So today, I was driving home from the North, on a long trip. Noticed that changing from 5th down to 4th had become difficult. So when I got home, I've just pulled the battery tray apart, to find that the locking lever to do the gearbox linkage reset has been broken off. Now, I've done a reset once before on this car so it definitely was there, the only thing I can think of is that it got damaged when the gearbox was out to replace my clutch (as I'm guessing a reset would have been done then just in case the box was lined up a tiny bit differently). Is this repairable, or am I basically just going to have to put up with the sloppy gearchanges and eventually replace the box? :(

Also, I noticed the rubber bushes on the shifters have deteriorated, one looks like it's broken although I don't want to manhandle it too much in case I cause more damage. I'm guessing this also isn't helping the sloppy feeling, can these be easily replaced? If so, can they be done without unlocking the shifters, as I now can't do a reset due to my first problem...

I'd be going back to the garage who fitted the clutch and gearbox.

If it comes to it, I will do. But it was about 9 months ago, so I can't really prove that that's what happened. The guy I use is more than reasonable, but realistically if it's a case of replacing the whole box (plus I'd want my LSD removing and refitting to the replacement) then I'm fairly sure that it's not going to happen given the length of time.

So, I've read that this can be repaired on the 5 speed boxes by removing the shift tower (2 13mm bolts) and shouldn't be a gearbox out job. Anyone actually had to do this on a 6 speed (maybe Techie)?

Had exactly the same problem as you a while ago!

Was yours the push-in type or the little lever you turn?

I was resetting my linkage and it broke straight off with no force. Made out of cheese I think.

I was looking at replacing it myself but the gearbox broke by that time (bearings went needing a full rebuild) and they popped a new locking pin on during the rebuild.

Might be worth checking that there isn't a leak of oil from it. Mine was leaking really bad so I had to seal it up with some aroldite as a temporary fix.

It is available as a seperate part and I think it is a threaded fitment. Not sure about having to remove the box. Maybe depends how it has snapped off etc?

Phil

It was the later L-shaped one that you turn upwards to lock. There is some oil around the area, so I guess I should get it looked at ASAP before I also end up paying for a gearbox oil refill etc as well. Not sure exactly how it's been snapped off, but it's been snapped right at the base of the pin, there isn't even anything let that I can grip with pliers and turn. Guess I'll ring the guy who last had the box off and see what he thinks, this might be getting a bit advanced for my bodge-it-and-scarper DIY efforts

Yeh the last thing you want is to bodge it and do more damage!

I found that no oil came out when stationary etc but after a run in the car loads had come out. I then sealed it up and topped up the oil.

Just put it to them and see what they say. Even if it was 9 months ago if it's not been anywhere else since or especially not had the box out since then they may be willing to sort it for you or at the very least over some of the costs for you. They can only say no at the end of the day.

Another thing to check on the shift levers is lever on top of the box (the bit that would normally get locked in place by the pin). Mine was very very loose and my local vag place stuck a couple of washers and tightened it up for me (much cheaper than replacing the whole shift rod inside).

I think for sure that having worn rubbers on the mechanism isn't going to help matters.

Any other symptoms? Crunching gears? Stiff first gear?

Phil

No other symptoms, everything else seems fine (including shifting up from 3rd to 4th), the only thing I've noticed so far is when coming down from 5th to 4th, you get a couple of mm towards 4th gear and then it'll resist. Taking the pressure off and going for 4th gear again from neutral it'll usually go straight in. I haven't tried a 6th to 4th change yet but I'm guessing I'll have the same problem with that as so far it seems to be related to the side to side movement being a tiny way out of alignment when coming down from 5th.

Ah that's good. Seems you have none of the symptoms of any of the other common problems.

Think the side to side movement of the gearstick makes the lever on the box go up and down and moving it up/down rotates the lever. If you can get someone to move the gearstick side to side then up/down and look at the levers you might just pin-point the problem.

Get the pin sorted out, renew the rubber bushes and check the shift lever for wobbles and you should be all sorted.

Phil

Yeah, think I'll pop in and see Dave tonight and see what he thinks about it. I was thinking about just adjusting the shifters through trial and error, but now you've pointed out that the oil could well be out of the locking hole (I didn't think it could be with it being on the top of the box) then it sounds like I need to get the pin sorted and at that point I'll do a full proper adjustment with new ends on the cables. Although now they're failing, I'm tempted by the DieselGeek short shifter....no wonder I never have any money!

Yeah, think I'll pop in and see Dave tonight and see what he thinks about it. I was thinking about just adjusting the shifters through trial and error, but now you've pointed out that the oil could well be out of the locking hole (I didn't think it could be with it being on the top of the box) then it sounds like I need to get the pin sorted and at that point I'll do a full proper adjustment with new ends on the cables. Although now they're failing, I'm tempted by the DieselGeek short shifter....no wonder I never have any money!

Don't try and do it by trial and error.

I was lazy and tried doing it without removing the battery and tray - and I very nearly ended up with no gears by doing that.

Fair enough, that would be much worse than what I currently have!

Don't try and do it by trial and error.

I was lazy and tried doing it without removing the battery and tray - and I very nearly ended up with no gears by doing that.

Yup been there with mine before as the pin broke after I had locked the gearstick and released the clips on the shifter. I did manage it by guessing the locked position and got it spot on but took ages!

Phil

So I found which cable ends I needed, and got some off eBay (TPS wanted to sell me a whole cable assembly), one new and one used from a lower milage car arrived this week. Swapped them over this morning, and while I can see that the brand new one is a much better replacement from my worn one (the plastic "frame" had cracked in several places so the rubber wasn't necessarily doing its job properly) the shifting is still no different.

Everything is aligned thanks to the new locking pin and while you're stationary on the drive you can go up and down the whole gearbox several times with no problem, but when you're moving and try to go from 5th to 4th the gearbox still resists. It'll go in eventually but it takes a few goes until it's happy about it. Starting to worry it's actually a damaged box :( I don't think it's just the shift rivet problem as the cases I've read about involve losing gears altogether and usually 2 at a time (1st/2nd or 3rd/4th) whereas all my gears are present and correct apart from the 5th->4th issue. Anyone have other bright ideas?

Has it got the right oil in it? A syncro friendly non valvoline ep 75-90 fully sythetic? These boxes are fussy about what oil you use

That's a good point. It's got whatever TPS would send out for that reg, as the gearbox locking pin repair was done by my local VAG specialist, so he only uses genuine fluids. It turned out the box had been running pretty low, when he repaired the pin he managed to get another litre of gearbox oil into it, and he thought it only held 2 litres :( which is the key thing making me wonder if the box is now screwed. We *think* the leak may have been caused by the damaged pin as Phil said above (there was oil around the pin) but it's possible that some seal hasn't been replaced when Awesome fitted the LSD to it in which case it could have had a slow leak for years :(

edit - come to think of it, that's assuming Awesome put decent fluid in when they fitted the LSD. I have the record of what it was topped up with last week, but not what was used when the box was dismantled. They're also VAG specialists though, so hopefully have used the correct stuff.