My wife drives my Dobbie on a regular basis - I get to drive it on the weekends, and within a week the gear stick has developed looseness it never has before. Moreover it knocks when putting it in gear and when changing gears (eg. from 2nd to 3rd it'll knock when passing neutral). The play is about 1" in any gear or in neutral AND in a top/down/left/right direction. I've got no problems with putting in any of the gears, it's just irritating and I don't know if this will get worse or not. Anyone have this issue with the 1.9 JTD Doblo (2009)? It sounds like the noise and play is coming right from the stick, but while there is a bit of play there, it looks like the source is at the gearbox end. What could cause this much play practically overnight?

Thanks