Impossible to select 5th gear, am I on the right diagnostic track?

nolan

nolan

A2OC Donor
I've got a 52 plate 1.4 TDi (AMF engine) which I've owned for the last 5 years.

The gear change was always a bit notch but I changed the gearbox oil two years ago which improved it.

Recently the gear change has become notchy and now it's impossible to select 5th gear, it feels like something mechanical is blocking it. I followed the procedure to adjust the cables and I have gears 1-4 working nicely (plus reverse) but still no 5th, even when I over adjusted the cross gate action to see if I could get 5th at the expense of 1st just to help understand what was going on.

The car has done approx 150k miles and the selector tower feels pretty still, is that my first port of call now? Is it worth pulling it out to take a look or just order a new one? The shifter cables seem ok if a little stiff and I cleaned and greased the ball mechanism when the car was new (to me!).

Any ideas before I take things apart or start ordering the wrong parts? :)
 
nolan said:
I've got a 52 plate 1.4 TDi (AMF engine) which I've owned for the last 5 years.

The gear change was always a bit notch but I changed the gearbox oil two years ago which improved it.

Recently the gear change has become notchy and now it's impossible to select 5th gear, it feels like something mechanical is blocking it. I followed the procedure to adjust the cables and I have gears 1-4 working nicely (plus reverse) but still no 5th, even when I over adjusted the cross gate action to see if I could get 5th at the expense of 1st just to help understand what was going on.

The car has done approx 150k miles and the selector tower feels pretty still, is that my first port of call now? Is it worth pulling it out to take a look or just order a new one? The shifter cables seem ok if a little stiff and I cleaned and greased the ball mechanism when the car was new (to me!).

Any ideas before I take things apart or start ordering the wrong parts? :)
Click to expand...
This happened to my AMF on around 295,000 miles. No warning - and third had always been a bit notchy like yours. Drove into supermarket after work without issue. Left supermarket and found I couldn't select anything beyond 2nd - felt like there was a barrier to moving the lever across the gate. Same whether moved with the gear lever or by shifting the selector on top of the box. No prior noises or crunches indicative of a moment of catastrophe.

Luckily I had a spare gearbox from my BHC left over from the PTW 6-speed swap, and my local mechanic was able to swap it in a couple of days later.

If you can get one, I would replace with another box (5- or 6-speed) rather than messing around with towers or opening it up. Now there is much more info about compatible much later MQ250-family 5- and 6-speed boxes there should be an affordable box with similar gearing characteristics (unless you are looking for much lengthened gearing such as a JDD) available for not much money and a lot lower mileage readily available from a scrappy.
 
Check the water catcher in the engine bay is positioned correctly. Mine wasn’t, dripped water directly into the gearbox and destroyed it. Started with 5th, 2nd and 3rd began to go eventually too.
 
nolan said:
I've got a 52 plate 1.4 TDi (AMF engine) which I've owned for the last 5 years.

The gear change was always a bit notch but I changed the gearbox oil two years ago which improved it.

Recently the gear change has become notchy and now it's impossible to select 5th gear, it feels like something mechanical is blocking it. I followed the procedure to adjust the cables and I have gears 1-4 working nicely (plus reverse) but still no 5th, even when I over adjusted the cross gate action to see if I could get 5th at the expense of 1st just to help understand what was going on.

The car has done approx 150k miles and the selector tower feels pretty still, is that my first port of call now? Is it worth pulling it out to take a look or just order a new one? The shifter cables seem ok if a little stiff and I cleaned and greased the ball mechanism when the car was new (to me!).

Any ideas before I take things apart or start ordering the wrong parts? :)
Click to expand...
I used this video- found it on this site- to adjust Alison's rather notchy change.

I'd advise using the guide that assumes the Gearbox end locking pin is broken.

My second attempt used this method. That is covered in the second part of the video:
 
This thread details my experience with similar problems:

Little Dog

Thread 'Gear change issues 2003 TDi 150K miles'

I know this is a regular topic but I've not been able to find reference to the problem I'm experiencing. Poor gear change to 3rd and 4th is common but in my case the problem appears to be temperature related.

I made adjustments as this video

The selector lever appeared loose in the gearbox and had to jiggled around quite a bit to get the locking pin engaged correctly. I also cleaned of all traces of shredded gator and greased everything.

vx8tGHv.jpg


The result is supper smooth changes in all gears on a cold start. As the gearbox warms up...
 
Thanks for the information, I guess it makes sense to look at the selector bearing before I do anything too expensive.

I'll have a search to find what selector bearing part I need as it would be nice to have the bits to hand before I take it apart. I think the drain cup was in the right place but I'll double check that as well.

My gearstick end is cleaner than it was but nowhere near as good as the one pictured above, maybe a good idea to do that at the same time.
 
nolan said:
Thanks for the information, I guess it makes sense to look at the selector bearing before I do anything too expensive.

I'll have a search to find what selector bearing part I need as it would be nice to have the bits to hand before I take it apart. I think the drain cup was in the right place but I'll double check that as well.

My gearstick end is cleaner than it was but nowhere near as good as the one pictured above, maybe a good idea to do that at the same time.
Click to expand...
I can supply a solid brass bush which is far more robust than the original needle bearing. I have fitted three now and they work fine.
 
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