Just lost 2nd gear

charlee1985

So after I tried to move the car after a stop at red lights, the second gear wasn't responding. The car was acting like I had no gear in at all. No noise or anything.

The rest 5 gears work fine.

Anyone knows how much this could cost to fix on a Vauxhall Astra 2006 Manual?

What I needed after a Black Friday weekend was more expenses

Strider590

If you can find the local gearbox specialist that all the dealerships send cars to (dealerships don't do complex stuff like gearboxes) gearbox is going to cost around £800 for a recon unit, at a dealership your looking £1200-£1500.

However if a gear had been munched, I would expect lots of horrible noises.

Is the stick actually going fully into the correct position for 2nd? what about 4th? If it doesn't actually go fully into position, or it jumps out back into neutral, then the gear linkages have slipped (they'll use a cable arrangement) and there's a fairly simple way of fixing it, which involves locking the gearbox with a small pin and re-clamping the cables under the gear stick cover.

Another possible is that 2nd gear is now a little further right from where you expect it to be, heavy gear changes can wear or break a little plastic guide that stop the lever going too far to the left, you push against it when moving into 1st and 2nd, some people rely on it too much and when it becomes worn they can't get into gear. Nobody else could get my Vectra into 1st gear, but I knew exactly where it was.

Your description leaves open to suggestion that you've been pulling away from a stop in 2nd gear?
Which leads to my final option, the clutch, but a bad clutch would affect ALL gears.

bigadaj

Yes, that essential Black Friday spending.

charlee1985

Strider590 wrote: »

If you can find the local gearbox specialist that all the dealerships send cars to (dealerships don't do complex stuff like gearboxes) gearbox is going to cost around £800 for a recon unit, at a dealership your looking £1200-£1500.

However if a gear had been munched, I would expect lots of horrible noises.

Is the stick actually going fully into the correct position for 2nd? what about 4th? If it doesn't actually go fully into position, or it jumps out back into neutral, then the gear linkages have slipped (they'll use a cable arrangement) and there's a fairly simple way of fixing it, which involves locking the gearbox with a small pin and re-clamping the cables under the gear stick cover.

Another possible is that 2nd gear is now a little further right from where you expect it to be, heavy gear changes can wear or break a little plastic guide that stop the lever going too far to the left, you push against it when moving into 1st and 2nd, some people rely on it too much and when it becomes worn they can't get into gear. Nobody else could get my Vectra into 1st gear, but I knew exactly where it was.

Your description leaves open to suggestion that you've been pulling away from a stop in 2nd gear?
Which leads to my final option, the clutch, but a bad clutch would affect ALL gears.

All the gears seem to be working fine inc. 1st, 3rd and 4th (I didn't go into 5th or 6th as I don't want to drive the car without 2nd gear into the motorway).

There are no strange noises, when I put 2nd gear it just acts like there is no gear. But when I try to put 2nd gear it feels very light on my hand. I am not sure how I can explain it, doesn't feel like it's locking into the gear.

I was just looking into some feedback on what it could be as, other than the basics, i am clueless with cars.

Thanks for all the replies so far.

I am going to take it to my local garage tomorrow morning to have a look. :undecided

loskie

!!!!!! is all this Black Friday brainwashing about?

motorguy

charlee1985 wrote: »

All the gears seem to be working fine inc. 1st, 3rd and 4th (I didn't go into 5th or 6th as I don't want to drive the car without 2nd gear into the motorway).

There are no strange noises, when I put 2nd gear it just acts like there is no gear. But when I try to put 2nd gear it feels very light on my hand. I am not sure how I can explain it, doesn't feel like it's locking into the gear.

I was just looking into some feedback on what it could be as, other than the basics, i am clueless with cars.

Thanks for all the replies so far.

I am going to take it to my local garage tomorrow morning to have a look. :undecided

If theres no noises and it just doesnt otherwise go in to that gear, theres more than a fair chance its just the linkage.

Have a mechanic check it out and ask him to check the linkage first.

I'd a Vauxhall Corsa van a little while ago - bought it for a heady £90 with no fifth gear. Had my mechanic look at it and all that had happened was that the linkage had one and one of the joints popped out. All sorted for an hours labour!

nickcc

Linkage or selector in box would be my first thought.

charlee1985

So this morning I drove to the car and 2nd gear went in fine when I started the car. The second time that I tried to put it in again, it was acting like it was on neutral.

foxy-stoat

Sounds like linkage, simple and cheapish fix.

motorguy

Any update O/P?


Just for the benefit of those who took the time to reply, and for those who may read this thread in the future

charlee1985

Hi,

I was going to yesterday but I ended up getting back home too late. So it was linkage, they had to order new from Vauxhall and I got charged £180.

I will check when I get home for the breakdown of the cost. Does £180 sounds reasonable?