It is the gear shift lever arm removed from the undercarriage of my son's Proton. Although only the knuckle head joint at the end of the rod is damaged, you have to replace the whole assembly because there is no separate replacement just for the knuckle joint.
My son complains that the gear stick of his Proton has large slack movements that are not noticeable before when he disengages and shifts gears. I agreed to lend him my MyVi so that he can go to work while I will take his Proton to check out the problem at the local motor service workshops.
At the first workshop that I went to the burly foreman said that the slack was due to some gear box malfunction and can't be fixed unless the whole gear box is removed. A reconditioned gear box costs about RM2000.00 while a new Proton gearbox can cost more than RM10,000.00. He said that I could still operate the car with no danger if I choose to ignore the slack. Of course I didn't take his word for it. If the gearbox is damaged how can I still shift gears and drive the car on the road? Dissatisfied with his diagnosis I then went to another workshop.
At the second workshop the shop's boss said the loose slack was probably due to one of the two gear lever rods being worn out and it has nothing to do with gearbox damage. His explanation appeared to make more sense than the first guy's.
The boss said he would check out the car, identify the cause of the slack and agree on the price before carrying out the rectification work.
After the whole assembly was dismantled from its mounting in the undercarriage and laid out on the floor for inspection the boss told me that the knuckle bearing joint at one end of the crooked metal rod has worn out. He told me to pull and push the knuckle bearing joint with my fingers. Sure enough when I did that I could sense and see the some displacement of the bearing inside the joint housing. He said that there was no separate replacement for the damaged knuckle joint but to replace the whole assembly.
I promptly paid him RM280.00 for replacing the damaged gear lever rod with a original Proton part.
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