1998 Volkswagen GTI transmission problem?

JAYMENDEZ

MEMBER
1998 VOLKSWAGEN GTI
2.0L
4 CYL
FWD
MANUAL
170 MILES

I have a 1998 volkswagen golf GTI 2.0, This is my first car, the guy I bought the car off of had it sitting for awhile. The car needed a distributor cap, that has been replaced and the car now runs beautifully. My problem is that the shifter only goes into 1st and 2nd gear. It doesn't shift left or right preventing me from shifting into reverse, 3rd, 4th, and 5th gear. I have never heard of anyone having this problem nor can I find anyone on the Internet with the same problem. Can someone please help with this I would greatly appreciate it. Thank you in advance!

1 Reply

ED-WEEZY21

MECHANIC
248 POSTS

Since Ive also never heard of this, I can only give you some information on what I would try doing. I would disconnect the shift linkage from the shifter assembly and then see if the shifter assembly moves freely. If it doesn't, replaced the shifter assembly. If it does move freely, then that means its either in the transmission or the shift linkage itself. I would take it to a tranny shop at that point since I'm not entirely familiar of VWs setup for this vehicle without looking at it and they will be able to tell you if the shift linkage is binding up or kinked or damaged or if its a problem internally in the transmission. Best of luck.