The following is a collection of information on how to improve the feel of the gear lever and the selection of the gears. I'm relating it to a 5 speed gearbox for a mk3 polo, but is probably 99% relevant to the 4 speed too.

First off is at the gear lever end. see picture below.

Gear repair Kit-part 13

Part number 191798116A

right, part 13 is a gear repair kit available from vag for about 11 quid and GSF for about 6. the quality on the vag one is much better. believe me i bought both! it consists of a new platic ball at the base of the stick, a metal drift to hold it in and the retaining cups and bolts. i advice that you buy 4 new bolts for the housing (part 6) too as these will most likely be rusted.

Whats the benefit?

In theory it should tighten up a loose gear stick. it wont improve gear selection but should slightly improve the feel.

Removal and Fitting

To remove the housing to replace this kit you will need good access to the underside of the car. You will need to remove the exhaust heat shield and ideally you will need to remove the whole unit from the underside and change the bits on a bench as they only come out one way and its very awkward!

Shift Finger -part 25

part number 191711233

This is available from Vag for around 10 quid.

Whats the benefit?

Amazing to say the least! Does 5th gear sometimes need a bit of abuse to get in gear or any other gears? Well, chances are then that its this that needs replacing. The rubber ball wears in the metal cage that it sits in and therefore is a slack fit and makes gear selection indirect! You'll see when you take it off. You can however, as an easy fix, crush the cage around the ball but if your bothered about doing it properly you need this part.

Removal and Fitting

Very easy. Get under the car, undo the 10mm nut, slide it off (may be a little tight) and re fit the old one. it will only fit one way cos it has a locator for the screw. Once fitted check that all gears select. and thats it!!!

Bearing Ring-part 2

part number 191711190B

Not sure on price i haven't bought one. I've heard they can collapse and therefore the rod leading out of the housing will be banging all over the place.

Removal and fitting

Again this will require the housing dropping down as mentioned at the beggining for the gear lever repair kit as you will need to feed the rod through it. Certainly worth doing both at the same time then.

Now the following are for the gearbox end itself. I'm still to change these and i belive that these will make the most difference of all to the sloppy gear lever. some of the information i have taken from a lad who has already completed this job on his G40 (G-Spot). so i must admit my knowledge of this is limited to what he says until i have a go myself.

Bearing Bush and Radial Shaft seal parts-14/15 to be replaced together.

Part numbers

085301227 Seal £4.58

001301209 Bush £3.73

As far as i can gather these go on the box itself around the selector rod.

Removal and Fitting (G-Spot)

Its a top hat metal bush, and the selector seal that fits inside it. From my experience don't bother trying to change the seal on its own, cause you can guarantee that you'll damage the bush removing it!(It bends and collapses quite easily).

If you preapre a piece of metal tube in advance for pushing the new one into place, best buy the bush, and match a tool to do it. (It'll need to have a big enough center diameter to go over the selector rod and ideally long enough so you can give it a gentle tap into position)

Once you fitted the bush, side the seal up and repeat the same operation. Expect to lose little bit of oil in the process, and top up your box acordingly.

Gearbox oil

Part number G 052726A2 for 1 Litre

You will need about 4 bottles. you can buy it elsewhere but it is very well priced at vag, and is the stuff they put in from new.

Whats the Benefit?

Well like putting fresh oil in anything, smooth operation etc etc.

Removal and Fitting

There are 2 hex bolts on the side of the box. The top one is to fill up and the bottom one is a drain. Remember dont be a dick, put the drain back in before filling up!

Finally, i hope these will help people again, anything to add be my guest!

cheers

dan

Edited 6 April, 200719 yr by supercharged spaniel

Good shit Dan,

I'll put it in the FAQ.

You'll have to nip round one day and give me a hand doing mine

The pictures don't seem to work any more. Any chance you could re-host them, as its difficult to visualise where each part is without the pics.

any chance the pics could be fixed???

I have managed to dig though the VAGCAT site and find the pics :)

This is the first Picture

And this is the second for the Bearing Bush and Radial Shaft seal parts 14 and 15

Hope it helps

Cheers,

Mark

Edited 28 September, 200718 yr by max_crox

right, this might be hard to explain, but here it goes..

i have a problem selecting 1st and 2nd whislt in the car, so when i had it jacked up i can easily put it into 1st and 2nd from using my hand on the selector, and i noticed that the bush on the end of the lingake where it meets up to the ball selector part has worn, thus giving me a ball ache to change down into 2nd and 1st.

anyone have any ideas on a part number or, what i could do?

The parts you might be talking about aren't mentioned in the above FAQ: Parts 26 & 27 on the first diagram in the post above

Also seen here - rubber washer on the cage part and plastic bush inside the ball part - are those the parts you\'re talking about?

Part numbers are:

N 901 237 01 - rubber washer

191 711 209 - bearing bush

If you find that 2nd feels more like it's below reverse, it could be the ball joint at the bottom of the gearstick needs replacing. (item 13 on first diagram in other thread) Also if the bush the shift rod goes through on the gearstick housing has come out (red/orange colour) that will also give very sloppy gear changes. I\'ve seen this a couple of times, it only does this when it fails so you need to replace it rather than refit it. It\'s less than £10 on ebay for a replacement.

that looks like the bugger, the one in that photo. though, if all the bushes are fairly cheap its worth doing them all tho i guess

very helpful!

The rubber washer even when it's new doesn't look all that great. so long as it's there it seems to do its job. If the bush is missing though, that can cause all sorts of problems. I remember doing a temporary fix of someones gear linkage at santa pod with a load of insulation tape as the bush had gone missing, he could only get 2nd and 4th without it, and every time he put his foot down in low gears, the metal rod that goes inside the bush would come out.

ah right, well I've just been to VW and i got prices for the folowing..

Bush - 001 301 209 - £5.06 + vat

Seal - 085 301 227 - £6.07 + vat

Bearing ring - 191 711 190B - £10.23 + vat

Bush - 191 711 209 - £0.76 + vat

Finger - 191 711 233 - £18.07 + vat

Repair Kit - 191 798 116A - £14.87 + vat

Rubber washer - N 901 237 01 - £0.53 + vat

Bolt - N 901 239 03 - £0.35 + vat

so I'm going to order the lot and get the lot fitted :)

Not doing it by halves I see! I might merge this thread with the faq. Thanks for the price list! Very useful :)

I made my own washer with a slice of hydraulic hose, gives it a more direct feel as it's harder, never had a problem with the other bit. The ball can wear (flat spots) and get a bit rattly though.

I remember doing a temporary fix of someones gear linkage at santa pod with a load of insulation tape as the bush had gone missing, he could only get 2nd and 4th without it, and every time he put his foot down in low gears, the metal rod that goes inside the bush would come out.

was that dabigginger's mk2? think i gave him the electrical tape

I remember doing a temporary fix of someones gear linkage at santa pod with a load of insulation tape as the bush had gone missing, he could only get 2nd and 4th without it, and every time he put his foot down in low gears, the metal rod that goes inside the bush would come out.

was that dabigginger's mk2? think i gave him the electrical tape

Yep!

Just seen this... I haven't stripped my gear linkage down yet but my gearstick no longer returns to below 3rd gear when in neutral. It feels as though a spring has broken or something similar. Now the gearstick just sits where it wants to in neutral but I can select all gears fine.

I assume it would be number 10 in the fist pic that Mark Crox posted on the first page?

Cheers

Just seen this... I haven't stripped my gear linkage down yet but my gearstick no longer returns to below 3rd gear when in neutral. It feels as though a spring has broken or something similar. Now the gearstick just sits where it wants to in neutral but I can select all gears fine.

I assume it would be number 10 in the fist pic that Mark Crox posted on the first page?

Cheers

Just started experiencing this myself, and I'm trying to find fixes for it.

Part 10 on the first diagram is more to aid the push down of selecting reverse.

IIRC the 'centralising spring' is contained within the gearbox. I just need to find out what the chances are of being able to repair/replace it myself if anyone has any past experiences with it?