Stopping the gearstick rattle

The gearstick has developed a bit of a rattle which is really annoying when your driving for any length of time - like 5 minutes! It turns out to be a really easy fix, which I wish I'd done earlier.

You can sort out a degree of the rattle by tightening up the silver collar - there are two flats parts around the collar to allow you to get purchase with a spanner. However, on mine I'd tightened that as far as I could and it was still rattling.

There is a nut inside the gear knob which you can tighten to force the gear knob against the silver collar. You have to prise off the top of the knob with a screwdriver (there a gap at the front of the join to allow you to do this). Then carefully remove the switch, making sure you don't pull the wires out as losing them down the hole would be annoying. You can then see a nut within the shaft with two notches in it, which you should be able to tighten up using a screwdriver. Pop the switch top back on and job's done.