Club 80-90 Forums

Hi I am new to this forum and recently brought the 1989 F reg (F593NTS) 1.9DG powered wagon below. I've sorted a few of the non-body/rust related issues and got it driving over the last couple of weeks, but it sure needs abit more loving. Currently it only has reverse 1st and 2nd amongst a few other issues...

It would be great if someone knows more about its history? I brought it from Norwich and now have it in London. I'm aiming to get it up to a reasonable standard, so it's use able over the summer, first real challenge will be tidying the body corrosion for the looming MOT.

I recently purchased a rounhish 1989 F reg T25 with the 5 speed dog leg box and have now got to the stage where its drive able after replacing the slave cylinder, but I can only get it to drive in 1st, 2nd and reverse gears.

Any pointers of where to start looking for faults would be much appreciated. Is this a common issue people have found? At present I am non the wiser if its a linkage issue or an internal box problem (is it possible that 1st, 2nd and reverse would work fine whilst 3rd, 4th and 5th are no where to be found?).

One thing I have noticed it that when stationary I can feel a light bight of the syncros where 3rd should be but that nothing more and wont move the van etc.

The gearbox issue may not be that serious but then again...... Have you read anything about trying to select the gears whilst laying under the van.

Evening Micky.

Welcome to the site.!!
You could try dropping the rear linkage and then trying to select gears direct on the gearbox?



If you can select the gears manually then it's linkage adjustment / bushes etc.
If not, then it's a gearbox issue.

what2do wrote:The gearbox issue may not be that serious but then again...... Have you read anything about trying to select the gears whilst laying under the van.

Doesn't that make driving it a bit tricky or do you use an assistant ?

Looks a nice enough van, the gears thing is often the selector linkage, is an easy replacement. So what part of sunny London are you in?

Thanks Smiffo, I tried getting the linkage off today but that was stopped by the bolt being seized... But I did have a good mess about underneath and looked at the whole linkage etc and found the following: gearbox selector will not move forward enough to select 3rd gear, i can feel it lightly meshing the syncros but it will not drop into gear. I also noted that the change rod went forward another 5 to 10mm when selecting 1st gear and moving into the 5th gear position. I cannot find anything external stopping this moving forward, so can only presume it is an internal issue

There are no signs of 4th and 5th gear even when it feels like they should be selecting based on the positive movement of the selector shaft and a similar range of travel to 2nd and 1st respectivly.

Has anyone ever experienced anything similar? Or do they know if the makeup of these boxes would allow the reverse, 1st and 2nd to function if say 3rd, 4th and 5th were terminal?

Thanks

Micky

VW_Micky wrote:Thanks Smiffo, I tried getting the linkage off today but that was stopped by the bolt being seized... But I did have a good mess about underneath and looked at the whole linkage etc and found the following: gearbox selector will not move forward enough to select 3rd gear, i can feel it lightly meshing the syncros but it will not drop into gear. I also noted that the change rod went forward another 5 to 10mm when selecting 1st gear and moving into the 5th gear position. I cannot find anything external stopping this moving forward, so can only presume it is an internal issue

There are no signs of 4th and 5th gear even when it feels like they should be selecting based on the positive movement of the selector shaft and a similar range of travel to 2nd and 1st respectivly.

Has anyone ever experienced anything similar? Or do they know if the makeup of these boxes would allow the reverse, 1st and 2nd to function if say 3rd, 4th and 5th were terminal?

Thanks

Micky

Yep! I recently bought a 'known good' box that did exactly that after a few weeks of being in my van. Could only get 1st and 2nd, bit different to yours in that my shaft wouldn't 'pull out' in order to be able to select 3rd or 4th or reverse.

Hi Drucifier, I'm in the Stockwell area. The vans tidy enough, but its at the make or break stage rust wise underneath, I need to get under there with the wire bush and rust converter plus underseal before it gets any worse! It looks like its being beside the sea with the amount of corrosion on bolts etc, every job becomes so much more fun when the bolts are locked solid.... Comming from New Zealand I never fully realised the havoc of the salted roads!

I'd love to think its a linkage issue, but there is just no sign of 4th and 5th when playing around underneath (shifter moves to there they should be but they are not there) and i can get a light syncro bite in 3rd but wont go any further. Seems strange that it will drive quite well in 1st, 2nd and reverse. I did buy it with a blown slave cylinder so wondering now if someone has been driving without the clutch

Does anyone have any experiences with the shifter mechanisms and forks etc failing?

What2do, were you able to partially strip it down and work out what happened?

Does anyone else have any similar experiences? It would be ideal if its related to an internal shifter mechanism issue rather than a terminal failure. I'm slightly concerned that I brought the van with a blown slave cylinder and now thinking someone may have been driving it without the clutch

It seems strange on the whole though that I can drive it in 1st and 2nd without serious noise.

I'd get that rear end linkage bit off of the gearbox first mate.
Free those 2 bolts and drop the linkage down.
Think of it this way, you have to free those bolts to remove the box anyway, so get them off and see if gears select OK manually at the gearbox.

I hope it is only a linkage issue - good luck