Shifter Stuck in 3rd gear

Shifted into 3rd gear tonight, maybe a little harder then normal and would
not come back out?? Tried everying to haul it back out, but no luck. Had
to drive home in 3rd gear!!

What could be the problem?? Something with the linkage? Bushings gone?

I hope its nothing with the transmission :screwy: :screwy:

020 Tranny.

Thanks,

Steve

I am guessing this is an A2 Golf / Jetta. If the shifter seems stuck I
don't know what it could be. If the shifter is loose but no gear change
happens when you move it then I would venture a guess that this is the
same problem I had a few years back:

There is one particular plastic part in the linkage that fails, usually
around 150k. It is a white $5 nylon part about 3" long with a socket in
each and (snaps over balls on the mating linkage parts). The walls of
the socket fracture and it no longer sits securely on the ball. You will
find it under the hood, above / behind the transmission. Poke around and
you will see if it is broken. There is also another rod (~6" long from
memory) in the linkage that is metal but with the same type of nylon
sockets. This part is a little further back and closer to the centerline
of the car, but still very easy to access and replace. Have a helper
move the shifter around while you look and feel under the hood.

VWGolf wrote:

Shifted into 3rd gear tonight, maybe a little harder then normal and would
not come back out?? Tried everying to haul it back out, but no luck. Had
to drive home in 3rd gear!!

What could be the problem?? Something with the linkage? Bushings gone?

I hope its nothing with the transmission :screwy: :screwy:

020 Tranny.

Thanks,

Steve

Sorry, it's a 1997 Golf, 1.8L, 8V Engine.

And no, I can't move the shifter at all, no play at all. Just stuck in
3rd???

Thanks for your reply. It still may be a similar problem. Something is
definitely broke!!

Steve

"Randolph" <trash (AT) junkmail (DOT) com> wrote

I am guessing this is an A2 Golf / Jetta. If the shifter seems stuck I
don't know what it could be. If the shifter is loose but no gear change
happens when you move it then I would venture a guess that this is the
same problem I had a few years back:

There is one particular plastic part in the linkage that fails, usually
around 150k. It is a white $5 nylon part about 3" long with a socket in
each and (snaps over balls on the mating linkage parts). The walls of
the socket fracture and it no longer sits securely on the ball. You will
find it under the hood, above / behind the transmission. Poke around and
you will see if it is broken. There is also another rod (~6" long from
memory) in the linkage that is metal but with the same type of nylon
sockets. This part is a little further back and closer to the centerline
of the car, but still very easy to access and replace. Have a helper
move the shifter around while you look and feel under the hood.

VWGolf wrote:

Shifted into 3rd gear tonight, maybe a little harder then normal and
would
not come back out?? Tried everying to haul it back out, but no luck.
Had
to drive home in 3rd gear!!

What could be the problem?? Something with the linkage? Bushings gone?

I hope its nothing with the transmission :screwy: :screwy:

020 Tranny.

Thanks,

Steve

"VWGolf" <sdcornick (AT) hotmail (DOT) com> wrote

Sorry, it's a 1997 Golf, 1.8L, 8V Engine.

And no, I can't move the shifter at all, no play at all. Just stuck in
3rd???

Had this happen many a year ago on a '65 beetle. Something in the
transmission itself had broken and sort of rolled over and locked the
shifter in third gear. At least, that's what the VW wizard I talked to said
it was. I guess he was right, because when I replaced the trans it solved
the problem.

Counterpoint, though, a friend had an early model Rabbit do the same thing.
In his case a rock had gotten into the housing directly under the shifter
and jammed the mechanism in some gear or other. He'd replaced the bushings,
but lost the cover which goes over the bottom of the rubber housing under
the car. Then forgot to get another one. Jammed up solid with no play at
all in any direction.

- Bill

Can you move the selector lever on the gear box by hand? Disconnect the
linkage to double check. If not then the problem is internal.

--Steve

"Bill Leary" <Bill_Leary (AT) msn (DOT) com> wrote

"VWGolf" <sdcornick (AT) hotmail (DOT) com> wrote in message
news:c2bcgl$5sr$1 (AT) nntp-stjh-01-01 (DOT) rogers.nf.net...
Sorry, it's a 1997 Golf, 1.8L, 8V Engine.

And no, I can't move the shifter at all, no play at all. Just stuck in
3rd???

Had this happen many a year ago on a '65 beetle. Something in the
transmission itself had broken and sort of rolled over and locked the
shifter in third gear. At least, that's what the VW wizard I talked to
said
it was. I guess he was right, because when I replaced the trans it solved
the problem.

Counterpoint, though, a friend had an early model Rabbit do the same
thing.
In his case a rock had gotten into the housing directly under the shifter
and jammed the mechanism in some gear or other. He'd replaced the
bushings,
but lost the cover which goes over the bottom of the rubber housing under
the car. Then forgot to get another one. Jammed up solid with no play at
all in any direction.

- Bill

Nope, can't do that either. It's definitely internal, that's what my
mechanic said. He's taking it apart on Monday to see if it needs replacing
or repair.

Thanks for all your comments!!

Steve
"Tunafish" <steve (AT) tristram (DOT) fsbusiness.nospam.co.uk> wrote

Can you move the selector lever on the gear box by hand? Disconnect the
linkage to double check. If not then the problem is internal.

--Steve

"Bill Leary" <Bill_Leary (AT) msn (DOT) com> wrote in message
news:4Gc2c.187675$uV3.787110 (AT) attbi_s51 (DOT) ..
"VWGolf" <sdcornick (AT) hotmail (DOT) com> wrote in message
news:c2bcgl$5sr$1 (AT) nntp-stjh-01-01 (DOT) rogers.nf.net...
Sorry, it's a 1997 Golf, 1.8L, 8V Engine.

And no, I can't move the shifter at all, no play at all. Just stuck
in
3rd???

Had this happen many a year ago on a '65 beetle. Something in the
transmission itself had broken and sort of rolled over and locked the
shifter in third gear. At least, that's what the VW wizard I talked to
said
it was. I guess he was right, because when I replaced the trans it
solved
the problem.

Counterpoint, though, a friend had an early model Rabbit do the same
thing.
In his case a rock had gotten into the housing directly under the
shifter
and jammed the mechanism in some gear or other. He'd replaced the
bushings,
but lost the cover which goes over the bottom of the rubber housing
under
the car. Then forgot to get another one. Jammed up solid with no play
at
all in any direction.

- Bill

I had that happen on my 66 and 67 beetle. But it was second gear. You
remove the fill plug and jiggle a screwdriver to unjam things. I keep
on driving after that. Now a watercooled tranny jammed up might be
something else.

"Bill Leary" <Bill_Leary (AT) msn (DOT) com> wrote:

"VWGolf" <sdcornick (AT) hotmail (DOT) com> wrote in message
news:c2bcgl$5sr$1 (AT) nntp-stjh-01-01 (DOT) rogers.nf.net...
Sorry, it's a 1997 Golf, 1.8L, 8V Engine.

And no, I can't move the shifter at all, no play at all. Just stuck in
3rd???

Had this happen many a year ago on a '65 beetle. Something in the
transmission itself had broken and sort of rolled over and locked the
shifter in third gear. At least, that's what the VW wizard I talked to said
it was. I guess he was right, because when I replaced the trans it solved
the problem.

Counterpoint, though, a friend had an early model Rabbit do the same thing.
In his case a rock had gotten into the housing directly under the shifter
and jammed the mechanism in some gear or other. He'd replaced the bushings,
but lost the cover which goes over the bottom of the rubber housing under
the car. Then forgot to get another one. Jammed up solid with no play at
all in any direction.

- Bill

Jim B.

I have read about this before on the older watercooled trannies and when I
had my first tranny spread out all over the floor of my garage (for other
reasons) it appeared to be true. From what I am told most trannies have
something internal to keep you from shifting "too" far (third gear all the
way to the dash board, fourth gear in the back seat) and the VW tranny does
not. What happens when you shift too far on the VW tranny is this. The ring
that slides over the synchros to connect the gear you want with the gear on
the shaft that drives it (sorry don't remember the part names) goes to far
and slides off the far side of the gear and there is no synchro on that side
to line it up to get it back on. If the tranny wasn't turning when this
happen you probably didn't do any damage it just going to be expensive labor
(and no you probably could not have fixed it yourself, it took a lot of
special tools and luck to get mine back together)..

HTH
Steve

"VWGolf" <sdcornick (AT) hotmail (DOT) com> wrote

Nope, can't do that either. It's definitely internal, that's what my
mechanic said. He's taking it apart on Monday to see if it needs
replacing
or repair.

Thanks for all your comments!!

Steve
"Tunafish" <steve (AT) tristram (DOT) fsbusiness.nospam.co.uk> wrote in message
news:c2fd7d$lfn$1 (AT) news8 (DOT) svr.pol.co.uk...
Can you move the selector lever on the gear box by hand? Disconnect the
linkage to double check. If not then the problem is internal.

--Steve

"Bill Leary" <Bill_Leary (AT) msn (DOT) com> wrote in message
news:4Gc2c.187675$uV3.787110 (AT) attbi_s51 (DOT) ..
"VWGolf" <sdcornick (AT) hotmail (DOT) com> wrote in message
news:c2bcgl$5sr$1 (AT) nntp-stjh-01-01 (DOT) rogers.nf.net...
Sorry, it's a 1997 Golf, 1.8L, 8V Engine.

And no, I can't move the shifter at all, no play at all. Just stuck
in
3rd???

Had this happen many a year ago on a '65 beetle. Something in the
transmission itself had broken and sort of rolled over and locked the
shifter in third gear. At least, that's what the VW wizard I talked
to
said
it was. I guess he was right, because when I replaced the trans it
solved
the problem.

Counterpoint, though, a friend had an early model Rabbit do the same
thing.
In his case a rock had gotten into the housing directly under the
shifter
and jammed the mechanism in some gear or other. He'd replaced the
bushings,
but lost the cover which goes over the bottom of the rubber housing
under
the car. Then forgot to get another one. Jammed up solid with no
play
at
all in any direction.

- Bill

<jimbehning (AT) doesthisblockporkmindspring (DOT) com> wrote

I had that happen on my 66 and 67 beetle. But it was second gear. You
remove the fill plug and jiggle a screwdriver to unjam things. I keep
on driving after that.

I have a vague (it's been well over 25 years now) recollection of the
mechanic trying something like that but it not working in my case. Now that
you mention it, I think I recall that he seemed mildly surprised.

Now a watercooled tranny jammed up might be
something else.

I'd never heard of it happening on a water cooled one and it being IN the
transmission. Every case I've encountered (six or seven) it was something
linkage related.

On the other hand, my current driver ('87 Scirocco 16V) had a blown trans
when I bought it. It shifted freely, but wouldn't move in any gear.

- Bill