Talk Morgan Forums Morgan Sports Cars Maintenance & Servicing Gear Shift Rattle

Hi all…

Looking for some advice if I may.

Our 1996 Morgan Plus 4 has developed a noticeable rattle of the gear shift in 3rd gear position.

It only occurs in 3rd gear, no other gear is affected (yet?).

It occurs from about 2500 to 3000 RPM, after which it clears.

The car has the 2ltr Rover T16 engine if that helps, and is fairly low mileage, circa 21k.

I’d be very grateful for any advice but particularly keen to hear from anyone who has had the same issue, and what you did to resolve.

Many thanks in anticipation.

Regards

Gwyn

Which gearbox do you have?

Suggest the first thing to check is the rubber bushes on the remote, these are prone to perishing and even dropping off, happened on my 93 plus 4 with the LT77 box, the R380 has the same remote, may not be the gearbox itself hopefully. Also may not be mileage related, just ageing rubbber.

Full instructions on Go Mog Btw....

It’s the Rover 5 speed box I believe…which is as much as I know I’m afraid 😳!

@jbk…thanks for that. I’ll check Go Mog as you suggest.

It is the little tang that holds the bowl over the spring on the gearshift breaking offer it is the bushes.all details are in gomog

As John says, could be that, but as you need to take the seats and gearbox /propshaft cover off to investigate its worth replacing the 'rubber' bushes while you are there, its not a technically difficult job just a bit invasive and not something you want to do again so replace the bushes anyway, these are polyurethane and wont perish

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/233344985142?hash=item365471e836:g:H4IAAOSwy8Jcrz94

My bushes failure was extreme and caused the remote to drop and I had to hold it up to get home I was unable to select any gear but third.

You might want to check if the remote has any up and down play by lifting the gear knob.

Thank you John, and thanks again jbk…really grateful for your advice. I think you’re right, I’ll certainly check / replace that tang and either way, the bushes. Thanks for the eBay link too, which I’ll take advantage of.

One last smidgen of information that I could have mentioned is that the gear shift ‘action’ has definitely changed - it hasn’t become sloppy and loose, it’s just become less defined if you can imagine what I mean, kind of harder to move and therefore more difficult to engage gear. I’ve never failed to find a gear though so not as extreme as your case jbk by the sound of it. .

Its highly likely the cup over the gear lever see photos...

The repaired cup in place with additional fixing nuts

IMG_1363 by Robert & Ali Davies, on Flickr

The cup repaired and before refitting

IMG_1357 by Robert & Ali Davies, on Flickr