Hi,

Hoping for a little advice on a problem affecting my , otherwise sweet, little ride. It won't readily go in to first, if you push the gear stick towards it it ends up in reverse, you can carefully gide it in , but i'd like to sort it. Any ideas what the problem is, and how to remedy it? the car has very low mileage, about 41k

cheers

I would say a worn selector mechanism although @ 41k it shouldnt be. Dont know if theres a refurb kit available for it

worn engine mounts don't help gear selection either

Check the alignment of the gear shift linkage, sounds like yours is well out of adjustment. Place the car in neutral and slacken the shift rod coupling clamp (not the bolt holding the shift joint to the gear box rod). Then move the gear lever over to the extreme right hand side, at a point halfway between where 3rd and 4th gear should be then tighten the clamp. A bit of trial end error should get you the right lever position.

Also check for play in the shift coupling, there shouldn't be much. I've got a load of the early ones spare if needed.