2 A2 Jetta Questions

I have an 87 german(wolfsburg) jetta that has a tranny problem. My dumb ass dropped 2 nylon speedo gears in the thing after doing a clutch project. The original speedo cable and gear broke when pulling the tranny out, so they were tossed in the dumpster with the rest of the old clutch, pressure plate and throw out bearing. This is a 9A code transmission if you're curious.

Since then, my tranny has locked in reverse, and won't move out. We lost a bit of trans fluid when taking the tranny out/putting it back in. We've been having a family member/shadetree mechanic look at it, and it seems that once he gets the engine/trans up to normal operating temp that the gear shift works like a champ, able to go into all forward gears plus reverse. He turned it off, and turned it on again the next day. Put it into reverse while cold, and it's locked back into reverse again... So.. here are my questions.

  1. Could the problem be that there is simply a complete lack of fluid and the gears are locking b/c of that?

  1. If so, what's the capacity for the 9A transmissions, and what type of fluid do they take?

Thanks for the help!

-Larry

Reply to
Larry C.
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You mean you've got 2 gears just floating around in there? Or, you had problems, and had to replace the gear with a new one, and you don't think there's little parts floating around? If you have a while gear in there I'm thinking you'd do well to drop the tranny, split it, clean it out, and put it back together. New fluid should wash out the smaller pieces if that's all that's in there. I know you've thought of this, but just wanna make sure you don't have spare plastic in there.

I replaced my OEM 80-90 at 200,000 miles or so, going to Redline's gear lube (MTL?), and it made a TON of difference. I mean, NIGHT AND DAY, especially in colder weather. I'd dump what you've got in there (washing out smaller debris in the process) and refill w/ Redline.

There is a check hole in the tranny, thru which you're supposed to fill it. It's in the side, and had a hex-head plug in it. HOWEVER, I simply the new lube into the backup switch hole, which was a lot more accessable and a lot larger. I think that your tranny will take 2 quarts.

Last, but not least... if you don't have the clutch cable adjustment correct then it won't shift correctly either.

Tim Wohlford '89 El Mexicano Golf, 246,000 miles

Reply to
Tim Wohlford

9A is close ratio. Nice. Did you get the speedo cable gear(s) out?

After installing a new (i.e., used) tranny, I always replace the fluid. Perhaps Woodchuck can chime in on the volumes, but for 8V A2 tranny's, I use 1.9 L. 1.9 L is the volume that will *just* overflow at the drain plug on the 5th-gear housing. So, drain the fluid, replace the drain plug, remove the side plug and fill through speedo gear opening until it overflows from the side.

I use synthetic 75w90 high pressure gear oil but have used RedLine MTL after a rebuild of a 9A...close ratios deserve the best :)

Reply to
Darryl

Tim,

I agree that splitting the tranny, draining it, and evacuating all the crap would probably be the best idea, I think my family member/mechanic is going to try to flush/fish the crap out of there. I'm not sure how many pieces those speedo gears are in, or if they're completely intact just hanging out. I think it would probably be easier for him to try and fish the stuff out first rather than dropping the whole tranny. When we did the clutch jobbie, we had that tranny in every position imagineable, and dropped a whole lot of fluid on our tarp/on our clothing. I ran it for about 2.5 months after the clutch repair before it locked in reverse. So I'm kinda thinking that those gears are locked up. So what do you think about that? Am I crazy or what? However, when I do replace the lube(one way or another) I plan on using redline... as long as I can get my hands on some around here =)

If you have more ideas, I'm all ears!

Thanks again!

-Larry

Reply to
Larry C.

So there are two gears in the tranny? If you've ever seem inside of yours, you'll realize that there isn't that much room for one nevermind two plastic gears to be floating around. Maybe the jammed the shift forks somehow.

Good luck trying to fish them out. If your buddy knows how to disassemble the tranny, you'll probably save more time and you can look around for any sort of damage.

Darryl.

Reply to
Darryl

I agree. do you happen to know the torque specs on one of those trannies?

-Larry

Reply to
Larry C.

All torques in ft-lbs.

11 End cover (i.e., 5th gear cover) bolt 18 Housing (main gear housing) bolt 22 Reverse shaft retaining screw 15 Mainshaft bearing retainer bolt 108 Fifth gear retaining nut

That should be all you need. You also have to compress the spring behind and remove the passenger side driveaxle flange. While you have it apart, replace the select shaft springs (2) and the housing gaskets (unless they're new).

Darryl.

Reply to
Darryl

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