Stiff gear stick in Mitsubishi

[aestetix1]

I have a 2009 Mitsubishi Colt. The great shift is stiff and doesn't spring back to neutral. It's been getting worse for a couple of years.

Tried silicone grease on the mechanism as best I could get to it under the bonnet. Also took it to ProTyre but they said it needed a specialist after looking. Took all the plastic trim apart but couldn't see any issues.

It seems to be worse in the winter, in the cold/damp weather.

Any ideas?

[GreenV8S]

I'm not famililar with that linkage, but if it has a rubber bush that's perished it might cause that sort of problem. Or it could be a spherical bearing that's corroded or got dirty. It really needs somebody to get under the car and inspect the linkage.

[aestetix1]

Ah, thanks. I'm not sure if ProTyre got under it to look or not. Sounds like it's not the sort of thing I could do myself.

Rubber would make sense, gets worse with the cold weather.

[Jack91F]

I had one of these cars with this issue, I think it’s mainly the cables fault.
I took the rubber boots off each cable at the gearbox end and sprayed spray grease down the cable, I then worked the gearstick side to side to work it down the length of the cable.
Also gave the selector on the box some wd40 for good measure.
Didn’t really do anything at first but it got better and better. Stayed free for a good 4 years too.

Avoid the above by just getting new gear cables.

[aestetix1]

Thanks. I guess you need to get under it too do that. I'll see what I can do.

[Jack91F]

Mine was a 1.5 turbo, unsure of other engines, but on this you could remove the air box and do it all from the top.

[aestetix1]

Thanks, that's great news. I will have a look when it stops raining!

[aestetix1]

I tried this yesterday and it has made things better, but it's still quite stiff side to side. I found some YouTube videos identifying the issue with that, it's the joint. You can drill it out and fix it, but someone in the comments said that maybe just lubricating it is enough. So I'm going to start with penetrating oil, and if that doesn't sort it I'll take it apart and maybe clean it or lightly sand off any rust. Apparently it's all friction fit.