Gearbox went bang

Posted 25th May 2023

Today, someone I know destroyed his gearbox during a failed attempt to reverse. It seems the car was stopped and in neutral, and instead of pressing the clutch he pressed the brake pedal (as for an automatic) and tried to shift into reverse. There was a loud bang and now he cannot shift into reverse, nor 3rd, 4th or 5th gears.

Have you heard about something similar ? What might have gone wrong ?
The car is a Ford Fusion and the gearbox is 5S6R7002.

10 Comments

sorted by

Roger_Irrelevant
25th May
I'm no mechanic but the actual cogs and shafts won't have broke, it'll be some kind of shear pin or something that's designed to, err, shear to protect the box. Did the engine stall when you, sorry your mate put it in reverse? (edited)
TobyZ Author
26th May
I don't know, I wasn't there, but I heard the noise (and it was quite loud).
Toon_army
25th May
Probably knacked the internals, it's just a bunch of cogs and stuff, Probably cheaper to just buy a second hand box, would have though £200 and then labour
TobyZ Author
26th May
At some point, if it becomes too expensive it's better to get rid of the car altogether.
wide
26th May
It's OK to drive around in third for three weeks - I know because I did exactly that..! (no reverse)
You have second gear so you have only two weeks for someone you know to scrap a car that has the same gearbox...

EDIT: Ha! I just realised - You have an extra week because you also have first gear! (edited)
dcx_badass
26th May
I lost reverse and 5th in my Focus (also TIL you can pass an MOT with no reverse gear). Local garage told me to find a replacement and they'd fit it. Got the replacement for like £80 on ebay and they charged about £120 to fit it (I didn't need a new clutch, but if you did cheaper to do it at the same time). Carried on working for a few years after till someone crashed into me. Having no reverse was certainly fun, I could only use through spaces or parallel park in a big enough space to not need to revese to line up, also had to roll back onto the drive. (edited)
TobyZ Author
29th May
Some second-hand prices are outrageous, then you find some weirdos messed up in the head who could ask £50 for a 12-15 years old used AC condenser when brand new is £65-£80.
I'll see if I can help him; maybe it's not needed a gearbox replacement.