Gear lever/selector
A minor problem of the neutral indicator light not working led me to look at the gear lever. I had managed Ok without the light, using the feel and position of the gear knob, but it niggled at me and I thought it would be better for the rare occasions my wife drove the car. First I looked at the instrument panel via the access panel under the steering wheel. Only 3 screws hold the access anyway so it didn't take long. I couldn't find any bulbs or access to them, just some immovable square lumps on the display back. I concluded for now that the lights are LEDs and unlikely to fail. There is no neutral switch on this model gearbox, so the switching must be on the lever. I pulled out the bottom edge of the rubber gaiter:
The above picture is without the gear lever itself which I had decided to pull out of its socket. You can see the index slot at the bottom which holds the selector in position - here in neutral of course. The top of the frame has valleys in it to operate the two switches, like a roller-coaster track. My neutral switch wire had broken off the connector on the nearer side switch. The wires are flexed and stretched on every lever movement, and are not soft stretchy ones but stiff and not overly long. One of the wires to the other switch had cracked insulation, this would be to the reversing light. I cut off the wires and extended them with new 1/4 spade terminals:
At this point I had cleaned some of the old glue out of the socket for the gear lever. I am not certain that a previous "repair" had been attempted with superglue, or just white debris was in there, but the lever didn't take much removing. Why did I remove it? Take a look!
The rod (actually a hollow tube) was split and splintered. Maybe a former driver with no mechanical sympathy whatever? If so I'd love to stuff this in their ear. Anyway, I immediately spotted a resemblance to a spare fibreglass tent pole I had. This was a scavenged one from a rally I went on, but the pole sections are a common spare from camping shops if you need one. I could have used a metal tube, just didn't have anything suitable to hand. The pole was black glass or possibly carbon, and if anything a fraction of a mm narrower. The old section was put in the vice and the knob twisted off. The previous adhesive looked like black polyurethane sealant or silicon rubber. I had a tube of Tigerseal PU so used that:
The ends have been degreased and lightly sanded. I glued the knob on one day and glued the other end the following day. I remembered to thread the gaiter on.... The PU glue dries flexible and will stick to most things including fingers! To avoid disturbing the bond I left the gaiter unhooked at the bottom for a further day. The gaiter needed some effort to wrestle it back over the base, the sides are easy to hook back in place but the ends needed persuading mostly because the carpet got in the way. The carpet wouldn't lift easily because the seat bolts trap it.
The gearchange will never be firm and slick, the plastic base is bendy, and secured to the flexible alloy tunnel by only one or two screws. It does feel a good deal better for not having a wobbly stick as well :o)
Oh yes, and the neutral light works too.
Aixam