Hello everyone.

 

I have a potential issue coming my way with my car, so wanted to ask about your respective opinions or experiences just to be prepared as much as possible and, if possible, to prevent any major problems ahead.

 

So, it’s about transmission/gearbox system, i think at least. 

 

My car is 1.6 TDI, 2015  (MY2016), 5 speed manual, 100k km on the clock.

 

Here are the things I experienced so far in the above mentioned system:

 

1. In the last few months on several occasions it was hard to engage 3rd gear, it required hard push on the gear stick or re-engagement of the clutch to do it. Happened about, 3 or 4 times. 1st gear is always clumsy since I own the car (almost 4 years now) so I ignore that.
2. A week ago, when I was reversing from Lidl parking lot, suddenly I felt car no longer has any power. Only to quickly realize that  the gearbox was in neutral (disengaged) although stick was where it was, not moved, in the reverse position. 
3. Just this morning I turned on the car. After about half a min, I pressed on the clutch in order to start moving. As soon as I pressed the clutch the engine rpm increased slightly above 1000 and then dropped. Increase lasted for about maybe a second. I repeated this process few more times to be sure it really happens and it did, on every press of a clutch it did it. I did not touch gear shifter all this time. Then, after some contemplation on the problem and when I was prepared to actually start moving, when I pressed the clutch again and touched the gear knob (just slight touch), I felt it actually moved into neutral. So in essence, even though the shifter was in neutral position (I always park in neutral) visibly, internally gearbox was not fully there. Never ever have I had this in a car. This seems like the opposite of what happend on parking lot in 1 above.
4. In the last month or two, when driving exactly between 56 and 59 kmh (about 2k rpm) I can hear some kind of whine with change in amplitude..whummm…whummm.whummm….its not sharp, its rather faint and can easily be drowned by engine or road noise, but then again now that I hear it its hard not to notice it anymore. Seems its not dependant on hear, I can hear it in 2nd as well, but much less in 4th. If at all because in those at 2k you re going faster so road noise drowns it significantly. 
5. Lastly, when ever I press clutch in neutral, I can hear a small, very faint change in sound, but very, very faint, so much so that I always ignored it. This is so for at least 2 years now…I don’t remember when I first noticed it.

 

I am planning to do a preventive gearbox oil change in a week or two, hoping it may help. I hate the idea to start removing the gearbox or do a clutch job (or both) at this point, I am not really convicted it’s there yet. I have no other symptoms with it, no slippage, no shaking… Any ideas or experiences ? Thank you.

Edited 6 April, 20233 yr by Tivan

1. through 3. sound like a gear linkage cable or adjuster needs attention or replacement. If you search on here for gear linkage adjustment you may find some posts. Although, the exact format will depend on matching to the 5 spd transmission that is used in your car.

 

4. Could be transmission bearings at 100k km a gearbox oil change would not be a bad idea. Be careful to use the correct specified oil for your transmission. Genuine vw/ skoda will probably be easiest to be sure.

 

5. It's common to hear a change in noise as when you actuate the clutch you are moving the throw out bearing and disengaging the clutch from the flywheel via the pressure plate. 

 

I would say shift problems are most likely linkeages although a worn clutch can cause problems. I'd confirm the cables, linkeages and adjustment first... 

 

15 hours ago, EnterName said:

Which OBD11 version do you recommend, @Tivan?

It's so called NextGen version. 

I purchases it when it came out as I had iphone back then. Sadly they changes business model so Obd11 is now subscription based, 2years is the duration of subscription. Old users (including myself) have lifetime subscription. 

 

Carista can work similarly if not the same as Obd11 without this subscription based model. Never used it myself though. 

19 hours ago, Tivan said:

It's so called NextGen version. 

I purchases it when it came out as I had iphone back then. Sadly they changes business model so Obd11 is now subscription based, 2years is the duration of subscription. Old users (including myself) have lifetime subscription. 

 

Carista can work similarly if not the same as Obd11 without this subscription based model. Never used it myself though. 

Yeah, when I looked at getting an OBD11 recently, it seemed to be a subscription scheme.

I'll have a look into Carista. Thanks!

Edit: Carista have a subscription scheme too, via the app. Oh well, I'll manage without.

Edited 10 April, 20233 yr by EnterName