Slicking up the shift...

Got tired of the frequent notchiness of the Fabia vRS gearshift, so I decided to give it a little TLC. Made a really positive difference. This takes only 5 mins, nice and easy DIY with a good satisfaction feeling afterwards....

Cleaning and lubricating the shift linkage under the bonnet:

remove air intake pipe (1 phillips screw - don't drop)

looking straight down, you see the shifter mechanism. Two cables and metal arms with a shift weight in the middle.

All the arm ends have little silver circular clips that you can undo by lifting up the ends with a thumbnail and push them off into your palm, so as not to lose them.

The up-down arm on the right (as you look at it) has a clip on the right, when you remove it, you partly slide it out to the left.

Wipe all the linkage points, any white plastic and the channel in the shift weight with a clean cloth and get all the gunk out. I had a lot of black powdery gunk in the slider channel in the shift weight.

Smear on some thick grease (I used silicone grease).

Re-attach clips, again being careful not to drop them.

Enjoy the smoothness and ease of shifts. (I actually do in fact have an Uncle called Robert....)

(NB Do it for your SWMBO and get some brownie points)

Cheers:thumbup:

Bas