Citica 200 problem

[boudroux]

Last night I took apart a Citica that is a year old to do a service.  Holy cow the amount of grease that was in it from the factory was amazing.  It was caked with a metric ton of grease everywhere and was a complete mess.

So after cleaning it all up as best as possible it went back together easy.  When I put it in free spool and turn the crank with a quick motion everything operated like it should.  However if I turn the handle softly/gently the thumb lever comes up half way and sticks leaving the reel in free spool however if I continue turning the handle the level wind goes back and forth like it should even though the the spool is free.  The slightest little touch with my thumb and it clicks the rest of the way into gear.  So I took it apart again and everything looks like it did when I disassembled it inside.  I checked the best I could externally for an obstruction in the groove of the thumb release and all looks well.  

I'm not sure what else could be hanging the thumb release up like this since I can't see anything in the groove of the release, the little rod that slides inside the thumb release groove is clean and looks normal. 

Not sure why it goes into gear with a quick turn but hangs up on a gentle turn.  

Any suggestions?  Is it possible I bent/damaged one of the two little springs next to the pinion gear or something?

Thank you in advance for any suggestions.

[Delaware Valley Tackle]

Did you degrease everything? Lubricate sliding parts with a Med to heavy oil. Other thing is that gently turning the handle is not normal operating motion and will cause many reels to hang up 

[22hertz]

Did you put the spring back correctly?

I could think of a couple things that you could have put back incorrectly (reversed)

 

Look through these 3 videos and double check everything is back together right.

Also I break down my reels 100% (more than in this video), thoroughly clean everything and put a tiny amount of grease on all sliding parts.

 

 

[The Bassman]

Check to make sure you didn't put the pinion yoke back upside down. The ramps should fit like a puzzle.

 

Edit:  The video showed it.  I was too lazy to watch.  My bad.

[DomQ]

6 hours ago, The Bassman said:

Check to make sure you didn't put the pinion yoke back upside down. The ramps should fit like a puzzle.

 

Edit:  The video showed it.  I was too lazy to watch.  My bad.

you and me both

[BassThumb]

Next time you break down a reel, take a close-up picture (with flash) of every step and save it to your computer. They'll come in handy, year after year. A computer desk with a bright light is a great place to clean reels in the offseason, and your pics will right at your fingertips if you need them.

[boudroux]

Thank you for the replies.  I tried fishing with it this past weekend and the problem got worse so I'm sending it in to a shop to have a look.  I took it apart and reassembled a third time and it seemed good to go but after fishing with it for a little while the casting distance dropped like a rock no matter what settings I used on the brakes and it refused to go into gear unless I really jammed the handle hard.

 

Hopefully it isn't anything major and someone who knows what they are doing whips it into shape.