5 speed T25 stuck in reverse.

[havingagiraffe]

I've got an intermittent problem with my van and I'm hoping that a forum member will have the solution.

It's a 1990 T25/T3 five speed manual. Originally 1.7 diesel, now 1.9 aaz turbo diesel.

From day to day my van's gearbox is fine. Quiet, easy selection, good definition between second and reverse etc. However, after a long journey it sometimes gets stuck in reverse. Reverse engages as normal, but will not disengage. The only way to pop it out of gear is to reach under the van and move the linkage rod forwards. Sometimes the rod can be moved by hand, sometimes it needs a tap to persuade it to move. It doesn't seem excessively stiff. If the van's left overnight stuck in reverse it's still stuck in the morning when it's cooled down. Just after I bought the van I had all of the joints in the gear linkage replaced (albeit with non genuine parts) by a local garage who've done a decent job on my other cars and vans. Last week they changed the gearbox oil. About three litres of oil came out when they drained the box along with two small pieces of metal. The pieces of metal looked as though they had sheared fairly cleanly, and the fitter hazarded a guess that they might have something to do with the selector?

I've had a look on the wiki, vortex, samba, brickyard etc and not come up with any ideas.

It seems strange that it usually only misbehaves after thirty to fifty miles. The forward gears get a little bit tighter when the gearbox is hot, but are still well above average for a T25, as is reverse when the box is cold.

I'm hoping that someone on here has had a similar problem and has found the solution.

Thanks in advance,

David.

[Westfalia1990]

Hi, I had the same prob with mine and it ended up to be the plastic ball and cup thingy worn the rear part of the linkage hope this helps

[davegsm82]

Personally, any bits of metal in the gbox oil spells bad news to me. Occasionally you might get shards of gear teeth which you can put up with but usually it's not good.

I've not seen inside of the T25's box, I presume its a standard 3H, if the metal bits are from the selector forks then they will be possibly jumping over the selector rings and getting jammed on the wrong side. Not a lot that could be done with that other than replacing the forks.

I'd advise you pulling the box and having a look obviously.

Dave.

[havingagiraffe]

Thanks for the advice chaps.

The ball and cup thingy is fairly new but is a pattern part so it could be suspect. I'll get some lubricant on it to see if that helps. If the joint's the wrong shape or size a squirt of PTFE probably isn't going to help, but it's worth a go.

As for the bits of metal in the oil. They are definitely not bits of gear, they look like pressed sheet steel. Quite a light gauge metal, maybe a bit of a clip or something? Whatever they are, they shouldn't be floating around inside the gearbox.

Thanks again,

David.

[davegsm82]

If the bits look like 'soft' steel then they could be bits of steel bearing cage, again not good to have them floating about in there.

Hardened bits such as teeth and selector parts tend to shatter into sharp pointy shards if they are unfortunate enough to get picked up by the gears.

Dave.

[Aidan]

@havingagiraffe

sounds like one of the selector fork bearing shells, if no ball bearings or debris of ball bearing then it's usually just part of the bearing shell and it will still be fairly linear in operation, balls are about 1/8"

is the linkage getting stuck on the reverse lockout tab at the front under the gearstick ?

[havingagiraffe]

Thanks for the further information gents.

The ball joint at the rear of the linkage looks like it's over extended in reverse, second and fourth. I think I wil try adjusting the linkage before condemning the gearbox.

If it turns out to be the selector bearing falling apart am I looking at a big bill parts and labour?

I gave the ball joint a squirt of chain lube and it hasn't jammed in reverse after two thirty five mile journeys and a ten mile journey today.

Probably waiting for a rainy day when I'm in a rush and in the middle of nowhere...:-S

[Aidan]

is the plate for the rear bush mounted on the front of the boss on the gearbox ?

[havingagiraffe]

Thanks for the super quick reply Aidan. I'll have a look on the weekend. Incidentally, you don't need to push the lever down to get reverse, just push it straight across against the spring same as first. I should probably try to find another five speed T3 to see what's different with mine. Thanks.

[havingagiraffe]

Lubrucating the ball joint at the back of the linkage seems to have done the trick. I've done a quite a few forty mile plus runs and it hasn't jammed in reverse once. Apologies for the slow update; I didn't want to tempt fate by reporting too soon! Thanks again for the advice chaps. P. S. Expect another post when whatever was being held in place by those two stray bits of metal start moving around!

[billy739]

genuine vs aftermarket linkage

when you lined the splines up the aftermarket version was out of alignment and ' neutral' was not vertical!

this was a replacement for a genuine one a gave to a friend to get his van back on the road , needless to say he sent the repo back.

repo was from 'ebay' the common one that appears when you search ebay , so be warned

[havingagiraffe]

Thanks for the photos. The ball joint on mine's only a few months old but is non genuine, probably the same as the one in the pictures. I haven't read about anyone else getting stuck in reverse, but have seen a few threads about jamming in second and fourth because of a defective ball joint. What puzzles me is why it only plays up at the end of a long journey. I wouldn't have thought that there'd be enough heat generated to make the joint expand significantly, or to become more pliable. Touch wood, that quick squirt of chain lube seems to have done the trick. Maybe the ball was getting forced beyond the edge of the cup's radius on engaging reverse but now the lube allows it to slip back into place when reverse is disengaged. That would explain why it remained jammed in gear even if left to cool overnight. Thanks again for the good information, David.

[CovKid]

With gearstick in neutral, lever on gearbox should be bolt upright. Check that is the case.

[havingagiraffe]

With gearstick in neutral, lever on gearbox should be bolt upright. Check that is the case.

Thanks for the good information. Looks upright to me. Might be worth turning it anti clockwise one spline to see if that helps. Touch wood, it still isn't getting stuck in reverse, but it's still a little bit harder than it should be to disengage reverse after a long journey.