Just wondered - what kind of improvement anyone has had from 100K+ after :-

 

- Gearbox oil replacement (does this really make much difference)

- Lubrication at the stick end or elsewhere

- Clutch adjustment / Gear adjustment/resync process

 

I've done none of these things and was just wondered if it might make me back in love with gear changing!

Just noticing it being a slight bit on the notchy side (never preventing change of gear, just could be smoother).

 

This is the one single bee in my bonnet about the car at the moment, I'm terrible at just sitting on stuff but I really should just get done.

Thinking of talking to a garage workshop close to me I trust tomorrow morning, worth looking into the above or is it more symptomatic of age and I might need to be thinking of clutch change or something ?

Get yourself some 42 draft Motorsport verdict Motorsport shifter bushes, my car has only done 50000 miles and had these fitted when I had my Helix SMF clutch kit fitted.

As Iv never liked the shift in the Fabia, always felt sloppy and magic wand stylee lol and not a very positive shift, fitted these and wow what a differance

May also be worth having a play about with the shifter cables on top of the box, reset them and see if it makes any differance what so ever. HTH

Gear cable adjustment. Mine was so bad I couldn't get it into 1st,2nd or reverse when I got it. 10 minutes to adjust it and it's smooth as silk, just make sure you release the plastic parts of the adjuster from the cable as they can rust together. Just prize them apart gently with a screwdriver. Also the slight notchiness has gone. Well worth a try

Cheers guys, will deffo try the adjuster which I was thinking about and this has just convinced me now to do asap

 

Bushing sounds interesting too and I haven't exactly ruled out the gear oil ( I know its meant to be for life, but not against replacing if theres a solid argument for doing so and its not just some kind of placebo).

The solid bushes are a good upgrade, makes the shift a lot more precise and takes away a lot of slack/movement on the gear stick.

Oil change is deffo worth while imo for the cost/work involved.seeing as there is a drain plug its a easy 15 minute job to change it.

I agree with all of the above, although still not bought a set of shifter bushes like Red has suggested :p

I had a small problem with my box where if I had been on a long motorway drive, as I came off and tried to change down the gears, the first one (down to 5th) was always really tough to get in. New oil and the problem went away.

Oh, and I noticed a slight improvement with gears changes when I put in the red Powerflex dog-bone engine mount.

I agree with all of the above, although still not bought a set of shifter bushes like Red has suggested :p

I had a small problem with my box where if I had been on a long motorway drive, as I came off and tried to change down the gears, the first one (down to 5th) was always really tough to get in. New oil and the problem went away.

Oh, and I noticed a slight improvement with gears changes when I put in the red Powerflex dog-bone engine mount.

What gearbox oil did you use ??

I'd suggest re-adjusting the cables on the gearbox end,  and an oil change.

 

inspect the shifter cable bushes by all means,  but unless they are properly knackered,  i wouldn't bother with draft42 / solid bushes.

 

 

I fitted solid bushes to my mk4 R32's gearbox shifter cables.   The bushes on the car were close to 100,000miles and 10years old,   but there was almost no difference after fitting the solid bushes.     It's overated to do this mod if i'm honest

I'd suggest re-adjusting the cables on the gearbox end,  and an oil change.

 

inspect the shifter cable bushes by all means,  but unless they are properly knackered,  i wouldn't bother with draft42 / solid bushes.

 

 

I fitted solid bushes to my mk4 R32's gearbox shifter cables.   The bushes on the car were close to 100,000miles and 10years old,   but there was almost no difference after fitting the solid bushes.     It's overated to do this mod if i'm honest

Loads of difference on these!

Either your not very observant or the R32 bushes are different?

I've had my car sat next to a VRS with standard bushes to compare too and the difference is massive

So glad you guys tipped me the balance of doing this job. I was actually starting to get a bit fed up of the car and posturing to sell as it was growing that "old car" feeling thanks to this point pretty much alone, so you can't really blame me.

 

Okay well first job down, completed the gearchange reset but yet to do the oil change.

Also a chance to thoroughly clean down around that area, following by light greasing at the points at the gearbox once clean.

 

Also greased at the stick end

( I'm guessing this is normally quite dry by looks of it or only very lightly greased, well I see no problem with introducing new grease so I've done that).

 

As a result of the reset and cleanup It really does seem smoother all round!

So I'm really happy now. As said maybe also a gearbox oil change could yield even better so I'm not against doing that.

 

Even It does still seem to "drop" into 3rd quite firmly which might just me being a bit OCD to be honest but could be interesting if that is any different after oil change too.

Definitely 1st and 2nd and reverse vastly easier to go around the box now.

Deffo worth doing this maintenance.

What gearbox oil did you use ??

Honestly can't remember, was a whole ago now.

Petty sure if you search the forum or google you will find your answer.

Loads of difference on these!

Either your not very observant or the R32 bushes are different?

I've had my car sat next to a VRS with standard bushes to compare too and the difference is massive

 

 

http://uk-mkivs.net/topic/1461-my-r32-11years-old-o/page-11

 

I'm not sure if they differ on a fabia to a golf,   but at a guess the principle design is probably the same.

 

On the golf the shifter cable end links are rubber/plastic.   Remove them and fit the metal ones.

 

If you say they make a difference,  then fair enough.  Maybe the fabia is totally different to a Golf.    But lots of people also have said this mod on a Golf is awesome too.

 

I'm not convinced myself. 

 

 

Back to topic,  if the ones on the fabia are knackered upon inspection then yes change them/renew them.

it's worth changing the oil especially at 100k as you will notice it will be dark brown in colour,

 

best gearbox oils to use are the proper VAG oil as non spec vw oils can make the change very notchy when cold.

Must get this done and will report back my findings when it is!

I used 75w80 fully synthetic in mine, as I noticed mine had been filly with 75w90 by previous owner and I had very notchy gearchanges when car was cold.

I'm a simple guy and can't follow worded descriptions too well, pictures speak volumes......so....

Gear change (Roomster 1.9 Tdi 2007) became difficult, did the cable setting thing a few times (enough to learn the sequence by heart) then when that didn't tighten up the change I went for the Tranny goo change. 

Nice for a bit yet after long hot drive in heavy traffic for 6 hours, back came the distorted shift. 

Groan !

Lifted up  the protective sheath around the shaft and followed the rod down to the base where I noticed a large white ball surrounded by white sticky goo.

It was very warm and stiff. It occurred to me that this ball joint may be contaminated and affecting the smoothness of shifting.

Can I just insert a grease nipple somewhere around the ball thing and inject the white goo or do I have to remove rims and bits ? 

By "goo", I mean Lithium lard.

Is it that simple ? there appears to be no other wear or movement on the other parts.

Redman

This is the Fabia Mk1 section. You need the Roomster section...

 

https://www.briskoda.net/forums/forum/172-skoda-roomster-owners/

10 minutes ago, Redman99 said:

I'm a simple guy and can't follow worded descriptions too well, pictures speak volumes......so....

Gear change (Roomster 1.9 Tdi 2007) became difficult, did the cable setting thing a few times (enough to learn the sequence by heart) then when that didn't tighten up the change I went for the Tranny goo change. 

Nice for a bit yet after long hot drive in heavy traffic for 6 hours, back came the distorted shift. 

Groan !

Lifted up  the protective sheath around the shaft and followed the rod down to the base where I noticed a large white ball surrounded by white sticky goo.

It was very warm and stiff. It occurred to me that this ball joint may be contaminated and affecting the smoothness of shifting.

Can I just insert a grease nipple somewhere around the ball thing and inject the white goo or do I have to remove rims and bits ? 

By "goo", I mean Lithium lard.

Is it that simple ? there appears to be no other wear or movement on the other parts.

Redman

 

Don't use Lithium grease on plastic parts, use silicon grease instead, clean it thoroughly to remove all the gunge and regrease with silicon, slicker than snot.

Many thanks. 

13 minutes ago, Redman99 said:

Many thanks. 

 

This will do the trick:

 

http://www.maplin.co.uk/p/maplin-silicone-grease-with-ptfe-200ml-n71an