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The last few weeks where I live we’ve been experiencing some really long cold snaps. During that time I have been having some issues with the shifter on my Golf 2.0L 8v 5-spd. When I first come out in the morning and try moving the shifter it is really stiff and takes quite a bit of muscle to move in and out of out all of the gears. After a few good trusts in each gear it gets better for the moment. Now once I get the car going I can get into gears 1-5 pretty easily but if driving for awhile in high gear (e.g: on the highway) and then go down to a lower gear it gets stiff again until I play with it a bit. Another major problem is it takes a lot of fighting to get it to go into reverse whether on a cold start or when the car is warmed up. I push down and all the way to the left and then it just gets jammed when I try to move it into the upper left corner for reverse. I’d say 1 out of 10 tries before it goes in, the other times it will jam or go into first gear unknowingly.
Now fast forward to today when its really mild outside… above freezing and the shifter is back to normal with the warm weather and reverse is easily accessible. So is this a bad bushing/shifter linkage or something in need of lubrication.
I have in currently in the garage with the battery tray and airbox out so I could get access to the top of the t
ranny where the linkage connects. So far I have moved the the level and it feels free and proper?FWI: The transmission fluid was changed before the winter with a 50/50 redline MTL + MT-90
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see if this link helps.
http://www.ericthecarguy.com/faq/solving-transmission-problems
Redline MT90 GL 4 is the best stuff for VW gear boxes! Hands down. Did you use the GL 4 version? If you used 5 you may want to drain it as brass synchronisers do not hold up long.
The issue you have is more than likely in the shift cables. Its the one draw back to the cable shift the 02A gear boxes use. Try removing them from the gear box and then flushing them with a good penetrating oil, then flushing them again with a good HSS silicone lube. If it improves it but not 100% just change the cables, but lube new cables with an HSS silicone first!
In the cold that gear box will shift slow until its warmed up also. Half the time I let my car idle up to temp more so the gear box is warm. Using a synthetic gear oil should help. It did in mine.
To me it sounds like a fluid issue. You might want to try the MT90 GL 4 that is suggested above if you’re not running that.
Keep us posted.
[quote=”JS” post=85151]Redline MT90 GL 4 is the best stuff for VW gear boxes! Hands down. Did you use the GL 4 version? If you used 5 you may want to drain it as brass synchronisers do not hold up long.
The issue you have is more than likely in the shift cables. Its the one draw back to the cable shift the 02A gear boxes use. Try removing them from the gear box and then flushing them with a good penetrating oil, then flushing them again with a good HSS silicone lube. If it improves it but not 100% just change the cables, but lube new cables with an HSS silicone first!
In the cold that gear box will shift slow until its warmed up also. Half the time I let my car idle up to temp more so the gear box is warm. Using a synthetic gear oil should help. It did in mine.[/quote]
Hey JS,
Both fluids are supposed to by rated for a GL-4 transmission. I didn’t use gl-5 since I knew I had yellow metals inside in this transmission.
This particular year of car was the first of the 4th generation and for some reason they used a mk3 style shift linkage in it instead of the better more robust one in the 2000 and on. So if I’m going to go through the trouble of removing the cables I might as well try and find the better shifter assembly and replace it with that because it is still giving me trouble going into reverse.
Thanks
[quote=”EricTheCarGuy” post=85200]To me it sounds like a fluid issue. You might want to try the MT90 GL 4 that is suggested above if you’re not running that.
Keep us posted.[/quote]
Thanks Eric. I recently put in a new mixture of MT90 and MTL which are both GL-4 rated in replacement of the original OEM fluid. It has shifted much smoother up until now. I lubed up all the rubber bushings at the shift lever in the engine bay with 3M silicone paste. I took it out for a spin and for a little while the car shifted well, but then the shifter started jamming up when trying to put it into reverse. There is actually enough room between the engine and the battery for me to slide my hand down and manually place the shift level on top of the transmission into reverse, then jump back into the car, turn it on, and release the clutch and the car will reverse just fine. So this leads me to believe this is a shift linkage issue.
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