My Dobby has often been a little difficult to get into first gear - often seeming as if it's in gear when it's not. This was also an issue for the previous owner, who bought the car as an ex-demo, so with not many miles on it.

Doing some checks this afternoon (and repairing a broken handbrake cable bracket), I was doing some firkling under the bonnet. As you do on a sunny Sunday.



At first look, it seemed like a rubber boot on the linkage, so I delved deeper



This was on the gear linkage "damper" that is on the fore/aft movement of the gear lever. The metal is a relatively large lump, probably to aid the gearchange by providing some inertia to the lever.

Turns out it was a well worn roll of 2" masking tape. It has obviously been there for some time, and did hamper the movement of the other linkage a little. So far, engaging first gear has improved.

How, when or why the roll was put on the linkage is a mystery. I suspect that it has been there from the factory. Certainly in my and the previous ownership, the engine hasn't been out, and the only work other than servicing has been a replacement water pump, which is on the other side of the engine.


The offending roll - the tape's not much good now!

Mike