[siacelestar]

Hello everyone,

got my MkII 1.8TD recently with about 85000 miles on the clock.

After a few weeks the first gear is getting harder and harder to find, now to engage into first gear i either have to use brutal force (which i don't really have) or go into second gear then first (at standstill)

Is the gear selector dead or worn out? How much should I be looking at for fixing this? Got warranty with the car but it has got smallprints saying 'excluding all wear and tear' so just ask here first before got rejected and feel sad!

 

[totalguy]

i had a similar problem on a sierra but what was happening is i couldnt go down to second if iwanted second i had to force it towards fitrst but not actually put it in first then put it in second, i just changed the gearbox it was easy enough on them

 

[siacelestar]

Surely changing the gearbox sounds straight forward, but i have only spend two grand on the car itself spending one and a half on the gearbox doesn't sound right.

Is this hard to fix anyway? Or has anyone else got any similar experience with warranty or repairing? It's starting to get annoying especially as i live near the city centre with a bit of hill climb close by... :innocent:

 

[siacelestar]

Just rang up the dealer... and he said that if it's wear and tear it will definitely not be covered...

But then he said the selector linkage (which he reckons what's going wrong) will only cost about £25 to replace. Does that sound alright or too good to be true?

 

[totalguy]

Surely changing the gearbox sounds straight forward, but i have only spend two grand on the car itself spending one and a half on the gearbox doesn't sound right.

Is this hard to fix anyway? Or has anyone else got any similar experience with warranty or repairing? It's starting to get annoying especially as i live near the city centre with a bit of hill climb close by... :innocent:

well in my case it was the easyest option i bought the car cheap due to the fact the gearbox was like this and the guy actually pointed me in direction of a free one off another car so i wasnt complaining.

best thing to do is wait for our bookwyse he will advice you your best solution :L

 

[Guest]

Cheers TG.

Unlikely to be the linkage. Would suggest getting the garage you brought it off to diagnose the problem for you.

Can you select reverse easily or is that a bit of a pain as well??

Cost of a recon box is £450+vat and around 150-200 for fitting.

Whereabouts in Bristol are you as I'll find a decent garage who can be trusted to do the box for you.

 

[siacelestar]

Cheers bookwyse,

Reverse selection is easy and no problem at all.

About £700 for the gearbox... now really thinking whether i can live with a dodgy gear selecting or not.... comparing with the car price it doesn't seem to be worth it... but will see what the garage says.

I live in Fishponds, Bristol... plenty of garages around! Yeh if you can suggest some descend garages that will be cool!

 

[Guest]

Only one I know that I would trust is Fishponds Motor Company.

There were a couple of othes around there that we used to suplly with their gearboxes but they all wanted us to cut corners so we dont deal with them anymore.

Jeff

 

[totalguy]

i take it cut corners you mean like fix the broken part but dont recondition the rest of it?

 

[James_McHattie]

Doesnt it have a joint on the gear selector rod which can slip if it shakes loose? I think my mk1 did.

It means the lever on the box doesnt move far enough and wont select the gear.

 

[siacelestar]

Fishponds motor company... always thought they only sell cars! :whistling: :tongue:

I might send it in for an estimate and see what they say...

Cut corners... umm what do u mean by that? Well i know it sounds bad of an idea, but being honest i am not too keen to spend a lot on this car; despite it should have plenty of life left...

(waiting for the 5 years NCB and a proper job...)

 

[Guest]

All the others want to do is cure the problem and not look into what caused it in the first place.

Such as repalce the speedo drive but not the diff bearings which were failing which caused the speedo drive to fail.

Fishponds have got quite a big workshop around the back.

 

[siacelestar]

Cheers bookwyse,

Will send the car in for an estimate later on when i have got time... :yawn:

Cut corners... well at this stage i am not sure what's in my mind though... you know the typical 'taxi driver' way... :whistling: just want to keep it going as good as possible while spending as little as possible... :whistling:

Hopefully it won't be too bad :innocent:

 

[totalguy]

i dont know how the box has gone with such low miles but the end of the day those engines will last for ages its worth spending money on.

 

[SDR]

I don't think that it is the gearbox.
I think you had fitted a wrong clutch before you bought the car i.e. they replaced it with wrong one i.e. cutting corners.
Had this on mine and in took the "MECHANICS" 3 times to get it right after i bought the parts from ford and watched them putting them in.
Exactly this simptom was the reason for replacing it the 3rd time. The pressure plate does'nt open wide enough or distorted friction plate - can't disengage clearly to select 1st.

And bookwise can explain why 1st only.

 

[siacelestar]

cheers

I will do what bookwyse said first... send it into the garage next week to get a check and estimate...

If it's the clutch i might just wait till this one is gone first... :whistling:

But before worrying about this... i am being retarded and did something stupid... and i think this might cost a bit... and cause some delay to the gearing sorting out....

If anyone able to help over here... please and many thanks! Getting a bit desprate now really....

http://www.fordmondeo.org/forum/showtopic.php?tid/730712/

 

[SDR]

something you might don't know is that the mechanics are going to rip you off before everything else, i.e. the price for a clutch is about 300, and box is more than double. so if you are not sure what you want ask for second and third opinion before being conned(again). Also when the gearbox is involved they will definitely offer you to replace the clutch at the same time and you'll never know what was wrong/not to mention that they might not replace the box at all but the clutch only/.
So when you are taking quotes ask for sorting out the problem with 1st, and don't ask for box or clutch and see what they'll tell you.
when i had this problem with 1st gear i checked at least at 4 places + 3 companies dealing with gearboxes (1 of them was BOOKWISE's relative) what was the problem and they all were right -> clutch and nothing wrong with the gearbox(as long as you can select 1st with the engine off), which was exactly the opposite of what the garage which was replacing the clutch insisted.
however once the clutch was replaced with proper parts everything was back to normal.
All this above is my experience and your problem might be different.

 

[Guest]

A recommendation for Geartech as they said what was wrong i.e. the clutch.

I will always say and quote what I know. If I am unsure I will say check with a reputable (or one I know) or a specialised firm. I will always recommend Geartech because I am bisaed but I leave the decision upto the individual.

Cheers SDR

Jeff

 

[siacelestar]

Cheers guys...

Trying to find a date and get the car into the garages to have a look.. but probably will be the brake problem first... (well the car not going as smooth is a problem.. but not as big as you can't stop it!)

But one thing i am still not sure is why the clutch will have an effect on the gear selector, and is only affecting 1st gear only?

Phil

 

[Guest]

Hi Phil,

The clutch will always affect gear selection as if the engine is still trying to drive the car (i.e. not fully disconnected) then the gear will be difficult to select. You have to fully disengage the engine from the gearbox in order to select the next gear smoothly, if they are not fully discinnected then the change will be notchy.

Sorry but it's late here!!!

Jeff