Reluctance to select gears

[Hungry_Horse_1955]

My gearbox is becoming increasingly difficult to select a gear!

I have a suspicion that it is a combination of a worn clutch (although there is no slippage) and worn linkage! However it does appear to be the gear syncro (sic) as sometimes it graunches and other times it appears to baulk! Reverse is particularily bad as I can no longer engage it without graunching!

Any ideas before I splash out on a new clutch and linkage (and perhaps a new clutch cable)?

[86 Syncro]

Have you checked the fluid level in the transmission? When was the last time the oil was changed in it?

Have you checked the clutch cable? If it has too much slack, you will not be able to fully disengage the clutch.

[Mikes]

I’ve just finished changing my clutch and almost got it back in the car!
my clutch had gone so replaced it.
Luckily I decided to change the release bearing when I noticed the whole arm had cracked and was bent. so got a new one of those only a tenner so cheap as chips.
Having seen how they can fall apart I’d recommend changing that at the same time as the clutch.
Mine had become more difficult to engage gear towards the end of the life of the clutch.

[alexisblades]

Clutch release arm on the rod-change boxes is a common fault. Mine went once. Can be changed with the gearbox in-situ I believe, by removing the green endcap from the gearbox.

[Hungry_Horse_1955]

Thanks for the info chaps. I’ll replace everything, including the cable (had them go before as well). Anybody know anything about these gear linkage ‘upgrade’ kits or would I be better off just replacing the bushes?

[86 Syncro]

From what I’ve seen, those upgrade kits only apply to standard FWD transmissions.

The Syncro shifter assembly, in my opinion, is a much better design, and not as prone to the typical MKII shifter slop due to worn bushings.

One of the main causes of sloppy shifters in the MKII/III cars is this bastard right here:

The rubber ball on the relay lever deteriorates over time, and sometimes will completely fall off!

The Syncro shifter doesn’t have this part at all, so I just replaced the few bushings that were on the linkages, and called it a day.

[Author]

Posts