Loose shifter (moves up and down 3/8-1/2")

[Frank06]

'86 Diesel Jetta (1.6)  I had a closer look at what I thought was a shifter bushing issue but they're not all that bad and some are pretty new.  The shifter itself is quite loose though: moves up and down quite a lot.  I haven't had a chance to look at it yet.  Would this make it hard to shift into 2nd gear (especially when downshifting)?  Upshifting is no problem at all but to hit 2nd coming down you have to pull the lever over and back at an angle.

Any thoughts appreciated!

[Vincent Waldon]

Because of the various relay shafts it doesn't take long for a little bit of extra slop at each joint to add up to a bunch of slop.

The standard approach is to simply get the full bushing kit and install.. under 20 bucks and all of the guesswork behind "where is the slop coming from?" disappears.   

If you still have slop after doing the bushings the shifter rod is the only other link in the chain... unfortunately the exhaust system has to be dropped out of the way to examine/replace it, so again most folks do the bushing kit first and see if that makes it livable.

[Frank06]

The bearing in the shifter itself is definitely gone - the manual I have says parts aren't available to rebuild (the upper/lower bearing halves, bearing shell, etc.) is this true?

Another question: is it supposed to be necessary to push down on the shifter to engage Reverse?  (Because on this one ya don't have to....)

thanks!

[Baron VonZeppelin]

You can still get all that stuff.
eGerman and AutohausAZ are just 2 of the sources.
The parts you need most - are the most costly.
But not outta sight expensive.

You are 'supposed' to have to push down to get Reverse.
But couple/several things can cause that to be unecessary.
Sometimes it doesn't effect anything else, sometimes it is main part of shifter problems - such as yours.

My 89 Jetta doesn't have to push down to get reverse, but does all other things fine otherwise. So i don't worry about it.

From your other post about bushing kit, the orange bushing up by the relay shaft (under firewall) is the only one that is tricky'ish. One or two paint dobs on the bolted collar clamp and rod where they join - and then scribe one or two reference marks in the paint - BEFORE disassembling.

You do NOT have to seperate the housing that holds the orange bushing to remove the bushing, nor to insert the new one. It has two rivets that most drill out to seperate the housing - and replace with new rivets or bolts afterwards. I have found that to be unecessary.
You do however need to remove the housing from underneath the car, to work with it. Which is simple enough after you have removed the collar clamp from the rod.

[Frank06]

Thanks for the information!  (And the tips on the orange bushing replacement.)  It would certainly be better with new bushings but some of them have obviously been replaced very recently (new car to us, BTW) and the part nos. are still on the relay (?) rods.  There's really very little slop in the orange bushing (at least not when merely pushing against it by hand); this may be exacerbated under higher loading/leverage of the shifter.  Time to look for parts I guess.  thanks again

[theman53]

http://www.4crawler.com/Diesel/ForSale/ShiftLinkage.shtml

there is this too. Costs a bit but you won't ever have to worry about touching it until you completely restore the car. There are different kits too or just pieces.

[Baron VonZeppelin]

Someone probably has already done what Vince advised about replacing all the links and bushings, in hope to cure. Then called it quits when that didn't solve everything.

Since you will need to drop exhaust at least partially - have a look at your rubber exhaust bands before ordering parts. About 6 or so of them - and not all are the same type/design. You might want/need to order those too when getting the shifter parts.

From memory the Jetta takes 2 of the types.
Doughnut with nub, and clover shape.

You won't usually find them at a big box parts store.
And they cost more if they have any of them.

[Frank06]

Thanks for the advice; it does goes into Reverse a bit easier if you push down (even though you don't have to).  Will check exhaust out.

[Baron VonZeppelin]

Jetta only needs 4 rubber bands/hangers.
2 doughnuts with nub at muffler.
Cloverleaf ahead of muffler, and another on tailpipe.
About $1 each through the better sources.

The Truck is what took 6 hangers.

[fck]

as far as not having to push down to engage reverse,
i would take a look at the white dealio just under your shift boot.
it could be worn, or even missing.
that's really the only thing that keeps you from wandering over into reverse. 

there's a white dealio on the shift lever as well, it should be perpendicularly oriented to the drivers side.