Please, can someone point me in the right direction, I have taken the air cleaner off but just cannot see anything that looks like this pivot point and there is masses of information on this gear shifting problem with the Ducato, I also had it with the fiat 500.

I must be looking in the wrong place, I have under with van on ramps but still can't find it.

It's the 2.8 JTD 2004.

I would love to be able to fix this myself, it's been an expensive year on the van and the 500.

Here's a picture from underneath showing the linkage connection.
The black rubber pipe in the top LH corner is the one that come from the windscreen scuttle and conveniently drains over the gearbox! Extend this pipe so it drains away from the gearbox top.

Fantastic and thank you, I think it is more difficult to work on with my particular model of motorhome that has the Ducato engine. I have a Burstner Elegance which has a tiny hatch for what is known as "the bonnet".

I managed to squirt masses of WD40 type stuff at the area after taking out the air cleaner, I also managed squirting from below. The initial effect of the WD40 was to free the sticky shift but to be honest I don't understand how some DIY mechanics have managed to take this assembly to bits then re-assemble.

I finished the job with masses of spray-on white grease which was sort of like throwing a handful of stones at something. The white grease has covered the area, the shifting is now smoother and that pipe you refer to now has a six inch extension on it so hopefully any moisture with miss the linkage and pivot area.

Thank you very much.

When I did this job I did it from below and without any dismantling of the linkage.

There is a securing nut and washer under the black plastic 'dust cover' in the centre of Toyogran's photo. If these are removed it is possible to persuade the pivoting bracket far enough along it's shaft (even without removing cables etc) to also get some grease onto this.

The dust cover is designed to stop the grease getting washed away so does an equally good job in preventing fresh grease being sprayed in there

I fully understand your point, and your point elaborates on my thoughts that throwing spray grease all over the place might be a short term fix.

I'm going to hand this job over to the boys that sorted the Fiat 500 gear problem out, in the mean-time I got myself out of a mess with your help. The mess I refer to is when one of the cable ends becomes detached from being forced and I ended up with third gear. Nothing else.

When I bought the van at four years old and 12.000miles the shifting was agricultural compared to other vehicles I've driven and including the more modern Fiat Ducato engines/gearboxes though considering our four years old Fiat 500 had a very similar problem then I'm hopefully forgiven for thinking this is a Fiat-thing.

Dribbling water over the pivot point must have taken a lot of consideration.

Thanks again for your help.

Hi!

I had a similar issue, and for my end, it was the hydraulics. It got harder and harder to get the car into gears. At the end I could not manage to get it in any gears, that due to the clutch did not free up properly or enough.

I just put my foot under the clutch pedal and pulled it out/backwards. I could feel the fluids moving and jippiiii it worked again.

It seems to be a valve that leaks a bit over time i the hydraulic system, and by pulling it back, the fluid gets on the right side of the piston. I do this now and then, and the clutch works fine again.

Sounds to good to be true, but it works for me... lol...

RogerThat

Thanks for the Roger, it's always good to learn of a problem-fix. After many months and surviving a winter me spraying grease from underneath appears to be holding out. Presumably a little heat from the engine will help that spray grease I sprayed all over the linkage arrangement to migrate.

PapaD said:

...ok got them off. I used 13mm and 17mm fixed spanners for the small (pivot) and large (shift) ball joints, respectively, and just popped them off like beer capsules.
And the shift cable was a bit tough to pull when removed, very high friction inside. I will remove it and see if I can grease it. But I still can't get 4th gear into place by hand... I will grease everything up, reinstall it and hope that 4th gear will work when the gearbox is being rotated. But I have a bad feeling about it. :-(

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Hi, did you fix this problem? I have same but with 2nd gear.