Broken gear linkages? Mk 2 Esky

Pazuzu · 23-07-2011, 03:38 PM

Hi all.

After droping my car into 2nd gear, the stick seemed to go a hell of a lot further back than usual, and appeared to be stuck. After pulling into a side street & parking, I found that I could disengage the gear, through a combination of twisting, pushing & threatening the gear stick, & I think I managed to find 3rd gear. But that's about it.

The gear stick in my car has always been sloppy, & I've owned it now for about 4 & 1/2 years, but now the gear stick feels like it's come away from whatever it was connected to. I can lift it & drop it about 1 or 2 inches, not a good sign.

Does this problem sound familiar to any Esky owners? What did it end up being? My biggest problem is that I have absolutely no experience when it comes to gearboxes or gear linkages. How difficult is it to access the gear linkages in a normal Escort 4-speed? Is it something that requires the box to be dropped out at all? Is there another point at which the gear stick can actually break, without it necessarily being anything to do with the linkages themselves?

If anyone can give me any info they've learned from over the years, that would be handy. It's parked only about 5 blocks away at the moment, but I"ve left the manual in the back, so I can't actually see what I may be up against here.

rag top · 23-07-2011, 08:46 PM

Sounds like the shifter may have stripped the nylon threads that hold it in place. Would also pay to check if the circlip that holds the shifter under pressure is there or not.

Great opportunity to replace it with an RS shifter or a competition shifter.

cosworthfreak · 24-07-2011, 11:04 AM

I think your situation will sound very similar to many who have single rail gearboxes in their cars, and the same thing has happened to me. You probably have a Type 3 gearbox if it's in a Mk2 escort, but I'm not 100% sure about this.

As rag top says, it is likely to be the nylon thread that holds the shifter assembly to the rear extension housing of the gearbox. However, in addition to a worn nylon thread on the shifter, it could also be a worn (or destroyed) thread in the alloy rear extension housing.

Whether you will have to remove the gearbox will depend on the damage. If it's just the nylon thread on the shifter assembly, you probably won't have to and you can either rebuild the shifter with a new nylon nut, or just get a reco (or new) one. If it's also the rear extension housing, then the box should really be removed to fix this. You can get an oversize metal nut to replace the nylon one on your old shifter which also requires the rear extension housing hole to be machined slightly larger and a new thread put in.

When the same thing happened to me, it affected the selector mechanism in my gearbox, which required removal and a rebuild. It must be said though, that it turned out my gearbox (close ratio type 3) wasn't rebuilt to the standard I expected it to be, and when it was fitted to my Capri the shifter was attached by slipping an exhaust flange gasket over the shifter, and twisting fencing wire around the flange gasket and then underneath the rear extension housing.

Both threads were cactus, and they had tried to fit an oversized metal nut held in with araldite and four self tapping screws. I'm quite happy to say I didn't pay for that rebuild.

Good luck

Jamie

allanv6gt · 24-07-2011, 02:11 PM

Jamie.....a 'professional' quality rebuild by any chance ?
Sounds like my 'professionally' rebuilt V6, complete with the crankshaft gear keyway that was about twice the width it should have been, giving me extra camshaft retard under load, and allowing pistons to hit valves (interference style motor).........at least I (a back-yarder by non-trade) found out what the knocking noise was before internal destruction!! The previous owner had already *paid$$$ * for that rebuild.

cosworthfreak · 24-07-2011, 04:44 PM

Supposedly professional Allan, done by an approved Mercedes mechanic that worked on the previous owner's cars. When I had it rebuilt again it turned out that he had only replaced a couple of synchros and used the old bearings. I was only a teenager when I bought the car, and was only a year older when it had to be taken off the road. I've been rebuilding it ever since (when circumstances permitted), as the gearbox wasn't the only shortcut taken on the car. It was last registered in 1989.

Pazuzu: Here is a link to a place that reconditions the shifters, although they also sell the bits to do it yourself. http://capriclinic.com/product_info....8ca164ce9495a7

You could also go for a quickshifter which has a metal nut already, but I've heard that these can vibtrate alot, so may not be what you want for a road car. Try ebay, or google escort parts for suppliers.

Cheers
Jamie

Jimmyd · 24-07-2011, 07:51 PM

From my own experiences I would say the nylon ball in the gearshift has fragmented. Replacements available from the Capri Clinic.

WOGBOY69 · 24-07-2011, 11:23 PM

Hi Mate

Yep Kevin Has The Lot From The Capri Clinic.......new Everything Just About....

Pazuzu · 25-07-2011, 10:19 AM

Thanks everyone,

it seems at this stage that the nylon nut that sits under the lock plate has decayed terribly; 10 points to Cosworthfreak. I'm really hoping that's all it is, so I'll give it another look tonight while picking out chunks of nylon from the inside of the extension housing. I'll check out the parts from Capri Clinic as well. Thanks again to everyone, here's hoping it'll be a new nut & nothing else!