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Accidental shift into First

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DBOntario

New member
Not something I even want to talk about but I've decided to come on here and see if others have had this problem. Last Oct 2014 I was driving on a road trip, was near the end of the trip and somebody wanted to see what my car could do. I had the car under hard acceleration through first and second and when I went into third it was like the shifter it a wall and it popped into first instead. The front tires locked up for a split second before I pushed the clutch in.

Since then Iv replaced my clutch to something better and had everything checked and it seemed fine. Well... today it happened again. Same situation, hard acceleration and it didn't want to go into third and instead went into first, the second I felt it I hit the clutch and it wasn't nearly as dramatic as the first time. Tires didn't lock up but the car did dip forward before I reshifted to third.

This problem is killing me, I'm ashamed to think I miss shifted but how could the car even let me shift into first at all. Also even under normal driving sometimes third just doesn't want to let me in on the first try.

Any advice or answers would be welcome.:mad0259:
 
J

Joel_MK6

Passed Driver's Ed
Granny shifting, not double-clutching like you should
 
ashchuckton

ashchuckton

Ready to race!
My thought it is the shifter itself, the mechanism not you. Bad syncros don't normally make a trans go from 3rd to first. They will usually make a slight grind as you try the next gear up or down. You need to look at the shift mechanism itself. Could be the shifter or shift cables. You need to get this fixed before you end up scattering your engine all over the road. Go to your dealer & have them check. Don't tell them you were wailing on your car at the time.

Good luck & report back what you find out.
 
J-Cooz

J-Cooz

Go Kart Champion
Joel_MK6 said:
Granny shifting, not double-clutching like you should
Click to expand...

You don't need to double clutch. This isn't a car from 1970. Stop watching fast and furious.

OP- Just take your time shifting, no need to ram it through the gears. Also your hand placement on the shifter can help too. Try shifting with the palm of your hand facing 3rd gear (or the front right of the car). This way you're pushing the stick away from you. I remember seeing a NASCAR driver talking about doing that to help missed shifts.
 
P

P_m651

Ready to race!
I always felt that "pushing" the shifter (Palm on top of shifter) was less accurate than "pulling" the shifter (Palm towards the right side of handle, fingers wrapped around and under the golf ball). Try it, maybe it'll help you out too.

You can still shift fairly fast, but it will somewhat prevent you from using every muscle in your arm to shift (which you don't need to do anyway).
 
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DBOntario

New member
Thanks for the tips. I did drive abit more after and I was pointing my Palm twards third and it helped. It felt like I had to shift almost twards 5th for it to engage smoothly. I'm normally very gentle on my car but I just got my summer tires on and couldn't help but open it up.

On a side note. could I get this all fixed at a local Machanic rather then a vw specialist? I like my local guy more but I'm not sure if he can diagnose or repair this problem. Thanks again
 
TakmaN

TakmaN

Ready to race!
J-Cooz said:
You don't need to double clutch. This isn't a car from 1970. Stop watching fast and furious.

OP- Just take your time shifting, no need to ram it through the gears. Also your hand placement on the shifter can help too. Try shifting with the palm of your hand facing 3rd gear (or the front right of the car). This way you're pushing the stick away from you. I remember seeing a NASCAR driver talking about doing that to help missed shifts.
Click to expand...

Funny as he is directly quoting Fast and Furious (the first one), so I'm pretty sure he's not being serious. So many hilarious one-liners from that movie.
 
SnailPower

SnailPower

Autocross Newbie
While on this topic, anyone ever tried this with MT, your in 1st gear rolling down a hill picking up some good speed with the clutch down so technically your in neutral. Now at high speed you let out the clutch, what would happen? lol

Not saying I want to find out, just curious if anyone ever tried this, lol.

As far as the OP, how do you go into 1st instead of 3rd? 3rd is fairly easy considering the shifter is back at the center and just going straight up. I didn't think it was even possible to get it into 1st no matter how hard you try once your at a certain speed...
 
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DBOntario

New member
I don't know why it will go into first. This is my third manual car and Iv had this car for 3 years. This problem has only happened twice to me and both times with this car. It's the worst feeling. if it was a bit of issue with third I wouldn't be so concerned but I'm worried that I could seriously damage something if it allows me into first. I'm going to my local shop and see what he says today.
 
sethdude

sethdude

Pobody's Nerfect.
I'm not trying to dog you here, op, I sincerely mean this as help:

There's no way the mechanism is popping out of 3rd and putting itself into first. Pop-outs only go to neutral. Let's start by effectively identifying what is happening- you are mistaking the gate for 1st for 3rd.

I've not experienced this, the gates in my car seem pretty well-defined for a FWD gearbox (long linkage) with close ratios. There is a slight possibility that your shifter is slightly out of alignment, reducing your ability to accurately find third. There are lots of DIY thread on adjusting this- simply squeeze the spring to open the fingers, move it in or out a few threads, and check for all gears.

I think the best advice you've gotten is to slow yourself down a bit when you shift, and really concentrate on getting the feel and movement down for your hand. It's fortunate that you have not seemed to damage your car with these shifts to first.
 
cbenjes

cbenjes

Go Kart Newbie
If you overspin your engine, you very well could be in serious trouble, as you may have a lot if warranty difficulty if the dealer sees an ECU code indicating engine overspeed. Accidentally shifting into too low a gear at high speed will cause the motor to exceed the maximum RPMs and could do unwarrantable damage. It's called a money-shift for a good reason. Say goodbye to your money.
 
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