VW Golf GTi M reg Clunks into 1st gear.

No expert but I would hazard a guess that someone has been grinding your first gear, by trying to use engine braking from 2nd to 1st. For some reason my golf won't do this till I've come to an almost complete stop. Yet every other new car I've driven happily goes into 1st while rolling.

Hi, Does that mean the Gearbox is stuffed ?

What would cause this or, resolve this ?

Regards

Not all cars have synchromesh on 1st gear, even these days.

For example, I can't put our 156 into 1st whilst rolling. It's not all that uncommon - especially on something a bit older like a MkIII Golf.

P reg golf so slightly younger than the original poster's golf.

think i've already said, but if the clutch was replaced then it would also suggest some damage had been caused to the gearbox too. I have no knowledge of how a gearbox can be repaired, most places will just tell you its cheaper and easier to just do a swap out.

Most of the VW transmissions I've driven don't like to go into first until you have come to a(lmost) complete stop.

Hi Tylernt, Thanks. Do you happen to know what type of gearbox is in that car? M Reg is 1995 i believe, and its the Gti 2.0 8 valve? If you dont know, what way can i find out ?

Thanks

has some VW transmission information.Probably not what you're looking for but I'm afraid that's all I have.If you crawl under the car, the 3-letter code should be pretty easy tofind on a shiny flat spot on the bottom of the transmission. My '78 Rabbit 4-spd was really particular about not going into first until you came to a COMPLETE stop. My '82 Rabbit 5-spd and '88 Fox

5-spd aren't quite as bad, if you hold the gearshift against the 1st gear gate as you slow down, it will resist going in until you hit maybe 3MPH.

If yours recently started having this problem I would suspect a worn

1st gear synchro. Switching to synthetic gear oil (Redline for example) may help. The synchro can be replaced but it will likely be cheaper to swap in a low-miles used transmission from a junkyard.

I don't know about the MkIII, but earlier cars have two little shift rods with plastic ends. The plastic wears out and the shifter becomes sloppy. If MkIIIs have those, replacing yours *might* help. They are only like USD$10 each. A bushing kit is another $10 or so and that helps a little bit too.

Tylernt, Thanks