Gearstick twisting

[Paddy_SP]

The gearstick on my 300 Tdi D1 has just started turning on its own axis - swivelling, in other words, whenever I change gear. The gears themselves change nicely, but the stick seems to have a mind of its own, and half the time it bashes up against the sides of the tunnel due to the misalignment. I know how to get into the top of the mechanism, but can't visualise what's causing it. Has anyone here any ideas so that I can prep everything beforehand to minimise the amount of vehicle downtime?

 

As ever, any help would be most appreciated!

[Paddy_SP]

Further to the above - I forgot to add that it is not the joint halfway up the stick which is spinning - the whole affair, dog-leg and all, is turning.

[Paddy_SP]

Has no-one here come across this before? Should I re-post it in the International section?

 

[Bowie69]

I have on other vehicles, the damper at the bottom of the stick becomes unbounded and starts to waggle around.

Think the answer is a new stick, but do check what's going on behind the gaiter.

[Bowie69]

Or, potentially, a guide pin on the side of the ball has come loose/snapped off?

 

Either way, gaiter off.

[Paddy_SP]

Thanks - I haven't had an upper gaiter on the stick for years, so I can see that the problem is below the lower one. I suspect that you might be right about there being a broken guide pin - if I didn't have a bleddy Healey Sprite (my wife's) in bits on top of my spare LT230, I'd have been able to take a close look at that!