1800: Gear selection

[VolvoRoyS]

The gear knob on my car has always been loose in my ownership. I attempted to solve this problem the other day by taking the knob off and wrapping PTFE tape (used in plumbing) round the the threads and then screwing the knob back on securely. I think the shaft may have turned when I did this and now find that I cannot engage any gears while the engine is running. What have I done?
Looked at the manual and it says remove the gear lever; but what does this mean? I can see from the diagram that the gear lever goes into a long extension. Can all this be removed from working inside?

Car is 1973 1800ES

Roy

[powen1]

Roy

the gear stick on your car should have the round gear knob this is screwed onto a Chrome shaft that from memory is held in place with rubber rings around the steel gear stick that goes into the gearbox - I believe that the chrome part can be just pulled off (will take some effort) EDIT their is a cir clip in the chrome piece that will need to be removed . if you remove your gearstick gater (rubber) you can see that the steel gearstick is connected into the extension part of the gearbox a large round bolt over the top can be removed - but I would check the operation once the chrome part has been removed hope this helps
Paul
see attached pic see part on right for exploded view

[VolvoRoyS]

Originally Posted by powen1

Roy

the gear stick on your car should have the round gear knob this is screwed onto a Chrome shaft that from memory is held in place with rubber rings around the steel gear stick that goes into the gearbox - I believe that the chrome part can be just pulled off (will take some effort) EDIT their is a cir clip in the chrome piece that will need to be removed . if you remove your gearstick gater (rubber) you can see that the steel gearstick is connected into the extension part of the gearbox a large round bolt over the top can be removed - but I would check the operation once the chrome part has been removed hope this helps
Paul

Yes it does. I have removed the centre console and can see a large nut holding down the gear lever. The manual says nothing about removing the the large nut; just says: remove gear lever.

I now think that I have done no damage tightening the knob even though the problem arose immediately after. Reading other's problems with gear selection it looks more like that this is a clutch adjustment issue. Perhaps someone can confirm this.

Roy

[morwenna240]

Well, recently I found it harder to engage from standstill. A peer underneath revealed that clutch adjust locknut had come loose, allowing bolt to adjust in. A few mins restored perfect engagement an changes. This on a PV.

[142 Guy]

It is unlikely that rotating the shift lever is causing your balky shift problems. My 142 has a similar outer chrome lever stuck on the shift lever proper and held in place by a couple of rubber bushings. As the bushings age the outer lever becomes quite free to rotate and gets a little floppy - quite noticeable with the early 140 long lever. My lever would rotate enough that on occassion 1 st was down and to the right. As noted, there is a circlip at the base of the outer lever that has to be removed to pull the outer lever off. You don't need to remove the big nut on the transmission extension unless you want to fiddle with the inner lever.

Does the 1800 ES have a cable or hydraulic release clutch? If it is a hydraulic clutch check the reservoir level. The MC or the slave cylinder may have developed a leak with the result that the slave is no longer releasing the clutch. If it is a cable, the procedure for adjusting is set out in the service manual.

Early vintage M40 / M41 were noted for developing cracks in the clutch release fork which would result in non operation of the clutch. I would have thought that an 1800 ES would have the later improved release fork.

[VolvoRoyS]

It is a cable clutch. There is very little free play at the fork end so would have thought increasing it to 3-4 mm wouldn't help. Got my wife to operate the clutch from within the car while I watched underneath. Lever moved; didn't seem to be broken. I had backed the car out of the garage last week without this problem. Inside, the clutch feels normal. So what else could have broken?

Roy