hard to select 5 and reverse rover 200 97

[paul1]

hi there can any help with a problem i am having with my gearbox i find it very hard to select 5 or reverse everyone i speak to has said something different with one guy trying to sell me a new box any help will be thankfully recived

[AL666]

It may be that the gear selector arms need replacing. When they've been taken off and put back on a few times the elbow-joints the hold them together can become loose and rub against the top of the subframe.

I'd get it checked out by a decent garage if I were you. It might just need adjusting, or be something trivial.

[Noxide]

Check the gear linkages and also the gearbox oil level.

Take off the gearbox oil drain plug and drain into a container. Check the amount of oil that comes out against the recommended amount for the car. Check the oil colour - BUT MOST IMPORTANTLY - check the end of the drain plug itself. If you see bits of metal and a large amount of filings, then the gearbox is on it's last legs.

A small amount of metal filings is normal, but a large build up is a very bad sign and chunks of metal tell you it's about to go bang. This is because the drain plug is magnetic and is made as a filter of sorted, collecting all the worn gearbox bits out of the oil - so every bit of wear the gearbox has had since it's last gearbox oil change, and being a '97 model it almost certainly wouldn't have had one (check service history to be sure) is visible for all to see on the plug!

Hope this helps.