21:42.
	() Thanks

27th March 2007, 23:49	#9
dj_2006 BHPian Join Date: Nov 2006 Location: Singapore Posts: 61 Thanked: Once	I too have witnessed the same thing with my Santro, very infrequently though ... I thought that this is not a problem but some inbuilt feature in the car
	() Thanks

28th March 2007, 00:12	#10
tsk1979 Team-BHP Support Join Date: Feb 2005 Location: San Jose, CA Posts: 23,717 Thanked: 22,825 Times View My Garage	Were you in the habit of shifting your car into neutral from gear without using the clutch. I have seen this done in some cases, esp when car is parked in gear and switched off. So you just hit the shift and it comes into neutral. People who do this face this problem in the later years of the g'box Other reason for this problem is hard shifting. If you kind of yank your gears hard. So take your car to HASS and ask them to check the shift fork.
	() Thanks

28th March 2007, 11:47	#11
nkapoor777 BHPian Join Date: Nov 2006 Location: New Delhi Posts: 608 Thanked: 143 Times	Well i have the same issue with my 2004 Wagon R LXi. But that might be attributed to a trip to the gruelling Raid de Himalaya 2006. Did get quite a few knocks on my sump and gearbox! I think I might be inclined to get my gearbox investigated after reading all this.
	() Thanks

28th March 2007, 18:44	#13
iraghava Senior - BHPian Join Date: Oct 2005 Location: Bhaiyyaland Posts: 8,033 Thanked: 265 Times View My Garage	This is a known problem in Santro's, my '99 Santro was plagued with this problem from day one. Despite complaining about it to HASS they never actually had a sure-shot solution for it. IIRC they did change some springs in the gearbox/gear shift mechanism 3-4 times but to no effect. In the end I learnt to live it since it used to happen once in a while.
	() Thanks

28th March 2007, 21:30	#15
nura BHPian Join Date: Feb 2007 Location: Kolkata Posts: 599 Thanked: 17 Times	Thanks iraghava and theMAG. I wasn't really keen to do too much about the problem. After reading your comments I will conclude that the Santro doesn't like to be driven rough-shod and even the Hyundai engineers can't do anything it.
	() Thanks