2002 F4I weird and clunky when shifting? especially second gear! help!
 

So I have a 2002 F4I with 31k miles. The clutch is soft and easy to squeeze but shifting gears kind of freak me out. Every time I shift up to second I could feel the gear sort of grind. I also see the neutral light on. I thought my problem was not shifting firmly but even if I do I could feel that shifting to second gear is not smooth. Also is every time I pull in the clutch all the way, I notice my RPMs dont drop down to zero. Correct me if I am wrong but pulling the clutch in all the way is like putting it to neutral right? everytime I pull it in, I could still see the RPMs would stay at like 3 or 4k RPMs.

no pulling in the clutch disengages the gear from power. Neutral is just letting the engine spin freely. if the clunkyness is from 1st to 2nd, its always not as smooth as the other up shifts because there is neutral in between. A missed shift into neutral instead of 2nd happens to all of us

When switching from first to second you have to pass Neutral, so that could be why you see the light.

the F4i is notoriously clunky when shifting anyways. Meh my RR is pretty clunky too actually. I prefer to think of it as.... firm and noticeable.

Your clutch may be soft because the cable is streching. It may not be fully dis-engageing the clutch. This is often the cause of clunky shifting. And certainly the cheapest to fix. Does your clutch lever have more than a 1/4-3/8 of take-up before you feel it firm up and pull on the clutch? If not, try adjusting it at the lever until it does, or down on the side of the engine if that won't correct it. You DO want just a little slack to be sure the clutch fully engages when you let go.
Ern