Hi.

 

 

I have a newly acquired 2011 Fabia with 82,000 miles. All was well for about a month or so and then I found that selecting 2nd gear was staring to feel a bit vague. Over a matter of weeks it go much worse. It is difficult to describe but it wouldn't 'click' into place and felt very vague, not at all positive. Occasionally it wouldn't actually select the gear and on releasing the clutch would crunch. 4th gear was similar but nowhere near as bad. 1st, 3rd and 5th were absolutely fine. Oddly, when the car is stationary (running or switched off makes no difference) you can move the lever very positively into all 5 gears and it feels great. As soon as the car is moving the problem is there.

 

 

My first step was to reset the gear selector mechanism, this made no difference. Re-did it 2 more times to make sure I wasn't missing anything.

 

 

Got the opinions of various people with relevant experience and the general thought was that there was an issue with the gearbox. So, I sourced a second had (22,000 mile) gearbox and have changed it, along with fitting a new clutch and associated parts while it was all in bits. Used genuine oil.

 

 

Result..... absolutely the same.

 

 

So, the only thing that hasn't been changed is the selector/lever mechanism. This looks like a bit of a pain to do mainly on terms of separating the exhaust. But, if it needs to be done then I'll have to crack on and do it.

 

 

But, what is bugging me is the difference in the problem being absent when stationary and appearing when being driven.

 

 

So my questions are:-

 

 

- Has anyone experienced this problem, or similar and if so what was the outcome?

 

 

- Would a complete second hand selector mechanism be the best route, or strip down mine and try to replace any worn parts?

 

 

Thanks for reading, appreciate any input anyone may have.

 

Thanks,

 

Andy.

So just to close this one in case anyone finds it whilst searching for similar symptoms......

 

Issue was with the selector, the outer cable had become detatched form the housing. Pretty easy to sway over and feels perfect now.