Spend the past week changing the R380 gearbox of my defender td5 due to problems with 5th gear and reverse.
Got a second hand box with 38,000km on it and replaced the clutch and flywheel with the spigot bush aswell.

After the PITA job, started the engine and guess what, could not engage any gear with the engine running. Cut off engine and all is fine.
Eventually I bled the hydraulics 4 times to be sure there was no air in the master and slave cilinders, but did not help.
When starting the engine with the car in gear and clutch depressed. All seemed fine and i could take off as always, no problems, untill I want to change gear.
The biting point of the clutch was very low, I need to release the pedal a tiny bit and the car takes off.

Then I adjusted the master cilinder rod where it is attached to the pedal untill there are only 2 to 3 threads sticking out of the nut at the end of the rod. The 17mm nut that limits pedal travel downwards is also adjusted so that the pedal hits the floor.

Biting point is way higher now and I CAN get it into gear now, but it still takes some force to do so. When driving, all is fine and shifts go pretty smooth, but still not as smooth as it should be.
When standing still again it takes more effort to select gear, and reverse is still very difficult to select!

I am pretty sure I installed the disc the right way, with gearbox side facing gearbox side, altough when having this sort of problems offcourse i start to doubt if I did installed it correctly as I always had a memory full of holes

Replaced the spigot bush aswell and when mounting the box back to the engine the last quarter inch we were unable to close the gap and I did use the bolts to pull the box against the engine. It was the only way altough I know I should not do it this way. I thought the input shaft could be sticking in the spigot bush , but after driving 2 days I guess it should be loosend up right ?

To me it seems like the input shaft still does not release properly of the engine and keeps turning a little bit when clutch depressed.

Does this sound familiar to anyone on here as I ran out of ideas what the problem could be ...

Niels

Did you ever find the answer to your question immune is a similar problem

The O/P has not been on here since 2013.
But l have found it impossible to fully bleed the air out of my TD5 clutch hydraulics, or get a good pedal.
(Say after replacing the master/slave cylinder or just the fluid as a service item)
I have tried everything including my Sealey pressure bleeder.
Afterwards the biting point is always right at the bottom.
lt's happened every time.
The cure l gave found is to bleed the system, then wedge the pedal down with a piece of wood over night.
After that all is fine.

Ok, thanks will try that too, what's your reasoning or idea behind leave the clutch pressed in over night?

I assume it must force any air out of the system?
I don't know, but it's always worked for me and l've had three TD5's

So with mine I can ram it hard into third forth and fifth but have to turn the engine off to get first secound and reverse there is a bite point and it does feel like my clutch is working properly but always seems slightly engaged, have you ever had similar problems, I have also replaced the clutch plate, bearing and friction plate im certain iv put everything back together correct would be good to get someone elses opinion, cheers Ollie

Try what l suggested and see if it's any better in the morning

We have this with the classic, on the slave cylinder the bleed nipple should be at the top, it bleeds nice then.
Did you try reverse bleeding.

Yep checked that too and tried reverse bleeding it still just as bad

Have you tried what l suggested

I'm currently on with it did it this morning after reverse bleeding it but it proved In now and I also adjusted the clutch pedal to go further down with the black bolt on the master cylinder, it was a little better but no different will see by the end of today if your trick worked cheers

Yes you have to leave it a few hours.

Was I right in leave the cap off?

Leave the cap on.

Only because brake fluid absorbs moisture so best not to leave it open.

Any results yet??

Only just had chance to check it has improved it but it's still not 100% there can get first now if I give it a shove but still not reverse, however in low box the vehicle will roll abit and slip in ofcourse into any gear iv ordered a slave cylinder to replace that and will try all again or take it to a land rover dealership see what they do

Probably a silly thing to say , but as mentioned above the bleed nipple is at the top of the slave cylinder. You do have the front of the vehicle raised a little?

Cheers

Fractionally raised but yeah bleed nipple is at the top would it make much of a difference reverse bleeding though?

Did you try the new clutch plate on the gearbox input shaft splines (before you fitted the clutch to the flywheel) to make sure it slides on the splines smoothly?

Yeah they were fine was a easy fit, only difference in the kit was the fingers were a little stronger on resistance on the clutch plate.