wu56Shoozz
MB Enthusiast
- Joined
- Jun 17, 2016
- Messages
- 1,982
- Car
- MB Vito 111CDi / W203 C Class Saloon 320CDi Avantgarde
Many of us owners encounter this problem at some point, in particular in high mileage.. well mine has been doing this for sometime.. so yesterday it was cured.
Many say its a gear box fault or the cables have stretched, Well I started at the easy end I replaced the cables first.. first thing that was noticed that the crunching is a culmination of factors and not just one thing..
1/ The crunching sound is the miss matching of gears, not clearing each other caused by free play in the shifter mechanism i.e Rest your hand on the selector whilst driving, transmits vibration and wear up the selector and into the ball & socket putting stress on to the plastic collar. This allows the selector to move up & down and miss the gate..
2/ The cables stretch over a period of time cased by the above but also caused by the third item and forcing the selector into gear..
3/ The underside is exposed to the elements, water mud etc. therefore inevitably the selector at the rear of the 6 speed box Starts to corrode this in turn passes on undue stress to the whole mechanism and again results in a poor selection of gear eventually the arm will seize making gear selection particularly difficult on 1st/2nd & 3rd gears.. a new selector arm will set you back £118 + VAT, The Cables are £65 + Vat and a new Selector ...are you sitting comfortably?? a whopping £421 + Vat.. BUT Did it cure my problem you ask?? Damn Straight it did.. Now I have a silky smooth shift once more.. no crunching or missing gears and no "New Gerabox" required...
Many say its a gear box fault or the cables have stretched, Well I started at the easy end I replaced the cables first.. first thing that was noticed that the crunching is a culmination of factors and not just one thing..
1/ The crunching sound is the miss matching of gears, not clearing each other caused by free play in the shifter mechanism i.e Rest your hand on the selector whilst driving, transmits vibration and wear up the selector and into the ball & socket putting stress on to the plastic collar. This allows the selector to move up & down and miss the gate..
2/ The cables stretch over a period of time cased by the above but also caused by the third item and forcing the selector into gear..
3/ The underside is exposed to the elements, water mud etc. therefore inevitably the selector at the rear of the 6 speed box Starts to corrode this in turn passes on undue stress to the whole mechanism and again results in a poor selection of gear eventually the arm will seize making gear selection particularly difficult on 1st/2nd & 3rd gears.. a new selector arm will set you back £118 + VAT, The Cables are £65 + Vat and a new Selector ...are you sitting comfortably?? a whopping £421 + Vat.. BUT Did it cure my problem you ask?? Damn Straight it did.. Now I have a silky smooth shift once more.. no crunching or missing gears and no "New Gerabox" required...
