6spd manual gearbox: Reverse lock issues / selector?

[Turbodave]

Evening,

Out of the blue and with no prior warning, my 07 2.0D with the manual 6 speed gearbox has suddenly decided that the reverse lock is no longer required and thus, reverse can be engaged without having to push the gearstick down to disengage the lock mechanism... which means when going for first, there's a very high chance it'll go into reverse.

I've removed the gaitor and there's no obvious mechanism, thus I assume it's integrated into the bottom of the gear stick / the ball socket assembly (?) however to add, the gear stick pushes down and springs back with no issues... and when pushed down it'll engage reverse as you'd expect, but it'll also now engage reverse without being pushed down.

Googling hasn't revealed much on the subject, if anything at all and the Focus / C-Max is different in that they have a lock collect that is pulled up to engage reverse.

Before I go dismantling half the car, has anybody come across this issue before / what was the cause / what was the best course of action to rectify.

Thanks

[mobile]

if you have abs faults mate the reverse gear lock becomes inactive as well.

[Turbodave]

Originally Posted by mobile

if you have abs faults mate the reverse gear lock becomes inactive as well.

No ABS issues however mind blown at how a potential electronic issue could effect what is, I assume, a mechanical device? It's a 6 speed manual... I could understand how an ABS issue could effect an automatic, but for this...

[mobile]

it uses abs sensor to see the wheel has stopped before it will unlock reverse gear for you to use it. my abs sensor was faulty so the car thought the wheels were stationary so reverse lock was of all the time.

[mobile]

mines manual 6 as well

[Turbodave]

Even trying to figure out why that would even be a thing is making my head hurt this morning. But, if that's the case... then where is the lock mechanism as there doesn't appear to be anything electronic associated with the gear selector / ball socket assembly so is the reverse lock elsewhere?

Looking down with the gear gaitor removed, pushing down on the gear stick doesn't really do much aside for move the bottom selector cable and the LHS selector cable down a few millimeters so I'm not understanding how that up / down movement on the end of the cable would transfer to the gearbox end

I'll go strip it down this morning, disassembly usually helps...