VW Golf '97 - Shifitng and Starting Problems

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Check to make sure nothing has fallen on the transmission linkage. I am ASSuME-ing that it is a 2.0L engine.

Did you check for any DTCs? Maybe there are some stored faults that might indicate a failing Engine Speed Sensor (AKA CPS or Impulse Sender/Sensor). Or a bad Coolant Temperature Sensor.

You still might need spark plugs, wires, distributor cap and rotor. PLEASE only use a Bosch ign. rotor since I have seen problems with other brands. BTW I have also had many aftermarket ign. coils fail as quickly as in 1 week's time. So I hope you only purchase a good ign. coil from the VW dealer.

Yes it is a 2.0 and now that you mention it the protective housing has some tears here and there. Please excuse my ignorance but is this something I can do myself, I'm pretty handy and would like to save some money. I read somewhere that you can order a complete gear shift repair kit (ball housing,ball,sleeve,rubber,stop washer,spacer bushings and nuts) for $25 ! For now I'd like to take a look inside the shifter housing and see if I could find anything obvious obstruction or whatever - how should I proceed to dismantle it ?

DTC's ? uh again forgive my ignorance.

this came from the dealer

thanks for your help

At least on mine, all the worn parts were up front in the engine bay. You do NOT want to mess with the stuff in the passenger compartment unless you've got to. If I was reading the service manual correctly, you have to drop tunnel under the car to get it all apart.

I think you're talking about the shifter 'boot' being torn. You can get those nearly anywhere. Seems to be a mostly generic part. Get a leather one instead of the rubber ;) I guess if stuff had fallen into the shifter well since the boot was gone, the crud could have worn that ball down there...

The kit I got was from German Auto Parts. I'd go ahead and spring for the full kit for $55 and replace anything you can get at.

BTW, the main part that was shot on mine was that shaft with a ball on it. It was worn to nearly nothing. Also one of the orange bushings was torn. Get a manual or take lots of pictures BEFORE taking it apart. If you don't, getting it back together might be a challenge :(

Mark '95 Jetta GLS

Someone mentioned a kit. A repair manual should help, Bentley is preferred, but sometimes Haynes might make certain repair jobs easier to understand although it does not have as much info as the Bentley. This site might help you out too! ;-)

Sorry...........go here and it will give generic Diagnostic Trouble Codes

You will need to find a place that can scan for any DTCs, autozone might do it free, and then figure out what might be happening with your engine/car.

Hi Mark,thanks for chiming in.

I bought the Haynes repair manual but it didn't cover the shift linkage repair job :( I'm going to order the Bentley manual. I'm thinking for ordering the DVD rom cause I'm thinking it'll be nice to zoom in and see everything exploded - I'm assuming it's pdf's and not bmp !!! but I digress ...

Strange that you say most of the work is underneath, all the links I looked at stated ALL the work is up top - including the Dieselgeek site. I'm a little daunted by the job to be honest but I'm up for a challenge and this marks a turning point for me with this car - I'm just tired of getting ripped off at the garage. BTW I was quoted $650

• (cdn) to do this job !!!!

Great to hear you did this and sharing your experience - I hope it's as smooth for me.

Does the Bentley Repair manual cover this repair ? How does it compare with whats on the web ?

I just hope I'm not in over my head.

thanks again and will keep you posted.

P.S. Did you chronicle your work (pics ,video steps ?) sorry not asking to be spoon fed just trying to gather as much info as possible and sort all this out in my head.

cheers

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I depends on what you're needing to do. If you need to replace the stuff that's basically in the console area, I couldn't figure out how to get to it without doing lots of stuff under the car. If you need to replace the bushings up near the tranny, most of it is from the top. Just a minor amount under the car in that case.

I think you'd said you needed to replace the stuff near the stick shift. That's the tough part. Up by the tranny is the 'easy' part.

Nope. IIRC there was another post in this thread that had a link to a pretty good site.

Mark '95 Jetta GLS

I'm not sure if this is a clue as to what might be wrong, but today I went down a steep street and the shifting was alot silkier especially

4th.

Anyhow I'm going to get an estimate in two weeks and see what they come up with.

Do they have to disclose which parts they'll change (man. parts #'s) in the estimate by law ? (Canada here). CAuse I'm thinking I'll go to a few dealers shops and see what they find in common - also weed out the liars and gougers..hehe.

fluid level problems? scan for trans faults............maybe a sensor?

In sensors in a manual tranny? Fluid levels, sure. It sure doesn't sound like the problem I had, which was getting into 1st and 2nd. That was mostly the pivot arm ball up in the engine bay being worn to nearly nothing.

Adjustment maybe? Mounts shot? If the transaxle shifted on the mounts, it could possible just come into adjustment enough to work?

Mark '95 Jetta GLS

oops sorry I thought this was an automatic. Thanks for correcting me Mark. ;-) There should be a Vehicle Speed Sensor in the manual trans for that year though,but that should not affect shifting.