Car is a 1980 Austin Princess 2
Twice now I've had what is to me an unusual issue with my gearbox. My brother who used to own and work on Metros, suspects that the selector rods are probably to blame, but can't say for certain.
What happens is that when performing a manoeuvre when having to change gear a lot (turn in the road sort of stuff) on a hill, I will select reverse, the gear level will jump into 4th and get stuck there. If I try to change gear once it's stuck in 4th, the gear lever will just spin around and not select anything at all.
To solve, the car is jacked up so that one or both of the front wheels can turn freely and the gearbox will return to normal with no issues. When driving gears are wide apart, but selectable, there's no real problems aside from the 'box feeling a bit sloppy compared to what I'm used to - modern hatchbacks, mid-eighties VW.
My brother has had a look and a fiddle underneath and said the selector box feels a bit loose and that the rubber bushes could well be worn.
What I'm wondering is if this is a common fault and if there's a straightforward fix before I chase problems. Providing I've always got a jack in the car, it really isn't a huge problem for me as jacking it up always resolves this, but I'd rather not have the hassle.
Thanks in advance for any help on this one.
Twice now I've had what is to me an unusual issue with my gearbox. My brother who used to own and work on Metros, suspects that the selector rods are probably to blame, but can't say for certain.
What happens is that when performing a manoeuvre when having to change gear a lot (turn in the road sort of stuff) on a hill, I will select reverse, the gear level will jump into 4th and get stuck there. If I try to change gear once it's stuck in 4th, the gear lever will just spin around and not select anything at all.
To solve, the car is jacked up so that one or both of the front wheels can turn freely and the gearbox will return to normal with no issues. When driving gears are wide apart, but selectable, there's no real problems aside from the 'box feeling a bit sloppy compared to what I'm used to - modern hatchbacks, mid-eighties VW.
My brother has had a look and a fiddle underneath and said the selector box feels a bit loose and that the rubber bushes could well be worn.
What I'm wondering is if this is a common fault and if there's a straightforward fix before I chase problems. Providing I've always got a jack in the car, it really isn't a huge problem for me as jacking it up always resolves this, but I'd rather not have the hassle.
Thanks in advance for any help on this one.
