UK-POLOS.NET - THE VW Polo Forum

Hey!

Last few weeks Ive stated to have problems changing gear. Especially neutral to first, and fith to fourth. The problem seems to be selecting the gear, just takes about three atempts and you can feel a lot of resistance. Other gear changes seem to munch a bit, but not every time. However there are no other noises, whinning in fith etc. My car is on 66k now and has only missed one service (few thousand miles ago.) As far as I know im on the orignal box and clutch. so Im expecting bad news...

Any thoughts if this could be the gearbox, gearbox oil, clutch, linkage or a comination of these?

Any help would be gratefull as I dont wont to be sold something I dont need,

Cheers guys!

My gearbox is on 112k, it had the seals changed last year on about 100k and the original clutch poo'ed it's pants on 111k..

I would first check the simple things like the clutch cable.. Have a quick sneak at the top of your gearbox and you'll see the cable (goes from the bulkhead to the top of the gearbox - A big long black cable)

Where it fastens to the gearbox, there is a black plug type thing attached to the cable (which if you look closley enough is fastened to a little nut), this should twist (clockwise to tighten) by hand which will take up any slack in the cable (make sure you leave about 1-2mm of play so your clutch isn't always on). Sometimes you may need a 10mm spanner to crack it off as it may have ceased.

Your doing this in the hope that any slack which the cable may have gained over the past 10 years is being removed. In short you may be pressing the clutch at the moment, but your only taking up slack in the cable meaning the clutch isn't being fully pressed in.

Oh, and also check the cable running along the bulkhead itself, there should be like a black cylinder on the cable bang in the middle of teh bulkhead area, this should be clipped into a clip on the bulkhead, this sometimes ops out which also can contribute issues.. Just pop it back in with some man force..

I've seen this problem on 3-4 Polo 6n2's..

On another note.. How stiff is your clutch?

It could well be your pedal box - is there a creaking noise when you press or release the clutch pedal?

It could just be that the friction plates are worn out - 60-70k is about the life of a clutch