Byebye reverse, hello pushing mk3 beast

[Ironsides]

So its a mk3 1.4l (hell yes) and a few days ago it decided it no longer wanted to engage reverse, but preferred 1st instead. The gear lever still moves into the reverse position (with a bit more effort than usual, its true) but it only engages 1st. I have looked through pretty much all the other threads regarding similar problems, but haven't found anything that fits exactly. 1st-5th are fine. Actually even a little smoother than normal. So:

When I try to select reverse by manually moving the linkage around, all I ever get is 1st. I've never done it before it broke though, so am not quite sure what I am looking for. I pull the selector arm toward the front, and then swing it right. It only gets first. Judging from the gear lever, reverse gear must be further toward the front of the car when using the selector arm? If so then I can't get it to move any further.

I adjusted the linkage about a billion times. There was a collar that grips the shaft that corresponds to the left-right movement of the gear lever, which I tightened in various different positions. No joy.

I went to justanswer.com and asked a "VW expert" wtf was going on. His opinion is that "Reverse gear breaks on these transmissions. The way reverse works is using 1st gear. So if you can't even get it in manually at the transmission then the trans is faulty and needs to be rebuilt or replaced." Seeing as I don't know how to get it in reverse manually this doesn't mean much to me yet. Also, it sounds expensive therefore I really don't like it! I have some mechanical know-how (mostly enthusiasm) but I don't think I'm up to taking apart a gearbox.

I also topped up the engine with engine oil - is this the same oil as the gearbox oil? If not, then where is the filler cap for that? The manual wouldn't tell me.

At the end of my fiddling, I noticed the clutch biting point has risen a bit - I moved the clutch lever a few times manually but am stumped as to how this happened. Is it significant?

Any ideas? Preferably cheap ones? Sorry for the lengthy post - I wanted to give as much info as possible.

[danny_p]

dose sound liek the box has fouled up ,   revers dose fail on those boxes  it's a weedy box desinged to pull a mk1 polo about.

they are an 085 box and come apart supriseing ease

[Ironsides]

Hmm, its looking more and more like a trip to the garage. Any idea how to get it into reverse by hand?

[gixer1400]

its designed so that when you drive a mk3 to the scrap yard you cannot change your mind 

[Wayne]

Sounds like the box has had it, disconnect the linkage and see if it will go in by hand

[Ironsides]

Nah, even disconnected it won't engage reverse.

Going to buy a reconditioned 'box and bolt that on. Good old Haynes.

[Len]

its designed so that when you drive a mk3 to the scrap yard you cannot change your mind 

Like!

[Ironsides]

Update - just in case anyone can learn something!

So, took the bastard apart after buying an engine support beam and took the box to a gearbox specialist. The cheapest I could find was this model: http://www.rapidonline.com/1/1/19434-engine-support-beam-500kg-capacity-double-support.html (but not at this price, got it for £60 or so). It's beefy but is missing various pieces before you can use it - chocks for the hinges in particular (I'm using old allen keys), and the chains are nowhere near long enough to fit around the engine. I have no idea how they expect you to use it, but whatever. Used a climbing sling and a carabiner. Wouldn't recommend this make of engine support beam.

Turns out I could have probably fixed the box myself if only I'd taken it apart further! The gearbox guy said that some balljoint had come loose inside the mechanism and had dropped onto the reverse gear, jamming the mechanism, which explains why the selector could no longer reach reverse and all the other gears were fine. I'll know more about it tomorrow when I pick it up.

I mentioned that the clutch bite point had changed after I fiddled with it. I'm now pretty sure that that was because I had manually disengaged the clutch as far as possible (with the use of a large piece of wood as a prop) with the self-adjusting cable still attached, which is not meant to be fully extended or compressed, as it shags the self-adjustment mechanism. So that needs replacing now.

Also, for future reference to anyone attempting gearbox removal (at least on the 020K transmission), you don't need to remove the front crossmember in order to extract the gearbox as Haynes suggests, and you don't need to undo the driveshaft retaining nuts to disconnect the driveshafts, which Haynes also implies. And for disconnecting the driveshafts, the driver's side is an unholy b!tch to undo as access is exceptionally limited. It's just possible if you remove the airfilter, which Haynes again neglects to mention.

Had a total blast taking it apart! Looking forward to getting it back together soon, maybe a lick of paint and some new bits for the front bumper that have mysteriously been knocked off... should probably also wipe the mould off the steering wheel, ugh!