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Transmission shifting issue, any help is appriciated

daydreamer

New member
I am currently trying to figure out what is happening to my transmission and it is incredibly odd. 2010 GTI, 106k miles
Now I will mention that I have recently taken it to the dealer while my warranty was on its last leg and had the leaky rear main seal fixed. As I am sure you all know they had to pull my tranny and checked my clutch out. As they said it was warn but not needed to be replaced just yet.
Now the day I got the car back, I could not shift into 1st gear. It was like first gear had moved slightly closer to reverse and I now needed to push down on the shifter to get it into 1st as I would going into reverse. I took it back, told them the problem and they fixed it. (I am assuming that it was some kind of adjustment with the linkage? not entirely sure what that was.)

Anyway, now my issue is that, on occasion, the car gets stuck in gear after setting overnight. The one time I could not get it out of first gear. It was not as if it was hitting anything in particular, more like there was something holding it in. Best way I can describe it felt as if someone was holding the shifter and not letting you shift out of first gear. I was in an incredible hurry as is when most things fail, so I literally just pulled until it came out of first and the issue was gone.

Next issue came when I could no longer use the bottom gears. Each time I tried to put it into 2nd, 4th, or 6th I could not. If felt the same as when it was stuck in first, just not letting me into gear now. It seemed to slowly work through and as I tried more and more, it got easier to put it into these gears, and eventually worked fine again. (maybe total of a day and a half)

Next time I had any issues, I could not get it into any of the top gears, so no reverse, 1st, 3rd, or 5th. Again same fix, it just slowly went away, however not going into first lingered longer than the others and it continued to not fully engage. For about 2 days if I was to use first gear, I would need to hold it in so it would not jump out of gear. That problem also cleared up and my car (as of today) is shifting fine.

It should be noted that it made no difference if the car was running or not, and when the car was off, having the clutch engaged or not had no effect.

I took it to a random garage, and he did not really sound confident, but told me that it sounded like I had no tranny fluid. This seemed a bit of a stretch as it is a "lifetime" thing and the dealer never found anything leaking.

So if anyone has any advise on what this could be, I would love to have a better idea so I can take the next steps properly. Either take it back to the dealer if they messed something up, or take it to a mechanic that is not going to bend me over backwards on cost if it some sort of new issue.

Thanks in advance, and I look forward to hearing any thoughts you might have.
 

realcyberbob

Go Kart Champion
First step is to reset your shifter linkage. If that doesn't fix it, sounds like it could maybe be the synchros.
 

daydreamer

New member
First step is to reset your shifter linkage. If that doesn't fix it, sounds like it could maybe be the synchros.


So, I went in and started getting to the shifting linkage to reset it as stated. Turns out it was the linkage, but no need to reset....all I needed to do is remove the pile of pine cones a squirrel has been hording for its winter treat...Kind of embarrassing really, however, your direction led me to find the problem so thank you very much. Now I just need to figure out how to evict a squirrel... :thumbsup:
 

realcyberbob

Go Kart Champion
So, I went in and started getting to the shifting linkage to reset it as stated. Turns out it was the linkage, but no need to reset....all I needed to do is remove the pile of pine cones a squirrel has been hording for its winter treat...Kind of embarrassing really, however, your direction led me to find the problem so thank you very much. Now I just need to figure out how to evict a squirrel... :thumbsup:

:thumbsup:
 
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