Morning all!!

Here's a question I have never got round to asking yourselves or my garage.....

Is it usual that wether the engine/transmission is hot or cold changing up or down into second gear has a much 'notchier' (I know that's not a real word!!) feel too it?!

Is this something that can be over-come, or is it something I live with like I have for the last 2 years?!

Any advice much appreciated!!

Seems to be quite common on some Octavia's.

Our Scout can be notchy going into second when the engine is cold.

There have been a few threads on this over the years.

Cheers Silver1011.

I will have a search through for this when I am in front of my laptop.

Mines same got an 11 plate vrs diesel in morning its notchy as well I just live with it . Mines a taxi.

Mine can sometimes be 'notchy'. Very odd since sometimes it can go in to second and it's as smooth as silk.

My previous Octy also did this. Both were 2.0 Pd's with well over 100k on them tho

This is very very common across quite a few VAG cars.

Ours does it from cold too.

It is also very common on the roomster and Fabia 1.4 TDI's where the fix is to replace the gear oil with the revised stuff.

Might be worth getting the new oil from the dealers and get it swapped over. Also it said that slightly over-filling (just over 2.2 litres but not to the top!) the box cures the problem.

Phil

Hi all!

Thanks for advice.

Car due back in to JKM next week, so I'll ask them to change the gearbox oil!

Ah that will bring back memories of my Mark IV Golf then this Winter.

Paul

Ah that will bring back memories of my Mark IV Golf then this Winter.

Paul

Lol.

Out of the 2 VAG cars I have owned they have both had pants gearboxes.

My Old Polo 1.0 used to crunch really bad through the gears and now the Cordoba had massive problems needing a complete rebuild of the box and that still is a little notchy from cold.

Phil

Not just a vag thing. My old civic type r was Notchy from first to second when it was cold.

A Mondeo in work was starting to just crunch into 2nd Ford said they couldn't hear it, then it started doing it into 3rd as well up and down the box. Then a few months after warranty over they had to replace gear box at about 30000km heap of poo that Ford covered in dents on bonnet and roof from acorns falling off small trees not massive tall ones. Wiper motor packed in, a wiper stalk packed in too and other little stupid niggles. Currently it drives so bad (not handling well at all) I just did a 1300km drive over 2 days and opted for an Astra instead and slummed it like a right pikey :(

mines the same only notice it in cold weather, might get the oil changed in the box next month when the service is due.

My vRS TDI is horrible when its cold.

I just double clutch up and down until it warms up enough to be smooth... Else I feel really guilty and bad for 'notching' it all the time.

On my car it eases if you are slow with the changes.

Count to 2 and it usually slides in.

Phil

I don't have this problem in my Octavia, but did get it badly on a new A4. The dealer told me to 'ignore it and it'll go away' and in my case it did - I just let it crunch into second, and a few months later the noise was gone and the gearbox smooth as silk.

However, I'm not recommending this, unless you're prepared to take the risk (and change the gearbox oil later), or unless yours is a lease car (like mine was) or still under warranty (as mine also was).

I would swap the gearbox oil with the correct spec Castrol and that will sort it. Did in my case anyway.

Fairly cheap fix really. Skoda give some daft interval on the box oil (100k miles plus IIRC), so just ignore that

Even on fairly new cars I would still imagine this will at least help the situation, as you replace the oil that the box has been using from new, and has bedding in with.

Spoke to Kate at JKM today and I have learnt today that vehicles with that gearbox, and I assume many others, use a long-life oil that often never needs to be changed. However, in some instances a change of oil does make a noticeable difference.

I already had car booked in 24/10 to finish off the work that was started on Monday (some electrical gremlin needs curing but I would never be able to explain in a million years!!!, and a heat-shield was missing from induction kit) so have also asked for gearbox oil to be changed.

Will let you know the out-come!!

Thanks Wardy!! Hopefully what you have said will be the cure!!

Spoke to Kate at JKM today and I have learnt today that vehicles with that gearbox, and I assume many others, use a long-life oil that often never needs to be changed. However, in some instances a change of oil does make a noticeable difference.

As said, that's the theoretical information provided by Skoda. At the end of the day It's a grade of oil like any other. And while the original fill might be perfectly capable of making the 'box work and move, you'd see a dramatic improvement from a drain and fresh fill, where you're noticing notchiness and/or difficult changes, especially when cold.