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MG MGF Technical - gear selection

hello guys
needs some help please, only half an hour ago i was returning from work,pulled away from traffic lights in first as you do-and next thing upon trying to change to 2nd somethind went 'snap' and hey presto no gear selection possible. any help ?? has anyone encountered this prob befor ?
k hendry

K

Check archives, not an expert, but sounds like gear cables snapped :o(
Mark

the gear lever doesn't seem to be linked to the gearbox anymore. how is it linked?
k hendry

thanks mark
k hendry

This way

http://www.mgfcar.de/gear_select/index.htm

Check archives for P/N ULS100070 and before spending pounds for a dealer tow job:
Have a look under the car and check whether the cable hose clip is still in place.

Good look. I'll do the same job tomorrow if the weather allows.
Killed the lower gearcable and bracket three weaks ago on a rough road.
Dieter K.

well thats confirmed that then, just been under the 'F' and the gear selector cable has snapped. local MG dealer price £59.50=VAT .looks kinda straight forward to fit , but as with anything on the 'F' V fiddily .
Good luck too Dieter . Karl
k hendry

Karl

Sorry to hear your news; I've just spent the last two weekends between rain showers replacing mine, so the experience is still fresh. Doing it yourself is possible and there are a number of different ways to go about it.

At one extreme are the MGR instructions, which give free access to the whole cable route, but entail stripping out much of the car interior, draining the cooling system and dropping the subframe.

At the other extreme is Valter Fernandes' method, who found a way to do the job just removing minor components here and there and working patiently.

I used something in between, ie removing the consoles and engine cover but not touching the subframe or cooling hoses. As Valter wrote, the screws on the closing plate are tricky because the bottom one is in a narrow gap between the subframe and the rear bulkhead: In my case it had rusted solid so required mole grips to unscrew. The other two can be reached easily working down through the engine access hole. No special tools are required; I did it using a set of ordinary combination spanners and small molegrips for the rusty screw.

The ends of the gerrcable are bigger than the keyhole shape in the plate so you cannot just pull it straight out. Remove the cable sideways down a slot in the closing plate, then pull it out through the rear bulkhead from below the car.

In my case I found a lot of play in the bellcrank that joins the cables to a rod coming out of the gearbox. The crank is held onto the gearshaft by an 8mm rollpin, which was very tight and required a 4lb club hammer to shift.

I was working from a hardcopy of the MGR workshop (RCL 0051 3rd edn). This confused me at first because diagrams of the closing plate are transposed left to right. If you work from a later version or the CD this might have been corrected.

While I was at it, I fitted MS's latest SSK and have been very pleased with the short throw and precise feel of the new system.

Chris
Chris

Had a look under the car today and took a pic of the damage. Pic taken from the LH wheel house.
Unusual damaged from impact with a stone on the road.
Gearbox bracket bent (hard to see)
And broken 6mm thread shaft. Thread with ball joint _hanging down_.
http://www.mgfcar.de/gear_select/bang_04167.jpg

Karl, no doubts, yours will have snapped invisible inside the cable hose like this.
http://www.mgfcar.de/gear_select/geargearbox_cp_2621.jpg
Good luck with your invoice ;)
Dieter K.

>This confused me at first because diagrams of the closing plate are transposed left to right

Haven't got No. 3 to hands.
Looked up Ed. 7 (TF edition is the same drawing there).
Is this the drawing you reffer to ?
http://www.mgfcar.de/gear_select/wsm.jpg
From memory the drawing was correct due to my 1999 repair job.
http://www.mgfcar.de/gear_select/gearDCP_2628.jpg
Pic from below.

Dieter K.

Dieter

Yes, you have the same drawing as I; only the numbers have changed. I'm amazed you managed to take such good quality pictures underneath a car but unfortunately I can't quite make out the position of the 4 cables in relation to the 2 pipes. However I'll try to explain my confusion.

The main "pan out" drawing should show what I see if I am under the car looking from rear to front. I can make out the front of the subframe with a jacking loop and the main coolant hoses have been disconnected so that the subframe can be lowered. I can also make out the closing plate with its 4 cables and what look like a couple of hoses going through the closing plate on the right of the cables. In real life the two hoses going through the closing plate are on the left of the pipes and the main coolant hoses are on the right, but they are bigger and run under the car's floor not inside.

The small "pan in" drawing would make sense if I placed it upside down on the engine bulkhead, while looking from the rear of the car, ie the bottom of the drawing is the top in real life. The two small "pipes" bending in parallel are the handbrake cables that go over the top of the gearbox. I'm not sure what the two large hoses in this view are for.

I can only imagine that a photographer using transparency film took the the inset shot while looking down into the engine compartment leaning over the back of the seat because this gives the best close-up and then took the general shot from underneath. These where given to an artist who somehow got the inset back to front and could only make sense of it by altering the main drawing without checking on a real car.

Glad to be proved wrong over this, I've checked it out several times now and even persuaded my non-technical neighbour to have a look as well, so I'm pretty sure of my facts. Good night all.

Chris
Chris

Dieter

Checked yet again this morning. As you wrote, both drawings are correct if you view them from below, ie the two large pipes are closest to the centreline of the car.

Doh!!

Chris
Chris

The manual isn't all, is it ;)
Real live is almost different, special with the MGF manual.

However, no success with my DIY today.

Long story, but I think it's easier when I don't try to write down ;)
Git the thread adaptor on friday from the lathe workshop.

Pics tell it more understandable :)
http://www.mgfcar.de/gear_select/2/

Jacked up the car on axle stands in my tiny garage. The two stands rest under the body just beside the standard jack locations below the engine to fuel tank wall. Placed some piece of wood between the posts and the body anf“d hope it will not damage anything.

The cable fixture bracket and cable end was crumpled from the impact. Managed to get off the cable with big hammer and grippers and some loud shouting etc.
Got the lower 17mm head bolt off, but failed with the upper. (Manual says it's a Torx, but it isn't.. 17mm head as the other.)
Why in heaven did they hide this bolt behind the gear bracket !?$§&/%

However, I failed with removing the roll pin. No right punch pin in the tool box. Need to buy one at OBI tomorrow.

BTW.. I got daubts with the roll pin diameter. The spare gear bracket has 8mm and Chris said the same... but look at the pics. I think it could be 6mm ???

Rgds
Dieter
Dieter K.

Deiter, first rule no smoking under the car especially when on ones back !
Mike :-)
Mike (Mersea Office)

Dieter,
As always some great photos.
Mike
Mike (Mersea Office)

Dieter

You have my sympathies over that roll pin, it is very tight. A 6 mm drift should work, but the hole diameter is 8mm. I found the size of the hammer was more important, the bigger the better.

Chris
Christopher Marshall

Mike, still the Sony .. Lovely piece of camera ;) and same tobaccco :(

Re: that pin.... Had a call from the friend who supplied the spares. He said I'm wrong with 8mm, the pin is 6mm....

Errr, useless to talk about until I got the crappy thing out there.
Big hammer. 6mm drift. Got both and splashed a good amount of WD40 to it this evening.
>the bigger the better.
Yep, no daubts. However, see the works location. 150mm long drift, car jacked low, lack of space to throw the hammer like a _hewer of wood_ !!!
Dieter K.

Hi Dieter,
nice piece of replacement part there on the pictures!
I assume it will be on E-bay ? ;O). With green Lock-Tite it will stay forever, or at least until the cable snatches in the usual place... Just wonder if it should be a good thing to have a small alu-plate fastend underneath to prevent dirt/water and small stones to do further damage.... / Carl.
Carl Blom

>I assume it will be on E-bay ? ;O).
LOL, this is not a fuse ;)

The plan is to making a grave to the shaft. Location bolt tip. Then re-fit ball joint temporary. Try gearing carefully and if it works then dismantle and put expoxy 2-components adhesive to the parts *UHU-Plus*. Re-fit and let it get hard. I'll use a cut piece of bicycle hose as gaiter and tighten two cable ties at both ends.

As done by good old Torsten years ago.
Do you remember ?
Torstens universal gear cable gaitor
http://www.mgfcar.de/defects/ersatz_durch_fahrradschlauch.jpg
Looks like
http://www.mgfcar.de/defects/keiner_von_unten_gucken.jpg

btw. are you at Munich electronica fair this year ??
I've to go with my MD on 9th and 10th. May be an option to shake hands and have another sushi breakfast at any of my suppliers. :)
Dieter K.

Dieter

How are you getting on with that pesky roll pin?

I found the pin moved surprisingly easy once I'd found the exact angle to hit it at. I checked this by poking a 2mm drift up the centre of the pin.

Chris
Christopher Marshall

The roll pin is 8mm od , try using a roll pin drift, this has a raised middle section to locate on the hollow section. Correct tools make life 'easier'.
Good luck.
Mike

>How are you getting on with that pesky roll pin?

Me is suffering from a cold !! Thick eyes and dripping nose :(
No sense to creap under the car.

Mike, no such correct tool availiable at the local 'OBI' :(

Will try at first with various angles as Christopher said. i.e. five degrees out of centre direction _rotate, beat, rotate, beat and so on.
If this fails I'll put the drift tool into a drill machine. Use the *dremel grinding machine* and grind a 6mm length of the front down parallel just below the roll pin ID (4.5mm?). As centre tip.

Thank you for your sympathy !
:o)

Dieter <-- with high tissue consumption (1 package/hour)
Dieter K.

Oh well, used the moment of decreased tissue consumption and warm temperatures this afternoon ...

Pin off, bolts off, ...


Later *some funny works with very small file, and a tiny hacksaw* ;)
UHU Plus, 2mm allen insert wrench, bicycle hose, cable ties, etc ....

Done that all :) *No cable change required* !!!!
(I think this finally looks all like a very british repair (... forgive me, this should be ironic fun.)

...
.....

However, back on the road with HEF-MG96 :)))
A load of pics done, though. Watch this space.

(New thread)

Thank you for the good hints.

Regards
Dieter
Dieter K.

OK, here we go with the completed picture gallery of my very own most silly cable repair.

All above written links closed down.

http://www.mgfcar.de/gear_select/bad_road.html

Ahmm, ... do I hear anybody laugh ??

Be sure it's no final fix. I wonder how long the adher job will hold.
The gearing works in _any way_ currently.

I cut to much off from the thread at the ball joint. So the gearstick comes quite near to the radio console in first or third. Reverse gear is a noisy pain as well..... :)
The next is stripping the tunnel and have a look whether I could balance the lost 5mm at the cables front ball joint.

Regards
Dieter

Dieter K.

This thread was discussed between 15/10/2004 and 28/10/2004

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