Gearstick rattle in 5th

[oldbury863]

Please help. I have a 64 plate 1.6hdi berlingo with 52k on clock. The van has developed a rattle on the gearstick when in 5th gear but only when accelerating as soon as I take foot of pedal it stops. Any help appreciate as it driving me mad.

Hi, I had this exact problem on my previous vehicle, a c4 picasso. I believe they both share the same gearbox. I initially thought the problem was worn bushes in the linkage. By applying slight sideways pressure to the gearstick, I could get the rattle to stop but I could actually feel some vibration coming up into the gearstick when i did it. I checked the bushes and they seemed fine. Nothing loose,nothing broken.
I took it to the local main citroen dealer who diagnosed a knackered syncro assy. 
He said it wasnt common, but not unheard of with these gearboxes. I was shocked as the vehicle had covered less than 40k at the time He put the fault down to the bad practice of driving along with a hand resting on the gearstick whilst in 5th gear. With the gearstick being fairly high up, he said the weight of the hand pulling downwards put a slight but constant pressure back though the linkage and into the box, causing premature wear of the syncro. I had never heard of such a thing but replacing the said parts at at the horrendous cost of £800 cured the fault. Even though I suspect the damage was well underway before I even purchased the vehicle, Im now totally paranoid & never, ever leave my hand on the gearstick when not actually changing gear!