Reverse Gear Problems

[Binary Man]

Hi,

 

We've got a 1998 Mk1 Galaxy 1.9 TDI GLX and have started having problems with the reverse gear - it won't always go in. I've searched this forum already for similar problems and found several other people that seem to have had the same symptoms, but in all cases there wasn't a posting to say whether the problem was finally resolved and, if so, what the final resolution was - hence me starting a new topic.

 

The problem is the stick just won't push back into reverse. I've found a workaround for it: if the car rolls back, even if ever so slightly, then it will pop straight in. My wife and I have got away with this for the last few weeks (sometimes with the help of our children jumping out and giving it a push), but I know that eventually we're going to get into a tricky situation where we need to reverse and we're pointing steeply downhill, with the car too heavy to push back...

 

After reading some of the other topics I've tried pumping the clutch pedal, but that makes no difference. I've also tried going along at 20 mph, then revving the engine and wacking into fourth; there's no slipping so I guess the clutch is okay? The clutch does bite quite far up its travel, and changing down into low gears has always been pretty crunchy - I don't know whether either of those points are relevant. The car's done almost 260k miles now, so maybe the clutch is getting worn? If so, would this cause the problem I'm experiencing?

 

At the suggestion of a local mechanic we tried replacing the gear stick in case the nylon ball at its base was worn - but this made no difference. To be frank the one we took off didn't look any different from the one we put on to me. He suggested next to try replacing the housing that the ball goes into, but I'm a bit skeptical - in another forum topic I read that someone else had also tried that and it made no difference. Also, the fact that rolling the car back a bit gets it to go in straight away seems to me to indicate some other problem.

 

Any ideas anyone? I'm reluctant to spend too much money on it (new gearbox, clutch or whatever) unless I can be sure it's going to fix the problem. But I don't want to resign myself to ditching it and getting a different Galaxy just yet - that will cost us even more and, apart from this problem, it's okay.

 

Thanks for any suggestions.

 

Oh, one other thing I tried after reading this forum was shoving the stick into one of the forward gears and then quickly trying reverse. I found that doing this with second gear sometimes does the trick.

 

Thanks for reading.

 

Cheers,

 

Francis

[Binary Man]

An update on this.

 

I took a quick look at the adjustment of the selector cables inside the car today... they were a piece of cake to get to and adjust, despite the Haynes manual saying it was a three-spanner job. It was more like a one-spanner.

 

With the selector (blue) cable disconnected from the gear stick I worked it with my hands and was able to ascertain that changing the gearstick and/or housing isn't going to make a scrap of difference to this problem. I did find another way of getting it into reverse though, even when facing down hill: if I put it into first gear and let out the clutch slightly until it starts to bite (with the brake on so the car doesn't move), it will then go into reverse fine. If this continues to work I think we can live this for now.

 

When I get some time I'm going to check out the selector cable/linkage connections under the car in case those are loose; it's not clear from the manual how easier they are to get to though. If there are no problems there I guess it's a gearbox problem and we'll just have to live with it.

 

Francis

[syedorf]

An update on this.

 

I took a quick look at the adjustment of the selector cables inside the car today... they were a piece of cake to get to and adjust, despite the Haynes manual saying it was a three-spanner job. It was more like a one-spanner.

 

With the selector (blue) cable disconnected from the gear stick I worked it with my hands and was able to ascertain that changing the gearstick and/or housing isn't going to make a scrap of difference to this problem. I did find another way of getting it into reverse though, even when facing down hill: if I put it into first gear and let out the clutch slightly until it starts to bite (with the brake on so the car doesn't move), it will then go into reverse fine. If this continues to work I think we can live this for now.

 

When I get some time I'm going to check out the selector cable/linkage connections under the car in case those are loose; it's not clear from the manual how easier they are to get to though. If there are no problems there I guess it's a gearbox problem and we'll just have to live with it.

 

Francis

[syedorf]

An update on this.

 

I took a quick look at the adjustment of the selector cables inside the car today... they were a piece of cake to get to and adjust, despite the Haynes manual saying it was a three-spanner job. It was more like a one-spanner.

 

With the selector (blue) cable disconnected from the gear stick I worked it with my hands and was able to ascertain that changing the gearstick and/or housing isn't going to make a scrap of difference to this problem. I did find another way of getting it into reverse though, even when facing down hill: if I put it into first gear and let out the clutch slightly until it starts to bite (with the brake on so the car doesn't move), it will then go into reverse fine. If this continues to work I think we can live this for now.

 

When I get some time I'm going to check out the selector cable/linkage connections under the car in case those are loose; it's not clear from the manual how easier they are to get to though. If there are no problems there I guess it's a gearbox problem and we'll just have to live with it.

 

Francis

 

 

i have exactly the same problem have had it for 2 years now and it aint got any worse am in the middle of fitting a new clutch i say in the middle because i boght a clutch of euro car parts and when i took my box of it was wrong he assured me it was a manufacturing defect and sent me the same clutch again so 2 weeks later i took my gbox off again to find it wrong again i ended up getting 1 from tps for 10 pounds more by the way i changed the concentric slave cylinder the first time i will post to the thread if this fixes it i dont think it will as there seemed to be an issue of play in the gear selector and it wouldnt always go in u can get the selector seperate as i priced one when the dreaded bolt snapped inside the box (i found that on here) thx