I'm a bit of an imposter on this group as my DIY car maintenance days
are long since gone.  However there may be someone out there who can
advise me.  Yesterday I was driving our X reg Fiesta when suddenly I
was unable to get all the gears.  There was no warning and no
crunching sounds or anything like that.  I stopped at some lights and
when I pulled away I had all the gears again.  Shortly after I
couldn't go from 3rd to 2nd.  I drove to the local Ford dealers who
were very helpful.  They put it on a ramp and said that the linkage
was fine.  They suggested that a small piece of metal was
intermittently stopping the gear changing mechanism.  They suggested
an expensive gearbox strip-down.  Today I have driven the car with no
gear changing problems.  Has anyone any experience of similar problems
and can anyone give any advice?  Many thanks to anyone who can help.

kent wrote:
> I'm a bit of an imposter on this group as my DIY car maintenance days
> are long since gone.  However there may be someone out there who can
> advise me.  Yesterday I was driving our X reg Fiesta when suddenly I
> was unable to get all the gears.  There was no warning and no
> crunching sounds or anything like that.  I stopped at some lights and
> when I pulled away I had all the gears again.  Shortly after I
> couldn't go from 3rd to 2nd.  I drove to the local Ford dealers who
> were very helpful.  They put it on a ramp and said that the linkage
> was fine.  They suggested that a small piece of metal was
> intermittently stopping the gear changing mechanism.  They suggested
> an expensive gearbox strip-down.  Today I have driven the car with no
> gear changing problems.  Has anyone any experience of similar problems
> and can anyone give any advice?  Many thanks to anyone who can help.
If it happens again, does it go into gear with the engine off?

On Sep 5, 9:37 pm, Chris Bartram 
wrote:
> kent wrote:
> > I'm a bit of an imposter on this group as my DIY car maintenance days
> > are long since gone.  However there may be someone out there who can
> > advise me.  Yesterday I was driving our X reg Fiesta when suddenly I
> > was unable to get all the gears.  There was no warning and no
> > crunching sounds or anything like that.  I stopped at some lights and
> > when I pulled away I had all the gears again.  Shortly after I
> > couldn't go from 3rd to 2nd.  I drove to the local Ford dealers who
> > were very helpful.  They put it on a ramp and said that the linkage
> > was fine.  They suggested that a small piece of metal was
> > intermittently stopping the gear changing mechanism.  They suggested
> > an expensive gearbox strip-down.  Today I have driven the car with no
> > gear changing problems.  Has anyone any experience of similar problems
> > and can anyone give any advice?  Many thanks to anyone who can help.
>
> If it happens again, does it go into gear with the engine off?

When the engine is off you can force it into different gears and if
you keep doing so it eases.

kent wrote:
> On Sep 5, 9:37 pm, Chris Bartram 
> wrote:
>> kent wrote:
>>> I'm a bit of an imposter on this group as my DIY car maintenance
>>> days are long since gone. However there may be someone out there
>>> who can advise me. Yesterday I was driving our X reg Fiesta when
>>> suddenly I was unable to get all the gears. There was no warning
>>> and no crunching sounds or anything like that. I stopped at some
>>> lights and when I pulled away I had all the gears again. Shortly
>>> after I couldn't go from 3rd to 2nd. I drove to the local Ford
>>> dealers who were very helpful. They put it on a ramp and said that
>>> the linkage was fine. They suggested that a small piece of metal was
>>> intermittently stopping the gear changing mechanism. They suggested
>>> an expensive gearbox strip-down. Today I have driven the car with no
>>> gear changing problems. Has anyone any experience of similar
>>> problems and can anyone give any advice? Many thanks to anyone who
>>> can help.
>>
>> If it happens again, does it go into gear with the engine off?
>
> When the engine is off you can force it into different gears and if
> you keep doing so it eases.

sounds like a clutch fault then

On Fri, 05 Sep 2008 19:38:09 +0100, kent  wrote:

> I'm a bit of an imposter on this group as my DIY car maintenance days
> are long since gone.  However there may be someone out there who can
> advise me.  Yesterday I was driving our X reg Fiesta when suddenly I
> was unable to get all the gears.  There was no warning and no
> crunching sounds or anything like that.  I stopped at some lights and
> when I pulled away I had all the gears again.  Shortly after I
> couldn't go from 3rd to 2nd.  I drove to the local Ford dealers who
> were very helpful.  They put it on a ramp and said that the linkage
> was fine.  They suggested that a small piece of metal was
> intermittently stopping the gear changing mechanism.  They suggested
> an expensive gearbox strip-down.  Today I have driven the car with no
> gear changing problems.  Has anyone any experience of similar problems
> and can anyone give any advice?  Many thanks to anyone who can help.


I'll bet on the clutch sticking.

On Sep 6, 2:08 am, "Duncan Wood"  wrote:

>
> I'll bet on the clutch sticking.

But if I put my foot on the clutch and it was not disengaging,
wouldn't I get loud crunching sounds when I attempted to change gear?

"kent"  wrote in message 
news:5798a6d5-c800-45ae-bfbc-c3e1972223c7@e53g2000hsa.googlegroups.com...
> I'm a bit of an imposter on this group as my DIY car maintenance days
> are long since gone.  However there may be someone out there who can
> advise me.  Yesterday I was driving our X reg Fiesta when suddenly I
> was unable to get all the gears.  There was no warning and no
> crunching sounds or anything like that.  I stopped at some lights and
> when I pulled away I had all the gears again.  Shortly after I
> couldn't go from 3rd to 2nd.  I drove to the local Ford dealers who
> were very helpful.  They put it on a ramp and said that the linkage
> was fine.  They suggested that a small piece of metal was
> intermittently stopping the gear changing mechanism.  They suggested
> an expensive gearbox strip-down.  Today I have driven the car with no
> gear changing problems.  Has anyone any experience of similar problems
> and can anyone give any advice?  Many thanks to anyone who can help.

Check the brake and clutch fluid; the clutch fails to operate properly when 
it's low on fluid.

-- 
The DervMan
www.dervman.com

Douglas Payne wrote:

> If the car has a hydraulic clutch, a leaky clutch cylinder could
> manifest itself as the symptoms you describe.
> 

An X reg fiesta will indeed have an hydraulic clutch.

Tony

On Sep 7, 5:57 pm, Tony Brett  wrote:
> Douglas Payne wrote:
> > If the car has a hydraulic clutch, a leaky clutch cylinder could
> > manifest itself as the symptoms you describe.
>
> An X reg fiesta will indeed have an hydraulic clutch.
>
> Tony

Fluid level is fine.  I drove the car again today (don't use it at
weekends) and it behaved normally.  A mystery ............... !
Thanks for the ideas.  Maybe the suggestion that a slither of metal
temporarily impeded movement was correct.   Clearly not a very common
fault!