mk4 5 speed transmission problems

I bought a 2001 golf from a guy and he said the transmission was locked up, The shifter was really crazy, it didn't feel right at all so when i took a closer look the clip off the linkage was gone. I put the clip in and adjusted the llinkage correctly i might add and it seems to shift fine but when i put it in reverse it sounds terrible (grinding noise) and wants to kick it out of reverse. Im sure ill have to pull the transmission and open it up, im just wondering if anybody has ever had this problem and can point me in the right direction of fixing it. thanks. Forgot to mention this thing had all 3 stage parts on it.

I had an 03 Jetta that had some chipped teeth on reverse gear and it would pop out of gear. It required a new gear and a tranny repair.

UhOh said:

http://forums.tdiclub.com/showthread.php?t=409035

Click to expand...

Thanks. That's a very useful thread

Volkswagen has always had weak reverses. lesson first learned in H.S. with Dad's 72 squareback, I tried to do a burnout in reverse and blew reverse. second was in 76 transporter stuck in the woods blew reverse. Third was in 84 rabbit diesel backing out of steep driveway bent fork and it always popped out after that. Many used ALH trans out there for far less than fixing gear or fork

mattyc5094 said:

Volkswagen has always had weak reverses.

Click to expand...

Really? Never heard of that, and never had a problem with reverse on any VW. However, people also say that they have weak differentials, that they fail when you sidestep the clutch with the accelerator floored, especially if the suspension is dead and can't control wheel hop.

mattyc5094 said:

Volkswagen has always had weak reverses. lesson first learned in H.S. with Dad's 72 squareback, I tried to do a burnout in reverse and blew reverse. second was in 76 transporter stuck in the woods blew reverse. Third was in 84 rabbit diesel backing out of steep driveway bent fork and it always popped out after that. Many used ALH trans out there for far less than fixing gear or fork

Click to expand...

I'm pulling it out tonight and putting a different one in tomorrow. Then I'll pull the original one apart and see what happened then I'll post results.

I got the transmission out and I'm not at all familiar with vw stuff. I've pulled many chevy transmissions and my question is does the throw out bearing always ride on the pressure plate fingers? Chevy transmissions have a spring that pulls them away.

Yes, the throwout bearing rides there, but without pressure on the clutch pedal there's no wear. Then again, there's those people that think they're mister master driver and ride the clutch all the time. They're also the ones that curse bad throwout bearings that wear out very quickly.

VW does have weak reverse gears. They have this silly notion that you don't really use reverse much at all, so there's no reason for expensive operations like, oh, maybe hardening the gear. And I actually agree with this one: why bother when it isn't something that you use hardly?

Cheers,

PH

I see in your first post that it grinds going into reverse. If that is happening then the input shaft of the transmission is spinning with the clutch in when it should not be. This would be the number one reason a reverse gear will be damaged. If that is the case and you don't find out why the next trans you put in there is going eat another reverse gear.

I would take a close look at the clutch and related parts.

Not to burst your bubble but this is about manual transmissions not the autos....