hi all i,ve just brought my first skoda.Its a 2001 octavia vrs,i love the car and have always wanted one,the trouble is im finding it hard to select gears,the guy who i had it off has just spent £400 having a second hand box put in,it is a black vw one (sorry but thats all i can tell you as i dont know much about them) anyway he has said that the oil was changed in it so i guess its not that but i have been told it could be out of line,is this a known fault when replacing theses boxs?

what about the linkage mate? and the plastic clips that are on the selector? they wear.

they looked at the linkage and said it looked ok, underneath the gaiter there is to holes i was told you needed to put a pin in there and another which is on there gearbox and line the linkage up

mmm unsure there mate, sorry. why has the box been changed tho?

probably has done 125k hard miles and the old one has given up

I've adjusted my gear linkage before, quite easy once you find out how (I went bowling in blind and messed it up, then had to learn how it worked to get it right again)! I'll see if I wrote a thread on it....

And yes you lock off the gear stick with a small allen key or something, and lock off the selector shaft on the box by pushing in the plastic pin in the side of the housing.

cheers.

is there a way of tightening it up as there is a little play in mine? or would that be new bits?

cheers.

is there a way of tightening it up as there is a little play in mine? or would that be new bits?

You can just buy new cable ends to tighten up any play, they look very easy to change, not done it myself though. There's a guy on here that races a TT, and he's fitted rod ends to the cable ends, to remove all play. But I guess they would be harder to adjust since they won't have the quick spring clip type fitting that the standard cable ends have.

I'll get researching. I drew up a diagram of the shaft positions related to the corresponding stick positions, so I'll try and scan that in for you. Makes it alot easier to understand how it works etc.

Right, this is what the Skoda manual says (and what I did):

1. Pull back the sprung lockers on the cable ends, and twist left to lock.

2. Press the shift shaft down and at the same time turn the locking pin in a clockwise direction while pushing it in at the same time. This is where I cocked up, as I hadn't locked it in the correct position initially. You'll know when it locks properly, because the pin suddenly pops in and locks well. I think the lock position is in the gate between 1st and 2nd (I need to see my diagram to check this), which means the shaft isn't pushed down fully (reverse) but almost fully, and is not rotated (in the gate).

3. Then you go into the car and lock off the shift lever using an allen key or drill bit, in the locator hole (obvious when you get there).

4. Then go back to the engine bay and release the sprung lockers by turning them to the right. They will spring back into their adjusted position.

5. Finally don't forget to turn the locking pin in the anticlockwise position, to free the shift shaft up again. If you forget to do this you may shear off the plastic lock pin.

6. Then go back to the cabin and remove your allen key, and refit the gaitor.

Job's a goodun'! Made my shifting slightly better, but still not perfectly smooth getting into 1st sometimes. So the next job would be to replace the cable ends.

hi i did the linkage and it has cured the problem it was an easy job which has made a big change to the box. right a few things my car has been mapped but im finding when i floor it through the gears the turbo takes a few seconds to kick in every time i change gear even at high revs is this normal? also im getting a bad fuel smell from the drivers side of the car

Right, this is what the Skoda manual says (and what I did):

1. Pull back the sprung lockers on the cable ends, and twist left to lock.

2. Press the shift shaft down and at the same time turn the locking pin in a clockwise direction while pushing it in at the same time. This is where I cocked up, as I hadn't locked it in the correct position initially. You'll know when it locks properly, because the pin suddenly pops in and locks well. I think the lock position is in the gate between 1st and 2nd (I need to see my diagram to check this), which means the shaft isn't pushed down fully (reverse) but almost fully, and is not rotated (in the gate).

3. Then you go into the car and lock off the shift lever using an allen key or drill bit, in the locator hole (obvious when you get there).

4. Then go back to the engine bay and release the sprung lockers by turning them to the right. They will spring back into their adjusted position.

5. Finally don't forget to turn the locking pin in the anticlockwise position, to free the shift shaft up again. If you forget to do this you may shear off the plastic lock pin.

6. Then go back to the cabin and remove your allen key, and refit the gaitor.

Job's a goodun'! Made my shifting slightly better, but still not perfectly smooth getting into 1st sometimes. So the next job would be to replace the cable ends.

Done this and it does work and helps tighten up linkage and better gear change.

I would also recomend that before you start item 2 that you spray up the cable springs with WD40 and give a good clean, as mine had a lot of crud in them that was impinging the cable self tighten mechanism.

Don't suppose anyone knows the prices or part numbers for the cable ends and clips at the gearbox end? I'll change them to see if that effects the slickness!

Ideally I want a B&M short shifter too, but I really like the vRS nob! (not in a gay way!)

(post '99 02J)