Gear Selection Problems

[Ciaran]

Morning folks

Well, it seems the 2.0i has decided to give me another little problem to address, it has developed some gear issues.

Last night, on the way home, I was stopped at an uphill junction which was on a steepish hill. As it came near my turn to pull out, I slipped it into 1st, and was edging forward, holding the car on the clutch, as you do. A gap in the traffic opened up, I accelerated a little harder than normal to account for the hill, the car moved forward, then suddenly there was a 'thunk' and it started rolling backwards, it had jumped out of gear.
Strange I said, but thought maybe I hadn't put it in gear all the way or something. I put it back into 1st and it went in fine, and I was able to drive the rest of the way home without incident.

This morning, when I went to goto work, I found that the car would not stay in reverse by itself, I had to hold the gearstick in position, and as soon as I let go it popped back to neutral. I did manage to reverse out Ok by holding the stick.

The forward gears, now feel... wrong in some way. Previously, it slotted in and out of gear very precisely, but now the stick feels vague and squealchy or something, the best way I can think of to describe it is as if you're pushing it through thick treacle, and once you clear this barrier of mild resistance, it does eventually slot into gear, and stays in while driving.

When I got to work, I found if I clouted the gearstick into reverse and hammered it with my hand, it would eventually stay in.

When driving, it pulls normally, with no sign of any clutch slip, no graunching noises etc. The clutch pedal also feels normal.

I'm thinking perhaps gear linkage or something similar, anyone concur?

Any thoughts appreciated as always (especially if they're about easy to sort things )

Ciarán

[Peter.N.]

Hi Ciaran

I would think its more likely to be something to do with the linkage than the box itself, they seem to be pretty well bomb proof. I am just in the process of taking the one out of the hatchback to fit a clutch and the linkage seems quite straight forward, assuming yours has the same gearbox. It consists of two rods with a ball joint on each end - quite easy to see from above once you have removed the battery tray, hydraulic reservoir and all the pipes

There is some external linkage on the box but it doesn't look servicable, except perhaps for the application of some oil. Sounds as though something has got jammed - unless of course you mistook thick treacle for gearbox oil

Peter.

[techmanagain]

As your car seems to fit within the correct category,the previous owner(s) did not have the mod. done which applied up to RP5317.
The spindle breaks and the replacement(new or repaired) spindle now should have a washer fitted between the 'L'-shaped relay lever and the subframe (Washer Part No. 79 03 053 394)
On refitting, the lever spindle should have LOCTITE on the threads and should be tightened to 3.5 mdaN.

[techmanagain]

The snag with my previous message is that Citroen admit that the number I have quoted exists no longer!, so I cannot give you a spec. Fairly large external diameter, I would have thought, so as to give support to the lever.

[Ciaran]

Peter, John, many thanks for the replies.

I'll have a look at the linkage later (I just hope it gets home without dying completely).

There's something in the back of my mind the previous owner mentioned about having a new linkage or something, I'm going to email him to ask the details of that....

Cheers guys.

Ciarán

[kenhall1202]

I recently replaced the shortest of the three gearchange link rods on my 2.1TD. This rod is slightly different to the others in that the cup at one end is rubber bushed and mine had totally perished but amazingly still remained connected. It didn't affect the gear changing but the gearstick became less 'floppy' with the new link fitted.

Ken

[Ciaran]

Well the plot thickens.

Heard back from the previous owner, the original linkage fell apart on him one day, and his indy replaced it with one from a '97 S2.

I took the air pipes off tonight for a bit of investigation, and saw the cause almost right away. The left (facing the car) rod from the gearstick was lying loosely around the bottom of the selector rod, instead of being firmly attached at the top as it is supposed to be. The rubber bush had cracked up and disintegrated. I put the rod back in it's correct position, but after one gear shift the rubber fell to bits and the rod fell off the selector shaft.

The other bush looks slightly better, but not much, so I'll replace the pair I think..

Does anyone happen to know the name / number of these parts, and indeed, are they replacable DIY, or is some kind of tool / press needed?

Cheers

Ciarán

[citroenxm]

Ciaran

My 24v manual S1 needs "gear change link rods" as they are known as, because I couldn't get reverse very well at all after putting the gearbox back in, but Id also had one fall off when i was useing the car..

Theres only 3 of them, and from my Stealer, still available, albeit on back order, were 17 quid each!!!!

Anyway, I ordered them, as theres no point having a gearlever that says 1st is over there "somewhere", so if I can get them for a S1 24v you should be able to get them for yours.. I didn't need a chassis number either...

Good luck

Paul

This post has been edited by citroenxm on June 25, 2008 10:28 pm

[Ciaran]

Cheers Paul.

So they have to be ordered as the entire rod, the rubber bushes can't be changed??

Ouch...

Ciarán

[citroenxm]

Yes unfortunally...they are complete rods... bonded together

You can get just the one, but i thought, with a NON crunching box now fitted, might as well treat her to a set of new rods... so got all three.. I thought 17 quid each wasnt too bad..

Paul

[Ciaran]

Thanks Ken, sorry I didn't see your reply earlier for some reason.

Seems I'm going to have to bite the bullet on this one!

I wonder is there a diagram anywhere of the linkages? I know which one has the problem by look and feel, but visibility was bad and I couldn't really make out how it relates to the others.....

Ciarán

[DoubleChevron]

Hi Guys,

can you modify to take standard selector rods ?? Have a look what Neils done with CGAT for example... This will then last the life of the car !

http://www.aussiefrogs.com/forum/showpost....82&postcount=22

seeya,
Shane L.

[kenhall1202]

Hi Ciarán ,

The part I replaced is P/No 245252 ('Gearshift link') and cost £19.68 from my local Citroen dealer in May 08. Best to make sure your 2.0i uses same part. See attached diagram from Citroen Service website for my 2.1TD. I presume the reason for the rubber bush is to reduce the transmission of vibration back to the gear lever.

I suspect the reason why my link rubber perished may have been a combination of old age and contamination with Total BV gear oil coming from a worn near side drive shaft seal into the differential. Guess what my next job is when it stops raining for long enough.

Ken

PS The ball and socket joints on the rods usually pop apart easily using a couple of scewdrivers either side.

This post has been edited by kenhall1202 on June 26, 2008 09:39 am

[Ciaran]

Thanks for that Ken. Looks fairly similar to the petrol box.

Think I'll just follow Pauls advice and get all of them, might as well, as I expect the rubber in them all will be the same state.

Sigh...

Ciarán

[Ciaran]

That's some job Neil has done on CGAT Shane, as usual!

I'd love to change it for something like that if I had the time and tools to make a metal replacement. Unfortunately at the moment I'm a bit pushed for time and need it to work so I'll have to stick to the boring OEM part for now

Ciarán