I left work today just like I always do and while shifting from third to forth, suddenly I couldn't get it into forth or any other gear for that matter.  I cruised to the side of Amnicola and it wouldn't go into any gear.  I turned the car off and was able to restart it without pushing the clutch pedal in.  I turned it off again and got into gear.  From first, it jerked a few feet and then I shifted to second.  After that it ran fine, but it was concerning.  I got home to Signal with no more problems, but now I'm a little nervous about being on a major road.

Anybody have any ideas or can tell me that if we ignore it, it will heal and go away?  We're on a tight budget right now, so I'm praying it's something easy, or theres always that ignoring plan....

Forgot to mention that since I bought the car, it's been difficult to shift into 1st gear from neutral.  It goes in just fine from 2nd, so it became habit.  It's not that it would never go into 1st from neutral, but it was very difficult so I used the path of least resistance.

Does this sound like the warning symptom, or a separate issue?

It drove just fine this morning, but the pedals seem a little stiffer than I'm used to.  Someone else wouldn't notice it but I do.

cost-wise, what would be a gross worst-case estimate?

fingers are crossed for the rock option!   

I actually took it to be looked at today at lunch.  The verdict was a new clutch and bushings for the shifter since it will all be taken apart anyway and they're shot.

"GRAND" total was $1100.  Gonna be tough since we're up to our eyeballs in roof work on the house.  Timing sucks.

Quote from: green1 on June 15, 2011, 04:56:44 PM

I actually took it to be looked at today at lunch.  The verdict was a new clutch and bushings for the shifter since it will all be taken apart anyway and they're shot.

"GRAND" total was $1100.  Gonna be tough since we're up to our eyeballs in roof work on the house.  Timing sucks.

did you get a second opinion? Where is that? It sounds like an awful lot!

It was us.  The shift rod bushing is gone that holds the shift rod to the bracket by the transmission, this allows for side to side movement at the shifter that does nothing at the transmission..makes it hard to find 1st.  The clutch slips bad, when shifting from first to second it nearly fails to grab at all if the vehicle speed is not matched up well.  There is pretty good chatter in first when taking off especially when hot.  The clutch parts we priced are not cheap, and with the guessed price of all needed bushings nearly make up half of the total.

No problem at all!! Thanks for the kind words!

I didn't want to sound cross. I just can't imagine spending so much for a repair! I guess thats why I like my old VWs!

Of course my in-laws just dropped over 3k into some repairs