gearbox/linkage?

[Rain]

Easiest way to re-align the gears (when you don't have the tool) is to get someone to sit in the car and then you or they play with the selector rods till all the gears are right, took me and a mate about 3-4 goes before they all lined up again. Had to take it out twice aswell, got into 4th, tried to go into 5th and found 3rd all along the top of the selector area, was quite funny listening apparently to it burbling along in 4th, then turning into a screaming animal spitting and hissing cos it got put into 3rd at about 85, mate looked down the road and  it was spitting flames and all sorts... 

yer i managed to get it in the end with me brother helping me had about 6 attempts with me mate and he was useless everytime i tightened i either had no reverse or 1st was reverse had to keep wheeling it away from the wall after each try :S easiest way we found was hold the stick dead centre where it would normally sit its about an inch from the left side of the gear surround bit. does seem abit daunting and if you really dont wanna risk it take it to a garage i guess but its pretty simple to do it yourself just takes time and patience.

[sellers]

so do you do all this from being sat in the car? or under?

[Swilki]

If you are going to undo the clamp that holds the linkage rods in the engine bay to the long rod running from the base of the gear knob to the engine bay then make sure you tighten the clamp bolt up really tight afterwards, its slipped on me before meaning i've had to do the whole gear linkage alignment again.

[Swilki]

Someone sat in the car holding the knob in one particular place and someone under the car making adjustments is easiest. Theres a bit of trial and error involved.. as in adjust it, start her up, try and find all the gears, adjust it, start her up, try and find all the gears etc..

[rubjonny]

Grab the gearstick and pull upwards, if it has any movement at all then you need to replace the housing under the car:
Its pretty straightforward to do but a bit fiddly.  You can still get the repair kit from VW, part number is 191 798 116A. I would recommend you get the genuine kit, this isn't a job you want to be doing twice!

1. Remove the gearstick gaitor & centre console to give you more room to work
2. Undo the 2 10mm nuts either side of the gearstick.

Now get under the car
3. Remove the exhaust centre heat shield by removing the 6 nuts/clips holding it on, then rotate it round the exhaust an off the car
4. Shove the housing up into the car, it is only held in by gravity & grease at this point
5. Remove 4 13mm nuts holding the shiftbox to the car
6. Now get back in the car, pull up on the stick and push down on the shiftbox
7. Next Jiggle the gearlever housing about until you can get it out, bit of a fiddle but it can be done!
8. If the ball looks like it is worn you can remove it, I didn't bother as it looked OK. Its tricky, you need to press the ball upwards while someone holds the gearlever down, then you need to remove the split pin.  Not an easy task!
9. Refitting is the reverse of removal

[Veedub1989]

the selector rod under the car should stick out around 10-12mm from the bracket that holds it. also, when you're in the car the white plastic selector should be no more than 10mm away from the left. use a M8 nut, hold the gearstick in place, then get a mate to tighten up the lose linkage underneath the car.

sorted 

[Rain]

if your head hasnt exploded after all that then give it a go if your more confused now then when you started get a garage to do it lol its about an hours labour maybe 2 at the most and parts are cheap so shouldnt kill the bank and is well worth it.

[sellers]

bloody hell, well after reading all that im still confused, iv got the kit now, and its a bag of about 6bushes and other plastic things? think i may have to just have a good look tommoro and replace anything that looks like what iv got in the bag, lol

unless theres a nice how too about it???

iv got an exploded diagram outa the haynes manual whjich doesnt really tell much

[rubjonny]

Its simple when you look in the engine bay, you just replace the old bits with what you have in the bag

The only tricky one is the big orange bush, which if you decide to replace will require you to remove the bracket bolted to the steering rack and you'll have to reset the alignment.  If you don't replace it you'll probably get away without having to reset the alignment.
There are a couple of rivets included you're supposed to drill out the old ones to get the red bush out and refit em.  But you don't actually have to do that, you can rip the old bush out and squeeze in the new un with a little grease

All this is completly seperate to the gearlever housing repair I posted earlier though

[sellers]

rite well i got so far today, replaced all the ones in the bag except 2,. which i can't find where they go?  they may be spare not sure??

would it be benificial to replace the 2 arms that go between the moving parts of the gear box as they have a bit of play in them or this this normal??

also how hard is it to replace the reverse selector part (white bit in the under the gear gaiter), as i think it may be on its way out but i cant get the push rod off the top of the gear lever even if its totally disconected.  does the gear stick unscrew in any way??