The Opel F23 (Getrag, roughly 1998 to 2011) is the five speed manual gearbox of the stronger engines in the Astra G/H, Vectra and Zafira A. The typical fault is a stiff, sticking shift.
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A common cause is wear of the plastic guide sleeve and the selector lever sleeve, or a loose shift linkage. At high mileage (above around 200,000 km) the input shaft bearing starts to whine. With too little oil the noise gets worse. The fill is about 2 litres of API GL-4 75W-85, and the oil change is about every 60,000 km.
The F23 sticks, and the input shaft bearing whines. On the F17 the synchro ring and the differential wear.
between 150,000 and 250,000 km
What to check
- Try every gear cold and warm: does the lever stick or bind
- When warm, at open road speed, listen for a whine coming from the input shaft side
- Move the selector lever in neutral: an overly loose or vague linkage is suspect
