94 metro 5 speed sloppy shifting pattern

Hi, Just bought a 94 metro with 112,000 miles. Runs great and in great shape, but the car has a very sloppy shifting pattern. It goes into all 5 gears easily, but you have to search for the pattern. Its very sloppy. No defined pattern. Shifter just sort of flops around. Anyone out there have any ideas. Greatly appreciate your help.

I have the same feeling on my metro - 2000 1.0 5-speed. I never worried about it, as it still worked fine, but I eventually did see the suspected cause. While looking at something unrelated under the car, I found the rubber seal (boot?) around the shifter was torn. I'm not talking about the one you see on the shifter from the inside of the car, but the one underneath that keeps the weather out. I figured this is the likely cause, as it still works just like before, it just feels sloppy. I also get nicely irritating rattling effect off the shifter that started at the same time the sloppiness arrived. Take a look and if that's it - ignore it. Or not. It doesn't mean anything for mechanical function other than feel & noise.

Under the car... where the shifter connects to the shift linkage, there's a plastic bushing inside... it's toast :banghead: . If you can't find a replacement.. anyone who has a toasted transmission, the bushing that is in the shift plunger(part that goes in the trans) is the exact same as the one that goes on the bottom of the shifter. So if you find a bad transmission, steal the bushing out from the shift plunger :grinyes: it's a 2 part bushing, so it's easy to knock out with a flathead screwdriver