Ford Mondeo Estate MK3 (2000-2007) - Car doesn't want to go in or come out of 3rd gear

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Thu 6 Apr 2017 12:19
Ford Mondeo Estate MK3 (2000-2007) - Car doesn't want to go in or come out of 3rd gear - Purple_Dan

Hello all,

So I was removing my EGR valve and pipe, and in doing so I moved the battery out the way.
I neglected to put the battery bracket back before driving to work (the bracket had fell down the back of the battery). After a while, I noticed it was difficult to get into 5th and 6th gear, so I pulled over and removed the bracket, which had lodged itself in the mechanism.

After that, the gear changes were fine. Except for 3rd, which oddly wasn't a probelm with the battery bracket lodged in it!
The gearstick will easily move into 3rd just enough to hear the gears grinding, but fully engaging it needs a bit more force. Furthermore, it's harder to get it out of 3rd than in!

Here's my diagnosis so far:
It's not the cables because I disconnected them and the gearstick moved freely.
I can punch the gearstick into 3rd and it will happily drive, so I don't think it's the gearbox
It's not the clutch because I did a few gearchanges without it and 3rd was still tough

Does anyone know what the internals of the gear selector mechanism look like and how it operates? I can't find anything online, and I don't want to take it apart to find I can't get it back together again as it's my only means of transport.

I'll have a look in a haynes manual later if I can find one.

Thanks!

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Fri 7 Apr 2017 10:42
Ford Mondeo Estate MK3 (2000-2007) - Car doesn't want to go in or come out of 3rd gear - Peter.N.

Check the ends of the cables where they enter the gear change under the gear lever, I did once have a Peugeot with this problem but it wouldn't go into reverse because the ferrule on the end of the cable had come loose and instead of the cable centre moving the whole cable was.

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Thu 13 Apr 2017 16:11
Ford Mondeo Estate MK3 (2000-2007) - Car doesn't want to go in or come out of 3rd gear - Purple_Dan

Unfortunately, it's not the cables.

I've taken the gear change assembly off and it is sticking when going in and out of 3rd gear.

I can't for the life of me figure out what it's actually sticking on, nothing looks misaligned or unusually worn, no dings or dents.

I wonder how much a replacement would cost...

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Wed 17 May 2017 13:33
Ford Mondeo Estate MK3 (2000-2007) - Car doesn't want to go in or come out of 3rd gear - Purple_Dan

Found out the problem (or rather, my wife did)!

I took the gear change mechanism out and I couldn't for the life of me find out what was causing just 3rd gear to stick.

However, my wife noticed that the pin between 3rd and 5th was bent, so I bent it back and the gear change is smooth again.

It appears that when I forced it into 5th while the battery bracket was jammed in there, I bent the pin to the left ever so slightly.

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