International Lancia Forums

Problems with an excessive amount of free-play in the gearstick in a 1991 16v i.e.

I've changed the bushings on the gear lever "yoke" below the brake fluid reservoir, but this has made no difference to the amount of free-play in the gearstick when in gear.

I've had the carpets pulled back from the bulkhead and clamped the selector rod at the bulkhead to try to determine if the slack was between the gearstick and the bulkhead, but there is no significant slack in this section of the mechanism.

I don't know where else the free play can be coming from unless from within the gearbox itself. I'm out of ideas and was wondering if anyone had any experience of this problem before.

I'm guessing that it may mean the removal of the gearbox bell housing to get at the internal selector rod mechanism. The freeplay is the same on all gears.

I didn't realise how slack the change had become until I experienced the change on an 8v Turbo that I've bought as a new toy!!

My 8v turbo had very bad gear linkage slack which eventually resulted in no gear selection at all.
The cause was the main linkage arm itself where the tube was squashed down to form a flat end through which the bolts to the gear box selectors pass. Where the tube flattens out was fractured, and eventually broke right off. I would guess that the fracture had been there for some time (judging by the rust on the broken bits) which caused the slackness in the gear change.
I have 2 8v turbos, the other one has a very tight gearchange. Since welding the gear linkage back together both now have very positive gear change linkages with little or no slack.

David Hanson

If the help given up to now is not the problem, then check the two bushes at the base of the gear stick its self. Remove the centre console, parts like the ashtray and centre switches and rear cigarette lighter surround will need to be removed first to access the screws that hold the centre console. At the base of the gear stick below the white nylon ball housing there are two plastic bushes either side with spring washers and the main securing bolt and nut. These bushes wear and split inside causing the play which sometimes even means that you can twist the gear stick as well as from side to side.