Struggling to get into 1st - broken spring?

[Darryl_1983]

Driving home on Friday night, suddenly i couldn't find 1st gear. Every other gear was fine and the car drove normally, so i just used 2nd to pull away.

It was late when i got home, so couldn't investigate (plus i was wearing a Tux), but i realised that if i didn't move the shifter all the way over i could get into first gear. Since I've find that putting it into second gear first then pushing straight forwards works fine, as i'm not pushing the shifter over.

Anyway, I fitted a decat over the weekend, so had a look at the shifter from underneath and everything looked fine, as it does from above. When fitting a powerflex dogbone, i noticed that there was a broken spring on part of the gear selector mechanism. Could this be what is causing my issues?....See picture

Also noticed quite a bit of play in the whole setup that i'd not really noted before.... Got me considering a PMS shifter setup now. But is there much i can do to tighten this all up underneath the car. I know i can buy a Yanoo stiff shift kit, but that's not going to get rid of the play in the linkage system. Most of the play seems to be at the gearbox side i think.

 

[imprezaworks]

@NorthloopCup

 

[NorthloopCup]

It could be that spring mate yeah, but it may be internal as well.
Replace the spring and try it, as the spring is the cheaper option! Lol

 

[Darryl_1983]

I'd be surprised if it was something internal, as now i know i can't push the shifter too far over, i goes into gear fine. It's literally just that the shifter seems to move too far over.

Does anyone know what the spring is for?

 

[Simon998]

Mine's broken too. Haven't noticed anything unusual.

 

[bozothenutter]

I have to put mine in reverse first before I can select first most of the time, was told it's probably a bent fork.
Change the spring first , as i believe it puts tension on the selector allowing it to function.