Gear stick movement

[Jay]

A mate of mine asked me if this is normal? He has a very slight movement of his gear stick when he accelerates, it pushed forward very slightly but enough so that you can feel it if you have your hand on the stick, when he moves off the accelerator it moves back again. We are talking a few mm here but I said I would ask around for him.

thanks

ps

Car is an early 07 Audi A3 1.9 TDi 5 speed with about 34,000 on the clock.

[Flash477]

I could be completely worng here, but I always thought that a bit of gearstick movement was normal - I seem to recall reading in my cars manual that they say you should not drive along with your hand on the gearstick, presumably because it could interfere with this movement

[GAteKeeper]

Gearbox is not mounted solid to the chassis (engine needs to be able to rock) so that movement is the engine rocking against the rubber mounts as you take up drive/back off.

They do say you should rest your hand on the gear lever as you might be trying to force the car out of gear and hence wear out the syncro.

GK

[Jay]

True, to be honest I have never had a car with any movement In the stick. I suppose your correct though, he should have both hands on the wheel anyway! I always thought gear stick movement was worn engine mounts but with such a new car it can't be that.

[badass]

It's normal. Look up the video of a Dodge Viper ACR round the Nurburgring to see just how bad it can get!

[TAKTAK]

It's normal

Mine used to jump itself out of gear under heavy acceleration

[GheeTsar]

It is normal, but if it gets really, really bad it's probably a sign something's about to give up. Well that was my experience anyway.

[Guy]

Depends on the car to a certain extent, but a little movement is normal

[Zak33]

happens more on front wheel drive than rear wheel drive

Renault seem to do it a lot more than other cars.(having part exchanged lots of cars, renault just seem to like floppy gearbox mountings)

Tell him not to fret unless it moves so far that it scratches his left ear... then go get it sorted

[XA04]

I noticed this too from switching from my Punto to Primera. Didn't think much of it though..

[Konan555]

Now in a proper car, the whole vehicle should rock from side to side when you rev it

[Biscuit]

It's normal. Look up the video of a Dodge Viper ACR round the Nurburgring to see just how bad it can get!

Interesting video... he really wrestles with that thing. I personally think the GTRs laptime is far more impressive though.

My Fiesta does this too and it only has 30k miles on the clock so i wouldnt worry. As long as its not fierce movement there is nothing to fret over.

[Guy]

Interesting video... he really wrestles with that thing. I personally think the GTRs laptime is far more impressive though.

I suspect he would, 8.3 litre V10, RWD, not much/any weight over the rear wheels, yeah I'd be wrestling it as well!

[Biscuit]

having never driven anything remotely close i wouldnt know ^^

[Rave]

It's normal. Look up the video of a Dodge Viper ACR round the Nurburgring to see just how bad it can get!

Well, I did, and the bad gearstick movement seems to be a result of him bouncing it off the limiter for extended periods.

I'd say this is normal. You say that the gearstick moves forward. It's a transverse engine and gearbox (I think?) so that's the way they would rock under power.

My old Mk1 MR2 used to rock the gearstick back under power in fifth gear. That was due to worn dogs or something. It was a known problem and would eventually caused the box to pop out of gear (though mine died for other reasons before it got to that stage).

[RIX]

As i work in a garage atm, it sounds like engine/gearbox mounts. They are only rubber so can wear quite quickly (specially if you thrash the car alot).