My stick shift broke off!

Wondering what my options are. I would very much like to avoid disconnecting the exhaust to remove the entire shift assembly if possible. To confirm, the gasser and TDI beetle shifters are identical, right?

If I do end up having to disconnect the exhaust, I'll probably be faced with drilling the studs out of the exhaust manifold right?

Yes, the gasser shift cable are exactly the same. To remove the exhaust you won't have to drill out anything. There are 3 copper nuts that hold the down pipe to the turbo that come off fairly easily. When I removed my exhaust, one of the studs came out of the turbo. I used this as an excuse to upgrade my turbo D), so I don't know how difficult it is to remove a nut from the stud and then reinstall the stud. Make sure you replace the gasket between the turbo/down pipe with a new one. It wouldn't hurt to put some anti-seize on the threads, either.

I think that number is incorrect. Try 18 ft lbs torque. Thank you Steve

yeah, just installed a new downpipe last night , 18ftlbs is more like it

Um......you are right about the 18 ft lbs or lightly hand tight but you disconnect the exhaust at the coupler behind the cat......Soooo that has nothing to do with this job.

Pull the heat shields out and the go to the interior and drop the 4 13mm nuts after you pull the trim.

You guys need to stop giving out information that is incorrect here. Look in the Bentley if you're not sure.

So I'll be able to get the downpipe far enough out of the way without disconnecting from the exhaust manifold. That is good news.

I think I may be able to replace the broken part without pulling the shift box though. I was able to extract this from the car topside.





Does anyone know...

If I just replace what is shown above, what is compatible? Which years and can I use golf, jetta, etc... parts?

If I replace the entire shift box, does that change the answer?

Thanks for the info guys!

You need the early style unit. I can't tell you if you can get that part alone. But frankly you can get an entire unit for $50-70 from a salvage yard.

Someone drive that car that dosen't like you? NEVER have I seen that happen unless someone slam-shifts the crap out of it.

Let me tell you, I had to drill a second bolt hole into the shift box when I got the car because the PO had fatigued the metal to the point that it broke off in the back. It was flapping around only held up in the front. There was also plastic shrapnel littering the bottom of the shift box from the plastic bushings that line all the moving parts.

The clutch was dragging causing hard shifts. I'd hate to see what my synchros look like.

Do you happen to know the year or model range for the early unit?

Thanks again for the help!

Maybe you bought it from the guy who was putting 3' semi style shifters in their Jetta because they thought it looked cool.

98, 99, and some 2000.

stevekris said:

I think that number is incorrect. Try 18 ft lbs torque. Thank you Steve

Click to expand...

Is it 18? When I installed my turbo I remember torquing something to 64 foot pounds. I guess it wasn't the nuts on the down pipe... Sorry about that

It is most definitely 18ft lbs.