406oc.co.uk

Gearstick is very sloppy on front to back movement (move at least twice as far as it should). Side to side is pretty good, just front to back.

Anyone any idea of parts/work/cost involved in rectifying?

thanks

Look under the bonnet. You should see the shifter balljoints on the top of the gearbox to the rear of it. Behind that (barely reachable) the cables should be secured to a bracket with a inverted 'U' shaped clips. Check around that area, I think onemay have come loose

thanks mjb, i'll take a look at that!

I found the clips you mention, but both see to be secure. Seems to be a very small amount of play in the visible linkages, but not enough to cause such a large amount of movement.

Where is the slop? Can you get someone to look at the gearbox while you wiggle the stick?

Pop the balljoints off the gearbox (if it's the ML5T, the one at the end of the swing arm is the forward/back motion) and move the gearbox lever(s) by hand. The one worked by the left-right motion should be spongey and centre in the middle. The other at the end of the ML5T's swing arm should be clunky and should move with very positive movement. Dunno about any other gearbox arrangement though... think the 6-speed box has 3 balljoints?

If those are all ok, you're probably looking at worn linkage cables, or worn bits in the bottom of the gearstick 'box' thing (requires removal of the exhaust pipe heat shield to access)