Hi, I have the clutch changed to my 2004 1.2 Panda by the local garage and the gear changes were odd when coming back. I could not find the 5th gear at all, called them and was going to take it back, but had to go on a longer business trip and never got around to take it back. Then I got used to the 5th gear being in strange places and sometimes I was able to find it and sometimes not. For a few day now, it has been almost impossible to find. Although today morning I realized that I can access the 5th gear by pulling the reverse ring up. The gear shifter is also wobbling loose left to right while in gear. What could be wrong?

Set the gearbox to first gear and remove the gear shift cable ball joints from the top of the box. They lever off (carefully) with a pry bar.

Now set the gear shifter to first gear, make sure the box is in first (not 3rd) and reconnect the ball joints. You should now have a full set.

Thanks, I will try this. Would not the incorrect positioning prevent gears 1/2 from not working?

Basically it wont work correctly if the box and shifter are out of phase. What you can actually select in that situation depends how much wear there is in the shifter system.

The garage came back with saying that some rubber had fallen off the shifter cable and they put a new one on, no charge and works beautifully

In other words, the 'cocked up' and then fixed the alignment issue!