General Gear linkage cable adjustment

[Dermot]

Hi all,
Son no 3 has bought a Punto 2b and just after taking it home, it has become impossible to get reverse i.e. when the lever is fully over to the right (with the collar lifted of course), it does not get the linkage actuator into the correct plane for reverse. Even to get fifth, the lever has to be held hard over to the right. The plastic adjuster at the gearbox end of the cable for the side to side gear lever movement is fully adjusted (i.e. making the cable its shortest). If you manually pull the lever on top of the gearbox a little further, it slips easily into reverse.


Any ideas? Can we 'shorten the cable' any way?


Even if we buy a new cable, would we be guaranteed it would work as the existing cable is not broken?


We bought the 05 model on the basis that the seller would change the clutch, which he did. We could easily get reverse before he changed it, but not now! He does not seem to have bent the cable holding bracket when removing the gearbox or anything like that.


While I know we can send the car back, I am not sure what satisfaction we will get, so an easy repair would be the best option.


Thanks in anticipation!

 

[Ziggy122]

Engine running or not running make any difference

Maybe he has bent the holder for the cables

Failing that ensure the adjuster is actually at full slop
Iirc one is adjustable via a nut andnother is done via cable

 

[Dermot]

Thanks Ziggy,
It seems to be the same whether engine is started or not. There is no other evidence of clutch drag so I think its just not pulling the lever far enough. I had thought he may have bent cable holder as you suggest, but i dont think so.
The adjuster is a neat plastic one which allows you to position the gear lever in the correct alignment then fix the adjuster position - it works fine except its out of adjustment range. Any possibility that there is any possible adjustment beneath the gearbox?
Thanks

 

[s and b]

the cable you are adjusting are you going the right way
ive never not been able to set up a punto precisely with the adjuster but often struggled to get the slidy bit down without drawing blood till i realised i needed my hot air gun on it for a few seconds
try again as its a fine line to get it spot on

 

[Dermot]

Thanks S and B,
I know its hard to figure which way to adjust it, but I tried moving it the other way and thought I had it solved until I realised that what I thought was reverse was 4th gear!

I hope i have a photo attached. The adjuster itself seems to work quite well i.e. I can move it easily to any position and it holds in that position, but I cannot get it to pull the lever enough to get into the reverse gear plane.

As i said earlier, I don't want to buy a new cable just to find the same problem!

Regards

 

[digger58]

Is it driving in all other gears? The reverse selector may be out of the "fingers" on the selector shaft

 

[Dermot]

Yes, fine in other gears although gear lever has to be held hard to the right to get 5th. Don't think it's a selector issue though as if you help the cable by pulling the top gearbox lever by hand, it slips easily into reverse. Any adjustment possible beneath the car??

 

[digger58]

Is there anything cracked under the gear lever that is allowing too much play? There is a lot of plastic there, it is obviously the side to side movement that is the problem, I have a spare gear lever set up if you want it FoC!

 

[Dermot]

Thanks for the offer Digger.
I couldn't see any of the plastic broken under the gear cover, but I will look when the car comes home for the weekend (hoping he doesn't get stuck needing reverse in the meantime!). There does not seem to be a lot of play though. I will check.
Dermot

 

[mikediaz]

Hi Dermot!, I'm having the same issue with my 6 gear Punto, only that the issue is with the 1 gear, did you solved it?

Don't want to waste money on a new cable expecting to be the same issue.

Tyvm!

 

[bugsymike]

From what you say it does sound like the damage happened when fitting the new clutch, if good before, so unless he had the selector part off the top of the box and did something there, it sounds like someone got a bit heavy handed.In which case he should fix it for free.
Apart from that some people have had an issue with the external arm sticking in a bush, I don't know if that is relevant in your case.

 

[koalar]

Hi Dermot!, I'm having the same issue with my 6 gear Punto, only that the issue is with the 1 gear, did you solved it?

Don't want to waste money on a new cable expecting to be the same issue.

Tyvm!

Here’s how I diagnosed not going into 1st on a Panda. Hopefully yours will be a similar system

The gear-lever does not have enough movement to fully go into 1st gear

If you look at the selector at the top of the gearbox it quite large and heavy. It uses it weight and momentum to select the gears smoothly.


With the engine off. If you can manually select 1st from the leaver on top of the gearbox but not from the gear-lever the problem could be too much friction in the cable.


if a bit of oil on the gearbox end of the cable helps temporarily. You have your answer


Don’t use grease by the way.

 

[judderbar]

Thanks S and B,
I know its hard to figure which way to adjust it, but I tried moving it the other way and thought I had it solved until I realised that what I thought was reverse was 4th gear!

I hope i have a photo attached. The adjuster itself seems to work quite well i.e. I can move it easily to any position and it holds in that position, but I cannot get it to pull the lever enough to get into the reverse gear plane.

As i said earlier, I don't want to buy a new cable just to find the same problem!

Regards

I know this is an old thread but to answer the original users question this same problem came up recently with another poster? The arm on the gearbox should be almost pointing straight backwards when you are in reverse. The poster in this thread (now) had the clutch changed by the seller and it worked correctly before. The seller probably undid the bolt on the arm to release the cable, and now the arm is not correctly positioned. When the nut is undone the bolt drops lower but it cannot fall into the gearbox. It takes a bit of fiddling to get it correctly positioned because the bolt has to go lower to make the movement and you have to turn it with it almost inside the hole, but it is easily fixed.

 

[bugsymike]

I know this is an old thread but to answer the original users question this same problem came up recently with another poster? The arm on the gearbox should be almost pointing straight backwards when you are in reverse. The poster in this thread (now) had the clutch changed by the seller and it worked correctly before. The seller probably undid the bolt on the arm to release the cable, and now the arm is not correctly positioned. When the nut is undone the bolt drops lower but it cannot fall into the gearbox. It takes a bit of fiddling to get it correctly positioned because the bolt has to go lower to make the movement and you have to turn it with it almost inside the hole, but it is easily fixed.

As judderbar says, easy to get misaligned.
It used to be common on doing clutches on Ford Escorts as there was a shaft pinched in place by a 13mm nut and bolt so it could move all ways, however a little "tippex" at the joint and it was easy to align.

 

[judderbar]

I know this is an old thread but to answer the original users question this same problem came up recently with another poster? The arm on the gearbox should be almost pointing straight backwards when you are in reverse. The poster in this thread (now) had the clutch changed by the seller and it worked correctly before. The seller probably undid the bolt on the arm to release the cable, and now the arm is not correctly positioned. When the nut is undone the bolt drops lower but it cannot fall into the gearbox. It takes a bit of fiddling to get it correctly positioned because the bolt has to go lower to make the movement and you have to turn it with it almost inside the hole, but it is easily fixed.

Sorry I got mixed up. the linkage is pointing backwards in neutral *and* the poster i first replied to had an adjustable cable. So it was just the cable adjuster that needed changing a bit

Replaced gear shifter cables, now I can't get in to reverse | FIAT Punto (Mk2/2b)

Hoping someone can help as I've been at my wits end trying to fix this and I just want it over ahaha. The gear linkage cable responsible for moving across the gearbox broke while I was driving, which left me unable to shift over from the first and second gears. I've since replaced both...

www.fiatforum.com

 

[mikediaz]

Here’s how I diagnosed not going into 1st on a Panda. Hopefully yours will be a similar system

The gear-lever does not have enough movement to fully go into 1st gear

If you look at the selector at the top of the gearbox it quite large and heavy. It uses it weight and momentum to select the gears smoothly.


With the engine off. If you can manually select 1st from the leaver on top of the gearbox but not from the gear-lever the problem could be too much friction in the cable.


if a bit of oil on the gearbox end of the cable helps temporarily. You have your answer


Don’t use grease by the way.

I found that in order to select first gear you need to pull up the lever that you use for reverse (since I've 6th gear) and then you're able to, to put it on reverse you've to go far far left, even on 2nd gear you've to use the lever, it's like the entire gear are far to the left, for now, I'm able to use first and second gear using thing lever.

 

[koalar]

I found that in order to select first gear you need to pull up the lever that you use for reverse (since I've 6th gear) and then you're able to, to put it on reverse you've to go far far left, even on 2nd gear you've to use the lever, it's like the entire gear are far to the left, for now, I'm able to use first and second gear using thing lever.

2125C30 GEAR ENGAGEMENT/SELECTION CABLES - R.R - Fiat - GRANDE PUNTO - eLearn - 4CarData

 

[mikediaz]

2125C30 GEAR ENGAGEMENT/SELECTION CABLES - R.R - Fiat - GRANDE PUNTO - eLearn - 4CarData

Thank you very much!, I found the workshop manual that says that I need to lock the transmission to avoid any gear shift, (image attached) says that I need to use a 5mm fitting, but I'm not sure if this is necessary, since it is not mentioned in the guide you posted.

Is there any video that explains it more clearly?

Thank you very much again!

 

[judderbar]

Thank you very much!, I found the workshop manual that says that I need to lock the transmission to avoid any gear shift, (image attached) says that I need to use a 5mm fitting, but I'm not sure if this is necessary, since it is not mentioned in the guide you posted.

View attachment 415052

Is there any video that explains it more clearly?

Thank you very much again!

If you have a grande punto you are in the wrong section of the forum. This place is for the older punto

 

[mikediaz]

If you have a grande punto you are in the wrong section of the forum. This place is for the older punto

I posted it on the right section but I didn't receive any reply, so I was trying to find other alternatives, however the guide postee by Koalar is indeed for Grands Punto