5 speed manual transmission hard to shift without grinding 3rd gear

Nerdkiller

Well-known member
Joined
Mar 31, 2008
Location
Price, Utah
TDI
98 Beetle TDI
I have a 1998 Vw beetle with a 5 speed manual transmission. Currently I am having a difficult time shifting into 3rd gear. Does anyone have any ideas on resolving this issue?
 

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.
There is a good write up on how to adjust things but that usually pertains to a full out hard to shift everywhere or just 1st and reverse and 5th.
These transmissions have a weak 3rd gear.
Bottom line. The only things you can do are change the shifting tower. New Sean at shift tower and bearings.
Pull the shift tower off and if the selector cup is full of mud, you need to do a supper flush a few times and change the seal and bearing. The cup its self has a ball bearing captive bolt that selects into its cam valleys. This bearing is extinct though. The cup gets excessively worn too. Replace all this and see what happens.
I had the same issue. Selector cup was the problem and that stupid extinct part. Swapping to a mk4 shift tower requires the shifter and cables also ve swapped. Also dropping the exhaust.
 

BobnOH

not-a-mechanic
Joined
May 29, 2004
Location
central Ohio
TDI
New Beetle 2003 manual
On my old style shifter (99.5 J) I broke both the shift actuator and shift lever. Also the bearings on the tower sometimes get too sloppy. All this junk is mounted on top of the transmission. Unlikely that it suddenly fell out of adjustment, but it can't hurt to adjust.
 

Nerdkiller

Well-known member
Joined
Mar 31, 2008
Location
Price, Utah
TDI
98 Beetle TDI
There is a good write up on how to adjust things but that usually pertains to a full out hard to shift everywhere or just 1st and reverse and 5th.
These transmissions have a weak 3rd gear.
Bottom line. The only things you can do are change the shifting tower. New Sean at shift tower and bearings.
Pull the shift tower off and if the selector cup is full of mud, you need to do a supper flush a few times and change the seal and bearing. The cup its self has a ball bearing captive bolt that selects into its cam valleys. This bearing is extinct though. The cup gets excessively worn too. Replace all this and see what happens.
I had the same issue. Selector cup was the problem and that stupid extinct part. Swapping to a mk4 shift tower requires the shifter and cables also ve swapped. Also dropping the exhaust.
Thank you!

Should I get a new transmission or adjust the one I have?

The history of the car is it has been shifting perfectly, then I had a mechanic do a few things to the car. Now it does not want to go into 3rd gear. I can have everything perfect for a gear change from 2nd to 3rd, yet it still acts as if I have barely any clutch.
 

IndigoBlueWagon

TDIClub Enthusiast, Principal IDParts, Vendor , w/
Joined
Aug 16, 2004
Location
South of Boston
TDI
'97 Passat, '99.5 Golf, '02 Jetta Wagon, '15 GSW
Did the work you had done on the car require doing anything to the transmission, mounts, or transmission linkage? If not, then the work may be unrelated. If it did, then it would help to know what was done.

When you say hard to shift, what do you mean? Gears grinding? More effort to get the car into gear? Can't find the location of the gear? Different symptoms have different causes.
 

Nerdkiller

Well-known member
Joined
Mar 31, 2008
Location
Price, Utah
TDI
98 Beetle TDI
Did the work you had done on the car require doing anything to the transmission, mounts, or transmission linkage? If not, then the work may be unrelated. If it did, then it would help to know what was done.

When you say hard to shift, what do you mean? Gears grinding? More effort to get the car into gear? Can't find the location of the gear? Different symptoms have different causes.
Third gear grinds.
The mechanic changed the motor mounts and dogbone. ☹
 
Last edited:

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.
oh then definitely need an adjustment
I do not have the link on hand but you can google your car and find the shift adjustment writeup.
I would still recomend you pull the shifter tower and inspect the cup if the adjustment does not help. it should shift normally even if it was messed with but the cup does wear..... let us know what you find.
 

Nerdkiller

Well-known member
Joined
Mar 31, 2008
Location
Price, Utah
TDI
98 Beetle TDI
oh then definitely need an adjustment
I do not have the link on hand but you can google your car and find the shift adjustment writeup.
I would still recomend you pull the shifter tower and inspect the cup if the adjustment does not help. it should shift normally even if it was messed with but the cup does wear..... let us know what you find.
Thank you

Is the write up on adjusting the clutch on the tdi club?
 

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.
Thank you

Is the write up on adjusting the clutch on the tdi club?
i don't know. i threw my back out a week ago so im just being "productive" where i can from my seat hereim sure i could google it but your search would also result in the same information.
 

IndigoBlueWagon

TDIClub Enthusiast, Principal IDParts, Vendor , w/
Joined
Aug 16, 2004
Location
South of Boston
TDI
'97 Passat, '99.5 Golf, '02 Jetta Wagon, '15 GSW
I don't think swapping mounts would affect linkage adjustment. I had them changed on my Wagon a few months ago and shifting didn't change at all.

You might want to refresh the gear oil if it hasn't been in a while. Pennzoil or GM Synchromesh is great for fixing grinding gears.
 

Tdijarhead

Top Post Dawg
Joined
Nov 10, 2013
Location
Lawrenceville PA
TDI
2003 TDI Jetta Daughters Car, 2001 TDI Beetle, Wife’s car, 2005 Golf TDI Mine, all 5 spds
Scroll to the bottom of the page. There are 3-4 videos on adjusting the linkage.

He may have taken the linkage end loose to gain additional room even though that doesn’t need to be done.

 

Zak99b5

Veteran Member
Joined
Apr 30, 2021
Location
Albany NY
TDI
2003 Jetta TDI
You might want to refresh the gear oil if it hasn't been in a while. Pennzoil or GM Synchromesh is great for fixing grinding gears.
or if a while ago you refreshed it with GL-5. That mistake made third gear grind for me. Fixed with proper GL-4 fluid (half Pennzoil synchromesh and half Redline MTL).
 

Nerdkiller

Well-known member
Joined
Mar 31, 2008
Location
Price, Utah
TDI
98 Beetle TDI
Thank you for the suggestions!!!
I took the car back to the mechanic. I told him that it was as if I had very little clutch left and it would grind every time I shifted into 3rd gear.

He said he would look at it. The shop is actually a good shop. When they were done they said that they could find nothing wrong and maybe I need a transmission drain and refill. I have recently done a transmission drain and refill as preventative maintenance. So I know that was not an issue.

When I got the car back it now shifts like good, much as it was before.

They obviously adjusted the clutch linkage.

Thank you everyone for all the help!!! I very much appreciate it. They video on how to adjust the linkage from diesel geek was great!!! I did not know it was so easy.
 
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