'85 Jetta - is it JUST the clutch ?

What do you mean difficult to get in gear? If it feels sloppy, it is probabally just the shifter linkage bushings. You can get a set for less than 10$ and are very easy to change. If you need to downshift to first at speed, you should double clutch.(Push in clutch. Put in neutral. Release clutch. Rev engine just a bit. Push in clutch. Put in lower gear.) Downshifting to first at speed exerts a lot of work on the synchrorings. Working on these cars are very easy and HQ OEM parts can be had for great prices. Personally, I would try to pursue the seller into a lower price considering the mileage and depending on the amount of new parts recently put in. Remember it is a 20 year old car with said mileage, so expect to have to put some work into it.

Jerritt

remove the first 's' > I'm looking at buying a '85 Jetta that's for sale down the street. 150,000

What I mean by difficult is, it won't go into first unless I'm at a dead stop at idle. It doesn't "thunk" into gear or grind like it would if the clutch were shot, just a lot of initial resistance on moving the lever into position.

Second gear isn't quite so bad, especially if I make sure the RPM is

Yes, the linkage bushings are sloppy and the reverse lockout tab is broken, you have to "know" where the positions are. I've had a couple of VWs previously, this seems to be typical after a certain age, but I've never seen one THIS difficult to get into gear also.

I'm prepared to replace the linkage bushings, and I'd probably have a shop do the clutch. I just want to be reasonably certain that these symptoms could all be explained by this and don't necessarily mean bigger problems inside the gearbox.

Jerritt wrote in news:zncHe.107863$oK.46069@okepread02:

Shifter linkage bushings are shot... happened on our 91 Golf, wear and tear gets the better of the bushing.

well as far as I know, your not supposed to be able to shift into first without being at a dead stop, my jetta is that way aswell as any others I've seen,I think its made that way,so you actually have to completely stop at stop signs lol,but I agree do the bushings first,youll be amazed at the difference they can make

You can get into first at lower speeds... not quite a dead stop - pretty much idle speed and below... I never shifted into 1st when the car had very much momentum (1- 3 kph maybe and below) anyways, that's what 2nd is for (hell, the old 1.8L could pull along at idle in 3rd if the road was flat).

Now that I remember, it was hard for me to get into lower gears at speed until I change the gear oil to the redline mt-90. It REALLY helps during cold weather too.

Biggie Frise wrote:

My owners manual talks about this, says this is how it should be. I hafta rev my engine quite a bit to make it slide into 1st. I don't do this on a regular basis just had to try it. It was a major issue downshifting in my 88 Jetta but that car had high miles and sloppy linkage. My current car is a low mile 88 Golf that shifts so well I am gonna install a short shift kit for a short time. :)

My owners manual talks about this, says this is how it should be. I hafta rev my engine quite a bit to make it slide into 1st. I don't do this on a regular basis just had to try it. It was a major issue downshifting in my 88 Jetta but that car had high miles and sloppy linkage. My current car is a low mile 88 Golf that shifts so well I am gonna install a short shift kit for a short time. :)