5 speed gearbox issues..

[drumnut182]

ok the story so far. Been driving the van around for a while now without 1st gear. But have eventually been able to have time and money to get my mechanic to sort prob out and he cant find 1st gear. All the other gears are ok but for some reason the 1st gear seems to not want to reveal its self. The gear lever goes into the position of 1st gear but when the clutch is released nothing happens..ie it doesnt engage. Have had the linkage off and messed around with everything but no joy so..my questions are:

Is it usual for 1st gear to do this..or any gear for that matter?
Is there any hope of making it work at all, or is it a gearbox with a broken ist gear end of story?
What is the function of the little nut on top of gearbox and does that do anything that would help?

Im using the correct gearbox oil and its def the correct box. I have had the 1st gear working before but then as i say, it decided not to work. Any help on this matter would be appreciated. Im off to portugal in it on Monday so keen to know what im going to do regarding this,
Im not an expert and dont really know enough to understand the prob but what i do know is that i have a 5 speed box with only 4 gears at the moment!

Thanks
ROB

[Aidan]

ok did the mechanic try to select the gears at the gearbox with the linkage disconnected, if so then no first gear but reverse selectable then the gear and synchro have probably been damaged, if no reverse then the bolt has come out of the selector fork inside the box or the synchro is damaged

DO NOT TOUCH THE BOLT ON THE TOP OF THE BOX that is holding the 2nd/3rd selector relay in position

[California Dreamin]

What he said ^^^^^^ Aidan won't blow his own trumpet but he is the man on this forum who is the gearbox specialist....you wouldn't go far wrong by employing him to fix this for you IF you find out that this issue is inside the box and not just a linkage issue....

Heeeee's de man!!!!!


Martin

[drumnut182]

Ok thank you for help. I will stay well away from that Bolt now!! Reverse is ok so that narrows it down a bit. It was checked with linkage on and off so it looks like its def gearbox probs. Ill have to come up with a plan of action now and see how im going to get it fixed but Aiden you sound like the best option.. Im off to portugal now so have to sort it out when i come back.

Regards

ROB