First gear grind

garciapiano

Veteran Member
Joined
Feb 12, 2018
Location
Southern California
TDI
1997 Jetta TDI (1Z)
Hey all,

I have a question about the 02A gearbox. My shifter suddenly started to be unable to shift into multiple gears (1st and 5th) and grinding into first. I figured it was a linkage issue. Took a look at the shift tower and it appears that the up/down selector piece on the trans broke. I swapped it out from a second trans I have sitting and it tightened up the linkage a bit, and now I can go into all the gears again but still have a grind into first from a dead stop that I didn’t have before.

Not sure what I did to make it start doing this. Previously there was a defined “notch” before the trans would go into 1st, which I’m assuming is the synchro. I don’t feel that notch anymore.

I’m a little stumped — adjusting the up/down selector forward or back doesn’t appear to have effect on the grind. If I go into the gear, i have to go very slowly to not grind it. I can feel the gear spinning down (grinding) as I slowly push into 1st. Does this mean my synchro is bad?

It only grinds going from neutral into first. Stopping the input shaft with 2nd obviously means I can go right in. Waiting with clutch depressed for a few seconds for the input shaft to slow down results in a fine shift. Looking for a fix as it’s very annoying to drive like this.
 

lisab4

Veteran Member
Joined
Oct 20, 2013
Location
Belgium
TDI
1996 Passat B4 1.9 TDI
link tower plastic piece.
If 1st remains, indeed, do as above. N,2,1
 

prsa01

Veteran Member
Joined
Aug 16, 2000
Location
mpls,mn usa
TDI
14 jsw 6m, 96 B4v, miss my a4 :(
Exactly what I have been doing for years on my b4. Has become so automatic that I have to drive my a5 for the better part of a day before I stop shifting into 2nd before 1st ;-)

Wasn't much of an issue on the a4 when I still had it since it was a rare Complete stop with maybe some uphill as well that required a 1st gear start on that car.
 

tbones

Veteran Member
Joined
Dec 22, 2005
Location
Annapolis, Maryland
TDI
1996 Passat wagon tdi, 1991 Corrado TDI (sold)1983 Vanagon 7pass.GL 1.6td 1982 Westy;THE PHOENIX 1.6na(NOW JX/5speed) my partner's 2014 Jetta Sportwagon 6spd manual AND MY NEW TOY/PROJECT... Sunny, a bright yellow 87 syncro Westy with 1Z TDI motor
The 97 b4 sedan I picked up this year with 330K on clock has the same thing... If I forget to do N-2-1, it's crunch time...
My other B4 has always been notchy... But no crunch when straight into first.

That doesn't really answer your question as to why you changed something else and it started... Very strange ...
 

garciapiano

Veteran Member
Joined
Feb 12, 2018
Location
Southern California
TDI
1997 Jetta TDI (1Z)
The 97 b4 sedan I picked up this year with 330K on clock has the same thing... If I forget to do N-2-1, it's crunch time...
My other B4 has always been notchy... But no crunch when straight into first.
That doesn't really answer your question as to why you changed something else and it started... Very strange ...
To give an update, I realized that the inner plastic bushing piece had snapped off on my old relay lever, creating a lot of play. So going to a good one helped.

I also replaced the pivot piece;

Finally, I got the dieselgeek 02A super slider, aligned everything once again and the shifter feels tighter and I am no longer grinding into first. Hooray!
 
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