Posting this on behalf of kylethompson30 as he is currently drowning his sorrows in the pub.

Car broke down earlier on, while parked it would not go into gear. Had it recovered by RAC and it was up on ramps and a mechanic inspected the driveshafts and bottom of the box etc couldn't see anything.

Even with the clutch down and engine off it would still not go into gear.

Any ideas? Gearbox?

check the secondary air pipe from the airbox as this can fall off and stick in the hockey stick on the box. other than that any other symptons? has it been driving fine or been playing up?

literally no problems at all, was just parking and all of a sudden it started sorta hopping...then jumped outta gear, now when I rally it backwards with foot on the clutch it is still connected with drive in someway... hear noises from the box or round there,

This is REALLY frustrating... if it is the box I'm going to cry because it's only done 49k...

Where is the secondary airpipe located??

If it's that sudden, and the lever is stuck, or very floppy, it pretty much has to be a linkage failure.

Yeah good point Ken. Check the shifter cables at both ends. To inspect at the stick end, you need to get under the car and remove the cover above the cat to see where the cables connect to the shifter stick. Something strange could have happened to the shifter arm or cable adjusters on the box though.

Have a look and take a pic maybe, for comparisons.

I had a similar problem where I was struggling to get car into any gear. Got it up into the air (well sort of) & sprayed a load of WD40 on the gearbox linkage & all is good again:thumbup:

Hmm I've sent it out to the garage... the patrolman was convinced it wasn't a linkage or shifter problem, it would go in to gear when you forced it but drive was odd-pulled a little bit then made some loud noises.

Taken it to a VAG specialist in the area as I'm sure skoda would bend me over...once i'd driven it in 1st it was a real struggle to get it out... and then like i said before the car was still in someway engaged in a gear...the box does feel normal though (besides not going in gear).

Sad to say the skoda is the most unreliable car I've ever owned (and I've only ever owned vauxhall's, renault's and mitsibushis....) :-(

I still think it sounds like the linkage is blocked. The only (and this is rare) alternative I can see is a broken selector fork.

Well you've given me a glimmer of hope, I'll report back once the fault is diagnosed then!

when ross and i changed the clutch on a neighbour of mines car the lever arm thingy inside had broken

I had a simillar sounding problem with mine. The car was fine one night when I parked it up, the next morning it refused to go into 1s or reverse. Turned out one of the clutch plated had broke or something, luckily it only took Skoda fitting three new clutches and a flywheel to fix the problem!

I echo your sentiments about the Skoda being the most unreliable car you've owned, in the nine months I owned it it broke down more than the other dozen odd cars I've owned combined!

Garage have had a quick look and have said that it might be a "lump in the gearbox" as they did manage to get it to (kind of) drive...something may have sheared off...

I may as well have a new clutch fitted whilst it's out...

Any recommendations of which one and where to get it from?? Bloke in the garage rekons i'd be looking at £350 ish, but I'm sure I could get one cheaper - where should I be looking?

speak to GSF they will do a clutch kit up to OEM quality for a good price IMHO.

I also had a similar problem with my 1.8T, about two months after I bought it. My car was fitted from new with a dual-mass clutch where the flywheel forms part of the clutch assembly and I found that when I took the clutch out the clutch plate was fine (almost new looking with very little wear) but the flywheel itself had numerous vertical and horizontal cracks across it. This meant that the car suddenly wouldn't go into gear at all. I simply bought a decent quality non dual-mass clutch, fitted it and have done 50K miles since with no problems at all.

My 2001 Petrol 4x4 (same engine) is up on ramps getting it's Dual mass flywheel replaced ( £700 covered by dealer waranty ) due to same problem. I had car looked at 3 times and still not diagnosed correctly till i insisted something was defo wrong as fault was a little intermittant.

I have investigated on the Web and found this to be a common and hard to diagnose fault ( I'm a heavy diesel mechanic myself! ). It effects most PD diesel engines and older 1.8t models, so be aware any gearbox problems this could be first place to look.

get a G40 slutch and single mass flywheel, takes an amazing amount of abuse

well i destroyed a gearbox with launches and general abuse, towed no end of cars etc even let swmbo drive it without the clutch ever complaining or slipping

G40 - isn't that off a polo??? how much you reckon for one of these?

The garage bloke reckons I should go for standard DMF and clutch assembly... and that their unreliability is overexagerrated... he also said the vibrations and non-smoothness in the solid flywheel arent worth putting up with... someone help lol!

I think you only get bad vibrations if your running a single mass flywheel on a diesel designed for a dual mass.

Smoothness is all down to the driver surely. No more relying on that dual mass shimdingle to smooth things out for you!

I could be wrong though, as I know very little about this...

the single mass does vibrate more but hardly at all and it drives like standard pretty much

swmbo and my brother drove it without a second thought

ouch...apparently my gearbox is fried.... 640 for the rebuild... 250ish for a new DMF flywheel and 125 labour... I'm getting bummed!with VAT I'm looking at 1200 ish I'm gonna cry lol

buy a 2nd hand box, they go for about £250 or so if you look around

mine sometimes gets stuck in second gear, and I have to force it out with a quick jolt on the gearlever. Sorry for the hijack...

Edited 25 November, 200817 yr by jonnycatbiscuit
spelling error

I could buy a a second hand box, but if I'm spending to get it all done I think I'd prefer to know that I had all new/reconditioned parts.. otherwise I'd be bricking it that it would go again. Did notice one go on here the other week for £250... although £400 would have helped at this time of year!.... It's also the DMF that's bending me over, can't get over how expensive a non-manufacturer clutch and flywheel can be!

i'd still be going SMF and aftermarket clutch, far stronger.

I've got a Vrs tdi Octavia estate. 07 plate 30,000 miles.

I've also recently had a few problems in engaging 1st gear. When setting off in1st, the other day, the wife stalled the car. She put the car into neutrel, started the car, and it then would not go into 1st. So I told her to set off in 2nd etc. Not a problem.

It has since happened to me 3 or 4 times. Litterally I've stopped at traffic lights etc, and when the lights have changed I've gone to put the car in 1st and it just wouldn't have it, at all. Hence I've set off in 2nd.

I've had the car from new, and I'm also getting the feeling that the gear changes in general are getting a little more notchy. So it's time for a trip to the dealers, again!:(