So after a fair bit of work, my next job is to sort out the gearbox, and I'm stuck. 

The synchromesh is bad and needs replacing from a prev post I made. I have been driving in second for a long time, though I'm mostly doing motorway miles, If I were doing city miles, I'd have gone insane by now. 

I'm not sure what options would be best, I could buy a £150-200 gearbox and drop it in and hope for the best, I could pay for a new box, pay for a recon box, pay for a repair. 

I feel like the most logical option is to have it repaired and swapped out along with a bearing swap and any other parts that really need changing, I'm just lost as to where to go to get the work done, and roughly what to budget for the job, I'd ideally like to drop the box myself and drop it off, saves on a few hours of labour at least, I'm pretty skint! 

My biggest issue is that I don't know where to even begin looking for a decent, affordable shop. I did see a place in Brum from ebay that did gearbox exchanges for £300-400. I nearly bit the bullet, but a lot of people had a lot of bad stuff to say about the company on google. 

I'm around the South West of England and South east of Wales, so Cardiff, Bristol, Taunton areas are good to me. I don't really want to be paying an arm and a leg as the car is high on miles and is 14 years young. I can't justify spending £1-2k for a repair/recon box. So if anyone happens to know of a good + reasonable place or can suggest my best option, that'll be worth a shot. 

 

Ta in advance! 

 

 

I understand your dilemma! Challenge is to finding a backstreet gearbox overhaul place that's cheap as chips, but then there's the 20% vat on top too. Mike Brewer on Wheeler Dealers always seems to find one! Is there any way you could change the synchro rings yourself...provided that they're available to buy, of course. Looked on YouTube for any guides how to strip one down?.  If it's beyond you, then as you're in 'The Diff', as my daughter called it when she studied there, try asking on Facebook local if there's anything in your area....🤔 Is it def. just synchro rings,? ...can you change gear ok if you double declutch like they had to do on crash gearboxes?

An additional thought... Bridgend seems to have a lot of small independent businesses off of the Port Talbot Rd.. I got lost there once.... is it worth you taking a drive round there and enquiring? 

As it's a Mk7 Fiesta, isn't this just an IB5 gearbox?  There are plenty around and they're cheap to buy used, so that's what I'd do in this case.  Get one with warranty...if you fit it and there's a fault, it should be exchanged for another one.  Would have to be unlucky to get two bad ones from the same breaker.

I don't think you'll get a decent rebuild for less than £500 now.  I can recommend a Transmission Specialist local to myself who do a fantastic job and I would trust completely, but they are not cheap, and you would need to spend about £60 having the 'box posted there & back.

On 7/1/2024 at 2:37 AM, Cacti said:

My biggest issue is that I don't know where to even begin looking for a decent, affordable shop. I did see a place in Brum from ebay that did gearbox exchanges for £300-400. I nearly bit the bullet, but a lot of people had a lot of bad stuff to say about the company on google. 

What's the name of the place?

If it IS an IB5 gearbox, then there's a refurbed one on ebay in BRISTOL fof £420...item

403725366079

 

 

If it IS an IB5 gearbox, then there's a refurbed one on ebay in BRISTOL for £420...item

403725366079

 

 

Not quite that simple I'm afraid, there are different ratios inside for petrol & diesel, so would need to know which engine it came from.  That is a strange way to advertise it.

On 7/2/2024 at 5:33 PM, TomsFocus said:

Not quite that simple I'm afraid, there are different ratios inside for petrol & diesel, so would need to know which engine it came from.  That is a strange way to advertise it.

This. 

I've yet to see my sticker and assess as to what specific box I have. Saw one or two knocking about on ebay but again, no idea what my ratio is. 

 

On 7/2/2024 at 10:59 AM, nicam49 said:

I understand your dilemma! Challenge is to finding a backstreet gearbox overhaul place that's cheap as chips, but then there's the 20% vat on top too. Mike Brewer on Wheeler Dealers always seems to find one! Is there any way you could change the synchro rings yourself...provided that they're available to buy, of course. Looked on YouTube for any guides how to strip one down?.  If it's beyond you, then as you're in 'The Diff', as my daughter called it when she studied there, try asking on Facebook local if there's anything in your area....🤔 Is it def. just synchro rings,? ...can you change gear ok if you double declutch like they had to do on crash gearboxes?

An additional thought... Bridgend seems to have a lot of small independent businesses off of the Port Talbot Rd.. I got lost there once.... is it worth you taking a drive round there and enquiring? 

Exactly. I had my clutch done and that set me back £4-500 cash. What a fool I was, I could've done that myself. Car was gone for a few days too, reckon I could have done it in 2 days tops! I've seen a few guides, but they don't seem to be that great to follow along to. I reckon I could possibly do it, but I'd need to know what to NOT do, so that I don't do it and mess the box up, I've never stripped an engine or gearbox, so it'll be new to me, but I'm the type that will always give fixing stuff a go with a pretty high success. Is deffo the synchro ring. I can change all gears fine, I can slot it into first fine, but when I gas and release clutch, it fires the gear selector out of position like a 9mm. Feel that the teeth aren't meshing properly for this to happen. Sometimes it has stuck into first and will work fine, though I'm wondering if this has anything to do with me shifting from second into first and not neutral into first. 
 

Reading a few threads, seems like there are quite a few issues with synchromesh with that gearbox, odds are that you buy a used one and it'll have the same problems unless you buy a recon one. 

On 7/2/2024 at 5:33 PM, TomsFocus said:

Not quite that simple I'm afraid, there are different ratios inside for petrol & diesel, so would need to know which engine it came from.  That is a strange way to advertise it.

Oh yeah, states  it's from a Zetec, so rules that one out. 

52 minutes ago, nicam49 said:

it's from a Zetec, so rules that one out.

Do they mean Zetec as in the petrol engine, or Zetec as in the 'trim' level ?

Could it have come from a Focus 1.6TDCi Zetec ?

Either way it's still possibly the wrong gearbox as the OP's car is a Fiesta 🤣

10 hours ago, Cacti said:

I reckon I could possibly do it, but I'd need to know what to NOT do, so that I don't do it and mess the box up, I've never stripped an engine or gearbox, so it'll be new to me, but I'm the type that will always give fixing stuff a go with a pretty high success. Is deffo the synchro ring. I can change all gears fine, I can slot it into first fine, but when I gas and release clutch, it fires the gear selector out of position like a 9mm. Feel that the teeth aren't meshing properly for this to happen. Sometimes it has stuck into first and will work fine, though I'm wondering if this has anything to do with me shifting from second into first and not neutral into first.

Engines are easy to rebuild.  Gearboxes are not.  I've got quite a bit of mechanical experience and have no problem swapping a headgasket.  But gearboxes are much more complex, so easy to mess up just by missing one tiny step.

If you do want to try rebuilding one, I'd recommend getting a used one with the the same numbers as yours, and rebuilding that to swap quickly when the rebuild is complete.  Otherwise you could strip yours, realise you're in way over your head, then be stuck without a car while trying to get a gearbox posted as I doubt any company would rebuild yours after you've stripped it.

Tbh any on ebay that have come from a Mk7 1.6 TDCI will probably work fine.  Though it would be worth checking your own gearbox number first.