Horrible gearchange

[mjb]

Since this lunchtime, my gear lever is being iffy. I'm having trouble getting it into 3rd. The other gears are feeling 'wrong' too. It feels like I'm hitting something metal, a bit of a wiggle lets it go in gear

Now I've seen enough of Ed China's antics to know it's the gear linkage needing some grease, so I bought a tube of it... and guess what? According to servicebox, there's no linkage, it's 2 cables! Two seventy quid cables

Please can someone tell me how it's not going to be the cables, it's going to be something simple and cheap? Please?


I'm getting sick to death of this f*cking car now Talk about buying a f*cking lemon I want my saloon back. It didn't drive anywhere near as good and didn't look as good, but at least it wasn't as severely broken as this sodding thing

[jasper5]

Do they adjust?

Can you fit shims/washers behind the outer cable to adjust them?

Are the pins that go through the cables and gear linkage worn?

[mjb]

Do they adjust?

Looks like they might (just going by the servicebox diagram here)

Are the pins that go through the cables and gear linkage worn?

No idea. The pins (looks like bolts on the diagram) at the gearstick end are available as part of a kit, along with a new gasket and cover for the bottom of the gearstick housing. £80 So £80 just to have a look at the sodding thing?!?!

I'm not going to start swearing...
I'm not going to start swearing...
I'm not going to start swearing...

F**KING ARGH!

[jasper5]

Won't be at the gearchange end, the gearbox end pins might be worn, I did a Hyundai Lantra clutch last week, the cable pins were worn on that.Second gear was a bit tight.
The cable at the gearbox end may have an adjuster, but if not, like I said, sometimes the outer cable can be adjusted by putting shims in the end to tighten the cable.

[mjb]

It's shocking how this came on so suddenly. Before today it was like stirring porridge. Now it's like stirring porridge in a star-shaped bowl. Wonder if the brake fluid I managed to spill yesterday when I pushed the calliper in has managed to dissolve something. God don't let me need £200 worth of bits for the sake of a rubber boot or something

If I can adjust them (after finding them ), do you know how big/small should the adjustments be, in which direction, and which one I should adjust? Sorry for the questions, but when you're limited by the big light bulb in the sky, every second counts...

[Doggy]

Matt, have you seen the (very brief) Haynes description? I know the book doesn't cover v6's, but it's the same 'box. Haynes only describes removal / re-fitting the cables, but there is a picture of the g/box end of things. Shows 2 cables with 'ball joints' at the ends, which you prise off the selector levers. Cable outers held to g/box housing by spring clips. Some scope for something to be just dislodged from where it should be? To get at this, 'remove air cleaner assy & air inlet ducts'.

Hope it's not the gear lever end, 'remove the exhaust sytem & heat shields'.

ServiceBox drawing is useful too - look at 'Gear change control-gearbox side', under Transmission / Gearbox. Interestingly, the D8 version of this shows a repair kit, (possibly only 2.1TD / ML5T), comprising the 2 cable 'ends' c./w ball joints.

HTH

[Welly]

Me thinks you might need a break from fiddling with the car eh?

If the gear selection has suddenly got worse then maybe something's popped off, moved, stretched? you'd need to check what's going on down at the gearbox end of the cables I suppose.

All good experience though eh fella? eh?

[mjb]

Matt, have you seen the (very brief) Haynes description?

You know, the thought never actually occurred to me last night

ServiceBox drawing is useful too - look at 'Gear change control-gearbox side', under Transmission / Gearbox. Interestingly, the D8 version of this shows a repair kit, (possibly only 2.1TD / ML5T), comprising the 2 cable 'ends' c./w ball joints.

Where do you think I came up with the whole "£80 for a f***ing repair kit?!?!?" business

Interesting thing is servicebox, unless I was mistaken, doesn't show it as balljoints, rather it shows rings and a nut, which would presumably indicate a threaded fitting on the gearbox...

We shall see. I'll look tonight

Me thinks you might need a break from fiddling with the car eh?

You're right, and I'll get it when I'm confident of its ability to drive any distance without breaking... or until I run out of money (which will be very soon)

If the gear selection has suddenly got worse then maybe something's popped off, moved, stretched? you'd need to check what's going on down at the gearbox end of the cables I suppose.

Aye. I'm hoping it's not brake fluid spillage eaten through something rubber attached to something expensive. I've seen just how nasty that stuff is. I siphoned some out using a coolant tester while I was working last night. Just a few seconds exposure to the fluid left for a couple of hours, and the rubber "needle" of the tester had gone really manky...

All good experience though eh fella? eh?

Aye. I'll not forget to test drive a car again Definitely not worth the £1200, this

Did I mention the rear tyres have LOADS of tread except on the inner edge, where there's none at all? Yup, an easy MOT failure Going to try to figure out how to set the camber myself and make 'em run a bit more on the rest of the rubber until I can get some money for replacing them and a laser alignment. More money. Great

[Welly]

Mmm, I feel for you fella I really do.

Did I hear that you sold the saloon now?

[mjb]

The saloon was p/x'd, for the £555 it made on ebay... (nice flexible arrangement!)

[puggy]

" There But For The Grace Of God or matt in this case Go I " When this coop was first
posted on here i seriously considered putting my pug up for it but matt beat me to it.
Think the lesson is pretty pictures conceal the real car underneath.
Dont envy you working in the street matt have done my share of that If you
get stuck for a part or anything half way through a job give me a bell or txt i
will be more than happy to pop over and give you a lift . will pm you my number

[mark21TD]

Lets start again, you just finished bleeding the brakes and now the gear change has messed up.
Doe's the coupe share the master cylinder with clutch and brakes, could it just need bleeding as if the clutch is not disengauging properly it will make the box stiff and nochy, for the time it will take it's worth a shot and as you will no doubt have some fluid left over will cost nothing.(best type of fix)
It doe's seem strange that after messing with one problem you get another on a system that may be conected.
If like my 2.1 it has a seperate master cylinder then treet this post as uter drible

[muffindell]

I think the 407 has a dual shared system, so you may be correct.

[mjb]

Lets start again, you just finished bleeding the brakes and now the gear change has messed up.

The gear change messed up after pushing back a brake cylinder when the reservoir was full, causing lots of brake fluid to gush all over the gearbox

Doe's the coupe share the master cylinder with clutch and brakes, could it just need bleeding as if the clutch is not disengauging properly it will make the box stiff and nochy, for the time it will take it's worth a shot and as you will no doubt have some fluid left over will cost nothing.(best type of fix)

The clutch hydraulics are fine. They'd only take on air at the business end if the slave cylinder or pipework spring a leak. The clutch itself desperately needs replacing as it is slipping - meaning the slave cylinder needs to only barely touch it to take it to bite point, and when the pedal's on the floor the clutch plates are miles apart

In summary when the clutch pedal is pressed, the clutch is VERY disengaged, so it's not a clutch problem.


Worryingly it seems fine (apart from the porridge) when the car's stopped, which would seem to me to indicate it could be a completely unrelated synchromesh fault. I bloody hope not. I know I've got to drop the gearbox to change the clutch, but manually lifting around something that heavy really doesn't appeal, especially with my bad back Please let it be the linkage

[mjb]

Hahaha I was wrong again

Got home and it was happening after I turned the engine off, so I pop the lid and have a look

I can feel the problem when manipulating the gearbox arms directly

Yay

Can you say I bought a lucking femon? I'll be surprised if it's not on ebay by the end of the weekend, I'm that f*cked off with it