Gearchange stiff on 2006 Fiesta after 25 miles.

[Wacky Racer]

Hi all,

Son has just bought a nice 2006 1400cc Fiesta Ghia for £800. Car runs fine, but he says after about 25 miles the gearchange goes very stiff, especially up & down. When the car has cooled down it is fine and velvet smooth.

Doing a bit of googling it seems it might be a problem with the bushes:-



However, I mentioned it to our local (Small) Ford dealers and they said it was more likely to be the clutch...(Not aligning when hot).......Clutch is not slipping btw, and the car is supposed to have had a new gearbox recently.

Any ideas?

[GreenV8S]

Wacky Racer said:

the gearchange goes very stiff, especially up & down.

If it was bought from a dealer/trader, it's their problem. If they don't fix it immediately without quibble, quote the Consumer Rights Act 2015 and your right to complain to local trading standards.

If it's your problem, it would help to clarify exactly what 'goes very stiff' means. If the lever is stiff when moving between gears, that's a linkage problem. If it baulks at the point of engaging the next gear, that's probably a worn synchro or dragging clutch problem.

What does 'up and down' mean?

[Wacky Racer]

GreenV8S said:

Wacky Racer said:

the gearchange goes very stiff, especially up & down.

If it was bought from a dealer/trader, it's their problem. If they don't fix it immediately without quibble, quote the Consumer Rights Act 2015 and your right to complain to local trading standards.

If it's your problem, it would help to clarify exactly what 'goes very stiff' means. If the lever is stiff when moving between gears, that's a linkage problem. If it baulks at the point of engaging the next gear, that's probably a worn synchro or dragging clutch problem.

What does 'up and down' mean?

The car was bought from a garage, (Not a dealer as such, they used the car as a courtesy car, whilst customers cars were in for repair) and my son asked if he could buy it.

The garage have been extremely good fixing minor niggles without complaint free of charge, I'm sure they will have a look at it, but wondered if any PH'ers have had similar problems.

I think my son means moving the gearstick from 1st to 2nd and 3rd to 4th rather than across.

[rustednut]

I think (but could well be wrong) that these use cable linkage? If so the 2 cables have 1 direction each, 1 is forward back, and 1 is side to side.

Could just be the cables wearing, or even simply running too close to a heat source ?

[meb90]

A stiff gearchange after a while driving is a well known Fiesta mk6 issue. It's the bushes at the gearbox end of the gearchange cables.

My Fiesta has never suffered with it, but I don't think it's a tricky job.

[Wacky Racer]

meb90 said:

A stiff gearchange after a while driving is a well known Fiesta mk6 issue. It's the bushes at the gearbox end of the gearchange cables.

My Fiesta has never suffered with it, but I don't think it's a tricky job.

Cheers, that's what I suspect, going off the internet. Seems to be a common problem. Shame, because it's a lovely car other than that, and drives very well, bearing in mind it's age.

[Evoluzione]

I'd do the bushes and totally ignore the dealer.
They don't want to arse around with bushes, just bang a new clutch in and make some money out of you.

[Robmainstgarage]

It'll be the bush in the linkage arm on the front of the box, arm off pop the bush out good clean up with a bit of emery tape and back together with some red rubber grease.
30 min job at best

[Wacky Racer]

OK, thanks for all the kind replies, I'll let my son know.