hi everyone..a little help pls...my gear linkage is a mess it cant be adjusted anymore and the locking lever is broken,i say so coz when i try gear linkage adjustment the locking lever does not lock when i turn it facing upwards it just keep turning,should this be a worry?and is there any chance of the gearbox failing because of broken gear linkage?by the way the car is still driveable car still shifts w/o any horrible noises its a little bit hard to find the gears though..thanks guys for helping out..

Did you try to turn and push the locking lever in. You have to push lightly down on selector about half a inch and then turn and push in locking lever. My lever is also slightly worn as looks like previous owner was too rough but I can still engage it of I am careful. Takes a lot of patience though

i've tried that but there is no resistance in the lever,and is there any chances of gearbox failure because of broken linkage?thanks man..

i've tried that but there is no resistance in the lever,and is there any chances of gearbox failure because of broken linkage?thanks man..

no not gearbox failure.

Have you tried holding locking lever in with something like pliers or tape or something to stop it pinging back out? mine had a tendency of doing that. I had to really persevere with it.

ok gotta try it again sometime..so a broken gear linkage is not a big problem?what is the worst case scenario that is related to broken linkage?

ok gotta try it again sometime..so a broken gear linkage is not a big problem?what is the worst case scenario that is related to broken linkage?

Depends on what you mean by broken linkage . Do you just mean broken lever.? You can't have a broken linkage as you won't be able to engage gears.There are 2 cables that connect to the gear linkage arm that go from gear lever to the gear selector arm. These are typcially self adjusting but from time to time need a reset which this video does.

What the vid and then explain further what you mean is broken.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=tp9ggefOjAE

ok got that,it still engages w/o problems apart from the reverse gear i have to wiggle it a bit to engage and disengage so from what you mentioned there are no problems with the cables and springs...so my main worry now is the locking lever coz it doesn't lock when i turn it upwards like what the guy did in the video it just keeps turning, will this cause any problems?thanks again guys..

ok got that,it still engages w/o problems apart from the reverse gear i have to wiggle it a bit to engage and disengage so from what you mentioned there are no problems with the cables and springs...so my main worry now is the locking lever coz it doesn't lock when i turn it upwards like what the guy did in the video it just keeps turning, will this cause any problems?thanks again guys..

Well the issue you have is that the cable and springs are currently slightly out of alignment which is making reverse gear difficult. I still say that if you follow that video and when you attempt to lock the selector arm with the plastic lever is to slowly move plastic lever up whilst pushing down on selector arm and pushing in plastic lever at same time you may feel it lock in. it is a swine sometimes.

I cant view this video

neither can i

See here:

http://www.briskoda.net/forums/topic/255371-skoda-octavia-gear-linkage-private-video/

In particular, watch the second of the two video clips, this is specifically focussed on the problem of a broken locking pin.

It appears this situation is not uncommon, the video clip gives you a workaround..

Cheers, Terry

I found the biggest impact on gear change was an oil change! Although it will all depend on the root cause of the problem. Good luck.

There is a more detailed video that shows how to do this, including how to adjust if the locking pin is broken: