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MG MGF Technical - jumping out of 5th

From the archives I can see that early cars sometimes suffered from jumping out of 5th when new. Some boxes were allegedly replaced under warranty and thereby fixed by the supplying dealer(those were the days); other dealers reportedly adjusted the gear cables to achieve the 100% fix.
My 96 MPi has just started doing this occasionally, but after a reasonable mileage of 106k. It only jumps out within the first few seconds of being selected, if you shove it back into 5th, it goes straight back in (without the benefit of synchro - ouch!) and stays in thereafter for as long as it remains the selected gear. My indie garage reckon on 5 hours of labour to replace the c.£100 cable.
Has anybody found similar problems on older cars and hopefully a cheaper solution?
Could this be worn synchro on 5th - suggesting a recon box with possibly a new clutch while we're in there?
I'll be getting out the axle stands at the weekend, any reccommended reading before I have a look?
Thanks
Charless

I've had that problem on my '98 car (although it was manufactured 2 years earlier but stayed in the factory for 2 years for some reason, so technically a '96 car). It was only after 5th gear was first selected, as you say, that it popped out and then it was fine if the gear was re-selected.

I assumed the gear was fine and put it down to some physical problem (e.g. cable etc) preventing me from pushing the gear lever home properly, because if I concentrated and made sure of the gear change it didn't happen.

I did solve it, however - For me, it was the MK II centre console I'd installed. I hadn't pushed it fully into the dash and the resistance of the bunched up leather around the gear stick pushing against the alloy surround (which was a little further forward than it should be) meant I could fail to fully engage the gear if I didn't use a firm movement.

It's been fine ever since (about 18 months) so I'm assuming yours may be similar, some physical resistance rather than gear wear.
Mark

This thread was discussed between 12/11/2008 and 13/11/2008

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