Wheels moving with car in neutral?!

timbob · 17 Sep 2006 at 20:39

Had my car jacked up today with the wheels on, had just fitted a new PAS pump, and was bleeding the system. I had the engine idling, and was turning the wheels from lock to lock when I noticed that they were turning.... Double checked I was in neutral, and sure enough, with the clutch engaged in neutral, the wheels were turning. If I grabbed a wheel, it would stop so there wasn't much drive getting through.... But surely something is wrong?

Could it be that my clutch has been fitted on the squiff, and it's ever-so-slightly rubbing? Or does it sound like a gearbox problem?

Tomsk · 17 Sep 2006 at 20:58

It's just vibration making the wheels turn.

Rich1988 · 17 Sep 2006 at 21:09

vibration from the engine will cause the wheels to turn slowly, sometimes they turn backwards

GT3 · 17 Sep 2006 at 21:33

Not a problem, both my saxos have done it.

Akira · 17 Sep 2006 at 22:37

Don't worry about it.

timbob · 17 Sep 2006 at 22:56

Cool, thanks guys

An engineer mate of mine has said the same thing too, so I'm not worried anymore!

Tesla · 17 Sep 2006 at 23:01

My Mondeo was doing this last weekend, so I grabbed my Dad and he was like "what a dumb ass" it's the engine vibrations.

Rich1988 · 17 Sep 2006 at 23:19

Tesla said:
"what a dumb ass"

Quoted for truth.

Tesla · 17 Sep 2006 at 23:28

Rich1988 said:
Quoted for truth.

Cheers Rich! I'll get you back....

(now you're worried!)

Rich1988 · 17 Sep 2006 at 23:45

Tesla said:
Cheers Rich! I'll get you back....

(now you're worried!)

I'm scared

Mickey_D · 18 Sep 2006 at 00:42

Actually, it's not engine vibrations that are doing it, it's viscous coupling in the tranny.

Even in neutral all the gears are within millimeters of each other. You get some thick liquid like gear oil surrounding them and it's going to transfer some of the movement from one shaft to the other, in other words from the input shaft to the wheels.

timbob · 18 Sep 2006 at 18:53

Mickey_D said:
Actually, it's not engine vibrations that are doing it, it's viscous coupling in the tranny.

Even in neutral all the gears are within millimeters of each other. You get some thick liquid like gear oil surrounding them and it's going to transfer some of the movement from one shaft to the other, in other words from the input shaft to the wheels.

Ah-ha! After reading and thinking about the "engine vibrations" theory, I remembered that putting my foot on the clutch stopped the movement, so now it all makes sense. Cheers dude!