Trans problem

[9755]

Yesterday the family and i drove from the East side of Michigan to the west side by grand rapids. In 5th with cruise on the whole way. Got off and was very hard to change gears. Went to leave last night and it acted like I had the breaks on and bogged down and stalled. Then noticed it did that in every gear. It also tries to move in neutral. I changed trans fluid and it had barely in it. End result is the same. Am I right to assume the trans is junk?

There's also no gear grind. Clutch disengages fine. It will stop rolling in any gear with the clutch in. Like the brake is on. The clutch, flywheel, tb, pivot ball, and shift fork all have roughly 20k on them

 

[joep1234]

2 things. Have you scanned the car to see if there is anything in the ABS and have you raised each wheel to see if you have a brake issue. Also check the park brake cable to see it is working and not frozen based on where your signature list where you live.

 

[9755]

I don't have access to a scanner that does abs. The abs light is on and has been on for over a year. Never got it reset after I did brakes and sensors. Parking brake is working. I will be trailering the car home tomorrow. The car can be pushed no problem. Its extremely hard to describe what it's doing. Like when in neutral it acts like you're in a higher gear. And when in any gear, it acts like the breaks are stuck and won't move

 

[wonneber]

I'm wondering if it's a shifter cable adjustment, bad bushing in the shifter, or such.

Get someone to move the shifter front to back and watch the linkage under the hood.
Then move the shifter right to left & watch it.

You could also try the linkage under the hood manually to see if the 'in gear' feel is gone.

 

[9755]

So something weird happened. Got there with the trailer. Figured I'd give it one last try before I loaded it up. Went in gear fine, but it moved. I drove it down the road and went in all gears perfectly. I still trailered it back just to be safe. In the morning I'm going to make sure the linkages are lubed up. As well as the shifter ball. And look for slop. Anything else I should look at? It's not exactly a priority to get this car going tomorrow. So anything besides dropping the trans right now is fine with me.

 

[BobnOH]

DMF coming apart? Not sure how to diagnose it, but I believe if you just rev the engine in the driveway, it will make noise.

 

[9755]

I put in a Sachs smf last fall. I took out the shifter assembly. As well as the pivot ends and such off the trans. Cleaned and reassembled everything with white lithium grease, adjusted the cables and shimmed the shifter ball per dieselgeeks instructions. Double checked the trans fluid and let it warm up in the garage for 2 hrs. Took it for a drive and all seems well so far. I'll go for a longer ride tonight when the girlfriend gets home. I just find it hard to believe that the minor stuff I did today has solved the issue.

When I changed the trans fluid Sunday, I got maybe a liter out. I'm thinking that was the main issue. Got hot and maybe got half stuck in gear

 

[Rrusse11]

Sounds like you've got a leak somewhere in the transmission.

 

[9755]

I believe you're correct. I did notice it on the bottom of the trans. Almost directly under the fill port. But not leaking from the port. It appeared to be coming from the vw logo on the bottom that has a bolt on either side of it. I couldn't find a definitive answer as to if it has a gasket behind it or what exactly it is

 

[STDOUBT]

https://forums.tdiclub.com/showthread.php?t=500438
Sounds like no gasket...but...

 

[9755]

That's exactly what I was looking for. I'll be changing the fluid again as soon as my idparts order comes in. Thanks for the link

 

[BobnOH]

I had this condition on my previous TDI (99.5J). Never had it fixed, mechanic said it was one of 2 seals, one easy, one much more involved. Need to get it open to figure out which leaks.