Ford Focus (1998 - 2004) - 99 1.8 Would this have done damage to manual gearb

Honest John Back Room » Technical matters
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Sun 23 Aug 2009 21:14
99 1.8 Would this have done damage to manual gearb - jp147
My car is a 1999 Ford Focus 1.8 (petrol) which has done 81k miles.

Yesterday whilst I was driving and doing about 40-50 mph I changed down from 5th to 4th gear and as I attempted to do so I heard a grinding noise like when you don't shift it properly. I have a suspicion that the reason I heard a grinding type noise as I attempted to find 4th gear is because I may have accidentally briefly engaged reverse gear (!) so I am quite concerned that I may have done serious damage to the gearbox.

Do you think damage now or later is likely from this sort of mistake ?
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Sun 23 Aug 2009 22:43
99 1.8 Would this have done damage to manual gearb - Peter.N.
Very unlikely, gearboxes in general are very tough. If you had managed to engage reverse it would have brought you to a very sudden stop then things might have been different!

Edited by Peter.N. on 23/08/2009 at 22:45

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Mon 24 Aug 2009 00:20
99 1.8 Would this have done damage to manual gearb - Wurzel83
Does it not have a lifter under the gar knob which you have to pul up to select reverse?

On older Fords I have tried to select reverse by accident and this has resulted in a grinding noise and no long term damage. I think you would have to be pretty brutal to actually enguage reverse considering there is no synchromesh.
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Mon 24 Aug 2009 08:17
99 1.8 Would this have done damage to manual gearb - jc2
If the vehicle has an iB5 gearbox,there is no lift up detent on the g/lever-you just select against a spring and there is no synchro on reverse.The MTX gearbox has synchro on reverse and has a lift-up detent on the g/lever.
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Mon 24 Aug 2009 21:00
99 1.8 Would this have done damage to manual gearb - polecat10
I've done that probably once or twice in every car I've owned at some point (11 cars of various ages and makes over 12 years) and have never had any gearbox problems. Given some of them a good grind sometimes too.
Mike.
"if you can't find it, grind it!"
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