Just watched the Ford Bronco video from yesterday. One of the questions Scotty read was about British Leyland. I have a 1980 MGB Roadster with the original 4 speed manual but it has a newer Weber carb on it. Recently while engaging the clutch at a traffic light, I heard a grinding noise while the pedal was depressed, and I saw smoke coming from under the car. It did that twice in one trip to pick up the wife from work, but not every time I engaged the clutch. The temp gauge was normal, and I had no problem with the shifting. Once I released the pedal the grinding noise went away. I took it to one of my usual garages and they told me it was the gearbox. People on the MGB owner boards tell me the mechanic is wrong and it's the throw out bearing on the clutch. As far as I know, it's the original clutch. There doesn't seem to be any mechanic in my area who specializes in MGs, but a few say they work on them. Would it be better to get a clutch kit and have it replaced first and see if that solves the problem? The garage quoted me $6000 for a new transmission and labor. Don't think I'll keep it if it's the real problem, but the clutch kits aren't expensive and I would think I should try that first. The engine has around 95k miles on it. I just use the car for fun and maybe I'd use it as a short commuter car. Maybe find a rebuilt MOWAG 4 speed instead of a new one? The seem to go for only a couple hundred dollars. Thanks!
Except for the smoke it sounds typical of a bad throwout bearing, and the grinding could be due to the clutch not releasing completely. British Leyland products are notorious for oil leaks. (Even when they were new dealers would put drip pans under them in the showroom.) Could the smoke be from oil dripping on the exhaust?
It should be pretty easy to drop the transmission on one of those to see what's going on.
Thanks, but I'm in no condition to do it myself, have to find someone else to do it.
That makes things tough, I'm getting older myself and can't really do the heavy jobs any more. That being the case I would definitely get a 2nd opinion from another shop.
One thing that comes to mind is a trans seal could have blown and leaked out all the gear oil onto the exhaust, causing the smoke. Hope that's not it since it would mean having to replace the transmission. (I actually had that happen once on an old car with automatic trans where the converter neck cracked and dumped trans fluid out all over the exhaust system, making the car look like a mosquito fogger.)
Finding the second shop is the problem, my other go to shop was sold to AAA and they no longer work on classic cars. My mechanic neighbor passed away a couple of months ago so I'm blind right now as to where to go. Maybe I'll ask the local British car club. I'm not a member so I'm hesitant to just use them for info and not join, but they're quite a few miles away from me.
Actually when owning a classic vehicle, or anything out of the mainstream, joining a club can be a good thing for support and info even if they're not local. Another possibility would be asking in some MG and British Car oriented online forums for leads on mechanics in your area. Who knows, if you let us know here what area you're in maybe Scotty or someone else might have a referral for you.
Chuck, I'm in the Las Vegas area.
I'm in the Northeast so am not familiar with any mechanics out there, and it's out of Scotty's area as well. Anyone else from around there reading here know someone who works on classic cars?