Gearbox stuck in R/1/2

Robin_Cox

Member
As in the title ; driving home last night in my AMF project car (287k miles), went to change into 3rd after pulling out of the local supermarket - and the gearlever simply wouldn't move across the gate beyond the axis of 1st / 2nd. Drove the remaining 4 miles home in 2nd at 3100rpm / 30mph.

Although the change into third has always had a little resistance (to be expected on the mileage bearing in mind that this gear is the one most known to be problematic over time), changing slowly and deliberately has always got round the issue - now it simply isn't there. There were no indications on the commute in or driving to the supermarket after work that something was changing.

Change between 1st and 2nd (and into reverse) completely normal in terms of smoothness, so the fore-aft cable aspect of the gearchange (rotating the selector shaft axially) is unaffected. Clutch feel and biting points also completely normal.

At the moment I'm assuming something to do with the "left-right" cable (that rotates the bell crank on top of the gearbox, lifting the selector shaft in / out of the box to move between planes, or at worst, failure of something inside the box related to that action. The movement in question would be lifting the shaft as rightward movement of the gearlever appears to result in the bell crank converting that into an upward pull (based on VAG SSP diagrams of the selector / gearchange cable arrangements).

As luck would have it, I've got the 140k GPK box from my 6-speed converted BHC on hand, and the mechanic who did that swap has his workshop 100 yards up the road, but if it is a simpler problem than this to fix (I've accumulated various bushings and stuff planning to try to eliminate linkage slop) then I hope I can have a crack.

Going to get the bonnet off, disconnect cables and have a waggle of the counterweight to see if it can be moved by hand - at least it is sunny albeit very frosty!

Any thoughts gratefully appreciated.
 
Inspection of cables and counter weight with aid of assistant would be my approach! Hopefully just a cable adjustment lock has stuck open perhaps?
 
Bonnet off disconnect both cables to gear linkages
Ideally get someone to depress the clutch fully. A suitable piece of wood can be used if no one is available
Then you should be able to lift and rotate the gearbox tower shaft and ‘feel’ it selecting gears

If this works then it’s a cable issue or the linkage that you put your hand on the change gear
If the selector shaft will not select 3rd 4th 5th gear then there are two bolts on the top of the selector shaft remove these and the selector shaft assy can be removed upwards from the gearbox

You can then check it for damage excessive wear
I have one in the garage so if you get it removed and want to FaceTime / video chat to compare the two then more than happy to help on that front

Cheers. Paul


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I'm refuelling the boss at the moment, once I've got her fed and plied with more coffee I may be able to get to work!
 
Have had a chance to look under the bonnet.

Cables were fully secure on initial observation.

Clutch or no clutch, my daughter has been able to move the car from 1st to 2nd and back again, and the shift mechanism rotates smoothly from inside and outside the car. I can push down on the shift mech, and the gearlever moves left (as the driver sees it) and then rotates into the reverse position smoothly. However, the gearlever won't move rightwards of the plane of 1st/2nd, and at the gearbox the mechanism cannot be lifted into a higher plane (3/4 or 5) than the resting state, while the cable that should perform that movement moves freely until the mechanism stops it.

The next course of action as you've suggested Paul is to get the mech lifted out to have a look at it - unfortunately it is freezing here at the moment and I've just been tasked with tidying up my home office alcove so my outdoor time has just been stymied.

Ironically this is the first chance I've had to look under the bonnet in daylight since getting it back from the turbo rebuild in early December - and I have just realised that the undertray isn't on the car - another phone call to make on Monday. I have a new Tdi undertray in the garage though so it's no big deal as the original was rather ratty, and if the box does need to be swapped, it will have to come off anyway.
 
Ok so progress made although not the outcome you had wanted in that the issue is the tower or the innards of the gearbox
When you get a chance lift out the tower and rather face time me or send pictures and I’ll compare to a good tower and we can work out where to go next

Cheers. Paul


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
 
Ok so progress made although not the outcome you had wanted in that the issue is the tower or the innards of the gearbox
When you get a chance lift out the tower and rather face time me or send pictures and I’ll compare to a good tower and we can work out where to go next

Cheers. Paul


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
that's grand Paul - thank you as always! Much appreciated. I can't promise immediate action as I am at the mercy of outside influences, but will give it a go asap.
 
Hello, i have the same problem.. Did you manage to solve it, and if yes would you be so kind to tell me what was the reason for this gear problem? Thank you!
 
Hello, i have the same problem.. Did you manage to solve it, and if yes would you be so kind to tell me what was the reason for this gear problem? Thank you!
Hi Vessod,

I had a spare GPK (1.4Tdi) gearbox at home from my other A2 which had received a 6-speed PTW box the previous summer in a swap performed by a mechanic who lives 30 seconds up the road from my house. In the end after the above messages when I remembered the spare box, the quickest solution was to return to the mechanic and get him to swap my broken box for the spare one complete with a bottle of new gear oil - instant fix for £~70 all in.

So - in short, I did not manage to resolve the problem : the original box was always difficult to put into third gear, and I suspect that it was this basic fault that finally broke completely (probably worn selector forks after 287000 miles?).

It is possible that the best solution for you may be to source another compatible gearbox from a Polo Tdi or similar with lower mileage. Another option could be to try a 6-speed replacement unless you are a much more competent mechanic than I am and can work on the broken box itself - for instance, some faults like this can be resolved by replacing the selector tower.

There is another gearbox thread ongoing right now that may be informative although it appears they are able to select all gears with care, which in my case was not possible. See link below :


Very best of luck!
 
I had similar issues with my gearbox, particularly third gear, it turned out the tower bearing completely disintegrated, replaced it with a new one & rubber seal plus gearbox oil, its now like new.
water had gotten in there, as the oil was like water.
All parts from @CreweAudi . total about £40 plus my time.
Hope this helps,
Cheers,
Ami
 
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