Hello,

Did a quick search on this - a few similar issues but maybe slightly different with my symptoms.

Anyway, I've noticed an intermittent problem with first and reverse gears, as in they become very difficult to put into or out of gear. It typically only happens for a brief period after I pull up to a halt and then after a couple of attempts appears fine again - until I next come to a stop! If my foot is on the brake I can also sense a sort of clunk when this happens.

What do we reckon?

Car is a Fab VRS, 60k-ish miles

Mine's doing that too occasionally - at 26k! - I've found really pushing the clutch pedal right down helps...

I noticed mine's started doing this since yesterday!

Presume its most likely to be the clutch slave cylinder.

Maybe bleeding it will help.

the cold weather doesnt help . . .are you getting the problem when youve just started a journey ? have you been bootin it in 1st gear?, especially when cold can damage clutch /gearbox. but i guess your only geeting problem due to the cold . . .advice dont ram it in as your comin to a stop clutch in and slowly place it in you can normally find a sweet spot just before the car stops.

My SDi does it also. But with 168,000 miles on I jut put it down to wear and tear. I think the VW R-12345 setup doesnt do the box any favours, as plenty of people will mess up the change from 1 to R or do what I did when I went to buy the car and try setting off in 3rd thinking that it was 1st. The way I deal with it is to just press in the clutch again, re select 1 or R as desired. If it doesnt work the first time you may find stamping on the clutch up and down twice, going to N and selecting 1 or R will work. And tbh when I do encounter a hesitation to go into 1st at the lights, and most times it will go no problem, but sometimes just need abit more force on the stick. I got used to it, and its not as bad as it sounds.

My 125cc honda that I had before did a similar thing with its 1N2345 setup, which often resulted in trying to pull away at the lights only to be in neutral. And sometimes I would kick down into 1st only to have it hop up back into neutral, really annoying. To deal with that I found that rolling the bike back and forwards and then trying again sorted it. But again it was just a matter of learning the characteristics of the gear box, and pretty soon you know when it hasnt gone into gear properley by instinct and you can remedy it quickly.

Also, I topped up my oil the other day after doing a dip and seeing that it was low, since then the box has been allot smoother.

I think its down to gear box oil not being warm enough and therefore not flowing properly. I say this cos before when the temps were warm it would be easier and now its colder it will be a little stiffer.