Hi to all

When changing gear on my recently purchased 2004 Octy VRs, there is no spring resistance to the left of centre, i.e. when moving the stick leftwards from neutral to select 1st or reverse gears, there is no resistance, and the stick does not return to centre. The gears are selected easily enough and there is no baulking or crunching, however care has to be taken when driving and changing from 2nd to 3rd, as it is all too easy to put it back towards 1st gear :(

To the right of centre is fine, when changing from 4th to 5th and back, the spring resistance remains.

Has anyone come across this problem, and if so, how is it solved?

Any advice or suggestions gratefully received.

This happened to me in a mk1 Focus, but as the car was a lease car I just let the garage fix it. I assumed a centering spring somewhere had broken and was causing the issue. I drove it for a few weeks before dropping it off to be get it fixed. My issue was with overtaking, I could easily go from 2nd to 5th and then soon find I was no longer overtaking!

This happened to me in a mk1 Focus, but as the car was a lease car I just let the garage fix it. I assumed a centering spring somewhere had broken and was causing the issue. I drove it for a few weeks before dropping it off to be get it fixed. My issue was with overtaking, I could easily go from 2nd to 5th and then soon find I was no longer overtaking!

Hi

Merry Xmas to all.

Many thanks for the reply, does anyone else have any advice or suggestions, as the problem is driving me daft :-)

Don't want to have it looked at by the main stealer, if it's something relatively simple to fix. :wonder:

Hi to all

When changing gear on my recently purchased 2004 Octy VRs, there is no spring resistance to the left of centre, i.e. when moving the stick leftwards from neutral to select 1st or reverse gears, there is no resistance, and the stick does not return to centre. The gears are selected easily enough and there is no baulking or crunching, however care has to be taken when driving and changing from 2nd to 3rd, as it is all too easy to put it back towards 1st gear :(

To the right of centre is fine, when changing from 4th to 5th and back, the spring resistance remains.

Has anyone come across this problem, and if so, how is it solved?

Any advice or suggestions gratefully received.

Assuming your is one of the last Mk1 and not a Mk2, it should have a 02J gearbox. I believe the spring is in the gear linkage that you can see when you lift up the trim piece that goes over the bottom of the gear lever. The spring is wound over the bearing for the left-right movement. The same spring is used to centre the lever in both directions but I guess it could operate in only one direction if it was broken and catching on something.

Take a look under the trim and see if you can see a spring. It may be difficult to see because of all the bent brackets.

Alternatively there may also be stronger spring in the gearbox that I am not aware of.

Mike