General Stiff 5th and Reverse

[hodgy18]

Still having problems with my gears. They all work fine, but moving into 5th or reverse isnt the best.

One thing I notice is, it doesnt move across to the centre of the box. You have to give it a shove over.

Could this be the ball joint on the bottom of the gear stick, or is it the gear linkgage cables starting to stretch and not.do their job?

 

[DaveMcT]

The gear shifter is spring biassed to 3rd and 4th. Fifth needs a push to the right to make it less likely you'll hit 5th when you wanted 3rd.

It could be hydraulics or your clutch might be getting towards end of life. A worn panda clutch struggles to release so the gears get ever harder to use. The cheap test is to bleed the clutch hydraulics. If the problem goes away happy days. But worn seals pull in air so it may not last. You can get a replacement master cylinder for under £60.
https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/284124018771?fits=Car+Make:Fiat&hash=item42271c7853:g:X8kAAOSwmXJf4jSk

 

[koalar]

almost certainly will be the cables especially if is its the same with the engine off ?

there are two cable one transfers the front to back movement of the stick the other left to right.

there is an adjustment for left to right. This never alters. The fact you have to push lever is telling me its likely to be corroded internally

almost certainly nothing to do with the clutch or hydraulics which affects the other gears before 5th

 

[hodgy18]

When you say corroded internally, what are referring to please?

almost certainly will be the cables especially if is its the same with the engine off ?

there are two cable one transfers the front to back movement of the stick the other left to right.

there is an adjustment for left to right. This never alters. The fact you have to push lever is telling me its likely to be corroded internally

almost certainly nothing to do with the clutch or hydraulics which affects the other gears before 5th

 

[koalar]

I assume a little water has seeps between the inner and outer cable.


Doesn't need much extra resistance to make gear changes difficult

There's a lever at the back of the gearbox this pushes in and out as well as turning clockwise and anti clockwise


with the engine off. You can select all the gears expect reverse from here and watch the gearstick moving.


if it pushes in here easily but can't be pulled easily by the gearstick then the problem is the cable.



you can sometimes improve the selection by feeding a few drops of oil down the cable. Its a Good way to diagnose the problem but in my experience its a short term answer


dont use grease as I did First time. All the road dust stick to it and jams it back up in a hundred miles or so

 

[DaveMcT]

You cant easily rule out clutch or cables so check them all. Bleeding the clutch is super easy and new fluid never did the system any harm.

Cables are easy to disconnect from the gear box just mark one so you dont get confused putting them back. If it's free moving in all directions its not the cables. The issue is that battery and its tray has to come out to access the shifter levers.

 

[koalar]

You cant easily rule out clutch or cables so check them all. Bleeding the clutch is super easy and new fluid never did the system any harm.

Cables are easy to disconnect from the gear box just mark one so you dont get confused putting them back. If it's free moving in all directions its not the cables. The issue is that battery and its tray has to come out to access the shifter levers.

Just try selecting with the engine off ??

The ends of the cables only fit one way ??

 

[hodgy18]

I assume a little water has seeps between the inner and outer cable.


Doesn't need much extra resistance to make gear changes difficult

There's a lever at the back of the gearbox this pushes in and out as well as turning clockwise and anti clockwise


with the engine off. You can select all the gears expect reverse from here and watch the gearstick moving.


if it pushes in here easily but can't be pulled easily by the gearstick then the problem is the cable.



you can sometimes improve the selection by feeding a few drops of oil down the cable. Its a Good way to diagnose the problem but in my experience its a short term answer


dont use grease as I did First time. All the road dust stick to it and jams it back up in a hundred miles or so

Sorted my issue temporarily with a bit of lub on the cable ends and grease on the gear stick and its eased itself off!

Thanks for all the help