Sticky Gears. Help!!

[jonner_dub]

Hi there, I am new to the forum so any help greatly appreciated.
I own a C reg MK2 GTi. Over the last month selecting reverse gear has required that i let off the clutch pedal very slight before it will go into the gate. Apart from this there has been no gearbox issues or noise. (Apart from the second gear clunk, which i know understand can be removed with the use of a weighted linkage?) However whilst reversing the car into the garage this weekend i could not release reverse gear. So i
1. Removed gear lever boot and plate held with 2 x 10mm nuts - no "obvious" wear to the ball, but could not see the cup below it.
2. Cleaned gearshift mechanism linkages (in engine bay). All the bushes are still in one piece. However there did appear to be a bit of "play" in the system!
After a lot of direct "wiggling" of the gearshift mechism, movement of the gear lever and rocking the car whilst stuck in gear the reverse gear did eventually release! i have now driven up and down the road and reversed back into the garage. But a seed of doubt has been sown - why did the gear box stick?
Do i need to change the gear shift mechanism bushes?
do i need to change the ball and housing at the end of the gear lever
OR is it a case of gear box out job   !

Any info or advise greatly appreciated.
many thanks Jon

[Ben Lessani]

You might get some help if you didn't post in 3 sections! 1 post is sufficient.

You've pretty much knocked the nail on the head. If theres play in your linkage - its time to get it sorted. There's tonnes of posts on here about repairing the gear linkage. Mark2Mark - I think, has an uprated relay shaft ball which will take the slack out.

My old box used to be the same, you had to raise the clutch ever so slightly to get the g/box to pinch into gear and it was simply because the linkage was mal-aligned and worn (although it didn't help the box was shot). I got a bush repair kit from GSF, which to be honest was a little crappy and I would probably go OEM next time. The only real bush that needed replacing was the big orange one for the shift rod itself. My relay was busted too - and again - GSF's part didn't even fit, so I had to 'repair' my own myself. Since cleaning up the linkage and re-aligning it, all seems well with the world.