Trouble finding a gear...

tagscuderia

Member
Hello all, for the first time yesterday, my gearbox hiccuped: first I couldn't get 4th from 5th and then later in the day I couldn't get any gear (left it in neutral, came off the clutch and tried again, voila). Both were mid-journey and were the only times I had issues.
I've rattled through the box with the engine off and it's silky smooth.
I've got a 53 plate FSi with 53k on the clock. Given the service record, I doubt that it's ever had the transmission oil changed and after yesterday, I wondered if it's worth doing? Read a previous thread and it seems that people have changed it themselves... this is my first car so I have no servicing experience, is it an easy place to start?

P.S, anybody know what causes gearboxes to do this? I'm not concerned at this stage but I'm gonna keep a watching brief as it were.

Cheers,
Tom.
 
Hi,

If I'm not mistaken the transmission is a sealed unit -I.e not designed to be opened, so it's tricky.

My suggestion would be to check a few other things first - if you couldn't get it into gear first time, it might be a sign your clutch didn't disengage properly. In which case you might have a leaky faulty clutch slave cylinder, or might just need to top up the brake/clutch hydraulic fluid. This is what happened to our Volvo recently. Alternatively maybe there's an issue with the gear synchros, but I'm no expert on them!

Cheers
 
Thanks, I did have a quick Google but transmissions are... frightfully complex so as you've pointed out, it could be any number of things. Clutch itself seems fine, good bite-point et al, just have to keep an eye on it I guess.
What's the consensus on changing the transmission fluid, a worthwhile service? Not necessarily in relation to my issue, just for a 10 year old car with 53k on it.
Cheers, much appreciated.
 
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