I think my gear linkages might be on their way out, when selecting gears there is a loose-metallic-squeeking noise and it is getting more difficult to engage 1st, 2nd and especially 3rd at high engine speed. Sound seems to come from directly below or in front of the lever although i could be wrong

Anyone experienced this before and found a fix?

There's a joint at the bottom of the gear stick, might be worth just taking it all apart and greasing it up. Could also be a problem at the gearbox end but as you say the sound comes from directly below so try greasing first. Use copper grease for teh waterproofs.

on a 360 there's a welded support right below the gear lever, if that fails you can get that kind of problems
at the bellhousing there's another support, you can see if that's still attached from the engine bay

Yeah the welds tend to break on the support below the gear leaver, although when this happened to me it didn't make any significant noises prior to it happening. Just broke one night when racing an Audi A3 with a hard change into 2nd gear

Thanks for the help, will give what i can a grease, and check the support from engine bay and report back

You can't really see the support from the engine bay, take out the centre console from inside the car and have a look down from the drivers seat

Had an investigate today. Opened the bonnet and found the support mount on the bellhousing. It moved up and down a couple of mm but seemed pretty soild. got the little brother to waggle the gear lever whilst looking at it and the noise definately comes from below the gear lever not infront of it.

Will try removing the centre console next time and give it all a grease

Makes the worst noise and feeling when going 2nd to third

Thanks for the help

Found that it is the weld that has gone on the bracket. As I'm NOT removing the torque tube etc. I'm planning on taking it apart from above and welding it that way. Found a useful thread:

http://www.volvo300mania.com/forum-uk/v ... eld#p39452

Thing is the plate seems to be self-tapping screwed from below so thinking of drilling them out from above then welding then reassembling using larger self tappers from above.

As i might not be doing this straight away, will it cause any damage driving it as is for a while?

Plus any photo's from people who've done this before would be really helpfull

Thanks,
Matt

I've done it on another car, but don't have any photos, sorry. Its failry clear what to do when you get the gear linkage covers and plastic parts off. Cut about 2" so the hole is lengthened towards the engine, you should be able to see the crack and get the welder in then.

Should be fine to drive for a bit, I did when mine went for a couple of months - you just have to be careful and slow with the changes

yep very slow 2nd to 3rd. Although i'm starting to try and avoid that particular change. Going to try and get it welded in the next week or so.

glad you found it!

Well. Today i went for a drive about, being really careful with the gears. Out a junction in first, second, th.... No third gear :/ Went back to 2nd... no second

Lost all gears except 4th and, after removing the gear lever surround, 2nd.

Managed to get home ok and I'll get it welded up as soon as i can might take the oppertunity to weld the rust up on the sills too

Fixed the problem and now have all my gears

Just about to write up how I did it in my project thread (click the Sig)

Was the weld to bodywork technique in the end

Sorry to post on old thread, but I believe I have the same problem. 1990 Volvo 360 and very hard to shift to second. You have to really push lever to left and then down and it still takes a lot force.

I read here that there is a bracket that needs welding? Any images on how to do that? I do not own welder and can't weld so when I bring the volvo to my friend to fix this, I could really use all the help in describing on how to fix this.

I found parts cataloque from the internet, there is an image of 360 gear shifter, maybe you could say what part in the image is bracket that fails? And I have to remove the center console, how do I do that? Can I still drive after removing the center console?

I have to cut a whole 2 inches to show the bracket?