this question is on shift linkage

iluvmydiesels

Veteran Member
Joined
Nov 21, 2015
Location
phila area
TDI
AHU
so my other mk3, for a bit it was having a time getting into 1st, at times, also at times it would 'miss' reverse. so a few months later i lost 1st and reverse. so im stuck, just coming out of my driveway, cannt reverse back to turn. so i figure out, i find 1st in reverse, 2nd is down from reverse, other shifter problems, i also lost 5th. in shifter/linkage.
take it to my guy, i donno, got a good bill for it, so now i have everything from 1st to 4th, and reverse works. just got fixed or (just) adjusted, so i ll see. but i dont have 5th. how do you adjust linkage here? i figure my guy did (just)an adjustment. id like 5th back. thanks guys.
 

Mongler98

Top Post Dawg
Joined
Mar 23, 2011
Location
COLORADO (SE of Denver)
TDI
98 Jetta TDI AHU 1.9L (944 TDI swap in progress) I moved so now i got nothing but an AHU in a garage on a pallet.
You need to adjust it, its not difficult, its a bit of rinse and repeat the steps to get it just right but trust me, you can do it.
No need to let a shop charge you for something you can do with a few hand tools easily.
im going to asume its a O2A trans
here is a great link for the bushing repair.
works for both O2J and O2A
http://forums.tdiclub.com/showthread.php?t=277786

there is a ball on the end of a bolt on the trans shifter tower and trust me, unless your willing to spend $$$ on a part that is 6 months our back order from a VW dealership in Germany, your not going to find it. i tried looking and calling around. the part is extinct unless you get lucky. so dont bother. try and just pack it back up with grease but chances are your internal tower cup is worn down really bad too. this part will not truly efect your shifting gear selection but will make it harder to get into gear, more effor needed to move the shifter to the gear set. Good luck on that part.
Now on to your adjustment,
here is the link. print it out and go do it.
http://www.houseofthud.com/shifting_gti.htm
Also doing a trans fluid change can help a bit but not in the area of getting into the right gear like you have, just makes things a bit smoother, make sure you get the right stuff, you have brass syncros and will be damaged if not the right fluid. I use Red Line (50304) MT-90 75W-90
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B000CPCBEQ/ref=oh_aui_search_detailpage?ie=UTF8&psc=1
 

iluvmydiesels

Veteran Member
Joined
Nov 21, 2015
Location
phila area
TDI
AHU
wow, thanks for the info, that one link is a lot of tinkering with adjusting, have to try it as soon as i can. my tranny fluid is a-ok, its better than that redline stuff, and its not close to needing change. 100kmiles is low miles for my fluid.
 

Jetta SS

Veteran Member
Joined
Oct 30, 2006
Location
Grand Bay, AL
TDI
'98 Jetta
Similar thing happened to me, no reverse and one gear couldn't find at times. ended up pulling the trim/console from around the stick and finding the plastic bushings were bad. Changed those and everything worked again.
 

Windex

Top Post Dawg
Joined
Apr 1, 2006
Location
Cambridge
TDI
05 B5V 01E FRF
Just change the linkage over to the newer 02J style - worlds more precise. Did this with my B4V, and would make it the first mod if I ever got another.


The original 02A linkage is like shifting a carrot in a food processor.
 

Matt-98AHU

Loose Nut Behind the Wheel Vendor
Joined
Apr 23, 2006
Location
Gresham, OR
TDI
2001 Golf TDI, 2005 Passat wagon, 2004 Touareg V10.
Windex said:
The original 02A linkage is like shifting a carrot in a food processor.
Hahaha

I'm going to have to borrow that term. Thanks! :D
 

Jetta SS

Veteran Member
Joined
Oct 30, 2006
Location
Grand Bay, AL
TDI
'98 Jetta
Just change the linkage over to the newer 02J style - worlds more precise. Did this with my B4V, and would make it the first mod if I ever got another.
Wish I ran across this idea back when I was having trouble. So did you dig one out at a junkyard, or does a vendor have them?
 

Windex

Top Post Dawg
Joined
Apr 1, 2006
Location
Cambridge
TDI
05 B5V 01E FRF
Wish I ran across this idea back when I was having trouble. So did you dig one out at a junkyard, or does a vendor have them?
You generally need to get the bits from a salvage yard - the shift tower / cables / brackets / golf club are fairly common, and can be found on both gas and diesel MK4's.

The more challenging piece is the shift/sector shaft that goes down into the transmission - not all junkyards are willing to part with that piece separate from the trans.

For that piece it's easiest to find a junk trans and salvage that part.
 

iluvmydiesels

Veteran Member
Joined
Nov 21, 2015
Location
phila area
TDI
AHU
looks like i ll be shifting carrots. haha. good info tho,

hopefully before i get done with work i can try the adj in that link, in monglers post. looks like a pita, then again having the shifter miss gears is really worse.
 

ketchupshirt88

Veteran Member
Joined
Oct 31, 2012
Location
waupaca, WI
TDI
2005 Passat daily, a bunch of others in the graveyard out back...
I custom rebuilt mine rather than swapping to 02j.

Took it out and found all the sloppy points and replaced them with hand ground chunks of scrap iron and added welds and did some tweaking until it worked just right... it took an afternoon but I didn’t have to buy anything or change the shift box/cables.

my old passat shifted better than my current 03 Jetta... but you had to know the secret handshake... lol
 

Ol'Rattler

Top Post Dawg
Joined
Jul 3, 2007
Location
PNA
TDI
2006 BRM Jetta
Just change the linkage over to the newer 02J style - worlds more precise. Did this with my B4V, and would make it the first mod if I ever got another.


The original 02A linkage is like shifting a carrot in a food processor.
And know I'll bet it shifts like a frog in a blender. :cool:
 

Abacus

That helpful B4 guy
Joined
Nov 10, 2007
Location
Relocated from Maine to Dewey, AZ
TDI
Only the B4V left
The plastic shift assembly on the transmission is normally the cause. I’ve replaced it rehabbed many over the years but they don’t tend to fail again. I’ll bet this is the issue and it’s sasily fixed.
 

oilhammer

Certified Volkswagen Nut & Vendor
Joined
Dec 11, 2001
Location
outside St Louis, MO
TDI
There are just too many to list....
It is amazing how awful the early cable shifters are compared to the newer ones. My 2000 Golf with 540k miles feels better and more precise than my 1999 Golf with 200k miles, and my '98 Jetta was even worse. If I still had that car I would for sure be upgrading it to the later style. I found out a few years back that most all of the A3's cable shifter bits are obsoleted. I had to weld a broken shifter box back together with some gussets and supports. It was a mess, but the car was a rusty turd and was falling to pieces. The engine was as healthy as a horse, though. :p
 

chrisvb

Veteran Member
Joined
Dec 7, 2011
Location
ontario
TDI
1.9 jetta
What i do , is lock the shaft with visegrip with the shiftknob in neutral , position the transmission lever in neutral , then re secure the clamp on the end of the shiftrod in vertical position .
usually i get it right first time but some tweaking may be required.
 

0die

Veteran Member
Joined
Nov 29, 2012
Location
corpus christi, tx
TDI
1996 Passat wagon B4V
I recently rebuilt my shift lever...all new bushings...

I just put it all back together and installed it....it's sometimes hard to get into reverse and it goes into 1st instead...

I didn't notice anyway to "adjust" the shift lever as it all the mountings and such seemed "fixed"...am I missing something within the shift lever housing or is the cable somehow adjustable at the trans?

other than the "frequent but not always" missing the reverse gate...it shifts like brand new...

just pushing down and to the left it's just not always dropping into reverse with ease...
 
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iluvmydiesels

Veteran Member
Joined
Nov 21, 2015
Location
phila area
TDI
AHU
^, look at 2nd post, shift-link.

i had a chance to look at it, got the one car done and off the pad, so i looked under shift lever cover, turns out to get into 5th it bumps the housing near drivers, the lower lever, some plastic there. 1-4 work now ok, and i get rev, just on the hi-way above 60 i need 5th to get where im going ->faster.
 

chrisvb

Veteran Member
Joined
Dec 7, 2011
Location
ontario
TDI
1.9 jetta
From my experience , the nylon bushings of the shift levers when excessively worn, can cause the symptoms you describe. A kit of bushings runs about 8 dollars. These kits do not include the bushings for the bellcrank lever.
 
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