Meriva A gear selection issue?

Not a Vauxhall, but Mitsubishi Colt / Space Star has a similar problem and replacing the plastic bit by the gear stick does fix it. The plastic bit on the other end is harder to reach, and can be left until later.

Ok, thanks.

;-)

The strange things is at first glance (from inside the car), there doesn't seem to be much slack in the system but because we don't do millions of miles pa, the slack that is there has come in over a fairly long time.

And depending on the tolerances (between the gear knob - gear selector and the gate) it might not need much slack in the wrong direction to cause these symptoms.

I'll try to get it up on my mates lift and see what we can see.

Cheers, T i m

You probably won't be able to see anything worthwhile (I couldn't), you just have to have faith.

Ok, by see I really meant 'feel the various joints whilst someone else was wiggling the gearstick' ... but that might be the same? ;-)

I have actually seen that sort of thing before, sometimes or our cars and sometimes on other customer cars he's had in and it can be surprising both what (slack) seems tolerable and what (comparative tightness) doesn't.

But I've also had that with things like lower suspension ball joints where 'some slack' is typical for a specific vehicle and not on others? My Bedford CF camper failed an MOT for such ball-joints and I duly took it home and changed them. Took it for a retest and a (different) tester questioned what I had done and why, suggesting 'they would be just as slack in next to no time, that's how they all are and that he wouldn't have (therefore) failed them in the first place'. ;-(

It was weird how these things (back to the Meriva) first show themselves and how one can question themselves when they do ... 'hmm, that was a shoddy gearchange' ... ;-(

Cheers, T i m

I've had failed ball joints pass the MOT. Turning the wheel lock to lock on dry tarmac produced a clunk. Had to go to full lock the other way to get next clunk, re-centre it and wind it back the same way didn't clunk. Steering had a tendency to take a "set" after going over speed cushions and the car would start to deviate until the next pothole or something bounced it back straight. Put it on a ramp with a steel deck and there was no noise, ball joint passed inspection. Eventually I put a camera under the car and filmed it while turning the steering lock to lock, the joint "jumped".

Franchised Citroen garage changed the wheel bearing under their warranty on a BX I had bought 2nd hand off them. It was the ball joint that had gone.

Conversely when my bothers Chevy 1.4 had a failed ball joint it was classic, jack car, grasp wheel, push/pull on it moved in/out by a visible amount.

Engine mounts are also something that should be checked when you have gear change issues.

Gotcha.

I've only experienced that on RC model cars (typically buggies built / maintained by others). ;-)

Far less friction allowing tyre to slip and apply less load on ball joint.

Neat. ;-)

Lovely. A garage owning mate I have used for the bigger jobs is about to retire (he's over 70 now) and I really don't know where I would take any vehicle when he does. One time he's farmed one of my jobs out (the Meriva clutch) I found debris and tools in the engine bay and said mate had to tighten an engine steady that was / came lose. Never had anything like that from him over 30+ years.

On the CF CamperVan (ex Ambulance) I think they used a fairly std lever jobby, with the load taken off the wheel.

Understood. A Fiesta we had in the family showed to have an engine mount that was allowing the engine / gearbox to flap all over the place. I brought it to the drivers attention within 50 yards of being a passenger ...

We still have the 'clonk' on daughters Transit Connect from the front left wheel, typically when going over a drain / pothole etc. I think when I mentioned it here a while ago a loose damper shaft was suggested (but not investigated that deeply as yet).

Cheers, T i m

On a 100 mile round trip today I 'played' with the gearstick to see if I could find any sort of pattern or unexplained movement, cause and effect etc.

What I did find is if you pushed the gearstick sideways slightly harder than you generally might, you could clearly feel some extra 'give', like a clamp was slipping or similar?

When the give was in one direction it made selecting 1st / 2nd more unreliable and when in the other, all seemed normal again.

This gives me more confidence that it is some issue with the linkage so it's now just a matter of trying to locate where.

Cheers, T i m