Intermittent 5th gear engagement

[octyal]

I have been having issues the last week or so getting into 5th gear in my Mk1 vRS. All other gears work fine, just baulks occasionally going into 5th and I have to go back to 4th again. Thinking of doing a linkage alignment first as there are no other symptoms or issues (funny noises or anything like that)

[Masteron]

Maybe try to shim the ball joint? 

 

 

(This guy have a lot of good videos explaining the bushings in our gearbox.)  

 

 

[Skoda_newby]

On 8/14/2017 at 14:39, octyal said:

I have been having issues the last week or so getting into 5th gear in my Mk1 vRS. All other gears work fine, just baulks occasionally going into 5th and I have to go back to 4th again. Thinking of doing a linkage alignment first as there are no other symptoms or issues (funny noises or anything like that)

Deffo do a linkage adjustment first. When I first bought mine (with 69,000 on the clock) 5th gear was a little squeezy to get into. A linkage adjustment made it as smooth as butter. I also changed the gearbox oil. Next, as above, check the bushings on the gear shifter, and also put some lithium grease on the shifter.

[petrolbloke]

6 hours ago, Skoda_newby said:

Deffo do a linkage adjustment first. When I first bought mine (with 69,000 on the clock) 5th gear was a little squeezy to get into. A linkage adjustment made it as smooth as butter. I also changed the gearbox oil. Next, as above, check the bushings on the gear shifter, and also put some lithium grease on the shifter.

 

Silicone grease would be a better/safer choice for lubricating plastic.

[octyal]

Managed to adjust the linkage yesterday, bit fiddly with trying to get the selector arm to latch on the little locking pin, but managed eventually. Best thing I found for securing the gear lever was an allen key, think it was a5.5 or 6mm one I used.

[Skoda_newby]

...and how is the gear selection now?

[octyal]

49 minutes ago, Skoda_newby said:

...and how is the gear selection now?

 

Much better, curious thing is before I dug the procedure out of the manual, it would have a moment at least once a day, once I had printed it and put it in the car, it hadn't played up at all! Will get some silicone grease to lube things up a bit too, and hopefully we will get a dry Bank Holiday weekend and I can change the gearbox oil as well. I know it had a clutch before I bought the car, can't guarantee if the oil was changed though, so may well need it at nearly 165k miles.