Hello all,

I Have been having an issue with my Fiesta Zetec S 1.6 TDCi 2007. The issue is that sometimes Its really difficult to get the car in and out of gear. The strange thing about it is that the issue alternates between the top 3 gears (1, 3 and 5), or the bottom three gears (2, 4 and reverse). The difficulty is moving the gear stick up and down. For example I could be driving along and the top gears are all fine to use on the gear stick but the bottom three are very sticky or stiff. Likewise, I could be driving and the top three could be very sticky/stiff but the top three will magically be perfectly fine.

It hasn't happened to all 6 gears at once, only either the top 3 or the bottom 3 (on the Gearstick).

Originally I thought it was the gear selector arm so I popped that off, cleaned up the inner surface of the hole and the surface of the rod that sticks into it, using this tutorial: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Oc2tb6_bYWU

After lubing that system up the issue still persists.

Can anyone relate or identify the issue causing this? I imagine the top three gears or bottom three gears of the gearstick sticking may point to something specific but I have no clue.

Many thanks in advance!

Hi Snooge

I had gear changing issues that were related to the selector arm, but after doing what you did it was a lot better (which doesn't help you I know).  While doing that though, I learnt (as I understand it) that if the cables are out of adjustment, it can cause some issues too.  Also, forgive me if you've thought about it already, but is the gearbox oil level up to the correct level?  Just a couple of throwaway thoughts that someone else might be able to dismiss.

 

On 9/11/2020 at 6:08 PM, Marineboy said:

Hi Snooge

I had gear changing issues that were related to the selector arm, but after doing what you did it was a lot better (which doesn't help you I know).  While doing that though, I learnt (as I understand it) that if the cables are out of adjustment, it can cause some issues too.  Also, forgive me if you've thought about it already, but is the gearbox oil level up to the correct level?  Just a couple of throwaway thoughts that someone else might be able to dismiss.

 

Hi Marineboy,

I found out in the end that it was the gear selector cables. One of them was incredibly difficult to operate so I replaced them and now they are working fine again!

I did think about the gearbox oil but I assume like most cars that it is quite a big job to drain it and check it etc, so I left it alone.

Thank you for your reply :)

No probs, just seen this.  Glad you sussed it and got it sorted.  As far as the oil level check, you'd probably find that you'd be able to take the top up plug out and use a bit of coat hanger wire as a dipstick to check the level.  Last time I did this, the oil was full to the brim, so a bit of oil came out as soon as I removed the plug.