UK Focus Manual Gear Stick spring gone

No.

No- from memory about £2 to £3.

Yes, as long as you are a) patient and b) not ham fisted

Try searching the UK Focus owners club forums (forum.ffoc.co.uk/forum) - one of the guys there did a step by step description of the process, with part number etc. I did some photos when I replaced mine which I can try and find if you get stuck.

Cheers,

Chris

Cut along the dotted line to reply

Thanks for your prompt response Chris; at least I am happy that I won't cause any problems if I drive around to garage etc. Tried looking at the ffoc pages, it looks like the forum bit is offline at the moment being updated. I did a search when on the site and it came up with nothing. Tried every combination of "broken gear shift/stick/knob/box spring etc" with no luck. Now that you have re-assured me that I won't have a problem driving to the garage, I shall try local Ford dealer tomorrow morning. Will let you know, if it is cheapish and they can do it, might let 'em, if expensive and they can't do it anyway, I may try and see how hamfisted I am? Don't search for pics yet in case they fix it for me, don't want to waste any more of your time.......thanks again for prompt reply# Justin

In message , Justin Case writes

Its back online now. Try searching for "spring gear lever" in the drivetrain section and you will find it. Anyway, to save you time I've cut and pasted the article below. The spring costs £1.28 apparently. ======================================================

Remove cup front cup holder plastic bottom bits. Remove rear centre ashtray thing. Remove little plastic round screw cover from under rear centre ashtray. Unclip the gearstick leather (with plastic bracket - just fiddle and pull) and unscrew the gearknob and take both off.

Now the handbrake, ooohh this one was difficult as I had just had my break tightened during a service.

Unclip the leather handbrake surround and slide up and over the handbrake. Unscrew the two screws where the cup holders were and the one under the ashtray and keep em safe. Now you've got to pull the handbrake all the way as far as it will go or you wont be able to life the centre console over the top of it properly. If you cant get the console over the handbrake then pull the brake some more.... I was surprised at how much i had to do this.

Now you can have a look at the problem, if you move the gear stick around it becomes clear where the 'spring' is and how you can get to it.

From memory, I then too out the three screws that were holding the main plastic surround in place (difficult to imagine without the use of pics...maybe someone can help here...just follow the instuctions.)

Anyway when this main black plastic bit is loose the you'll be able to twist it around and pull it out completely.... them you can get to the spring, which looks alot like the one you bought from the Ford dealer for a little over £3.

Just grease the new part like the old one was, I used the same grease from the old part (looks like lard), and fit it where the old one was...

The next bit is tricky as you will have to work out where the main black plastic thing fits back in (you removed 3 screws earlier), this is what took me some time, other wise the job is done is less than 10 mins. Anyway, the black plastic thing has to fit back in like it was but along with the new spring. If you fiddle for a very short time and think logically, you'll do it..

Anyway, you'll know that it's all back together when you can feel the spring working properly when you move the gearstick slightly....dont move it too much as the black plastic thingy isn't screwed in yet....it may be of help to hold the black plastic thing while checking it's all together right.

Anyway, it worked quite well for me, and i then put all the screws back and cliped everything back in, in reverse order to how we took it apart.....

It's a shame I dont have a digital camera, or I would have taken some photo's of the black plastic thingy.... Trust me, you'll know it when you see it...just unscrew it.

over £60 saved.... now you can buy those clear indicators and orange bulbs...

========================================================

Great Paul, thanks for that. Sounds a bit fiddly for me but as you say is £3 as opposed to £60 which is a big difference. Will have a look-see in the morning Justin

shift/stick/knob/box

I don't consider myself the world's greatest mechanic, but it only took me

20 minutes to do mine and that included giving the centre console a good clean whilst it was out.

Give it a go!

Chris

Ok, Ok, Ok. Thanks fellas, you have convinced me that it is not in the realms of brain surgery so I have ordered the part from my local Ford dealer (arrives after 2 this afternoon) cost £2.69 plus vat. Asked how much for them to do it (" Uh, it's a bit fiddly that - about hour/ hour and a half - but we can't do it until next week") says gruff voice in background and then I was quoted £82. Will collect the spring this afternoon and do it myself (hopefully). Good point about cleaning out the centre console at the same time, mine could certainly do with that. At least I am reassured that it is not a problem to drive it and won't cause any more problems. Very many thanks to all for quick response - Thanks Chris for giving me the confidence and to Paul for the instructions. I have looked at the ffoc site now it is back up and saw all the posts there. Very useful - somebody has driven for 2 years with the broken spring so I guess I panicked unnecessarily.

Cheers to all Will let you know Justin

Well, what can I say to you guys except that I owe you all a pint for saving me £80. All fixed and working AOK. Only difference to Paul's instructions was that the centre console now has a separate bit at the front and there is no need to remove it all. I just screwed off the gear knob and then pulled the leather cover and the front top half of the centre console just pulled out with it. This gave sufficient access to get to the screws holding the "black plastic thingy". No need to remove anything else, the centre console has obviously been modded (because of spring failure?)

Only thing I did wrong was to check the existing spring and noticed that there appeared to be nothing wrong with it so I put it back in, refitted the black plastic thingy and it was still not working, flopping about as before. I removed the black thingy again and when I pushed on the longest bit of the spring, it broke off, obviously it had been broken but not completely so I had a bit of practice at putting the spring and the black plastic thingy back in. Replaced new spring which was £2.69 plus 47p vat = Total of £3.16. Instead of £82 plus vat, Guys, Thanks for the instructions and the confidence booster from Chris, Great service and much appreciated, Justin

In message , Justin Case writes

Its a real smug feeling isn't it.

I have the same problem with my car, I have driven with the faulty spring for around 4 months. It does not cause problems and will not affect the gearbox, it will simply just annoy you.

I will try and fix mine!!!