03 Fiesta TDCi - Gearbox noise (Shifter linkage loose?) and rough idle/surging when warm

[chris_ngale]

Hi all, I've got an 03 Fiesta TDCi with about 130k miles, and while she's basically sound as you might expect with a cheap old car she's got some problems and I'd like some advice

At motorwayspeeds there's something between a whirring, a rattling and a hissing under acceleration or deceleration. It only happens while in gear, and it happens in every gear. I've topped up the gearbox oil which was a little (barely) low, but no change. While doing so I noticed the shifter linkage seems to be extremely loose - I took a short video of it:

I figure that if this is rattling around with the shaft into the gearbox that could be the cause of the sound. There's no play side to side but plenty along this shaft. Is this normal or should I be seeing about a fix for this? I would have thought a washer between the C-clip and the linkage would do it, though I have no idea what could have caused it to come loose in the first place

The other thing which is a nuisance is the the engine behaves perfectly when cold, idling smoothly at about 800-850rpm give or take, but when it's warm it idles roughly (enough to shake you slightly in the seat) and under very light throttle between about 1000-1500 rpm feels like it "surges" slightly - when it's really bad it can bounce the car around a little. The engine behaves perfectly fine at high RPM and under load, it's just at light throttle at low RPM when it does it. I've read that the EGR might be the culprit?

Cheers

Chris

[muffintastic]

I'm no mechanic, I've got an 06 TDCi, with just under 140K but if it's anything to do with the gearbox I wouldn't even bother repairing it just scrap it. That's my opinion, I'm no mechanic maybe someone who's knowledgeable may help.