So, for 2 years now I've been driving my Octy with a dodgy gearbox. There is no spring to it (i.e. it doesn't "jump" into neutral) and I have to force it into gear. Sometimes, it can be hard to find the gears and when shifting from 2nd to 3rd... I accidentally go back into 1st :( 90% of the time I put it in reverse, there's an almighty "clunk"  and the whole thing is a workout in its own right

 

This all started after I had to have the car recovered when the suspension went ping. At some point during the loading / unloading, something has happened - the car was left in 1st gear when the low-loader truck was tilted, because the handbrake alone was not holding it in place.

 

Something simple, or replacement box?

The centring spring is in the gear shift - not in the gearbox. I'd adjust the gear linkage.

I'd suspect an issue with the linkage adjustment or an engine mounting.

 

Adjusting the linkage is fairly easy, and so is seeing how much you can "rock" the engine manually.

If you need reverse: first put it in 1st and wait 1 sec. Then go into R. Any clunking?

Have you checked the box has enough oil?

As said try adjusting the linkage, takes 10 mins and costs nothing, if you do a search you'll find a video on here demonstrating how it's done

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Thanks guys - I'll take a look at the linkage then. Hopefully it'll be a nice quick fix - fingers crossed.

Here is the linkage adjustment video if it helps

 

Mine has been the same since I bought it (although not quite as bad as your describing).

 

The other week I replaced the bushes in the cable ends with solid ones from 42 draft designs and it was much better, but not perfect.

 

Yesterday I bought new cable ends from TPS as I noticed that the 3 prongs were not the best on 1 cable end and 1 was broken on the other (just holding on for dear life).

 

So I fitted these new ones (after ripping the centres out and fitting my solid bushes into them) and for the first time since i've owned the car, I now have a perfect gear shift

 

I was seriously considering replacing the select and cables completely as it just wouldn't spring back and didn't feel nice 1st - 2nd, and 2nd - 3rd.

 

Now it's spot on