Another transmission question

[SuperHero]

I'm having trouble with the shifter in my VW. It started with getting the car into reverse. The original motion required me to push down before putting it into reverse (to the left of 1st gear). One day I noticed that I could do it without pushing down.

Several weeks later, I had trouble getting the car into the various gears. First gear has a synchro lock so you don't put it into that gear at high speeds. But now sometimes it's difficult to get into gear from stand still, and I need put it into 2nd first. 2nd and 4th gear are okay. Shifting UP into 3rd gear is fine, but takes some jiggling to shift DOWN into 3rd. I need to jiggle it into 5th or else it'll pop out.

I did the clutch "test" by putting in in 5th gear at ~30mph and mashing the gas pedal. I have a feeling it's some plastic bushings in the shifter itself that broke. Anyone have a VW ('93-'00 A3 platform), or know what might be going on? Thanks.

TrailEr.

 

[bluto]

 

[accuratehorn]

Yes, there are shifter rods that have ball and socket joints made of plastic, and these wear out. Go to Austin VeeDub Salvage and go to the new parts department, and they can get you the right parts. Or if you want a shop to fix it, go to Underground VW, or VW Salvage service department. If you are in Austin. Also, the shift itself has a large plastic ball onthe end of it, and some of these go bad.

 

[SuperHero]

Thanks accuratehorn,
I asked around, and someone on the Miata forum mentioned it might be the plastic bushings that cracked. One actually broke about 30K miles ago and gives me a lot of back-and-forth play. I'll give Tom a call at Underground and see when he can squeeze me in.