Golf stuck in third!

Sounds as though the bottom end of the gearshift (inside the gearbox) has somehow got round the wrong side of the selector. This does happen occasionally although if you tried to do it on purpose you'd never do it! If this is the case you'll have to take the shift assembly off the gearbox, move the selector to neutral by hand, or poke it there with a screwdriver, and replace the shift assembly making sure that the end of the shift lever was correctly located in the neutral slot. I don't know the specific details on a Golf but this is generic advice.

Rob Graham

There is an odd thing you can do with these: if you remove the wrong bolt on the gear box while trying to check the oil level then a part of the gear selector falls off inside.

Hope you haven't, as the box has to be removed and rebuilt.

mrcheerful

Bloke at the garage simply refilled with oil and miraculously it works! but oil was apparently at the correct level and there were no leaks so I'm at a loss to explain why it didn't work. Maybe something is worn and sticking annd fresh oil free it up? Apparently it is common on golf gearboxes?

That takes some explaining but I'm glad you've got there nevertheless.

Rob

...And if you've never had "the feeling" when something unseen, inside an engine, unexpectedly goes "Donk!" or "Boiiiiiiiing!", or when a camcover bolt drops down a plug hole then you haven't lived :o)

Oh...when the plastic camchain guide falls back down the tunnel - that's a good one too!

Si