Hi,

I am a newbie, and honestly know very little about cars so if possible, can any answers be given in layman terms (where possible).

I drive a ford fiesta LX 2004, it has just over 30k miles on the clock.

I'm finding that it can be stiff changing gears (1st and 2nd mostly), this is only difficult when my car is moving. When stationary both with the engine on and off changing gears is smooth, but for some reason, when driving there is a noticeable difference.

A few days ago I had a gearbox oil change and O2 sensor replaced, the garage also advised that they lubricated the linkages on the gears...the gear issue was present before these were done but do feel a little worse since the gear oil change, but that could just be me been paranoid.

Any help would be greatly appreciated :-)

Thanks

Hi ya.

What was the reason for the gear oil change?

I had a free safety check at halfords autocentre and they said that I needed a gearbox oil change

Your best bet is to find a trusted, local back street garage.

The likes of Halfords Autocentres/Kwik Fit are under a lot of pressure to make money.

Fair enough, small businesses are also under financial pressure - but they have to rely on good reputation (unlike the big auto centre places which can use pure size - "Oh look, they're everywhere, they must be good!").

If your gears still engage properly and the car drives normally, then I wouldn't worry too much.

My thought at the moment is that it's likely to be because 1st gear has no synchro (helps gears glide in without rev matching or double de-clutching) - don't panic, the car never had it...many cars don't on first (not needed for 1st as it generally it's engaged whilst stationary)

Your best bet is to find a trusted, local back street garage.

The likes of Halfords Autocentres/Kwik Fit are under a lot of pressure to make money.

Fair enough, small businesses are also under financial pressure - but they have to rely on good reputation (unlike the big auto centre places which can use pure size - "Oh look, they're everywhere, they must be good!").

If your gears still engage properly and the car drives normally, then I wouldn't worry too much.

My thought at the moment is that it's likely to be because 1st gear has no synchro (helps gears glide in without rev matching or double de-clutching) - don't panic, the car never had it...many cars don't on first (not needed for 1st as it generally it's engaged whilst stationary)

Thought that was just reverse gear?

I was under the impression 1st was without synhro too - makes it cheaper, and it's not really needed as you should be at a stop to enter 1st

Guessing it didn't happen before you went in to halfords??

I would return get them to check.

When you drive along and push the clutch down how far does the pedal go before you does go in to gear? What I'm trying to say is when you go to change gear try not to push the clutch pedal to the floor but just past the point it will let you change gear. If you get me.