first and second gear not working

Question

I have a 1994 seat ibiza that recently has had a hard time shifting into first and second gears. It was already hard to get the stick all the way to the left when shifting so sometimes you'd think it was in second but it was in fourth. But now even when I'm pretty sure it's in first it only has the strengh of a third (and same with the second). Also it's a bit random as sometimes it works fine and then it doesn't a minute later. Is there any likely thing that could be the problem? It's a pretty old car by now but i'd like to keep it alive and running for a little bit longer and i don't want to go to a shop just to tear it to pieces put it back together and not solve the problem anyway.

Answer 1

My first guess would be that either you have some worn out bushings in the shifting mechanism or you have worn out engine mounts which have shifted the engine/transmission a bit which wouldn't allow it to shift correctly. I would bet of either of these, it'd be the first theory, not the 2nd, but it's all the guess I got for you. I don't know how the Seat Ibiza's shifting mechanism is set up, but quite a few small vehicles like the Ibisa, has two cables which moves the mechanism. If the one which actuate from left/right (just like the shifter) has worn bushings, it could cause this. If so, there's nothing wrong with your transmission, but rather you can't move the shifter lever far enough to the left (assuming this) and therefore it won't go in gear.