Can’t get into gear

……….

It’s possible that the levers that are engaged by the shift handle are misaligned, or their springs may be bent. the springs that are rivetted to the levers must point straight forward and if you are in first or reverse then the spring for the 2-3 lever must be in the centre slot in the H-gate on the front of the shifter mechanism, and vice-versa. In neutral, both springs should be in the centre of the gate. Crawl under the dash with a light!

Another possibility is simple adjustment of the two rods that pass through the bulkhead into the gear lever mechanism.

If the short arm on the other end of the lever is not perfectly aligned with the horizontal (neutral) slot in the housing it can lead to the lever becoming “trapped”. I had a similar experience in that it would be fine for ages then, just when you really needed to select a gear – usually pulling away and changing from first to second – it was as if the gearstick was locked and no gear could be selected, not even back into first.

This had been a nuisance for some years despite adjusting everthing else under the bonnet so this spring I spent a pleasant hour on my back under the dash adjusting those two short rods. Not only did it cure the “locking” problem but gear selection in general became smoother in all gears.

The book is of no real help but the aim is to get the “pockets” at the ends of the two rods aligned perfectly with the neutral slot so the gear stick travels smoothly from one to the other.

Noah.