A little surprising but changing gear affects audio when I use the "aux" cable, the gear lever must be contacting the audio jack or the cables. How do I remove this boot to get access please? Do I lever off the circular trim? 

Just gently prise up the circular plastic rim, then you should be able to get your hands under the trim panel and just lift it from the rear.  As it come off disconnect the plug to the accessory socket.

Thanks Paul: just to be clear, is the trim panel the piece which the circular rim is attached to? I was imagining that if I took the circular rim off, that would allow access to the gear lever, without me having to remove anything else.

The trim piece is the larger plastic moulding with the Accessory socket, Aux socket and cup holder - and your CDs !

It is a while since I have had this trim panel off, but IIRC, just living the gaiter does not give much access to the linkage and the cabling.  I think to get the trim panel completely off you can unscrew the gear knob, and lift the gaitor and panel out of the way.  I used to have the cable assembly from the aux socket to the back of the radio, so if yours needs replacing, I'll see if I can find it.

Thanks Paul, that's very helpful.

10 hours ago, Mars Man said:

A little surprising but changing gear affects audio when I use the "aux" cable, the gear lever must be contacting the audio jack or the cables. How do I remove this boot to get access please? Do I lever off the circular trim? 

Unscrew the gearnob first, prise off the circular ring there are 5 tabs holding it down, take your time.

The leather gater is fixed to the ring.

Once off you'll have access to the underside of the socket.

There are two knuckles from the gear selector which can wear away the gater, I suspect your socket cable had worn away due to normal gear usage, & maybe shorting out.

On 1/9/2026 at 10:14 PM, Fred fusion said:

On 1/9/2026 at 10:14 PM, Fred fusion said:

Unscrew the gearnob first, prise off the circular ring there are 5 tabs holding it down, take your time.

The leather gater is fixed to the ring.

Once off you'll have access to the underside of the socket.

There are two knuckles from the gear selector which can wear away the gater, I suspect your socket cable had worn away due to normal gear usage, & maybe shorting out.

Thanks again Fred and Paul, the circular ring came off easier than I expected, I moved the audio cables away from the gear lever mechanism and the problem is solved.

It took me a long time to realise that the gear lever was interfering with the sound. One speaker would suddenly lose half its volume, you just don't expect that to relate to changing gear!