Hi everyone,

Hope some kind soul can give a newbie and very non mechanical mind some pointers to my problem. I've got a 1984 Ducato campervan 2.5TD and I am unable to get reverse gear. It will not go into the slot and even trying to hold in reverse you can just hear it churning a little. sometimes I can get it in but it just knocks straight back out again. Any ideas what could be wrong? Will it need a complete new gearbox or is there an easier (and cheaper !!) way of getting to the root of it?

Fingers crossed

Cheers

Bruno

Hi
I would be looking at the gear lever linkages, cables & the selector levers on the top of the gearbox as a starting point. There is a previous post on a broken gear lever problem with one of the later 244 models with an attached word doc in which I put some pictures up in regard to the gear lever assembly & its adjustment. But these are for the 244 version so whether your model is anything like them ??
There are very limited diagrams of the gearbox selector linkages & their adjustment even for the later 244 models let alone for the early Ducatos or even the pre 1999 models. I would get someone to operate the gear lever trying to select reverse while checking the selector lever operation on the gearbox top. Which will require lying under the vehicle (under the cab) to view the action of the selectors as if your model is like the later models you cannot see anything from the top.
see - https://www.fiatforum.com/ducato/227604-gearstick-selector.html
If you cannot see any problem with the external lever assembly it could be in the gearbox itself or it could even be the clutch but as you haven't said there is crunching etc it may be just a selector/cable problem.
Sorry not much to go on but is the best I can advise.
Cheers

Hi

As FreeSpirit said it is difficult to guess what the problem might be without actually looking. However the pre-95 vans had a non-cable gear linkage and these are notorious for wearing and then being difficult to engage in that the gearlever hits the dashboard before engaging. I remember once parking on a sideways slope and the sideways slump of the engine stopped me getting first gear. The rear engine mount, which is attached to the gearbox, can also wear & cause problems.

If you do determine that the problem is the linkage rather than the box, Derek of Delfin Designs offers a reconditioned exchange linkage.

http://www.delfindesigns.co.uk/