Golf IV / Jetta IV :: Hard To Get Shifter Into Gear
Apr 1, 2012
When the car is in gear it's great! Or at least it seems great. However, trying to place the Shift Lever in the car into the gear "slots?" is troublesome.
It feels as though there is a wall in the way for each gear, and i have to force my way through the wall. It's not absolutely Terrible, for i've been driving like this for months. But i want a smother shift! I want to be able to just slide the Shift Lever into gear without any hangups or major resistance.
Double Clutching seems to work, however it might just be from the small loss of RPMs through the process of double clutching.
Personally I would rather not have to double clutch just to see a slight improvement. I have big feet and they constantly are rubbing on the floor mat as well as the plastic above the pedals, so double clutching always feels like i'm wedging my foot into a hole, then back out and in, before i can go into another gear lol.
The problem is only a real issue when i'm in higher RPMs giving the car more gas. I.E. after a fast launch in first, shifting even around 5500 puts a WALL up on second gear making it impossible for me to get it into second gear, after not getting it into second i usually throw it in third, and essentially lose all the acceleration i had from the first gear launch.
As well is there anyway to make the clutch a little stiffer? She grabs fine, i just like stiffer clutch, it requires less of me trying to wedge my huge foot on the pedal.
It's an un-molested MKIV Jetta VR6 with 167k.
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The issue with the car is that the tranny won't go into any gear. With clutch in or out. I had very little play left or right or up and down. Not sure what could be wrong. The car has 120k miles and no mods.
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Installed some shifter cable bushings. But now reverse is harder to get to. Instead of just pushing it down and left for reverse.. Now I have to tilt the shift know slightly towards 4th gear then push down and go left and the gate seems so much smaller now. Overall it doesn't feel that much better than stock. what could i have done wrong?
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I have the 20th anniversary GTI with the 6-speed manual at 90k miles
I have the Dieselgeek Short shifter installed so for the most part my shifter is nice and tight/precise. However, I have some play in the shifter while it is in gear and I understand that this is normal for a car as it ages. But I assumed that the Dieselgeek would've solved all the gear slop in my shifter, and I was wrong.
So is there a part I can replace to tighten it back up?
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My problem is that it pops out of 3rd gear when I let off the gas. I have had this problem before so any tips on setting my shifter linkage?
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My03 GLI will not engage first or second gear.
This morning, i was having some issues getting the car in reverse, but it eventually engaged and is fine now. I drove to the barbershop, and on the way home, the shifter stopped engaging 1st or 2nd gear. it moves freely into position (TOO FREELY) and all other gears will engage. common sense tells me that the clutch is fine and the problem is with the shifter.
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I have a 5 speed 01 wolfsburg. I was about to leave my driveway tonight and went to shift into 1st and the shifter was all loose. I could not shift into any gear, the shifter was just flopping around. Earlier in the day the neutral jiggle was much looser than it usually is, which I thought was peculiar.... So I guess that was it breaking.
Question is: how do I fix it? I looked under the hood and all of the linkage to the transmission looks good, I think it has disconnected/broken under the shift knob... I've looked around online and cant find anything for this year... or replacement parts for that matter.
I guess im going to have to get the car up on jacks and remove the heat shield to get to the bottom side?
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I'm having an issue with my clutch and I'm really in a hole. Two days ago I was driving my car and everything was fine. Later in the day the shifter got stuck and would not budge out of 5th gear. Eventually it popped out. Driving like normal again and then yesterday I was on my way home from work and all hell broke loose. I was a mile away from my house and the car would not shift into any gear without a fight.
I also at this time lost my clutch pedal. It went really soft but did come back up.. it would not engage however. Limped it the rest of the way home and took a look at it. What I came across was a full brake/clutch reservoir, no leaks around the slave, and I didn't see any leaks around the master. I will say that after the car sat for about 10 mins the pedal felt normal again but quickly went soft after a few pumps.
2.0 AEG 5spd. Trans code DZQ if any of that would be relevant..
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I've got a 1.8T 2004 automatic and the problem I'm having is the shifter is harder to move since the weather's been colder. It shifts very well and is responsive, it's just that I have to pull it harder to select P, R, N and D. D is especially hard (no pun intended you sick minds! ) to select, the shifter kind of stays in neutral but shifts after a bit. Is there anything I can do to fix this?
Side question: is the rear defrost supposed to turn off after a certain period of time? My 2002 golf does it but the jetta doesn't.
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I have a 2000 Golf GLS which I tried to replace the shifter solenoids on and since I replaced them it shifts very very incorrectly it almost feels as if it starts in 4th gear and works its way to 1st.
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I have a 2004 2.0L Jetta with a 5 Speed manual transmission.
When shifting into third gear sometimes I push the shifter forward and it does not want to move all the way forward. It feels like I am pushing the shifter knob against a wall, or more accurately the bottom of the shift that pulls the cables feels like it is hitting a wall. If I pull it back out and press it in hard it will go into place sometimes.
This also solves the problem: While the shifter is mid shift into third, at the wall/ at the point of resistance, I let off the clutch slightly to give the flywheel some friction. This rolls the transmission a bit and allows third gear to slide into place.
I have experience with a MK4 Audi TT 1.8T that cam with a 6-SPD and it at had a 1-2 and 2-3 synchronizer issue (The one where the nipples are worn and it grinds at higher RPMS because they can no longer make a firm handshake). The issue I am experiencing is not that.
Could it be the transmission cables? Could it be some other cogs in the transmission? - If so does this mean I need to buy a used one? My car has 180K miles on it with the original clutch.
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I picked up a 2004 GTI not long ago for pretty cheap because it had a few issues. I am working my way through them. However, having 3rd gear issue.
All other gears are perfectly fine but there is way less play in the shifter in the 3rd gear position and I have to hold the shifter in position until the clutch is engaged (pedal up) to avoid the gear grinding. Once the clutch is engaged it stays in 3rd gear fine. It doesn't matter if I am moving from 2nd to 3rd or 4th to 3rd. Same deal. I have aligned the shifter several times using to proper procedures with no effect.
It never grinds 3rd with the clutch disengaged (so the synchro is fine?) and it will bang shift no problem. Oh and the clutch is less than a year old. It was installed by a shop before I bought the car. It's not really a big deal, but I would like to fix it. If I have to swap the trans that's fine, but need to figure out if it is a trans or linkage issue first.
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98 Jetta TDI hydraulic system ... We just received this vehicle from my mother in law, who is not driving any more. It's a cream puff--79,000 miles, beautiful condition. Problem is the clutch engages lower and lower to the floor, and eventually the shifter gets stuck in gear. The brake pedal slowly sinks to the floor when at stops on hills. Our mechanic tells us these two are connected because both the clutch and brake run off the same hydraulic system.
1st time he said the fluid was filthy, and he emptied the system and put in clean fluid. Worked for a little while and then we were back where we started. Second time he replaced a couple parts on the clutch, replaced this fluid, and this time it ran like a dream for a little over a month. Then the problem just returned. Again he says the fluid is filthy, and now we are looking at replacing the master cylinder and again changing the fluid. The theory behind why this is happening is that my mother in law let the car sit for half a year before passing it on to us. She didn't do much driving the 6 months before that either. I've done research, and this doesn't appear to be a common problem by any means on these cars.
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Background facts:
Tranny swapped from my 4 speed auto to a 1.8t o2j 5spd
13lb. Light flywheel
Powerflex dogbone mounts
Peloquin LSD
The problem: Very hard to get a smooth shift from gear to gear. Trust me, I know how to drive, but I can always feel the car shifting into a different gear if you know what I'm saying. On my friend's bone stock Jetta, I just let the clutch out without gas in between shifts and you don't feel a thing.
On my car, you feel EVERYTHING. People have told me the light flywheel will make the ride more uncomfortable in many ways, especially since the RPMs drop much quicker in between shifts than stock.
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I have 2002 1.8t jetta 5spd with 200k KM, last winter it was difficult getting into gear when it was cold. the fluid has never been changed, so that might be the issue.
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Drove my 02 VW golf GL to the airport, it sat there for 4 days, drove it back home. Next day I noticed that my 1st gear and reverse are very hard to get into. So I kept messing around with it and noticed that if I tried to put it slowly into first gear that there was no way in hell it would go, it felt like the gear was closed.
But if I put it into second gear and push it from second gear into first gear it goes back into first gear about 70% of the time. And it will also go into first gear if I push my stick down as if I'm attempting to go into reverse, and slowly move it into 1st gear.
The reverse is also very hard to get into it feels just like the 1st gear does when you try to do it slowly, it's like it's closed off/blocked. Latest work that was done to the car, replaced the clutch about 4-5 months ago.
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1999 Jetta MK4 with only 124k miles on it. Everything is fine with the car except when the car shifts from 2nd to 3rd it is jerky/violent/forceful everything else is good with car except check engine light is on but I don't really care about that and I'll go check with autozone to see what the code is. I am able to feather the gas when I know its going to shift and I can make the shift pretty smooth. My question to all the experts is does this mean that this tranny is on its last leg or does it still have a lot of life left in it. My old Cabriolet did it for years and never was a problem.
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What could be the issue at hand here. I just recently bought a 337 edition gti and I absolutely love it. But the guy I bought it from says that it was chipped but he doesn't know what brand tune it is. But the problem, like the title suggests, is that in first gear the car pulls incredibly hard but as soon as I shift into second I lose all my momentum and it just feels sluggish.everyone that I've seen on these threads have said that I should be getting the most power I'm second and third gear. Is this tune just not a good one? Could there be something more?
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Car in question is my 2003 Jetta 1.8t with the 09A 5 Speed Automatic. For the past 2 or 3 months these have been the symptoms: 1st to 2nd gear, very hard shift depending on RPM's (Higher the RPM's the harder the shift) 2nd to 3rd gear, not really hard but it kinda 'flares' the gearbut still shifts. All other gears are fine, although if you accelerate hard out of 4th it will have a little bit of a hard shift. I'm thinking either solenoids, or the speed sensor?
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Got in to go to work this am, and the gear shifter was difficult to move. What to check?
I drove 70 miles to work and didn't seem like any issues with the transmission shifting.
Got in to go to lunch and it seems even more difficult to move...
Shifting back and forth in the selector seems to loosen things up a little.
A friend move the selector while I looked at the linkage and the bracket that support the cable is flexing while shifting between gears....More likely a transmission issue or something with the linkage?
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I recently changed the bushings and installed SS kit. I don't know if this was the case before, but now while in any gear, i can still move it approx half inch to the right and half inch to the left.
I checked everything and all screws are tight. Could it be that the shifter cables need adjustment?
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