mitsubishi won't shift in reverse gear - shift stick link touches exhaust

Hello all,

Have looked for earlier posting regarding this problem, but problem has allready become quite specific.

My 1999 Space Star won't shift into reverse any more. Selecting reverse here is pulling a knob and going to the left and upwards next to 1st gear. Even when pulling this knob on the gear shift stick and going beyond the lateral movement for 1st gear, the gearbox always selects 1st gear instead of reverse.

Dealer said it is a common problem with this type of mitsubishi. Said it is the wear on bushings and rings which guide the gear shift stick motion on two axes and which also make up the link with the horizontal rod going to the front to the gearbox.

But i see/feel no excessive play on these bushings. Seems to me possibly rather something in the gearbox itself, the connection piece between the gear selector pin in the gearbox and the reverse gear toothed wheel itself.

But when checking with two people, the link between gear shift stick and horizontal rod going to the gearbox touches the exhaust and is hindered for going further to the right ( this link is of course going in the other direction compared to the gear shift stick upper part).

I'm puzzled because i can't find any play on these bushings. Not that i distrust the dealer, but somehow the given explanation goes against my own logic ;-)...

Any ideas anyone ?

Much obliged,

Edwin

Reply to
edwin
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modify , repair or adjust the gear linkage till it operates.

Reply to
Mrcheerful

Or get the exhaust rehung properly (if it's recently been repaired/replaced). ;-)

Tim

Reply to
Tim+

It almost certainly is the bushing, even though there seems to be no play. There's very little movement needed by the gear box rod anyway.

Diamond Auto Parts will probably sell the genuine part for a slightly less extortionate sum of money than the franchise dealers

Reply to
Nick Finnigan

Much obliged,

Exhaust is seemingly hanging exactly right ( 4x clamps attached )

I'm still struggling to explain the contradictions - if shift stick bushings are really worn, would the link beneath still touch the exhaust ? I hope the dealer that advised has a clear vieuw on the situation - will cost me 30 euro and an hours work ...

Otherwise I'm without perspectives

Thank you all, hoping for a convincing idea

Cheers

Edwin

Reply to
edwin

Has the clutch been changed recently, or the gearbox removed for any reason? If so, then favourite would be misalignment of the linkage.

Steve

Reply to
shazzbat

Hello,

No changes occured to the vehicle, the "shift in reverse" problems began suddenly without any provocation.

I have to mention, that this morning, with a cold car, I could shift twice in reverse, before the vehicle got driven warm. If the play on the shift stick guindance bushings would be the cause, it seems unlikely that the gear could be set in reverse with a cold car and gear, doesn't it ?

Since there exists a specific kit from the dealer exists for those bushings, I will try that of course, and will report back to the group.

Cheers all,

edwin

Reply to
edwin

No increase in the amount of wear to any of the joints? No increase in the amount of sag in ageing engine mounts?

Reply to
Adrian

I didn't ever put the car on a 3D precision measurement machine table of course.

But there are no connections throughout the linkage "shiftstick to gearbox" that make adjustments possible. AFAIK the linkage must continue to function throught the entire car's life.

The gearbox has been changed at 30K kilometers, never had any problems. Now it has 160K kilometers. The exhaust is still in exactly the same place as before, as I said, there are 4x clamps the entire length of the exhaust.

Will report back after I changed the linkage's nylon bushings.

Thanks,

Edwin

Reply to
edwin

IIRC the kit is two identical sets of bushings, and the front one is either much easier to fit or more likely to have failed, and you may only need to fit one.

Reply to
Nick Finnigan

Horrible memories of the utterly shit linkages that used to be on column-shift cars of my banger youth... You would find all sorts of strange effects and you could fiddle and adjust until you were blue in the face, but the only thing that worked was replacement of bushes and rods where necessary. Until the next time.

Reply to
Grimly Curmudgeon

Said I'd report back when bushings were replaced. Came from the dealer today, and especially one location on the pushrod with bushings mounted would explain all the symptoms I described. Hopefully thursday I will know the outcome - a friend will let me use his maintenance pit -, and will have reverse gear again at my disposition ...

Cheers,

Edwin

Reply to
edwin

Hello,

You're right, quite likely. The one bushing who most endures stresses and wear is the bushing linking the horizontal rod to the gearbox. The price of the parts is only 12 euro's...

Thanks for taking an interest and I will report thursday.

The design is a bit flawed, according to the dealer it's a typical problem, something specific dealers should know.. Now that I've brought it to people's attention, maybe someone else will also benefit from the discussion.

Edwin

Reply to
edwin

Hello everyone ( who took an interest ),

The problem I posted about, trouble shifting in reverse and 5th gear, has been solved by just replacing the front bushing set, next to the gearbox. It took 10 minutes, repair was done just on the driveway of my neighbours house.

The official dealer was even so kind to split the complete bushing kit I had ordered and just sell me the front bushing set. It lowered the price of repair to just 12 euros instead of 35 euros. The only trouble was that the bolt and nut I had to loosen was seriously overtightened, I used WD-40 succesfully.

Trouble is, I did not find excessive play when I took it apart, so the bushing link must be reasonably precise and very sensitive to wear.

I hope no one minds about me having been blind regarding this matter. It took too many posts. I nevertheless thank you all for your input. Hope this posting eventually helps someone else too.

Cheers,

Edwin

Reply to
edwin

Result. Thanks for letting us know.

Steve

Reply to
shazzbat

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I have the same problem. The kits for mitsubishi carisma and mitsubishi space star are same. unfortunately I cannot find O-rings? They were not marked on your picture but I suppose they should be replaced same time with the kit. Maker: Mitsubishi Part N,PNC/ Part Code.../ Description...../ Years.............../ Spec / OEM Part N / Required per car/ PNC

24581B / MR196827 / O-RING,GEARSHIFT LINK / 04/2001- 12/2004 / D=14/ MF520009 / 2 / 23988P 24581E / MR196957 / O-RING,GEARSHIFT LINK / 04/2001- 12/2004 24581F / MR196957 / O-RING,GEARSHIFT LINK / 04/2001- 12/2004

Pictures:

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PS: Mitsubishi Space Star 1.3, 2002, manual, petrol, engine: DG1A

Reply to
direct2000

Thankfully this topic is still limping on. We were having a similar problem ; having to pull the knob up to get 1st sometimes getting reverse which was "interesting" at times. Having tried to adjust the gear linkage which resu lted in much swearing and losing 5th or reverse (couldn't get both) decided to try and get a replacement linkage (rarer than hen's teeth). After an ag e trying & failing (thank goodness)to get a replacement "Googled" the probl em and your post came top. A new £32 replacement bush kit is now on it's way from a seller on ebay. The front bush was available for £13 but deci ded to go for the full kit just in case. Our local parts supplier couldn't supply & I didn't dare go near the main dealer as they are usually expensi ve.

THANKS

R
Reply to
ratchete

Having same problem on my space star is it easy to replace front bushes

Reply to
akyali6868

replying to edwin, Earl Dennis wrote: I had same problems. Could not unscrew gear knob so I cut it off. The knob is glued to a knurled end. It does not screw off. I did not notice any play in the cab bushes but there seemed to be play at the gear box end. The cab bushes I bought were the wrong ones. To tackle the problem of needing a new gear knob I bought a universal one. With this you can adjust the height. Adjusted the height until I could get reverse and voila.

Reply to
Earl Dennis

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