[Scott P]

So this slammed acura legend wants to play on the flats of a two lane bridge. He is going slow as hell after cutting me off to get in front of me. I wait the appropriate amount of time then downshift to 2nd (we're really slow here) then pull to his right to pass. He, of course, speeds up to keep me from passing him and we are neck and neck as I half granny, half power shift to 3rd (btw stock '01 GTI GLX here) with me ever so slightly pulling ahead--but it won't happen cuz I am coming quickly up to some traffic in my lane. I cede the right of way to this yahoo and slowly come up behind him as he is triumphantly gesturing (yay for you schmuck) and I attempt to shift from 3rd to 4th.

What????

My car is stuck in 3rd, and I mean stuck. Yahoo-boy has slowed again and is now going 40 (we were at 85) right next to a flat-bed truck being a total and complete jerk right now, wanting to play again. I would like nothing better than to fly right by him and deflate his silly little ego, but I have to move to the right lane and put both hands on my shifter to try and force it out of 3rd. It is a no-go, that thing is firmly wedged and I am in fear of breaking something if I try any harder. So I limp into my dealership, just a scant 12 miles away and give her to the service dept. waving my extended warrantee above my head (I am at 25k now and the service guy was giving me warrantee grief) and sheepishly head to work in a rented chevy "Tracker"...sigh...
So...
Has anyone had this extreme gear sticking (a cursory search has found 2 cases in the forums here) and if so, what was the cause/outcome/resolution? I have a neuspeed short shift that I obviously could not change out before I took her in for service. D'ya think this is gonna screw me? (Personally I don't think so, but some places are worse than others. This is Broadway VW in Redwood City CA btw.)
Thanks for letting me vent a bit
S

 

[turborave]

Re: Stuck in 3rd gear (Scott P)

who'd you end up racing in the Tracker??

 

[GTiBob]

Re: Stuck in 3rd gear (turborave)

I think this actually happens because of some little plastic peice in the shifter. It happens to me all the time when racing, due to my hyper-quick ninja shifting. I just wiggle it a lot back and forth until it works it's way out, but one of these days it's probably gonna snap. I hope the new 6-speed doesn't have this problem..

 

[Jman5000]

Re: Stuck in 3rd gear (Scott P)

Bright side...that's the BEST gear to be stuck in...

 

[Asperi]

Re: Stuck in 3rd gear (Jman5000)

Ok, THAT is ur damn shifter bushings... mine broke 4 times before i had to fight for a new tranny... once u pull it out of third itll move ur gears out of place..
They blamed it on my pflo... Having the NS shortshifter is gonna screw u... those guys will find any excuse... NOW do this... Ask them to write on paper for you, that its the SS causing this problem.. if they dont do it... u got urself a nice case..
[email protected] for more help if u need

 

[John Achille]

Re: Stuck in 3rd gear (GTI628V)

Happens to me when I shift "quickly" not harshly into 4th, this happend when it only had 5K on it and no mods, I took it in but they said it was not doing it so I said I wanted to give the tech a ride, without him even noticing I got it stuck in 4th then wisely asked him to shift for me, when he could not move it at all he was amazed, but none the less, they said they could do nothing for me, I believe it is just a adjustment in the cabling, but every other gear works fine???

I had them well document it in the service slip for future reference, all you really can do, prepare for the worst down the road, kinda sucks... http://****************.com/smile/emthdown.gif

 

[Scott P]

Re: Stuck in 3rd gear (GTI628V)

Thanks much GTI628V, great info--I love the vortex! I am waiting to hear back from the dealership so i don't know yet what they will say about the SS, but it really helps having a clear idea what is going on just in case they give me grief. I really like that part about getting the cause in writing, I feel somehow impowered by that.

Sounds like a warrantee repair to me! Sure as hell should be, the car is brand f-ing new and why should I have to be dainty w/ my shifts eh?.
S

 

[Asperi]

Re: Stuck in 3rd gear (Scott P)

My car was in the shop for 1.5 months... my dad refused to pick it up from them cuz they were messing around too much.. I was pissed off... 4 TIMES!! unless they replace ur tranny, i have a feeling it will keep happening...
Do u have like an extra lil space in third gear? like when its in 3rd.. does it have a slight more space to go forward? ..

 

[adg44]

Re: Stuck in 3rd gear (GTI628V)

This happened to me quite a few times when I first started driving the car. The shifter would get stuck in 3rd gear. It hasn't happened for 20000 miles though, so I don't think it's a problem. I do however get some excess play while in the 3rd gear gate. Who knows... I just had to pull like a mofo to get it out... I've learned to shift a bit easier into 3rd. No problems to date.

 

[Asperi]

Re: Stuck in 3rd gear (adg44)

thats the word i was looking for... excess play.... if u push it in a tad bit more.. itll probably get stuck... pain in the ass.. right when i was racing a damn rice rocket and pulling away.. it got stuck... a week after i had it repaired.hehe.. not a happy campeR!..
u mite want to check urs adg44..

 

[01silverGTI]

Re: Stuck in 3rd gear (GTI628V)

if ya read the manual, it will tell you it has play, and not to push it, nor to allow your hand to rest on the shifter while driving, and guys, our cars aren't full blown race cars, and the shifters are definitely a lil touchy, so shift quick, but be careful

 

[Asperi]

Re: Stuck in 3rd gear (01silverGTI)

well ever since i got the new Transmission ive had no play in 3rd.. it drives MUCH better than before.

 

[vw_golf]

Re: Stuck in 3rd gear (GTI628V)

I had that experience too...!! But in my case, I was stuck in 4th gear..!!! I was racing with my friend car, BMW M5. I knew from the beggining that this car is nothing to compare with my GOLF 1.8T. But we were just having fun.
I think because I shifted my gear too fast. I fixed it by myself and with a help from my friend. My neuspeed short shift is stuck with one of those wire that hold the short shift..!!!
Does this mean that Neuspeed has a bad product...!!!!

 

[2KGTI-t]

Re: Stuck in 3rd gear (Scott P)

check near your selector... its the piece you change out when you install a neuspeed ss... check to see if the "side to side" selector is under or over the actuall valley it should be in...
mines did this... but i only had 3 gear... its a plastic piece from the selector that (cracks) and falls off... leaving extra play in the shift knob/rod... this piece is on back order at vw because it seems to be a very popular piece to fall off the car...
no biggy... just pull out the gear selector (looks like a golf club "putter") and put the ball bearing back in to the valley... mind you to look for the white plastic piece that the bearing sits in... have fun... http://****************.com/smile/emthup.gif

 

[John Achille]

Re: Stuck in 3rd gear (GTI628V)

quote:[HR][/HR].. right when i was racing a damn rice rocket and pulling away..[HR][/HR]​

Ok, To pull away from a rice rocket you would have to be in the 10's or 11's! Way to go!

 

[Bundaho]

Re: Stuck in 3rd gear (John Achille)

I did something a little worse. With 5k miles on my 01 GTI GLX i went to the drag strip. Same thing keep getting stuck in 3rd (no power shifting just hard shifting....i am 230lbs), but i could just wiggle it out. So on the last run of the night i decided to shift into 4th just for the h*ll of it. OH NO!!!....i was stuck in 4th and could not get out...no way...no how. So i drove home about 15-20miles(the clutch was hurting bad). Anyone ever try to drive in stoplight traffic only using 4th (hehe). So anyway i had to go to the carwash before the dealership because i had rubber all over the car and the shoe polish numbers on the windows. So i get it cleaned and I drop it off at the dealership (night drop). They tell me to come in the next day my car if finished. They said I dislocated one of the shift cables. The service manager said it only takes a rench to fix. So everything was cool......On another note ever since i got my DG short shifter it will only get stuck in 3rd if power shifting, but 2nd and 4th you can hammer as hard as you want.

 

[Scott P]

Re: Stuck in 3rd gear (update)

This really sucks now.
The dealership initially found no problem with the car when they finally took a look at it the day after I brought it in. I told them that it is very easy to replicate and so we scheduled a drive time for me to go out with one of their techs. We went to a straightaway and I showed him the problem, revving up from second almost to redline then a quick shift (not a power shift) into third. Viola, the shifter is stuck as the tech himself tries to pull it out but can't. Now here is the bad part, he starts in on how the car should not be driven like that and that the problem is from when I "slam" the shifter into 3rd with such force that the transmission was not designed for. We talk to the service manager who has to call the vwoa rep who gets their side of the story and I am told on a voicemail that VWOA feels that the car is working as "designed" and that they feel it is being "overdriven". I didn't even redline the thing!!!!!!
Here is what was reported on the repair order:
states==stuck in 3rd gear
tech. inspected vehicle. unable to verify. the shifter was easily moved out of gear. shop foreman went on road test with customer. found customer high revs engine and slams shifter from 2 -3 gear causing 3/4 hub to possible bind dogs. shop foreman drove vehicle with cust. did not have any problems boardwalk to call V.O.A. to seek asst. for cust.
I think I could live with the tranny as it is, but more than anything I feel like I am being treated horribly and needs some frikkin acknowledgment that this is a real problem. How should I approach vwao? GTI628V, how did you convince your service dept to fix this thing?? Any other words of advice/wisdom?
thanks
S

 

[Jeff Andrews]

Re: Stuck in 3rd gear (Scott P)

If the car isn't meant to be drivien like that why don't they limit the RPMs @ 3000?
O'well. My 3rd gear grinds when I do a quick shift into it. GOod luck.

 

[Scott P]

Re: Stuck in 3rd gear (Jeff Andrews)

bump