Difficulty getting from 5th to 4th

[Scotland North AR]

Afternoon, I have a Sigma 150 with five speed Ford type 9. One problem I seem to keep getting is, particularly on long drives going reasonably briskly, changing down from 5th to 4th for overtaking is that the gear lever will come out of fifth but will not go past neutral into any other gear. After a bit of faffing about, I can get it into fourth or third and continue on. By this time I have lost a lot of momentum and have several other cars in my boot. It could just be hamfistedness but doesn't happen with any other gear change.

Any thoughts?

[Jonathan Kay]

Cheapest to fix cause is probably stiction in the shift lever bearing. You can get to it from above. Grease might help, but here are MOCA2CV's notes on replacing it.

Jonathan

[Scotland North AR]

Thanks for that Jonathan, will look at that as the nights draw in.

[Martin J]

Mine was similar, stiction across the gate & pushing down for reverse was very stiff. Richard Young suggested squirting some oil down alongside the gator. I had my doubts but it made a huge difference. 

Put some newspaper under the car, use an oil can with a narrow spout & some light oil like duck oil & give it a good soaking. I bet you will find it improves things. 

[SM25T]

I use ACF50 spray. Works a treat.

[john milner]

Not a fix but for quick overtaking I generally drop from fifth to third. Could be a workaround until cured.

Also check the clutch. I think this is more likely to affect lower gears but worth spending 10 minutes of Google time.

[TomB]

Ive finding that mine is increasingly difficult getting into reverse smoothy.  Im thinking possible clutch adjustment as everything else seems fine.  On mine , with an under dash handbrake, removing the tunnel top is fairly easy - it might be worth considering this  to make lubricating the gear shift bearing easier/ less messy.  Infact, I might squirt some ACF50 in mine this evening to see if it helps with the reverse engagement. 

[SM25T]

Worth removing tunnel top and removing gear selector mechanism. Easy and safe to do. Lubricate the inside too.

[TomB]

How do you do that? Is there access through the gear change hole in the tunnel for spanners and for the mechanism to be withdrawn?  Might just squirt ACF50 and give it a wiggle for now.   

[Jonathan Kay]

How do you do that? Is there access through the gear change hole in the tunnel for spanners and for the mechanism to be withdrawn? 

See post #2.

Jonathan

[TomB]

So it is!

[SM25T]

D'oh :-)

[TomB]

I did this little job tonight. Took the gear selector off (really easy), only found I haven't a rose jointed bearing. It's a black plastic sort of castellated ball under a rubber boot. There was no corrosion apparent, so I gave a few squirts of blue lithium grease on either side of the bearing and on the selector rod on the gearbox tail. Doesn't appear to have made much difference, so I guess I didn't have a problem. 

[Jonathan Kay]

Well done.

What year is yours, please? (I'm sure this will affect someone else at some point.)

I think you're going to have see what happens, but if it gets worse or starts baulking I'd get it looked at asap.

Jonathan

[TomB]

It's a 1996 car, 5 speed. The only minor issue is a slight difficulty getting into reverse - suspect the clutch cable needs a bit of adjustment. 

[Jonathan Kay]

Thanks

Jonathan

[randybugger]

Tom, I had a problem getting into reverse which ended up being the tunnel top bag slipping round and fouling the gear stick (just in case you have one)

simple once I'd figured out.

[TomB]

Ta, Ill have a look! 

[DJ.]

For anyone else with the symptoms in the original post, I had similar with a Sigma engined car and it turned out to be impending failure of the hydraulic system and stranded me 500 miles from home. Message sent.

[Scotland North AR]

Oh dear......I’Lloyd get the prayer mat out with impending trip to Spain in the not too distant!