Stiff gear & expensive repair

EWA2

EWA2

Member
Hello all,
Sasha, my '03 diesel, suddenly developed stiffness when shifting gears. My mechanic previously looked at the car with a similar issue around 18/24 months ago. When the problem reoccurred, I assumed it would be a low cost maintenence repair. I've been told the repair is likely to be quite costly and not something he does.
Looking for advice, really. I am in north Hampshire and would prefer to not sink a bunch of cash into a car that would otherwise make for a good project car for someone who knows what they are doing.
Thanks in advance
Emma 👍🏽
 
It could be the selector tower or maybe the gear cables. Gear cables are NLA so a commercial garage would not tackle this repair. You could ask your mechanic to detach the cables from the tower and see if the gearstick is still stiff. Yes, cables, you have a problem. No, tower, easy fix but parts are expensive.
 
Hi Emma,

You haven't said what remedy your mechanic put in place last time, but two culprits immediately spring to mind. Firstly, the selector tower on the top of the gearbox that translates all your movements of the gear lever into the appropriate shaft movements inside the gearbox. Secondly, the cables that link the gear lever to the tower. The tower would probably be the lesser job to change of the two, as quite a lot of stuff has to come out of the way to allow you to access and change the cables. Not to mention that they are no longer available new, and good ones don't come up secondhand very often.

I would be inclined to find out from your mechanic exactly what he thinks the problem is and post that here. This will allow you/us to research it and arrive at a ballpark figure and any other considerations in getting it fixed. This will help your decision as to whether or not to sell, and other members' decisions as to whether to buy (and at what sort of price) or not.

If you did want to put the car up for sale as a project on this forum, you would first need to upgrade your account to access the Market, then post a thread in the Cars section there. Click on your profile name in the black menu bar and select Account Upgrades to get started, there's a £2 one-time fee via PayPal. You will need to have a price in mind to state on your Market advert, just 'offers' is not sufficient (although adding 'or near offer' to a price is fine).
 
Proghound said:
Hi Emma,

You haven't said what remedy your mechanic put in place last time, but two culprits immediately spring to mind. Firstly, the selector tower on the top of the gearbox that translates all your movements of the gear lever into the appropriate shaft movements inside the gearbox. Secondly, the cables that link the gear lever to the tower. The tower would probably be the lesser job to change of the two, as quite a lot of stuff has to come out of the way to allow you to access and change the cables. Not to mention that they are no longer available new, and good ones don't come up secondhand very often.

I would be inclined to find out from your mechanic exactly what he thinks the problem is and post that here. This will allow you/us to research it and arrive at a ballpark figure and any other considerations in getting it fixed. This will help your decision as to whether or not to sell, and other members' decisions as to whether to buy (and at what sort of price) or not.

If you did want to put the car up for sale as a project on this forum, you would first need to upgrade your account to access the Market, then post a thread in the Cars section there. Click on your profile name in the black menu bar and select Account Upgrades to get started, there's a £2 one-time fee via PayPal. You will need to have a price in mind to state on your Market advert, just 'offers' is not sufficient (although adding 'or near offer' to a price is fine).
Click to expand...
Thank you - i am collecting my car and having a chat with the mechanic on Friday so will update you all then. Thanks again
 
Have been having similar issues over the last 18 months. But mine is intermittent. It can go months as smooth as butter but then overnight stiff as cardboard. And then back again. Very odd.
 
It might be worth contacting B&F Autos in West Hounslow, near the tube, not a million miles from North Hants, very knowledgable on all matters A2 and not stupidly priced. Gary or John. They are happy to impart knowledge over the phone.

Best of luck
 
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