Stiff Gear Change

[TDR|XTC]

Seems like the little Fiesta wants to play rough.

Issue is each time to go for a drive, 3'rd gear is difficult to slide in. It seems like when i shift up or even down to 3rd gear i get stuck in a point (not always but very often). I need to get the gear stick a bit more to the right in order to find the gear. It also feels like a rough change. Sometimes this happens to 4th, but rarely. Anything i should check?!

Thanks !

 

[Rossyboi93]

I had this happen to me but mine was in 1st, 2nd and 3rd. I went to a car garage and they quoted me £1170 to first see what it is and then put new bearings in and also clean out all of the metal from wear of the gears etc. But because most car garages send the gearbox of to get rebuilt (bearings etc) I went direct to we’re they send it and saved myself £400. Before you go making assumptions thou just go to a garage like I did and see what it is first thou. 

[Ticktock]

Check the gear linkage cables before you do anything. A few months ago mine started playing up and eventually I couldn't engage any gears without a fight, turned out it was the gear linkage cable, 1 of the had popped off in the engine bay, quite a relief when I put it back on and everything was nice & smooth once again.

[TDR|XTC]

Thank you for the reply!

The gear linkage cable seems ok, it is where it should be, hasn't popped off.

Should I change the gearbox oil, see if there are any improvements?

Cheers

[Rossyboi93]

Tell me if I’m wrong but isn’t it a sealed unit? For gearbox oil? 

[isetta]

I might be wrong also, I thought they had a plug (bolt) for checking level and topping up, but no drain plug, meaning you need to tip it upside down to drain it out (or some would come  out if you removed a drive shaft).   you could check the level and stick something in there to get a bit of oil out to see if it seems nice oil, it will almost certainly be fine.

[TDR|XTC]

As isetta said, there is a plug there. I thought it' to change the gearbox oil, but it seems it is there just to check the oil level indeed. I also talked to some mechanics here and there and they said it could be down to a bush, in that linkage mechanism. Don't know which one, i need to look there again ! If you guys have any other suggestions, they are most welcomed.

Thank you !

[TDR|XTC]

Located that bush, it is a bit swollen. I think I need to talk to a Ford mechanic to tell me if it's the one causing the stiff gear change. 

I also noticed that, with the engine on, car not moving, it shifts pretty smooth.

[Piet96]

My Fiesta is hard to shift from 1st to 2nd when cold. After about 5Km it is smooth. 

Edited August 11, 2019 by Piet96
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