Fiesta tdci 1.4 stiff gear changes

peter212693

peter212693

peter212693

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Hi all

My wife's 1.4 tdci has started to be really stiff when changing gears. Seems to only be when the cars warm. It goes into gear ok just seems to be the pull it push that's hard. It seems to be as stiff even with the engine off.

Anyone come across this before?
its a mk6 58 plate (not the brand new shape) with 76k on the clock.

Thanks
Pete
 
Had the exact same on my partners Fiesta. Similar age and miles, 08/65k. Turns out a part of the gear linkage needed removed, cleaned, lubed, then put back together. Took around 30 minutes, quite a common problem it seems.

Didn't require any replacement parts, just half an hour of time. Our mechanic suggested that the standard Ford approach is to replace the part, but it simply needs cleaned. Go to a trustworthy independent.

Should add that it was exactly the same symptoms, gear change was fine when cold, then progressively got stiffer as the car warmed up. Once warmed up an uncomfortable amount of force was needed to select gears.
 
Do you know which bit it was? It seems the linkage is cable linked, I've looked in and around the gear lever nothing seems wrong there.

Thanks
 
Erm, it's a bit the cables pass through next to the gearbox. That's about as much as I know. :D

Couple of posts I've found that sound about right:

http://www.fordownersclub.com/forums/topic/17189-07-fiesta-125-duratec-stiff-gearchange/
There is a bush that tightens up when it gets hot and makes the gear shift stiff when going backwards and forwards, but not side to side, it use to happen after about 12 miles, then was fine at the end of the day before my journey home, until i had done 12 miles and hey presto back to stiff changes. The good news is that it is a part that is easy to replace and not too costly. You can't buy just the bush, you have to buy a rod which is about £37 ish and the Ford dealer took about an hour to fit it. I could have done it myself but didn't have a Haynes manual at the time so i let them do it. Total bill was about £60.
Click to expand...

http://www.fordfiestast.co.uk/showflat.php?Number=240329
Stiff gear change when warm is, caused by the plastic bushes swelling on the gear linkage arm, on the front of the gearbox.
I had the same problem. Its an easy fix but a pain in the arse if you dont have a ramp.
You need to remove the plastic cover, if I remeber correctly there's about 6 bolts to remove this.
Then, take off the gear cables & the circlip on the pivot shaft. Once removed you may find melted or worn plastic stuck to the pivot shaft. Clean this up, then put back together with plenty of copper grease.
Click to expand...

Do either of these posts help? Sorry I can't name the part, I'm mechanically useless. :p
 
Cool, thanks for that! Sounds OK and not too much of a pain and its fine left to right too only going in and out of gear :)
 
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I had a quick look tonight and got to the gear cables. I didn't fancy taking them off in the dark, if I get the pivot shaft our is it just sliding it back in once cleaned up? I don't want to not be able to get it back in!
 
sloth has the right info. Its not that hard of a job to do, its just a pain jacking the car up and getting to some of the screws (star heads).
 
I just have visions on pulling the rod out and hearing the whole inside of the gearbox falling to the bottom :(

As long as this wont happen I will give it a go :p
 
Sorry to bring this back up guys but to anyone that has done this fix....

I take it I remove the link cables from the bronze arm. Then remove the circlip from the bottom of this and it should just pull off? Is it the bush just behind this arm you can see on the picture thats the problem or is it further into the box?

 
That's not bronze, someone has gone absolutely berserk with a tub of copper grease. Looks reasonably simple to take apart, should be obvious once you start on it anyway. Wear some latex gloves! :D
 
Dogbreath said:
That's not bronze, someone has gone absolutely berserk with a tub of copper grease. Looks reasonably simple to take apart, should be obvious once you start on it anyway. Wear some latex gloves! :D
Click to expand...

it is bronze under that copper grease too. LOL.

to be honest they only needed to lube up one part yet they've covered the whole thing! :eek:
 
Had my ST in at the garage yesterday, took about 2 hours and cost £72.

This was taken from an ST forum, maybe apply to a normal fiesta.



As some of you may be aware, ive been suffing with this problem for ages now, making the car almost undrivable at times. Replaced the cables on advice from ford, which made no difference. After a bit of investation(pulling things apart!) i found out it was the Shift arm's nylon bushes that had gone dry/expanding, causing them to tighten on the pivot shaft. Anyway heres the guide, it might be a bit *****-ish, but it works!

1. Remove both plastic covers where the gear cables go tho the box. One will unclip off, the other requires 4x 8mm bolts to be unscrewed.

2. With both covers removed, press the button on the selector cable, and withdraw it from the ball joint on the selector shaft. Pull the shift cable off the shank on the shift arm(held on by a rubber bush, just pulls off).

3. Remove both cables from the bracket(the outer cable has a twist release mechanism, twist it and pull the cable from the bracket).

4. Now remove the spring E-clip holding the shift arm on it's pivot shaft, being carefull not to let it flirt off anywhere and loose it.

5. Carefully withdraw the shift arm off the pivot shaft, it will probably be extreamly tight(thus the problem). Try rocking it side to side and pulling it at the same time, eventually it will come off. The fact that it's that tight, is the root of the problem. Dont worry about the ball joint/bush of the shift arm that slots into the end of the selector shaft - it justs slides in and out(carefully stretch the boot of the ball joint over to allow removal).

6. With the shift arm removed, unscrew the pivot shaft from the gearbox, 22mm spanner fittment, be carefull not to damage the box.

7. The nylon bushes in the shift arm require reaming, or ever so slightly enlarging, i just used a drill with a drill bit the size as close as i could get to the diameter of the pivot shaft. Keep working the bushes until the pivot shaft slides nicely inside, being carefull not remove to much material from the bushes.

8. Once you are happy with the feel of the pivot shaft inside the shift arm(smooth), clean everything up and pack the shift arm bushes with plenty of grease/lube(i used copper slip). Screw the pivot shaft back into the box and tighten.
 
Thanks for your help guys


Overlag said:
I too used that guide, but there wasn't any nylon bushes on mine was metal to metal? odd.
Click to expand...

So taking the bronze arm off it was metal to metal? I take it you just used a load of copper clip on the bar and put the arm back on?

Sorry im normally fine with this sort of stuff but its the Mrs' car so if it goes wrong....... :rolleyes:
 
Thanks for all your help guys! Had a crack at it this morning. Got it sorted, although think I’ve pulled my shoulder lying under the car trying to pull the arm off but what difference! Gear changing is so smooth again. Apart from getting the arm off the most difficult part was getting the boot back over the lower "square" connector on the arm!

Thanks for your help again all!
 
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