1st gear prob's ????

hello folks... please help me, I am having problems with my gears. I have a crunch into second which I have learned to live with as it does not happen if I am very delicate but now I can hardly get it into first, I have to use lots of force. Will these be linkage problems and if so how much will it be to have them sorted properly. cheers phil.

Hi Phil. Best to do all the linkage bushes, rods etc if not been done. Only a few quid off GSF or similar (dont buy off ebay!!) Could be an adjustment issue but if the above not done you must do it.

Easy job and will be worth the couple of hours work. You can also change the g-box oil to synthetic oil which can sometimes take away the 'crunch!'

Cheers
Andy

Earlier VW boxes were known for soon loosing synchromesh on 2nd gear. My MK11 Driver was a right pig when cold even though it was relatively young and low mileage (3 yrs, 40k?) at the time. Sometimes felt like I was going to snap the lever I had to push that hard. Got into the habit of missing 2nd and going straight to 3rd sometimes.

Conversely both the GTI and Caddy (180K and 120K respectively) are fine. Both have 75/90 semi synthetic in and new bushing.

I?m sure that replacing the bushing will improve matters greatly.

hum .sounds like clutch to me if hard getting into gear .or worn box

Been reading about this topic on other sites as well. Mine does the same. Only advice i got was change the gearbox oil to Redline MTL as it helps the syncro to spin up and down better and also has better lube effect in colder times of the year, on 020 boxs. Other than that its a gearbox rebuild and sycro 2-3rd renew. I think im gona give that MTL a try. "Nothin like VW quirks" until the box totally bombs out!

cheers guys, gearbox rebuild sounds nasty hopefully the other cheaper things do the trick for a while as i'm very poor at the moment and I think my girlfriend is expecting a weekend away for valentines…bugger.

Before spending a fortune check out the bulk head where the clutch cable goes in, if this is worn it won't grip the cable and you won't get first very well. I had the bulkhead welded on my second golf and it was fine.

I've bought off ebay as well a plate you can stick on the bulkhead to save welding, and it was only a fiver. I think mine is on its way out as well. After welding i had my clutch adjusted every now and again and it would solve the problem.

Good luck and hooray for cheap fixes!!! :mrgreen:  :mrgreen:  :mrgreen: