Hi guys,

Profuse apologies if this has been asked many times (and seeing as it happened in my old mk1 punto it probably has), but i'm new to the forum being one that sammiboo has bought over from the coupe forum , but I'm having trouble engaging 1st gear in my 1999 's' reg 85 ELX 16v from neutral. It only refuses to do it occasionally (maybe once every week) and generally when cold-ish or starting uphill (which ain't great when you have to pull away in 2nd ).

The car has only done 38k and hasn't been driven hard (my mum had it from nearly new until 32k), so surely the gearbox ain't on the way out. Brake/clutch fluid is fine and took the gaitor cover off and lubed that up too.

Is it a common fault and how much to repair? It did it on my old 1997 Punto for about 50k miles and I never got it sorted before i part-exd it. I'm not too keen on spending a load as I already have another car that does that for me and the Punto is great for taking anywhere with car parks or where my baby coop might be at risk....

Any advice/help gratefully received

Hi, have you checked the oil level in gearbox? I've had similar problems which were cured by topping up the gearbox oil.

Regards,
Chris.

I know it's not the solution, but my old 55S used to do this quite often, the way to get it in was to lift the clutch up and push it down again then give it another try and it slipped in a treat. I had a hire Punto that did the same on holiday once too.