I have a Mk3 Octavia Estate Manual (2.0 TDI, on a '14 plate) and every now and then it doesn't properly disengage reverse gear.  

Although I can actually put it into 1st gear after doing a reversing manoeuvre, when I bring-u the clutch it still goes backwards.

 

Just had the car in the garage today for investigation but they couldn't reproduce the fault and so it can't be fixed under warranty.

Anyone else had a similar problem?

That is a strange one, because the gearbox would usually lock itself if its in first and revese,first gear synchro slides ove the firt motion shaft, and engages the counter shaft that gives drive to the diff, the reverse is selected by engaging a cog between the main shaft and the counter shaft, therefore effectively locking the box as both gears try and move the mainshaft in opposite directions, it sounds to me that the selector remote is not working right,

Yes, mine has this fault, has done it intermittently for several months but more often recently, also the gear selector tends to clunk during a reverse manoeuvre. Reported it at last service a couple of weeks ago and they did find a fault. A replacement gear selector mechanism is on back-order but not showed up at dealer yet as apparently none in the country! My dealer is Horton's in Lincoln if you want to get your dealer to contact them to verify. PM me if you need reg no or any more info.

Hi Matt,

My car was in at Denis Horton's yesterday for service and to have the gear selector problem looked at.  

When I called them a couple of weeks ago to book the service and report the fault, the chap on the phone did say something to the effect, "oh you have this fault too!".  Maybe they meant you?

 

Anyway as I had pre-warned them of the fault they had in fact "spec-ordered" the gear selector linkage so that they could have the parts ready to do a warranty job.  But as they could not reproduce the fault while the car was in for service they did not fit the parts.

I was told that they can only do these kind of warranty repairs if the mechanic can reproduce the fault otherwise Skoda will not cover the cost of a warranty job.

 

Their only advice was to drop in again when it happens.  But there would be no guarantee that the fault could be demonstrated.

Personally I think that is terrible stance to take by the dealer/Skoda as (in my opinion) this is a safety issue as it would be all to easy to do a reversing manoeuvre and as you go to pull-away in 1st shoot backwards and hit something.

 

Maybe every time I go to Lincoln (about 25 miles from my home) I'll just have to drop in and get a mechanic to come for a quick test drive with me!!!

 

In the meanwhile, I'm trying to find out if there is a reliable way to reproduce the fault.

Hi Matt,

My car was in at Denis Horton's yesterday for service and to have the gear selector problem looked at.  

When I called them a couple of weeks ago to book the service and report the fault, the chap on the phone did say something to the effect, "oh you have this fault too!".  Maybe they meant you?

 

Anyway as I had pre-warned them of the fault they had in fact "spec-ordered" the gear selector linkage so that they could have the parts ready to do a warranty job.  But as they could not reproduce the fault while the car was in for service they did not fit the parts.

I was told that they can only do these kind of warranty repairs if the mechanic can reproduce the fault otherwise Skoda will not cover the cost of a warranty job.

 

Their only advice was to drop in again when it happens.  But there would be no guarantee that the fault could be demonstrated.

Personally I think that is terrible stance to take by the dealer/Skoda as (in my opinion) this is a safety issue as it would be all to easy to do a reversing manoeuvre and as you go to pull-away in 1st shoot backwards and hit something.

 

Maybe every time I go to Lincoln (about 25 miles from my home) I'll just have to drop in and get a mechanic to come for a quick test drive with me!!!

 

In the meanwhile, I'm trying to find out if there is a reliable way to reproduce the fault.

 

I can't believe it turned out to be the same dealer, I wonder if it was the same mechanic!  They are still telling me that there are no parts available but sounds like they must still have the part they ordered for you, perhaps I'll get a call and they'll let me have your parts!

 

Regarding reproducing the fault, with mine you have to do a very short reverse manoeuvre and quickly select 1st before the shifter clunks.  If it clunks in reverse before you select 1st, then it usually gets 1st ok, but it doesn't always reproduce the fault when you play around with it, it usually waits for when you least expect it such as when reversing out of a car park space!

Yes same here with mine, been like it for a while now, - thought it was me! Due for a service shortly, I'll flag it with the service dept when I book it in

Spoke to my dealer again on the way home, apparently mine is waiting for a different part to Kiwi's but as I could not give them a reg no, they could not verify if it was the same part.

Guys, is your gearstick clunking when you select reverse and move back? Mine did not at first but developed this additional symptom several weeks later and it is the clunking that helped with the diagnosis as it does it pretty much every time. If not, it might just be a case of biding your time before this happens to yours also.

No clunking Matt, simply take it out of reverse engage what you think is 1st and keep going backwards. Backed into a brick wall because of it and marked the rear bumper - if my dealer accepts it as a guarantee defect I'll tell him to touch up the damage as part of the claim!

Why not video it on your phone as evidence? I have found that Skoda UK technical will take that as evidence when it is a difficult fault to reproduce.

Glad to see it is not just me!  I occasionally have problems with the car going into reverse on restart from stop/start, When it does this it very difficult to persuade it to go into 1st, have had to start in 2nd, but then is fine for 2 or 3 months before repeating... 

Alan

I had this problem also.  I would select reverse to park/perform part of a 3-point turn, and if I quickly selected 1st the car would often remain in reverse - as if the push-down selector for reverse was not disengaging upon selection of 1st gear.  No clunking though as others have reported.

 

First dealer visit, gear selector supposedly adjusted to factory spec - car returned to me to see if any improvement but problem remained.

Second dealer visit, new gearbox fitted.  Problem solved.

It has the potential to be dangerous so push hard for a quick fix - faffing around with adjustments that 'may' cure the problem are just not acceptable.  My local dealer/Skoda UK were quick to replace the gearbox once they replicated the fault and the first fix did not solve the problem.  However, as the gearbox was to be returned to SUK for further checks to be done (back in January), they may have now found the fault and know how to fix it without a complete gearbox replacement.  Good luck.

Oh what a relief it is to read that others are experiencing this as I really thought it must be me!  

 

It seems to happen most when the car is cold, so when I reverse out of my drive (into to the farm track we live on) and then try to move forward, at least 50% of times I find I'm still in reverse. Fortunately, this only means I reverse into some soft foliage at the side of the track so it's never done me any harm.  On the other hand, the other day I was doing a three point turn somewhere, and made a complete mess of it as I kept reversing when I meant to go forward;  as my wife helpfully said at the time I must have looked like some old person who can't drive.

 

My technique (which has worked on almost every car I've ever driven) is to pull the lever back out of reverse, let the spring move it to the right, then push it slightly left and forward into first.  I assumed that the spring wasn't positive enough to move the lever across from reverse and so I was putting it back into reverse.  However, I'm so aware of the problem that I'm now pretty careful most times and yet it still happens, so a fault in the linkage does seem very plausible.

 

I mentioned it to my dealer at the first service but they didn't find anything wrong.  I'll do so again now I know there is a real problem that can be fixed - and stop blaming myself!

Had the gear selector mechanism replaced today, dropped it off at 8am, loan car provided and asked if it would be OK to collect by 5pm. Received a call mid afternoon advising they were still working on it and they may need to keep it until tomorrow. Had to apply a bit of pressure as we've got stuff planned for the weekend and working away Mon/Tues so set off for dealer at 4.30 to hopefully pick up around 5.30. Anyway a further call at 5pm while I was enroute advised they were still working on it but when I rocked up at 5.30 it was ready, yippee! Seems to be OK, gear shift feels much more precice and also clutch seems a little firmer. Hopefully that will do the trick and well done Horton's for pulling out the stops late in the day!

Edited 3 July, 201510 yr by Matt Pez

It isn't very nice when your car has a fault but I am relieved that others have the same problem too, I'm sure that SUK and the dealers must have heard about this fault already.

Very frustrating that they will only do anything about it if the fault can be reproduced my a mechanic at the dealer, I've very nearly had an accident because of it.

 

Nice one Matt, hopefully your gear selector is now trouble-free.

 

I'll just keep taking my car back to the dealer and just hope that they can see the fault for themselves on the day - or just keep nagging until they do something about it!

All seems fine now, cured the clunking when in reverse and not had it going backwards after selecting first! Recently it had done the rogue reverse thing more frequently, even SWMBO nearly managed to plant the back end into a neighbours car but managed to slam on the anchors just in time. Hope they sort yours soon Kiwi.