FTO Drivers Club, Western Australia

marke · Posted: Sat Aug 09, 2003 9:54 pm Post subject: Lost Gears...

Hi guys,

I have had an experience over the last few weeks and I thought I would explain it all on here. Ill make a workshop article out of it soon.

Over the last 2-3 months my gear shifter had started become a bit spongey when changing into 2nd, 4th and reverse gears. About 2 weeks ago those gears finally gave up the ghost and I have been driving around using only 1st, 3rd and 5th gear.

It was obvious that it wasn't the internals of the gearbox giving up, it just didnt feel like it, so investigation of external geabox components were investigated.

The gear selector input on the FTO is underneath the battery.

Removing the battery mounting braces, you can see the gear selector hardware. This is how it is supposed to look under all circumstances, regardless of what gear you are in.

however, whenever I you try and change into 2nd, 4th or reverse this was happening.

Notice how the outside sheathing was pulling away from the main bracket. The problem here is that the rubber has deteriorated and any pressure causes the sheathing to pull away, hence instead of the cable tightening and changing gears, it is just pulling away the sheathing instead.

This is what the bracket looks like once removed from the car. Notice that it is in 2 seperate parts.

The sheathing / bracket should really be like this at all times, attached to each other with the rubber spacers.

Now, seeings as the rubber spacers are not available over here, and who knows what type of contact adhesive they would use I would most probably have to buy the entire bracket as new from Mitsubishi. Stuff that, far too expensive and I use my car as a daily driver. Time to do a bit of DIY fixing.

Whats needed. 4 small bolts, some rubber spacing and a drill with bit to suit the bolts. Pictures tell a thousand words. You should end up with a fixed bracket, as so.

It is important to note that you should still use some rubber spacers, they are there to reduce vibration into the gearbox. I just used some old conveyor belt rubber I had lying around, but you should be able to buy strips of rubber from a hardware store, and use a stanley knife to cut into the right size.

When installed, everything should look as so.

After you have done this, just reinstall battery mounting brackets and battery and you are ready to go. Gearbox notchyness has improved remarkably since fixing this, so i am guessing the rubber has been deteriorating for quite a while.

Not bad for a Saturday afternoon job, If I had dropped it off a transmission place I would have most likely got a bill for $1000+ for fixing it, so quite a nice saving Smile

RichardH · Joined: 27 Jan 2003 Posts: 804

Good detective and DIY work!

Pretty dodgy link originally, with what looks like just rubber pads and metal connected via adhesive... Shocked

If it weren't raining right now, I'd be out there digging past the battery on mine, hehe.

- Rich

marke · Posted: Sun Aug 10, 2003 11:45 pm Post subject:

Yeh, simple problem really, just needed to trace the path of the gear shifter hardware. Just took a bit of digging around to get to it all. Should take you about 15 mins to get everything out, the bolts that hold the batter plate bracket in place are a bit hard to get at, you'll have to take off your strut brace to make it a bit easier. Worth a look around though to check how your rubber is faring, see if there is any movement.

Zan · Joined: 28 Jan 2003 Posts: 85

NIce little bit of investigating and fixing. Smile

This will be something worth bookmarking and keeping a note of.

Bit shocked that they would just stick two bits of metal together like that. Shocked

-zan.

BASSULA · Joined: 02 Feb 2003 Posts: 196 Location: perf

I just find it funny that you had conveyor belt "just lying around". hehe not the sorta thing you keep in the back shead!!

cheers

ftoltd · Joined: 12 Apr 2003 Posts: 47 Location: perth

hey marke how is the gear change going with the fix up job you did.

I got the same problem as of Xmas day, nice little Xmas present for me will be doing the same fix this weekend as you did, what was the thickness of the rubber you used.

Well i am hoping that it is the same as yours.

did yours change like normal when the car wasnt running then when the car was being driven, sometimes it was like there was no 2nd, 4th and sometimes would only just go into gear and other times wouldnt click in at all.

marke · Posted: Mon Dec 29, 2003 6:00 am Post subject:

Hey Danny,

Yeah this is _exactly_ the same problem. it feels really "mushy" when trying to shift into the gear. Sometimes, very occassionally you could click it into gear, and once it was in there it was fine (ie, doesnt come back out).

I think the rubber i used was about 2-3mm thick, it wasnt a perfect fit, (ie, a bit thicker than the original rubber) so it was a bit fiddly to get it all put back together again. The bolts really make the gear change very notchy.

Good luck with the job!

Mark

ftoltd · Joined: 12 Apr 2003 Posts: 47 Location: perth

yea really notchy think i will be ordering the new part

not to good for drag racing

ftoltd · Joined: 12 Apr 2003 Posts: 47 Location: perth

marke would you like a new one

I have ordered 2 for myself from new zealand if you want i can get a 3rd one will cost 70 AUD plus a third of the shipping and taxes. Need to know by monday.

BASSULA · Joined: 02 Feb 2003 Posts: 196 Location: perf

I dont think mark would need 1 danny.. as he is living in the UK now.. Very Happy

cheers

ftoltd · Joined: 12 Apr 2003 Posts: 47 Location: perth

oh ok thanks mate

marke · Posted: Mon Jan 05, 2004 8:22 pm Post subject:

*grins*

Yeah im in the UK now.. trying to sell my car at the moment.

So, it was far too notchy for you eh? I kinda liked it, but i never intended for any serious drag racing anyway. Hope the new part worked out okay.

How long did it take you to do the fix?

Mark

ftoltd · Joined: 12 Apr 2003 Posts: 47 Location: perth

about an hour and a half

astroboi · Joined: 17 Dec 2004 Posts: 68

i thought this was the answers to my problems...

however, upon taking the battery out and getting to this stupid gear selector thing..i found out that everything in that department seems to be working ok, i got my brother to sit in the car and change gears of course while the engine was off cause the battery was not even connected...but nothing seems to be pulling away...

everything seems to be working alright? i even nudged it a bit to see if it was loose, but everything seems be tightly held together...

i also tried leaving the gear in each level and releasing the clutch in sequence but nothing happened and nothing disengaged...!!

how i wished that this was the problem, cause of such an easy fix...but now however, everything seems to be ok, the gear is still much to be fixed...