Hi there,

last week I had the old 5th gear whining episode - replaced the bolt ok but when it came to filling the oil up again, I put the plug back in and the head broke off!!! and then I also realised it wasn't the drain plug at all. It was actually a hollow nut with a ball bearing sticking out at the top - this can go up and down a little tube about 10mm wide, and there is a spring in there too. (when I took it out I couldn't work out why there wasn't a magnet there but now I can see...). So now all that is sticking out of the bottom of the gearbox is a bit of this tube, plus you can just about see a bit of the thread which broke off just inside. If you look through the hole with a torch you can see a rod with notches which moves side to side when you move the gearstick through the gears. I was wondering then - does anyone know what this thing is called, and maybe how much a new one would cost? And maybe any tips about getting the old hollow bolt out? I'd really appreciate any help on this one... cheers

Edited 9 August, 200817 yr by felicia-driver

Welcome to briskoda

Only thing I can work out that has a ball bearing and a spring are numbers 9 and 19 on here but I can't work out where they are meant to go from the picture.

In the end I found out that the part in question was called a gearbox detente - basically, as you change gears, there is a metal rod with grooves in it which moves backwards and forward depending on the gear you choose. This detent basically moves up and down as you choose your gear, and sort of locks it in place...

The guy at the dealers told me that lots of people do mistake it for the drainplug - it was just a rather expensive mistake to make though!