Third and fourth sometimes seem to disappear

will6440

Member
Hi all,

Recently bought my 3500S which runs well but the gearbox has a strange intermittent fault. First and second are always easy to select and engage with no problems. However, occasionally going up from second to third it seems to completely fail to find that plane of the gearbox. You can’t select fourth from second either. You move the gear lever to the right but there is no forward or backward movement. If you go back into second it often then works fine. I’ve not had the issue coming down the gearbox only going up.
Any suggetions?
Will
 
My initial thought would be a worn selector striker lever. How much free play can you get on the gearlever before you feel it touching something? Other candidates are the acorn on the bottom of the lever, and to a lesser extent worn bushes on the horizontal selector rod, but with most of those problems happen all the time. After eliminating all that it could be a fault with the detent/interlock mechanism in the box.

A pic looking upwards towards the selector striker lever might show other problems.
 
When you say how much free play when are you talking? When I’m trying to select the gear or when the car is in gear? The odd thing is that it’s not consistent. Took it out today and the box was faultless.
 
Play in the gearlever at a standstill in any gearlever position. For example, if the acorn falls off the bottom of the gearlever, the top of the gearlever moves a long way forwards/backwards before you feel it actually doing anything. That play will be there, but slightly less so, if the selector striker lever is worn. If it's random, sometimes good, sometimes bad, then I'd look underneath the car to see if anything is amiss, maybe getting someone to move the gearlever while you look at what's happening.
 
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