Golf 4. Only getting 3rd and 4th gears

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Shake&Bake

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So my Friday the 13th is off to a great start! :rolleyes:

Well actually started last night.
Car was driving along fine and then when I turned and geared down to 3rd, the gear lever was limp, able to fling around in all directions.
Still gave me 3rd though and then realised the problem was greater when I came to a stop and need to pull away again.

So I can only get 3rd and 4th.
There is a lot of clutch, able to pull away in 3rd with some coaxing by means of clutch and accelerator.
Can't get it into reverse either.
All positions up are 3rd and everything down is 4th.
Car still goes into neutral and no clutch needs to be applied.

So off the bat, I don't think it's clutch or pressure plate. I may be wrong :o
Could it be that the linkages or synchros (don't know which with these cars) on the gearbox are toast?

It's a 1999 1.6 Comfortline Golf 4.

Any suggestions would be appreciated before I go in blind to the mechanic.
 
Relief

Ok so luckily have managed to get to the root of the problem rather easily and hopefully inexpensively (dependent on the price of that part)
picture.php


For those (like myself) that may not know, that one of the linkages for the gearbox.
As you can see the little cup on the right is toast and worn out.
So with the little cup worn out it's not allowing me to select any other gears.
Going to call up Barons now and get a price on it.

EDIT: For those that may care or need to know: Part Number is: 1J0711596E.
 
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Initial thoughts was that a gear linkage came loose - and second post confirmed it.

Hope they have it in stock.

Good luck.


edit : dunno what it is with car manufacturers of today for putting in plastic schitte when on the older cars it was metal linkages with teflon heads... (which tend to last far longer)
 
It happened to my Corsa Lite years ago. I took it to the dodgy garage at the nearest petrol station and a guy who looked as though he learned all he knows about being a mechanic from sabotaging tanks in Iraq pulled out a hammer and beat it back into shape, right there on the pavement. Charged me R50, never had a problem with it until it was highjacked 2 years later.
 
lucky its not that bad. My sister has the same model type, 2000 i think though, and a couple years ago the gear box packed up... had it replaced and a couple days later the "new" box breaks aswell... but ya, that was what first came to my mind. yours doesnt sound that serious though :)
 
Ja so no stock in the Western Cape. Rushing through to Barons Bellville now to place the order and hope to have it here by Monday. Price is like R70. Goldwagen in Bellville have a "pirate" part in stock for R50.

So going to go with the R50 job for the weekend and then replace it with original on Monday and keep the pirate part as spare.

All this stress a few days before I'm leaving for London!
I prayed it wouldn't be the gearbox as it would seriously cut into my holiday budget :o
 
gdiza said:
Hectic dude... Let us know how much this 'repair' is going to cost... I'm curiously keen to know.
Click to expand...

As stated in my post above it's cheap and really DIY - you just have to push the linkage down over two metal balls (No pun intended :D)
 
If you had problems with your second gear for a while, then your gearbox is fk'd.

The thing is that if you have something wrong with the gearbox, 2nd always starts showing the signs. Having difficulty getting it into second gear, maybe a scratch when switching to second and so forth.

This you need to remember. Whenever 2nd starts doing funny things, have the gear box fixed ;)
 
Staalbal said:
If you had problems with your second gear for a while, then your gearbox is fk'd.

The thing is that if you have something wrong with the gearbox, 2nd always starts showing the signs. Having difficulty getting it into second gear, maybe a scratch when switching to second and so forth.

This you need to remember. Whenever 2nd starts doing funny things, have the gear box fixed ;)
Click to expand...

Personally I never had any issues like those.
Always glides into each gear easily.
This just looks like normal wear and tear.

So Goldwagen was a fsckup as I arrived there and they never had the correct part, even when telling me that they did :mad:
And not even an apology - never calling on them again.
Just walked out and headed for Barons and ordered the part and hope it gets here by Monday.

Into my mom's Tazz then for the weekend :o
 
O dear it seems like you ran into an age old problem called VW.... ouch... costly mistake sorry to hear
 
Well it's only ever cost me servicing and this part of R56.00.

So I'm still relatively happy with the car - would like to get in something newer though, but ja - waiting on a good deal to come along...
 
Frankie said:
Pirate parts are not always inferior to the OEM - would be interested to hear your opinion on the comparison.
Click to expand...

Ja, but unfortunately never got hold of the part, as I mentioned above, the guys at Goldwagen made a cockup and never had the part I was looking for.

They eventually told me that the part would only be available from the agents, so I won't be able to make the comparison.

Would have been interesting though :\
 
Picked up the part this morning from Barons Bellville.
Part was checked in at about 08h00 and I got there at about 11h00 and it was waiting for me at the front desk.

Good service all around :)
Been a while since I had some of that ;)
 
Good to hear, did it resolve the issue?

I have the linkages replaced on my cars every 100 000 km's to be sure.
The 3 to 400 rand it costs is worth the peace of mind. Sometimes they just come loose and need to be re-tightened,
 
Well it's turned out I'm "not man enough" :p :o

Couldn't get the part on myself and left the car with the mechanic to put it on today :p
 
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