99 Octavia gearshift

[CRB]

1st/2nd have been getting more difficult/impossible to get recently, to the extent that I have had to pull away in 3rd often. I decided to do a little cable adjusting and take Michelle to work, only a couple of miles but hills, traffic lights and junctions. It did help a bit, but far from satisfactory. Fully forward makes 5th more difficult/impossible and full back makes 1st/2nd difficult/impossible. It does not seem to be consistent though, so I am thinking the worst.


1st and 2nd seem 'bendy' there does not seem to be a positive location for them and hitting them is a matter of luck.

I may have found 'a' problem. The plastic slider/guide on the arm at the bottom of the picture has lost its edges. It still seems far too easy to 'stretch' the cables beyond where their limits should be. Gears go in, but only when being gentle. There is an amount of slop in the pivots, which I think I could bush, and machining a new guide would be a challenge. ?Anything to watch for when removing the top of the tower? The Haynes only covers removing the complete gearbox.

I have the earlier mechanism so am looking for a later, more robust and easier to set up, complete set. Not having much joy there at the minute either.

Any help gratefully received, since this is meant to be allowing me to sort the LT bodywork.

 

[CRB]

On there thank you, and that is the later mechanism.

 

[CRB]

Similar certainly, but then again all FWD cars will be 'similar'

Someone in the US has done a modification on his Jetta/Golf, but he had a spare one to work from. I can make one, but need to know what I am likely to find under the top mount of the tower.

 

[rikrobson]

I had a volvo with similar problems. the plastic bushes wear away to got too loose a movement

 

[CRB]

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/GEAR-LINKAGE-VW-GOLF-MK4-SKODA-SEAT-AUDI-A3-LEON-OCTAVIA-LINKS-RODS-NEW-METAL-/141257263149?fits=Model:Octavia&hash=item20e396c82d:g:bBoAAOxydINSZ9Jd <- any help?

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/GEAR-SHIFTER-SELECTOR-LINKAGE-LEVERVW-GOLF-PASSAT-BORA-POLO-SEAT-AUDI-1J0711256-/252145731079?fits=Model:Octavia&hash=item3ab50e8607:gpAAAOSwgQ9Vi8Vx

No rods in mine, all cables, as far as I know at any rate.
The bottom part is plastic, but good to know they are still available, even if it is in Latvia. That is the part I was going to remake in metal.

An American friend has been helpful regarding this, and I have some other things to check tomorrow.

Thank you, MrFuzzy.

 

[CRB]

I may becoming unstuck. The parts catalogues make little sense, with overlaps all over the place. I dare not remove the 'cables' but I fear I must to make sure what I have.

The later cable ends, as shown on your video link, have an easy squeeze and twist adjustment, mine are simple slotted arcs and pinchbolts.

 

[rikrobson]

I also had several modeos these had cable gear changer. It had loose gear changes. Turned out the mechanism and cables were OK the unit was not bolted down and hence the play.

 

[CRB]

Well, that is something else which has reared its' ugly little head. Gearbox mountings may be losing there integrity, and allowing the engine/gearbox to rotate around the driveshafts, creating all manner of issues.

It just gets better and better.

I suppose I could just stick a six-speed in there and have done with it.

 

[CRB]

Today was showery, so picking and choosing working time was a bit of fun, but I found out that the third part in MrFuzzys' post #4, the plastic arm on the right, had been replaced already. What removal of that did show was a piece of the previous incumbent lying on the top of the gearbox.

The plastic guide on the left should have a top and a bottom to raise the tower. I will not be doing such a good job.

I have reluctantly, £45 worth of reluctant, ordered a new one, which should be here on Tuesday, so hopefully once I get in, it will be back together within-half-an-hour.

I forgot the mug for scale, but I do not do selfies.

The lower section is 80x80x60, on an A5 envelope.

 

[CRB]

That part has already been replaced, as stated. It is the relay arm with the guide on the left that I have ordered.

I am going to try to machine a new bush, just for the hell of it, but I need it back on the road sharpish.

Thank you for finding an even cheaper part I do not need

 

[CRB]

I donate one

 

[1.8T]

Your gearbox has the early 02a style mechanism, the later 02j mechanism will fit the gearbox (need to change the selector and cables though, cheap enough on ebay) but if you do dont forget to also get the plate underneath the gearbox with the mechanism, held in by two bolts and has a vw logo on it

 

[bc30se]

But that's not the end of the story, you have to unbolt the tower and change the slide needle bearing that is inside and often battered, sometimes I recover one with the balls missing (probably they bath somewhere down in the gearbox oil). In one of my cars I replaced the bearing with a brass bushing - much more precise now, but the other one started to have gear change problems only two days ago and I don't have time to have it machined so I bought a new bearing.

so it needs to be replaced also:

 

[CRB]

Your gearbox has the early 02a style mechanism, the later 02j mechanism will fit the gearbox (need to change the selector and cables though, cheap enough on ebay) but if you do dont forget to also get the plate underneath the gearbox with the mechanism, held in by two bolts and has a vw logo on it

I knew about that swap and have been looking for a possible unit. There is a VW breaker reasonably close but they have not bothered returning my email enquiry. ?How hard can it be?

This is a question that I have asked myself, ?Does the tower do the movement restriction part of gearshifting? I suppose if a six-speed unit came up, there seem to be a lot of them, I could use that. I am far from inept, but this is the first time I have needed to work on a car, and am far from happy about it. I already know the fun I am going to have swapping the shift box from under the car. Brilliant.

But that's not the end of the story, you have to unbolt the tower and change the slide needle bearing that is inside and often battered, sometimes I recover one with the balls missing (probably they bath somewhere down in the gearbox oil). In one of my cars I replaced the bearing with a brass bushing - much more precise now, but the other one started to have gear change problems only two days ago and I don't have time to have it machined so I bought a new bearing.

so it needs to be replaced also:

I have read up on that too, but thank you all the same. I mention the splines below but if the bearing has collapsed, that may stop the 'gates' working properly

Tonights' update, is that the new selector arm went in and made no difference at all.

On the drive with the engine running I could get the gears after a bit of readjustment, and was able to move off in each. Into 1st, off the drive and into.......nothing, just a stirring, bendy hole and a false neutral. A bit more stirring and into 3rd. Changing down to 2nd produced the same bendy hole.

?Could it be the splines on the tower? I can move the horizontal selector arm easily beyond the stops I thought would restrict the movement.

I will do a video on Thursday with commentary.

 

[the snooper]

not sure what you have checked and so on but, are the gears as hard to engage with out the engine running ? when the springs become weak on the clutch pressure plate it stops the clutch fully disengaging and its usually 1st and possibly 2nd that are hard to engage while the rest are easy

 

[CRB]

I will think on and do that check tomorrow.

Thank you all.

 

[bc30se]

For example, in my old Passat now, I can easily engage gears by hand operating the levers on the tower while the car is parked, the gears may block when I use the gear lever but if only I force into a gear once, it is all gone, the gear lever works smoothly until I start driving.... I can't see what's going on there because I work on the car alone and I am not looking under the bonnet..

Once I start to drive, the problem comes back and it is hard to change gears again, I have the impression that the bearing may block the movement of the tower axle (selector shaft) and you need to be very precise down there, the window for error is really small, the gates in the gear selector brackets are very close to each other - 1mm off and you are done, you try to engage one gear but in fact, down in the gearbox the selector tries to push both of the brackets, like you try to go into 3rd and the selector presses against 3rd and 1st, so you end up with the gear knob not moving.

I have repeired a few of these and the problems with the selector are always magic, logically everything should work but it does not, while I bought the parts for mine the day before, it started to work again yesterday and I will think twice before taking the tower apart, I don't want to spoil anything now

perhaps this is where you box will end
https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/t8zWOChzgP082ByxEytv3Jcqr-MYhQApZfigTtJAXUs=s321-p-no

only to look like that in the end
https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-...vqyPUwMhOd8/w1231-h923-no/20150226_184737.jpg


Of course it can be the clutch realase, it can be the gear lever mechanism - there are plastic bushings there that can have a lot of play, it can be the cables, the tower itself but it can also be the bearings on the selector brackets:
http://navolyni.com/modules/goods/images/957_vilki-pereklusheniy-peredash-vw--t-4.JPG

and these are exchangable, you can buy new and press them. You can see the shafts for these on the outside of the gearbox - these are the 4 torx bolts holding the support pins which might be shot sometimes - not that often:
http://i.ebayimg.com/00/s/MTYwMFgxNjAw/$(KGrHqV,!qcE88ftTVwTBPnpcW0GSQ~~60_35.JPG

2nd that are hard to engage while the rest are easy

and this I experienced like two years ago, but I had a spare tower so I changed it and it was back to normal until now so even if the 1st and 2nd fail, it doesnt have to be the clutch thing

 

[CRB]

Thank you @bc30se but I really do not want to go down the route of gearbox rebuilding, no matter what the pretty outcome may be.

Tomorrow, will have to be playday.

 

[CRB]

Gearbox end. All the words I can think of to replace 'end' with have the same connotation, like terminal, for instance.

Not being able to see both ends at the same time is a hindrance.

 

[CRB]

Culprit tracked down.........possibly


In places there was enough purchase to turn the tower but if any resistance was found, it simply skipped a tooth or two. This explains the excess movement felt. Now this may lead to another problem, but at least headway has been made. ?How to fix it is another matter? Cleaning it up may yield a clue.