Hi,

 

does anyone else experience this? Sometimes the third gear is "blocked" on first attempt. Force won't help - I have to go back to neutral before it will go into third. Happens a handful of times each week (I usually drive 300-400 km per week). The dealer took it for a drive, but couldn't reproduce the problem. They offered to have one of their employees use the car for a few days to confirm the problem... which is needed if anything is to be done under warranty.

 

Do you have any ideas of what might be causing this issue?

 

Thanks!

No but I have that with reverse!

mine does it only with first gear and sometimes with reverse

Seems to be only mine, then I have no problems with first and reverse, though.

I am reviving this old thread, hoping that someone mechanically minded may give som advice.

 

I have had this issue with third gear since the car was new. Sometimes (a few times each week) third gear is simply not possible to engage on first attempt. It is as if the gear level hits an obstruction at about half its travel from neutral to fully engaged third gear. It may happen coming from second (more often, it seems) or from fourth, changing slowly or quickly. Going back to neutral and then selecting third again will work 99/100 times. When the car was new, I sometimes had the same issue with fourth gear, but that problem has disappeared. My local dealer has taken the car for a drive 3-4 times over the past two years, but never managed to reproduce the fault.

 

Any suggestions for things to check/possible causes would be greatly appreciated.

Have you tried changing the way you shift the gears? I know it may sound like trying to teach you something but sometimes we get into habit of how we drive and sometimes a different approach is needed for each car.

I have another car and sometimes the gear shift is stiff from cold I tend to grab hold of the gear stick and use a good deal of force until it has loosened up. I did this when I owned my Citigo and found it to be notchy when new, it soon loosened up and I could change gear with just my thumb and forefinger with very little effort. And yes the reverse was sometimes difficult but with no synchro on that gear it will be just so at times, maybe a second attempt was necessary.

Yes, I am certainly open to the possibility that this may all come down to my style of changing gears. It's just that the problem may appear when shifting slowly or quickly, with shorter or longer synchro-pauses, with low rpms and medium rpms (but not high rpms, it seems), with a firm grip on the lever or just using two fingers. So I suspect there is something going on...

 

Other than the 3rd-gear thing, though, the gearbox is the best of all the cars I have owned!

Not had any problems with my Monte mechanically. Works perfectly

I've had a few problems with first gear. I've had to slip into second and creep forward at the lights and then change into first. Not a major problem, just a minor irritant at the time. 

How about slip into second and then first, while clutch pedal is down? It should work. Or then release clutch pedal and push it down again. It works as well.

Normal tricks for manual gearbox anyway .

Happens with me in reverse. If I go neutral, clutch up then down again it solves it so I guessed the clutch plates hasn't attached/detached properly. Not sure if same for 3rd gear but my guess is a clutch issue. It's an uneducated guess though