01 Jetta Stopped Shifting

As the title says, it was just that sudden. The transmission is stuck in second gear. While the clutch pedal works and feels fine, the shifter is extremely loose moving forward or rearward. It's like the shifter is not engaged with anything at all, and while its loose front to back, there is zero play to the right and a bit to the left.

I've looked at the "hockey stick" and associated cables under the hood in plain sight, but they seem fine, no excess play or anything. Here's a pic of the shifter
https://imgur.com/a/HpCpFvE

Going by this thread:
http://forums.tdiclub.com/showthread.php?t=485119&highlight=shift+linkage+cable

And a quote I pulled from another search:

Could be a shift linkage cable. Thats the cable that connects your shift lever to the transmission. If the cable is broken you would be stuck in whatever gear you were in when the connection broke, and you would not be able to shift to any other gear, reverse or even nuetral. It's also possible that even if the cable itself is not physically broken, that the attachment mechanism has broken at either the shift lever or where it connects to the transmission.

Click to expand...

...I'm leaning toward a broken linkage cable and/or connector somewhere, maybe a bushing? Or possibly worn teeth on the shifter? It all seems possible as the car has 220k miles. What am I looking at in terms of repair cost at a VW mechanic shop (not dealer)?

Look under the stick itself. Pull up the boot and look down into the holes on the left side of the housing. Those 2 cables connect to the stick, probably one of them has come loose. Dieselgeek make a bushing kit and has several videos on installation. Dieselgeek.com

Awesome, thanks so much for the reply. I will tear into it tomorrow.

Ordered the deluxe shifter bushing kit from Diesel Geek. Watched the accompanied video. Looking forward to this fix!

I just put that same kit on last week, not because mine stopped shiftbut because mine was getting very sloppy. That kit tighten up the shifting a lot, I’m even giving some consideration to putting in the short shifter.

As I'm waiting for the kit to arrive, I'm trying to plan the order in which I fix/replace the bushings, first gear getter, etc and alignment to expedite the process.

Unless I'm mistaken, the order should go (after removing boot and hole-sawing access hole):
1. Lock trans
2. Unscrew ball plate
3. Unscrew torx head screw on driver side
4. Remove side to side cable and bushing (assuming front to back is dislocated already)
5. Remove shifter assembly from housing
6. Attach new front to back bushing
7. Insert shifter assembly into housing
8. Attach front to back cable
9. Attach side to side cable
10. Install first gear getter
11. Reattach torx screw with accompanying bar
12. Remove shifter stick bushings and spring
13. Replace shifter stick bushings and spring
14. Replace ball plate (after card stock shim mod)
15. Open cable ends near trans
16. Pin shifter for alignment
17. Pull slack out of shift cables at trans
18. While holding slack, release cable ends
19. Shift through the gears
20. Unlock trans
21. Replace boot
22. Drive it!

Am I wrong or missing something?

I did the hole saw on mine but probably didn’t need too. Make sure that bushing is indeed bad. It might even be the one that has in fact come loose. If it’s still intact and working it would be better to skip that one and forget about drilling the hole.

Yes I think you’ve about got it.

Tore into it today after work to prepare for the bushing kit install this Friday when it arrives via USPS. Everything was going smoothly until one of the two torx screws on the half circle plate retaining the shifter ball joint stripped out, even with a brand new, quality torx head. Had to use a hammer and chisel but got it out. Opened it all up and what a mess! Pieces of bushings and orange grease everywhere. Yep, the front to back linkage was disconnected--bushing was annihilated.
https://imgur.com/a/R5XrT75

What's weird is my side to side cable has a plastic sleeve at the ring, but my front to back is just bare metal. Should I leave the plastic sleeve, take it off, add another?

I drilled the passenger side access hole, removed all the old bushing pieces from the shaft crevices, and now I'm inside casually doing the card stock mod. All in all, this is one of the easiest fixes considering the number of steps.
https://imgur.com/ZXwsSVH

After I wiped it down, removing orange bits and grease that were everywhere, I noticed the area between the teeth and the ball on this part of the shifter probably shouldn't be bare, correct? Am I missing a bushing here? I don't think Diesel Geek supplies one for this in the kit.
https://imgur.com/a/YD7VxFT

No bushing there that I remember.

Apparently there is supposed to be a bushing there, that acts as a bumper when shifter is torqued very far. I reinstalled everything with new bushings (minus mystery bushing), adjusted the linkage cables, and shifted through the gears--everything feels nice and tight with positive feedback.

I ended up using the factory retaining clip on the dieselgeek front to back bushing, since my snap ring pliers weren't adequately long/slender to place the dieselgeek snap ring through the 1-1/8" access hole.

I hope this helps anyone else in the future. Thanks for the assistance.

Good deal, it’s amazing how much tighter the shifter is. The dieselgeek kit is a great idea and well made.