Difficult to engage first gear

Hi all, I recently bought a very tidy 2004 New Beetle 1.9 tdi. After noticing a bit of knocking and grinding I took it back to the garage and they fitted a replacement gearbox (the bearings had gone) and new clutch. The scary noises have now completely gone and it's driving really smooth but the only problem is I occasionally have difficulty getting into 1st gear. It's resisting going in rather than crunching or popping out of gear, usually at stop signals when I am in more of a rush to find the gear.
It's not every time, just occasionally, I try and fail to put it into gear, go back to neutral, let out the clutch then try again and it goes in.
I'm guessing the clutch might need adjusting? Is that a big job and if I don't get it fixed right away will it get worse? I'm supposed to be driving off on holiday this weekend and don't want to risk it if it's potentially going to break down.
Cheers for any advice.

There is no adjustment provided. Is the engagement point of the pedal very close to the floor? Does it grind going in to reverse? If so, it could be the clutch...Sometimes when the flywheel gets machined (if it did), that puts the clutch assembly that much further in towards the engine, requiring a corresponding extra bit of release bearing travel to dis-engage the clutch. The engagement point will likely rise a bit with wear.

Or it could simply be a shift linkage mis-adjustment...

Most likely shift linkage, worn, needs adjustment.

Yblocker said:

Or it could simply be a shift linkage mis-adjustment...

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Or just not adjusted properly after the transmission swap. Have it adjusted again. Hard to find 1st gear is a classic problem.

I always thought recalcitrant 1st gears were a VW thing. Every VW I've owned (1 Mk3, 2 Mk4) had it, and the 98 NB (02A) my friend has that I drove around the block to keep the brakes ok while he was on vacation also was the same. In mine, I can get it on a roll if I hit the revs perfectly double-clutching, otherwise it feels like it's hitting a wall (and this is at 20 km/h). At a dead stop from N it sometimes feels forced if I don't select 2nd to stop the input shaft, then select 1st. This is with both stock and dieselgeek SS, both adjusted properly. The prior Mk4 I had from new may have been slightly better, but hard to say, because actually timing the heel-toe on that car was hard. The throttle algorithm was deliberately ultra-muted and had a one second delay (to blip it you had to fully FLOOR the throttle pedal for 1/4 sec, then 3/4 sec later hit the clutch and shift anticipating the engine RPM finally reacting to the pedal input).

Thanks all, I'll take it into the trusty local Veedub garage and get them to have a look. Yes, at the moment the engagement point is really close to the floor, doesn't seem to grind going into reverse.

I tried "upgrading" my 5 spd transmission lube from factory to Redline Synthetic and only then did my 2000 VW Golf TDI have a heck of a time getting into 1st: ESPECIALLY WHEN COLD OR 1ST START OF THE DAY. I changed back to VW factory lube and NO PROBLEMS.

Hope this helps someone...

triclopsrobot said:

Thanks all, I'll take it into the trusty local Veedub garage and get them to have a look. Yes, at the moment the engagement point is really close to the floor, doesn't seem to grind going into reverse.

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Have the shop top off the reservour and bleed the clutch. The clutch tap on the side of the Reservour isn't very far down and air can get into the clutch circuit easily if the level is low.

GoGolfing said:

I tried "upgrading" my 5 spd transmission lube from factory to Redline Synthetic and only then did my 2000 VW Golf TDI have a heck of a time getting into 1st: ESPECIALLY WHEN COLD OR 1ST START OF THE DAY. I changed back to VW factory lube and NO PROBLEMS.

Hope this helps someone...

Click to expand...

Conversely, I had a '00 5sp which almost couldn't engage 1st when hot or cold. New VW fluid made no difference at all. Changing to GM Friction Modified Synchromesh almost instantly fixed the problems entirely.

I guess the answer is to try a few and see what works

Mine does that. Feels exactly like a clutch that isn't disengaging all the way. I'm thinking it is the DMF flopping around and dragging on the friction disc.

Just ignoring it for now. Gonna dump in some of that new real thin honda mtf next time I've got it in the air.

[486]

Does the car start to move as soon as you start to lift your foot, bringing the clutch pedal up? Does the pedal feel mushy at the top? Using your hand for better feel.

GCBUG00 said:

[486]

Does the car start to move as soon as you start to lift your foot, bringing the clutch pedal up? Does the pedal feel mushy at the top? Using your hand for better feel.

Click to expand...

Clutch's always been a bit mushy, otherwise clutch engages in a normal location and holds strong yet.

I just realized that while the DMF flops around a lot out of the car, the throwout bearing will press the parts into alignment.

Must just be catching on the synchro or something.