Help! Clipper jumps out of 5th gear at random

yep..just got it through the MOT and it kicks me in the teeth again.
after around an hour of motorway driving,and not thrashing the car either,just plodding at 70,it randomly slips out of fifth into neutral.it will do this several times.i just have to drive in 4th for a bit,then it seems to clear up.but how long until something worse occurs…
there is a smell of gearbox oil when it does this.but no sign of a leak.
any ideas please???


this car has had so much work done on it it is a bottomless pit,am at point where a serious offer would convince me to part with it.
MOT until end July 2010, no tax though as i'm disabled and get if free,so would transfer it.
new Carhood Warehouse roof (recommended)
new entire cylinder head,water pump,timing belt,i cant  even think,have some reciepts some was cash in hand to avoid vat,but you can see for yourself whats new,MIM wheels,Webber carb,entire new back window frame so no nasty leak there,blah blah etc etc.3k spent at least
 
just needs bit of TLC which i dont have.i need a reliable boring car as i do night work.

check your gearbox oil, if its low it can casue these symptoms!  If you're luckjy there has been no lasting damage, but if run for too long with low oil it can damage the 5th gears

rubjonny said

check your gearbox oil, if its low it can casue these symptoms!  If you're luckjy there has been no lasting damage, but if run for too long with low oil it can damage the 5th gears

Mine slipped out of fifth, and doesn't engage it - I'm thinking I need a new gearbox, but will top up the oil… (I planned to change it). Do you think that 60 miles @ 50 in fourth gear will have wrecked it? It all seems to work and I only tried re-engaging fifth once.

Otherwise, it's new gearbox time, and from what I can find online, the best route is probably a new one or a swap - I'm assuming a '91 Clipper cabrio is an 020 box?

does it select 5th now with the engine off?

Nope, it doesn't appear to - I put it in gear and rocked it, and can hear rattling in the gearbox - it's not turning the engine or meeting resistance.

So it's either not engaged, or something's detached/split somewhere. I was reading about "self machining", but I thought there'd be clutch and visible oil before that failure. I have had the clutch engage with a bit of a thump after being parked in the garage, but had put that down to sticking fricton/plate and moisture.

that doesnt sound good at all
what about manually selecting it from the lever on the gearbox itself, perhaps the linkage has gone funny?

Everything else on the linkage is fine - 1st-4th select exactly as before (I just changed the rods and easy-to-access bushes) - and I can't see any adjustments that would make it change.

My first thought was if the selector fork was worn, maybe.

Nope, can't get it direct with the linkage either.

new box time

Yeah, that's what I feared :/ Now I need to find out which one, and decide between secondhand and rebuilding or one of CrazyQuiff's new boxes (which is really depressing, as I wanted to buy a stainless window frame and a new roof this month).

Wonder what's failed. I can't even find the number on the gearbox, I must be looking in the wrong place.

look underneath the car, you'll see a flat plate on the bottom of the bellhousing. note down all the codes off it

AUG18061

3

Hmmm…

thats a late MK2 GTI gearbox then, earlier one is the same but shorter 2nd.  Means you have 100mm flanges on your driveshafts.
date code translates to it being made 18th June 1991, if you care

If you're feeling brave you could try to swap on another 5th gear:

http://www.brokevw.com/5thswap.html

Should be plenty of Mk 2 boxes going about, I'd have thought - I found the codes on the Broke VW site.

It looks like fifth lives in a little extension on the end of the gearbox, and indeed, is quite isolated from the rest of the box. I'm wondering if changing the oil, looking for swarf, and if there is none just pottering about ignoring the existence of fifth will let the Golf carry on being my "nipping about town" car. My gut feeling is that the output gear has become disconnected somehow - I can select fifth, but it's just spinning freely, and indeed the rattle from the end of the gearbox stops when the car comes to a halt - suggesting that the shaft-with-the-rattle is rotating with the diff/wheels rather than the input.

Of course, if it HAS machined itself out of position, then I've got a gearbox waiting to explode. *shrugs*

I was just beginning to like the car, too. My girlfriend drove it for part of the run and really liked it, so it has a secure future as a shared car (she's not like me for changing cars every two seconds).

as per the linky above, its only like 4 or 6 bolts to remove the end casing, then you can actually have a look at the 5th gearset

from there you can judge if you want to repair, replace or just drive it till the rest of the box explodes

Hmmm, if I can get the end casing off without having to strip the rest of the car down, that might be sensible. Could be something simple that's failed!

Still want to fit a new clutch and mounts in the long run though.

yep sure can! jack it up high and have summat under it to catch anything that might fall out. 1 word of warning, do NOT pull out that round pin thats poking out, all your selector fingers will drop out of alignment if you do  

its all covered by the linky above though

hi iv got the same prob, my 83 gti started to pop out of 5th about a 6 months ago and i carried on using it but still gave it lots of beans, it then got to the point when i had to force it in gear to keep it in 5th, now i cant get 5th at all and i now get a nasty rattle of metal when i lift the clutch, also it sounds like the pieces of fifth are goin around the gearbox when in the other gears, my clutch is smocked from drag racing and the gearbox has had a leak since iv owed the car (2 years) prob kind of my own fault, but def a new gearbox for me!  

Should the VW humane society be made aware of this treatment :naughty: