hi every one just been out this evening and picked up my little Nissan micra which I purchased for economical reasons and im very pleased with the car and surprised after browsing this forum what can be achieved I drive a transit connect van and a golf but needed a small eco car so picked this up today 1 litre 52 plate tempest model with 42k on the clock lots of history ect old gentleman owner so has been well looked after and I must say its a blast to drive quite nippy and handles like a go cart and is a tight car feels and drives like new although there is a slight problem the gear stick is rather stiff when in neutral and mostly when going into third you have to move it across its not hard to drive can easily live with it just wondered what it could be also when shaken side it side in neutral it makes a rattle sound like a exhaust heat shield rattle ??? haven't had chance to get underneath the car yet or have a look under the trim round the gear nob but im assuming someone on here will know or have a idea to point me in the right direction and save me a little time as I would rather fix myself but if its a hard job then don't mind spending the money as its a cracking car and with only 42k on the clock has a lot of life in it I brought the car as ino there reliable as my mother had one for 8 years a old k reg one and it covered 220k and we enjoyed many family holidays in it lol so any help or advice apriciated thanks in advance
stiff gear stick ??? newbie just brought today
- Thread starter micra2002
- Start date
pollyp
Club Member
Yes a stiff resistant gearstick is due to a dry n rusted gear linkage joint bush, usually where the linkage meets the gearbox.
The steel bush inside tends to dry up, rust, then bind up.
First try a squirt of wd40 at the joint as frank said. Next step would require separating the joint apart, wirebrush the rusted bush clean and check if its worn the plastic outer bush too much.
If the fit is too slack beyond 1mm then it'll need replacing.
A rattling/clanging metallic noise at neutral and the stick not centering from the left could be a broken gearstick return spring but is easy to fix
http://micra.com.au/technical-articles/shifter-return-springs.php
The steel bush inside tends to dry up, rust, then bind up.
First try a squirt of wd40 at the joint as frank said. Next step would require separating the joint apart, wirebrush the rusted bush clean and check if its worn the plastic outer bush too much.
If the fit is too slack beyond 1mm then it'll need replacing.
A rattling/clanging metallic noise at neutral and the stick not centering from the left could be a broken gearstick return spring but is easy to fix
http://micra.com.au/technical-articles/shifter-return-springs.php
frank
Club Member
under the car mate
Ive been feeling the same problem. Just oilled mine up after reading this n its near enuf perfect. Gonna take it apart the weekend n whole derusting sitch. Nice one thanks alot
thanks for the replies guys will get under the car and spray with wd40 and try and repair springs as the gear stick doesn't return hopefully I can fix it as the car drives lovely only one other question how do ino if its got power steering as its kind of stiff but im not sure as I drive new cars and it may just because its slightly older but for a 11 year old 1l its a very smooth drive very happy overall after a 120miles trip today was very happy thanks for the help anways guys
Yours will have power steering. The fluid reservoir sits just off the drivers side right hand wing near the bulkhead. It's not electric power steering like the modern vehicles so it tends to feel slightly heavier than you would expect.
thanks mate yes found out it is power steering but its not the best lol I go under the car this morning and found the suspect of that's annoying loud rattle the spring has snapped and was swinging and rattleing took it of bent it up hooked it back up and sprayed with wd40 but its still stiff a little better but still stiff I need to get the whole mechanism on really and give it a good de-grease and clean up then grease it up and refit I think or could it be a problem in the gearbox as it doesn't look to rusty I took pics from start to finish I will upload them on here and see what you guys think well at least the embarrassing rattle has gone as sitting at lights rattling is embarrassing lol
from start to finish how it was underneath at first after heat shield was removed and how I found the spring and how I bodged up the sping and how it looked after fitting can someone please confirm I fitted it right ??? lol as that was the only other place there was a hole to fit it that I could see anyway lol hope this can help someone with same problem
pollyp
Club Member
yep looks right.
the stiff linkage tends to be a rusted bush in the universal joint near the gearbox.
the joint is usually riveted together so would need to grind the rivet head off before the pin can be removed
http://micra.org.uk/threads/pollymobiles-rebuild.35251/page-6#post-400718
http://micra.org.uk/threads/pollymobiles-rebuild.35251/#post-381098
but the pin and bush are often rusted solid together which makes disassembly abit more work
the stiff linkage tends to be a rusted bush in the universal joint near the gearbox.
the joint is usually riveted together so would need to grind the rivet head off before the pin can be removed
http://micra.org.uk/threads/pollymobiles-rebuild.35251/page-6#post-400718
http://micra.org.uk/threads/pollymobiles-rebuild.35251/#post-381098
but the pin and bush are often rusted solid together which makes disassembly abit more work
thanks for the reply mate I did see that joint its at the other end of that long bar from under the gearstick isn't it I did spray that also but I gues the rust is too bad the car is a 52 plate but with one 43k on the clock but I gues the age and weather has done the damage is it not possible to buy the bar and linkage near gearbox as one new from Nissan or a eurocar parts ect ect as I don't fancy grinding rivets ect lol as I can take it all apart that's the easy part its putting back together I would loose it lol thanks for the advise enyways mate this forums great to tips and info well impressed
