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Trouble shifting into gear

9K views 14 replies 9 participants last post by  abj 
#1 ·
Hey guys. I have a 2007 6i, 5 speed manual, 120k miles. The past two months or so I've noticed it occasionally has a difficult time shifting from neutral into gear, usually first and reverse. It seems to be happening more frequently in the past week or two. Any suggestions?
Thanks in advance.
 
#5 ·
A worn clutch wouldn't cause issues going into gear although a cracked clutch diaphragm might (saw it once on my wife's Spitfire but it's not very likely). Definitely check the fluid level. Is it difficult shifting into gear sitting still? If so then it's not the synchros and I'd suspect the gear shift mechanism. I haven't had any issues but I believe I've seen pictures here where others have had problems in that area.


Scott
 
#6 ·
Haven't changed the gear oil since I've owned it the past 40k miles. The clutch/brake fluid level is very low though, I'll top that off tonight. I'll poke around on here to see if There's how-tos for gear oil change and clutch fluid bleeding.
I've been procrastinating on doing some maintenance like brakes and new tires, so I might as well get this all done at once.
 
#10 · (Edited)
Topping off the fluid seemed to help for a while, but in the past couple weeks it's been happening more and more, in addition to having trouble shifting out of gear into neutral when stopped.

Tonight, I just ordered new pads and rotors all the way around, as well 3qts of Red Line fluid, and in looking for a how-to on clutch fluid bleeding, came across the infamous cracked clutch pedal mounting bracket issues. I went out and took a look at mine, sure enough, cracks in 2 places.

Project for tomorrow morning: remove the clutch pedal assy, buy a 12 pack of Sam Adams, drop them both off to the welder at my work.
 
#11 ·
Update, removed the clutch pedal, got it welded up and reinforced for the cost of two 6-packs of beer. Reinstalled clutch pedal. Holy cow it feels like a brand new car, I don't remember it ever shifting this smoothly before.
 
#12 ·
A little late to the game here, but was your clutch pedal bracket broken and the re-welding fixed the issue?

I'm having the same issues with shifting; it's extremely hard at times to engage a gear at all (reverse is the worst) and I just changed my gearbox oil and installed an Exedy clutch under a year ago. My clutch bracket is broken however which I'm hoping would fix this issue.
 
#13 ·
A cracked clutch pedal mount could absolutely be the problem.
Reasons for clutch not releasing well (difficulty shifting into/out of gear, shifting are as follows:
(Hydraulic clutch):
1. Low fluid - solution: fill fluid
2. Air bubbles - solution: bleed system
3. Master cyl. or slave cyl. leak (internal) - solution: replace seals and hone cylinder or replace assembly.
4. Cracked or bent clutch pedal assembly - solution: repair crack/bend or replace.
5. Pedal travel obstruction (eg. floor mat) - solution: remove object.
6. Bent clutch pressure plate diaphragm springs. - solution: replace pressure plate

(Cable clutch):
1. Stretched cable - solution: adjust cable or replace.
2. Obstructed clutch release fork - solution: remove obstruction
3. Four, five and six above.

Transmission synchronizers allow the input shaft on the transmission (connected to the engine through the clutch) to match the speed of the output shaft (connected to the wheels through a gear) by using friction to speed or slow the transmission gear assembly appropriately. When a "synchro" wears out, (from the friction from repeated normal use) it cannot match the speeds of the input and output shaft assemblies properly and the gears will not mesh well. This will result in a grind or crunch when shifting (worse when shifting quickly) or engaging first gear from stop (worse when gear fluid is cold).
Improper gear fluid condition most often shows itself when shifting into reverse. Reverse gear frequently does not have a synchronizer and will grind if the fluid is too viscous (cold, wrong viscosity) or the gear is engaged too quickly after depressing the clutch.
 
#15 ·
Thanks for the reply, really appreciate it.
 
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