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My gearbox feels absolutely fine most of the time, but if I do a long distance or anything with it, the gearchange goes horribly lumpy.. I took it to london today, and it was hell trying to pull away from traffic lights because I could barely get it into 1st gear. I know I have a very slight gearbox oil leak, but it's just a couple of drips on the driveway from time to time and I keep it well topped up. My only other thought is the clutch, which needs adjusting as the bite point is very low at the moment, but I can't see why that would get worse after driving for a long period of time.. Any more ideas? Guess it's an excuse to go and get that 5 speed box I've been planning to fit for ages..

wait til thursday, then i can pass on what the trustworthy dude in my favoured local garage says, because my problems started out much the same way!

Change the gearbox oil. Ive heard of this problem a few times now and changing the oil usually sorts it.

Okidoke then.. I'll wait until thursday to see if Tahrey's local friendly expert comes up with anything, and I'll attempt to work out how to drain the gearbox oil Cheers.

oops, make that thursday eve or friday, i got the day wrong

Alright, I'm stumped.. how on earth do I drain the gearbox oil? I know how to top it up, but that hole's above the level of the oil so I can't drain anything through it.. am I just being a bit stupid and missing something?

Just had a horrible thought. Please don't say I have to syphon the oil out of that hole.. petrol's bad enough, but I don't think I could bear syphoning 18 year old gear oil.. makes me feel sick just thinking of it..

er.... i think you have to jack the car up somehow, and that angles everything right. never heard anyone mention a need to syphon.

either that or you've got the wrong hole..
as the actress said to the bishop

Hmm, fair enough.. haynes helpfully has absolutely nothing to say on the matter, so I'm a bit lost for what to do. I could jack one side of the car up and basically pour the oil out of the hole.. but that sounds like a bit of a bodge to me, really I'm fairly sure it's the right hole. 17mm allen nut on the side of the gearbox.. looks right, anyway.

Heh, yep, the big H is usefully silent on the matter. I did get the proper method either off of this forum or vwvortex..... now a bit lost but probably findable using the search features.

Lost interest in doing it for myself when I got the swapping idea. If I get to keep the old box i may investigate more fully and take some pics

if i ever get the digicam back that is

Haynes doesn't mention that about two inches below the filler plug is the drain plug. Discovered this after crawling about under the car for a bit No need to pour it out like a teapot after all

*visions of attaching a big ceramic handle to the back of the car and lifting it up* more 5000-mile old 10w40, vicar?

Hmm...

OK I had the clutch done, finally, 8 days late Right now it's just starting to bed in - twas sharper than a katana for the first 20 miles, with a bite exactly 2/3 the way up and covering about a millimetre from full-off to full-on... bit like being a learner again!

The gearchange is MUCH improved. Everything is a lot smoother with the pedal down (even reverse is like silk if you give things a second to spin-down), and a lot more solid with it up (accidentally spinning the tyres on one-third throttle, chirping them in 2nd in the rain - previously it was reminiscent of an automatic...). Crunches a little on 1st from time to time when going from 2nd, but the synchro's probably knackered with everything that's happened, and I can work around it easily.
Just waiting for the bite to soften a *little* and it'll be perfect. As it is, I've got the launches sorted, but between 2nd 3rd 4th its still jerky Just hope it's another 25,000 before it gets as wooly and full-pedal-range as it was before, because it was £185 PLUS TAX ... (add pre-tax charges of 25 for the blowing exhaust, 29 for a new 155/70 tyre, 40 for a new front wheel bearing, 30 to get the seat re-welded as the runner was actually coming away from the floor...... adds up to "ouch" - hope i get the gearbox money back) !!!!
Wish i'd flogged it off to some desperate, newbie driver student and spent the difference on getting a 1.3 now.... but i only thought to get a quote for the clutch

With the exhaust fixed and the bearing silenced, i'm prepared to forgo the 5th gear as everything's a lot quieter... it still gets distinctly and quickly more buzzy past 63mph, but hey.... the overall noise level is lower, so screw it ... the car just glides along at 35, beautiful, and the seat's comfy again.

Anyhow, he showed me the clutch plate that came out, and basically it was down to the rivets in a couple places, he was impressed I was still able to get about with it in such a state. Also explains my particular symptoms - it would slip much of the time, but occasionally I guess the plate got some purchase on an exposed bolt and pulled a little more forcefully (and refused to disengage properly).

Yours I suspect is something different - it depends what you mean by the bite point. Do you mean "where the car starts to inch forwards" or "where the clutch is no longer slipping at all" ?? The first should be fairly close to the floor but give you a good inch or so of travel where it's not giving any friction at all (I had about a NEGATIVE half inch of travel would only have disengaged totally if i'd cut a hole in the firewall so I could push the pedal further), and ditto for the top end for the fully-engaged point (same again - it simply couldn't grab hard enough).

Take a peek at your cable, see if it's self adjusting (capped-off end) or manual (two nuts). If it's auto, pump it a few times and see what happens. If it's still crap, invest the time and money in a manual replacement (seeing as VW themselves dropped the auto type in the mid 90s as it's rubbish).

If it's manual, play with it and see where the bite point goes
I think clockwise, when you're facing towards the rear, takes it closer to the floor, so you may want to move it anticlockwise and see if that improves matters any. It's possibly a case that it's adjusted so close to the floor that when cold, it's just-about disengaging completely and feels ok, but once everything warms up... the cable expands a little... can't pull the actuator quite so far as a result... and when you have the pedal to the floor it's not anymore disengaging enough for a smooth gearchange.

Good luck

I've had a bit of a play around with the clutch cable, it was pretty slack so I tightened it up a bit, bite point's now a decent way up which is nice, no more crunching gears when I accidentally neglect to press until my foot hits something Also, it doesn't crunch into reverse as much as it used to, so I think that's sorted. I've not been on any long trips since I did it though, so I don't know if that's sorted, but we shall see

Good good having slack in the cable was the sign to me that i'd taken adjusting it to the "tighter" end too far and it was now time to book in at the garage, and needed to put it back a few turns as there wasn't any benefit leaving it hanging loose. In your case it's probably nowhere near as terminal.

However, if you're brave, do just check that it's not slipping as well now - give it a nice bootfull and "drop" the clutch, in 1st and then in 2nd, both from a standstill. Then with 1st, leave it idling (flat road, handbrake off, but again standing still) with clutch down, and hit throttle simultaneously with letting clutch in.

Revs in 1st should smoke the tyres to 20mph or so, 2nd should almost stall it (ie maybe jolt into movement and then shudder along at walking pace) or just kill the engine completely. The third one should definately stall it.

You only need to do it once... twice if you're not sure any more than that and you're probably risking damage anyhow

If it's all screwed up and slipping after adjustment, revving it and dropping in 1st will *possibly* result in a chirp and then a smooth pull without much rev loss til the speeds match around 15-20. 2nd, it might make it idle speed or higher before matching speeds. And with the final test, similar - it may jerk a little but will acheive walking pace without cutting out - indeed you'll find yourself having trouble stalling it on purpose in 1st.

A milder version is to trickle along at 30-35 in 3rd then suddenly floor it.... not as G-force or noise creating, but only shows a difference when it's really far gone. (good clutch - just accelerates with a 1-litres characteristic gentleness and the merest note of extra urgency to the usual purr... bad clutch - RRRRRRRRRRRRRR!!! )