W202 C250TD Manual gearbox issues

[Seank791]

Hi guys, my car has developed a fault In relation to the gearbox, it's now very stiff to get into 1st 2nd and reverse gears, there are no crunches whines or noises of any sort, however it requires force to get the car into any of these gears, the remainder of the box 3rd 4th and 5th are perfectly normal and very easy to engage as normal. This has been ongoing now for roughly 3 days. Trying to get out of 1st 2nd and reverse also requires force to return to neutral, and I have noticed that it can get stuck coming out of reverse between 1st and 2nd needing force again to return to the neutral position.

However tonight it's now starting to stick in 2nd gear, I can try to engage any other gear but the car refuses to engage only staying in second if I release the Clutch, regardless of where I have positioned the gear lever.

I'm assuming this could be an issue in relation to the gear selector or gear linkage, possibly also gear oil but my mechanical knowledge isn't brilliant and I'm slowly learning from faults I find as I go, alongside having an excellent friend who helps me do everything I'm incapable off

If anybody could offer an insight this would be greatly appreciated, I've seen a few threads about manual gearbox issues on Mercs but nothing mentioning the diesel gearbox, I've tried to explain the fault as best I can at current. Thanks in advance folks.

 

[John Jones Jr]

Sounds to me like a gearbox linkage problem. It's not a known issue either. My advice would be to get under the car on the N/s and inspect the three gear linkage rods at the side of the box. Look for damage, slackness and missing/excessively worm rod clips and bushes.

 

[Seank791]

Yeah that's what I'm assuming it is, hopefully should be able to get the car over the pit and get a good look around tomorrow evening

 

[John Jones Jr]

Sorry, meant to say in my last post, it's not an unkown issue.

 

[190]

I assume you would have mentioned it but just in case, has the oil been changed recently ?

MB manual boxes require very thin oil similar to ATF to work properly and if a more common thicker gear oil is used it can really cause problems with gear selection.

 

[Seank791]

Thanks for the input folks, I'm unsure as to when the gear oil was last changed, I've owned the car from January and I've yet to change it myself but it's something that will be done now to troubleshoot the issue. I've been underneath the car now and all the bushes clips rods etc seem fine all working as they should. However The gear knob mechanism itself seems to be at fault so im gonna try and source one from a breakers and change the gear oil and see how that turns out.