what wears out in the shifter and cable mechanism on a 6 speed manual?

[Shoveltrev]

interesting issue . 2012 jetta with 6 sp manual, has all gears except first most of the time. nuetral to first its in third , start in second shift immediately to first its in third. get the carr rolling in second shift athoritively into first and its in first. run it down the road and go thru the gears come to a stop shift into first its in third. get the car rolling in second down shift it into first its in first. all the other gears go right in. open to any suggestions

 

[Zakh55]

Shift linkage. The shift lever itself. You might try pulling off the faux leather and peeking down inside to make sure the linkage is connected correctly to the shifter. To see the other end of the linkage from the engine bay, you'll have to remove the airbox (and I think the battery, unless you have a snake camera). If you're not hearing any strange noises or grinding while shifting and the clutch feels normal, I'd take a peek to ensure the bushings and pivots aren't worn.

Synchronizer (you'd probably hear grinding)

Partial clutch engagement (possibly due to a bad cylinder)

 

[Shoveltrev]

clutch feels good not dragging and fully releasing . car has 220k miles on it . ive got a second manual car i can get ahold of to compare that only has 70k on it to compare the bushing wear and looseness in the mecanism. such an odd presentation of symptoms

 

[Zakh55]

clutch feels good not dragging and fully releasing . car has 220k miles on it . ive got a second manual car i can get ahold of to compare that only has 70k on it to compare the bushing wear and looseness in the mecanism. such an odd presentation of symptoms

It sounds like the linkage is slipping on the trans side.

... found a pic on an old thread.

 

[oilhammer]

You found a pic of the Aisin 09G 6sp automatic, that was never bolted to any TDI sold here (or probably anywhere).

That one is clearly bolted to a 2.5L 5 cyl gas engine.

Your car shares no parts with that car.

You likely have worn/broken bushings at the end of the cables in the shifter box, which gets dropped down from underneath the car after the exhaust and heat shields are removed.

 

[Zakh55]

You found a pic of the Aisin 09G 6sp automatic, that was never bolted to any TDI sold here (or probably anywhere).

That one is clearly bolted to a 2.5L 5 cyl gas engine.

Your car shares no parts with that car.

You likely have worn/broken bushings at the end of the cables in the shifter box, which gets dropped down from underneath the car after the exhaust and heat shields are removed.

I thought the linkages were more or less in the same place for most Volkswagens, which is on the driver's side of the motor, basically below the airbox, almost straight down. I can't find any pics of our TDIs from the top, but they should be in the same place as that Aisin, regardless of whether or not it's the same car, automatic or manual? ---- I didn't know that was a 2.5L, however. I thought it was a 2.0 gas.

 

[oilhammer]

The same general area, yes. Most of man's baby making equipment is in the same general area as a woman's, but I can assure you that they are very different.

The 09G transmission has one cable that is completely different than the two cables the manuals have. There is literally nothing to compare.

As I stated, usually sloppy shifting is from the cable ends at the gearshifter end and NOT at the transmission end.

You cannot buy new cable end bushings from Volkswagen, but Dieselgeek does sell a kit that will typically have the one(s) needed to refresh the shifter end sloppiness the OP is most likely talking about.

 

[Shoveltrev]

i appreciate the comments gentleman . i ordered the bushing kit and the super slider

 

[Shoveltrev]

just to update the diesel geek kit fixed that right up