Damn! Gearbox Failure! Only 3rd And 4th Available!

[Alanuk]

Damn it!!....just taking the wife and kids out this morning and then all of a sudden, and without any grinding noises or warning, no gear selection apart from 3rd and 4th!!!!!

 

I called out the AA who were inconclusive of what the problem was and I had to have the car recovered home, its there now sitting on my drive way in this sorry state, and I just really dont know what to do next.

 

I wouldent concider myself totally useless with mechanics and I have a fairly good selection of tools to hand but what I really want to know is how difficult would this be to repair? I have done a search for similar posts and it would seem this is fairly common, some point out a problem with the pinch bolt on the gear selector, hopefully if it does end up being the "pinch bolt" or somthing less drastic than a new gearbox, is this someting worth having a go at myself or is it something that I should leave well alone to a garage? although I will now need to get it to a garage if the latter is is the case.

 

Would you credit it eh...two excited kids with Christmas just around the corner (and very little funds to speak of) and this happens...of course, its not the worst thing that could happen, it just seems that way at the moment as I desperately need the car so I can get to work!!!!

 

Any help or advice would be greatly appreciated.

 

Thanks in advance.

[chromedome]

From what I've read on the forum, it is probably the gear selector cables. They are a ball and socket type of fixing and it's quite common for them to pop off.

 

People have had limited success repairing them with cable ties etc, but more often than not new cables are required. I can't remember the cost of the cables exactly, around

[gregers]

if it is the cables,im sure someones selling a set on ebay,look under galaxy/sharan/alhambra,dunno how much they cost at the stealers but might be of use to you,

hth,and hope you get a cheap fix.

[Alanuk]

Thanks guys, it looks as though the cables are to blame, I will look into this tomorrow on what looks like a very cold and frosty morniong to confirm this.

 

I am sorry for starting a new post on this, it seems to have been covered before, what can I say...I just panicked, as a newbee I must stress how important it is to search for these problems first before posting.

 

If this is the cause I will see if I can add some sort of pictorial to help others....I only hope it is the cables and not some sort of gearbox problem...fingers crossed!!!

[Nick]

Also keep this problem in mind

 

http://www.fordgalaxy.org.uk/ford/index.ph...l=gear+selector

 

It's a bugger to get to so I paid the local garage

[Alanuk]

O.K everyone, here is how it went.... I removed the gear selector lever inside the car and discovered that the cables were all attached and the problem was not there, the search then led me to the gearbox, after stipping down half the engine bay, supporting the gearbox with a sissor jack, removing the battery and battery tray, coolant expansion tank and fuel filter, I managed to get reasonable access to the the selector mechanism, I could also see that the cables were still attached at this end.

 

It appeared that the blue cable was unable to opereate the "lift" part of the selector, I managed to get a long extention bar from my socket set on to the top of the selector, dosed it VERY heavily with WD40 and gave it a bit of good old fashioned welly (nothing too heavy handed mind be very carefull!!), I also threaded a couple of large cable ties around the linkage so I could pull it upwards in between tapping it.

After about 20 minuites of faffing around like this (with hope and patience gradually ebbing away) I noticed that I could now select 1st and 2nd, but not 3rd and 4th.. this was progress at last!!! with the help of my brother in the car gently pushing the gear lever side to side whilst I carried on with my tapping and pulling, it eventually freed itself, this was a euphoric moment!!...loads more WD40 followed and plenty of pushing the gear lever side to side in the neutral position confirmed that all was well.

 

Well thats about it so far, after a good test drive the gearbox seems to be back to its old self again and I can only conclude that the problem must have been down to corrosion and accumulated crap around the selector shaft entering the gearbox, hopefully it will carry on working...time will tell and I will keep you informed.

 

 

Sorry for the long post but I really would like to give others some hope with what appears to be a common problem with shalaxies of this vintage, it is certainly worth having a go with this method first before you get your face rubbed with the "gearbox is shot mate" old flannel as I did.

 

Thanks everyone for giving me hope with this and other problems I have encountered along the way and "cheers" to a great site supported by some good people who have devoted their time and knoweledge to help others.

 

Am I again a very happy Galaxy owner??........???.....so far so good!!!!!

[gregers]

well done m8,sorry you had to spend 2.99 on a can of wd40 ;) ;)

[Alanuk]

Cheers Gregers, In a ham fisted way I have to agree with you!!! I thought on more than one occaision the time had come to sell it off as parts on Ebay!!! that would be a sorry day indeed....Im certainly not beaten yet!!!!

[William Orkmate]

My Alhambra failed on Thursday exactly he same as Alanuk...I fixed it just as he described...except I missed out all the selector cable enquiries thanks to this post...so thanks a million Alanuk...

 

I did remove the battery box entirely as described...but don't think I needed to...removing the bottom part of the tray (which secures the LHS engine mount) was not nessecary on my car...if I had looks more closely I would have seen that I could remove just the side and back and had exactly the same access to the gear selectors. I used a piece of wood and a hammer to push the selector down...and a slide hammer with hook to pull it up (gently!)...I didin't have access to an adult helper...but Natasha (7) did fine at working the lever....thanks again Alanuk.

[Alanuk]

Superb !!! I'm really well pleased for you :D If its any reassurance I have not had any other gearbox probs since this repair (and its still going strong) so it looks as though the reason for this happening in the first place still stands.

 

By my reconing thats two Mk1's (?) that have dodged the breakers yard!!!...."your gearbox is shot mate!!"..... I dont think so!!!! :D

[grindermods]

hello my galaxy did the 3rd 4th only thing the other day, but the wife got it home

i rattled the gear stick around for 10 min and all seemed fine again

however 4 days later it happend again......unhappy wife came home with aa this time.... how could i fix it, if it wasn't broke

 

my diagnosis started with the fact that the gearstick is stiff means that the cables are still fastend on, if they come off it goes sloppy. but will give simalar gear selection problems.

 

after research i feared it was the pinch bolt problem illustrated by other people on this forum.

 

so i removed the gear selector mechanism off the top of the gearbox (about 2hours in the dark!!!)

was pleased to find the pinch bolt still there but it was only finger tight so glad i went after it. now refitted with thread lock!!!!

 

however the problem was fine rust and crust that had developed on the main selector shaft that goes into the gearbox, so lots of wd40 and wiggling the selectors about got it going fine. this was easier with the selector unit removed however not necessary, bit i did catch the pinch bolt before it fell out!!!!!!

 

if you have the seased shaft problem wd40 is the way and have an assistant wiggle the gearstick in the car,

 

Also i recomend removing the reversing light switch off the side of the selector unit as the void behind it was coverd in dry crust that had come off the shaft it also allows you to get more wd40 to the lower half of the shaft. keep flushing it till the wd40 runs out clean.

 

i do recomend removing the selector unit tho and sorting the pinch bolt, i;m happy now that it won't fall out of mine and eat the gearbox, all about 5hours work and a bill of less than

[surfer]

Just finished fixing the sticking gearbox problem using method described by Alanuk. I have a 1999 110 tdi gal and did'nt need to remove the battery tray just all the plastic bits to the left of it and the expansion bottle. Took an age to loosen up and for a while I thought it was'nt going to happen but after a lot of WD40 soaks and working the selector arm up and down and the gear lever about it freed up. Now test driven and seems fine. Thanks to all on this site for their advise on this.

[dgamble]

Thank you so much guys. When my Gal did this coming home from a camping trip last weekend, full of kit and family, I thought it was hello scrap yard for the old HMS Gamble (her name). I did as instructed and 1 1/2 cans of WD40 and 5 hours of swearing later she was on the road again. Another Gal saved from the scrappy by this thread I believe. Thanks again!