Replacing gear selector lever in i3 rex 2013

[quaycrest]

Good idea but I want a longer term fix as it is annoying me now it has returned.

 

[quaycrest]

Bit the bullet and fixed my loose/floppy gear selector lever last night. The guidance provided in this thread, and wider forum proved invaluable.

My biggest issue was removing the steering wheel airbag. Took me a couple of hours at least. After that things improvement dramatically.

I followed the procedure outlined in reply number 14 of this thread so thanks to all who participated in that response creation and content.

My observations were that the issue I had, is as others have said was caused by white grease drying out over time and trapping the white plastic spring loaded v groove detent plunger in a low position thus stopping the white plastic v groove cam from being held by the plunger which results in the gear lever being loose and floppy. I cleaned all the old white grease off all parts and reapplied new white lithium grease to the areas where it had been.

Gear,selector lever is now shifting positively and returns to the central position after every gear change. I did have to fine tune the torque on the lever torx screw to get the correct feel to the lever as too tight jammed the movement and too loose meant less positive shifting.

Thanks to everyone for their help, advice, guidance and shared experiences in resolving my issue.

 

[tongsli]

Bit the bullet and fixed my loose/floppy gear selector lever last night. The guidance provided in this thread, and wider forum proved invaluable.

My biggest issue was removing the steering wheel airbag. Took me a couple of hours at least. After that things improvement dramatically.

I followed the procedure outlined in reply number 14 of this thread so thanks to all who participated in that response creation and content.

My observations were that the issue I had, is as others have said was caused by white grease drying out over time and trapping the white plastic spring loaded v groove detent plunger in a low position thus stopping the white plastic v groove cam from being held by the plunger which results in the gear lever being loose and floppy. I cleaned all the old white grease off all parts and reapplied new white lithium grease to the areas where it had been.

Gear,selector lever is now shifting positively and returns to the central position after every gear change. I did have to fine tune the torque on the lever torx screw to get the correct feel to the lever as too tight jammed the movement and too loose meant less positive shifting.

Thanks to everyone for their help, advice, guidance and shared experiences in resolving my issue.

If you remove the left and right steering wheel control panels (tops) are the tabs for the airbag release clip visible? Or do they sit too far to the center of the steering wheel to view?

 

[quaycrest]

Too far to the centre unfortunately and covered by the steering wheel airbag surround collar. The video attached to reply 10 in this thread shows the original steering wheel configuration quite clearly in the middle of the video.

 

[Menumaster]

Well, my hairdryer trick lasted 2 weeks so I bit the bullet and did the disassembly, yeesh, that airbag is a mother fuxxer to remove. Anyhow, after getting the selector away I discovered that, in my humble opinion, lubrication is not the issue-it’s unbelievable that the whole car is dependant on one tiny plastic part…in my case I believe the “axle” was fractionally bent outwards (maybe from 9 years of use, it’s an early 2016 model) resulting in the tiny pin which is attached to the cog being able to slip behind and become disengaged. After taking everything apart and bending the white plastic a tad it seems to have done the trick although the pin still looks like it could slip again in the future. I’ve attached a little video showing how the pin is moved by the axle which I hope helps others in the same boat…..does anyone know if I can buy replacement internal parts for this as wouldn’t a new gear shifter have to be coded or something to the vehicle?

Oh, the other video shows how a screwdriver pushes the airbag release clips, it took countless attempts to remove, hope the vid helps….

 

[quaycrest]

Thanks for the reply and the videos. Alohart mentioned in reply number 2 that any new gear lever would require ista coding to the vehicle. You could buy a faulty gear lever to take parts to fix your original one if available. Not sure if those tabs you show in your video hold the airbag if I recall they were larger clips on the airbag itself those look like they limit the downward airbag placement but happy to be corrected.