Re: shifting problem

["Michael & Carmen Keith" <mikeandcarmen@pdq.net>]

I haven't had to fix this problem, but I can recommend something that may
help.  Instead of simply shifting the car straight into 1st gear, put the
car into 4th gear, then put it into 1st.  Do this with the clutch depressed
the entire time.

When I do this, which is 95% of the time, I find shifting into 1st to be
effortless.  However, there are times when I'll be in neutral when the
traffic light turns green, & in a rush to get moving, I'll shift straight
into 1st without shifting into 4th.  When I do this, 1st gear is engaged
without any undue force, but it dos not engage nearly as effortlessly as it
does when I shift into 4th first.  I also engage 4th gear before engaging
reverse.

Transmissions are a bit of a mystery to me, so I can't explain exactly why
it works other than to say that it aligns the gears so that 1st gear is
engaged without putting much stress on the 1st gear syncro.  Evidently, it
is much easier on the transmission to align the gears using the 2nd, 3rd, or
4th gear syncros than it is to align the gears using the 1st or reverse
syncros.

I'm not sure if I'm explaining this correctly; so I invite some of the more
technically astute listers to jump in with corrections.  I picked up this
habit from a friend of mine who is into Alfa Romeos.  These cars have very
weak syncros; so it common practice among Alfa owners to shift into forth
before shifting into first in order to preserve the first gear syncro for as
long as possible.  The reasoning behind using 4th instead of the more
conveniently located 2nd is that the 2nd gear syncro already has to take a
substantial amount of abuse.

Michael Keith
Pasadena, TX
'98 Jetta GLX
'85 Golf SCCA ITB/DSP
-----Original Message-----
From: MRobT@aol.com <MRobT@aol.com>
To: jettaglx@igtc.com <jettaglx@igtc.com>
Date: Saturday, September 05, 1998 1:36 AM
Subject: shifting problem


>I remember seeing on the list before a common problem with the manual
>transmission on our cars, that sometimes it's really hard to shift into
first
>gear, feels like its blocked out or something.  I don't wanna' beat a dead
>horse, but has anyone actually found a solution to the problem?  I've been
>having the problem occassionally, but I would certainly like to get it
taken
>care of if possible before the warrantee period expires.  I've seen
discussion
>on this before, so if someone has actually had it repaired, please let me
know
>what to tell the dealer so I can get mine fixed.
>Thanks in advance,
>ROB
>'97 GLX
>green/beige leather
>"won't shift into first every once in a while" edition