Odd gear section proble.

...M

Apologies up front. Another gearbox thread.

I have an odd tale. Started on Thursday evening. Reversing on to my drive I found it more of a struggle than usual to get reverse. Anything past 3rd/4th was quite stiff. Didn't think much of it at the time and set off the next day didn't seem to have the issue when cold. Came off the M4 after 35miles, quite stiff getting 1st. The gear stick seems not to centre itself if to the left. Anyway back home that night after reading many threads here about adjustment, etc etc. Took the bonnet off and manipulated the gear sector by hand, seemed quite smooth, perhaps a bit notchy between 3rd to 1st (gearbox has in the past had work to empty water out, so has history) went off this morning to Castle Coombe, was bad when we arrived. On the way back it seems to have freed itself and seems to be back to 'normal'

The rubber gasket at the lever is intact. Can't see any obvious crumbs. Cables seem smooth, no broken threads.

Any ideas? Lubrication, adjustment, bits in the gear lever area? Just having a moment?

Obviously I'd like a nice 6speed box but don't want the cost

Chris

Hi Chris,

I suffer occasionally with a very similar problem. As you say, the gear stick will occasionally not want to centre, and will sometimes feel like it's trying to stick in the either the 1st and 2nd or 5th gate.

I've investigated this somewhat, finding no issue with the equipment inside the cabin or the cables, but instead finding the gearbox selector tower to be sticky. When you move the gearstick from side to side, the tower shaft is pulled and pushed up and down to put the mechanism inside the gearbox into the correct gate. This selector tower is what can be seen on the top of the gearbox. Essentially, the shaft is allowed to move up and down by a sleeve bearing on top of the gearbox. This sleeve bearing I think is what's causing my issue. I think it's become sticky with the shaft, and won't allow it to move up and down as it should.

I have the correct parts to fix this from Audi, they're around £10 if I recall correctly. The problem is, I can't get the selector tower cap off the top of the gearbox. It's a cast Aluminium cap bolted to the cast gearbox casing. Over time, they've stuck together and I can't separate them. If I could get this off, then I may be able to fix it. There's a bit more information here. http://forums.vwvortex.com/showthre...ng-amp-Bushing-Repair&p=78934588#post78934588

Saying all of this, it's been okay for a while so I've left it for now. If I work out how to get the cap off, I'll try again!

Regards,

Matt.

Matt, you are a gem. What you describe are exactly the symptoms. When operating the selector manually there was a bit of hesitancy/resistance coming up from reverse position to centre. I'm going to take a visual look at the bearing/seal see how it looks. I know the selector shaft was replaced. The question is did they replace the bushings? Possibly not.

Chris

KekseKaempfer said:

I know the selector shaft was replaced. The question is did they replace the bushings? Possibly not.

Click to expand...

It's likely not, in my opinion. Once the selector shaft is removed from the gearbox, it is removed from the cap fairly easily apparently. This cap is what houses the sleeve bearing, so I imagine that if the shaft has been replaced, as you say, then they most likely will have left the bearing as it's not part of the selector assembly as such.

Regards,

Matt.