Afternoon all...it's happened more often more recently, but ever since I got my ST-Line 140 in May I've sometimes had problems slotting into reverse gear...either it'll take a few attempts to select reverse or it might on rare occasion jump out...is this normal for 1.0 Fiestas or is it something I can get checked while (I think) it's still under warranty? I've tried double declutching on the times it's happened and that seems to sort the problem

Never had it jump out but it's absolute nightmare at times to get into reverse. My old mk7 was the same though. It's definitely a common problem and the cold weather starts seem to make it worse.

Pop it into neutral, then into third and try again.

Doesn't work? Try neutral then first then reverse. It will eventually go in, usual after I've pulled my bicep trying to force it for a minute.

It's because they still didn't fit a synchro to reverse on that IB5 gearbox, bit poor for such a modern car tbh.

Either come to complete stop or double declutch and it should be better.

Standard problem on Fiesta gearboxes. 

Yes, seems common fault with Fiesta Ecoboost!

I've had four Fiestas prior to getting the Ecoboost and the gearbox had the same problem on all of them Loyd.   Going back to 2006.

Just now, loydpg said:

Yes, seems common fault with Fiesta Ecoboost!

I think it's all manual Fiestas that will be like that. Reverse gears having a synchromesh was never a thing up until recently.

I remember stripping an old mk1 cortina 4 speed gearbox and loved seeing how the synchros engage etc. And how a slight misalignment would mean reverse was hard to get in.

4 minutes ago, Bobr said:

I've had four Fiestas prior to getting the Ecoboost and the gearbox had the same problem on all of them Loyd.   Going back to 2006.

Hi Bob, I've owned and driven several Fiestas from the early Mk1 (1977 - mother's new car) to current models, including van versions, I had no problem with the gearbox, until I purchased my Ecoboost version 2014! It went back to the supplying main Ford dealer under warranty who said it was a common fault probably caused by Ford's penny pinching accountants removing syncro from reverse gear! Even the courtesy Fiesta had the same problem!

The old IB5 (Improved B5) gearbox was introduced back in 1995. This gearbox is basically a further development of the old BC gearbox. The BC gearbox started its life in 1976 as the 4-speed B(C)4 gearbox. In 1982 the BC gearbox was further developed into the 5-speed B(C)5 gearbox (which basically was  the 4-speed gearbox with an added 5th gear).

Since the introduction of the IB5 gearbox in 1995 the design of this gearbox basically stayed the same. Like many other older gearbox types the IB5 was never equipped with a synchromesh for the reverse gear.

Despite the old design the IB5 gearbox is still a nice, smooth and reliable gearbox. However the IB5 gearbox has its limitations. It was never designed for engines with a high torque output. The IB5 gearbox is produced by a joint venture of Ford and Getrag. The IB5 gearbox is officially called Getrag 5MTT170. The maximum torque this gearbox can handle is 170 Nm which equals the torque output of the 1.0 ECOboost. This is also the reason why the 140 HP version of the Fiesta has a slightly modified IB5 gearbox with uprated internals.

 

I never understood why Ford did not use the 6-speed B6 gearbox (Getrag 6MTT250) for the 125 and 140 HP versions of the 1.0 ECOboost in the Fiesta. My 125 HP Focus MK3 1.0 ECOboost has the B6 gearbox which is a huge improvement to the old IB5 gearbox. The B6 gearbox is a much nicer gearbox than the old IB5 gearbox. The B6 gearbox has the same size as the IB5 gearbox and can handle much more torque (max. 285 Nm).