Again, thanks for a useful forum!

Second issue with my 'new' Stilo.

The gear stick feels very 'lumpy', so much that it is easy to overshoot the middle position making it hard to select 3/4 gear first time when moving from 2nd or 5th. It doesn't self centre. Unlike, other threads I have found it is not a complete failure, I can select all gears and drive the car but it would be nice to get 3/4 first time and going from 5-2nd is not going to prolong gearbox/clutch life!

The car has recently had a new clutch and all the gears work smoothly when making forward/backwards changes.

I'm wondering if this is a linkage problem or an issue with the gearstick gate, and if so, how do I fix it? Could it have been caused by hamfistery when the clutch was changed?

Problem solved!

The thread here: <cant add links!>

I disconnected the gear cables and removed the pivot (with extreme difficulty, it was almost locked solid, it's amazing the cable hadn't given up). looks like the alloy housing had tightened up on the pin as simply cleaning out and moly grease wasn't enough, I had to polish about a thou off the pin to get it to go in, I fancy it's still a bit stiff as it doesn't spring to the centre, but no lumpiness and easy to move.

Will have another go at it in daylight, I suspect the real cure would be sticking a reamer through the hole in the gear housing (I suspect the bore is slightly distorted), but I'm not sure how you would get one in.

Neil ()Stub)

Glad you fixed it mate. It doesn't seem to happen very often on the Stilos but the Alfa 147,156,GT range all suffer with this quite frequently.

Never heard of anyone needing to shave metal or bore holes to get it back to working order like but whatever works for you. It is possible some corrosion has built up on one of the surfaces causing it to bind, I suppose!

Hi, It might be corrosion, steel running in alloy is asking for it.

I will poke a twist drill through and spin it by hand to poke out any crud.