First Gear Its a bugger

[onc onc]

Hi all,
here,s hoping someone out there will be able to point me in the right direction. I own a 1.9 DG engine code, now the problem is the van is a bugger to select 1st gear all the other ones seem ok but 1st seems to not want to go into it i had to use second gear to pull away on the way home from work in the old girl tonight. she will go into 1st but its a bloody struggle and i dont want to be sitting at a junction with the lever in me hand after trying to force it into gear Any ideas,

cheers
Onc Onc

[Aidan]

first thing is linkage, you can check to see if it's the linkage or the box by removing the cup from the ball and selecting the gears manually at the box - if it don't work there then it's the box, if it does then it's the linkage

ideally check with engine off then with engine on and clutch depressed, needs two peeps and ideally on a ramp or with rear wheels both in the air on axle stands and safely chocked so who is underneath don't get squashed by accident

if gears select ok engine off but not with engine running then it's likely to be clutch or spigot bearing

if it's a five speed change the oil and see what's on the plug
could be first gear needle bearing

if it's a four speed change the oil anyway won't do any harm

[onc onc]

Thanks for reply, i think i will go for oil change first and see what happens from doing that, i have had the van 3 years now and have never checked oil in gear box is it a difficult job, i always do engine oil but forgot about the dam gear box

Cheers

Onc onc

[CovKid]

Does no harm to just replenish with new but always always make sure you can remove the FILLER plug first as they often seize solid and if you've removed drain plug and dumped the oil, you'll be up a creek without a paddle then.

[onc onc]

Does no harm to just replenish with new but always always make sure you can remove the FILLER plug first as they often seize solid and if you've removed drain plug and dumped the oil, you'll be up a creek without a paddle then.

That will be just my luck

[CovKid]

Remove the gear linkage to get a better purchase before you even attempt it.

[AngeloEvs]

Pig to get first when I bought my van and traced the problem to the linkage under the gearstick. Clamp bolt was loose and easy to spot by removing the spare tyre and crawling under the van. The linkage is housed in a square cover directly under the gear stick but I managed to tighten the clamp bolt without removing it. Worth checking as it only takes a few minutes to correct if there is any slop/freeplay.

[onc onc]

Pig to get first when I bought my van and traced the problem to the linkage under the gearstick. Clamp bolt was loose and easy to spot by removing the spare tyre and crawling under the van. The linkage is housed in a square cover directly under the gear stick but I managed to tighten the clamp bolt without removing it. Worth checking as it only takes a few minutes to correct if there is any slop/freeplay.

That seems like a good place for me to start, and if the weather perks up tomorrow i will be under the old girl to see whats occuring, we are of to Suffolk on monday for a bit of camping and i would like to be able to use First gear ...

Thanks for the pointer

Cheers
Onc onc

[DevonAid]

What a handy post - we lost 1st gear on our camping trip to the south coast over the Bank Holiday weekend, not used it much since and pulling away in 2nd is a bit tricky with our horsepower-challenged van. Will attend to the suggested measures in due course.

If I had a workshop in which to do this (and the other 97 items on the 'to do' list) it would be attended to even quicker, but don't get me started on the 'I want a workshop' thing.......