Sagging gearstick spring

[tobz.]

Hi
The spring under the gearstick in my mk2 has sagged meaning the car can be put into reverse without pushing down on the gearstick. I had a guy look at it the other week but he said he would have to drop the exhaust off to fix it. As the car is only a temporary one I told him not to bother due to the labour expense involved. Is it true this spring has to be fitted from underneath? I thought most jobs on the gearstick could be done from inside the car?
If it can be done from above I'd probably tackle it otherwise I'm not too bothered as I've found if you lift the stick about 5mm when going for first then it still works fine.

Cheers
Toby

[davidhawkins_78]

Alot depends on the age of the car as the later one's are different ... but I'm still not 100% on the differences.

As far as I know all Golfs up to '90 would have to be done in the way you describe. My input shaft replay and ball bush need replacing as they're starting to wear but I just can't be asked with the hassle !

Anyone paid for this job to be done? If so, what sorta prices have people paid ... ?!?!?!

[rubjonny]

It probably isn't the spring, Its more likely to be the ball housing thats worn, thats what was wrong with my 89 driver. Repair kits are still available from VAG and pretty cheap too!

Its a fiddly job, but me and me dad got it done in about 2 hours.  You don't need to drop the exhaust, just unbolt the heat shield and rotate it round the exhaust and off.  You might want to get replacement bolts for the heat shield as these are usually pretty nackered and likely to break.  We managed to bodge most of them back on and its been fine after 6 months of daily driving

Here is an excellent guide which covers the whole process from start to finish:
http://www.oxfordshirevwoc.co.uk/gearstick_fix.htm


P.S. can the Mods post this up as a sticky as I'm getting pretty tired posting it every time someone has the same problem

[tobz.]

Excellent link, cheers John.
I had read something along those lines a while back and thought it could be the old ball and cup problem. However mr mechanic told me it was the spring and I believed him. Having read that article now though I think I'll order the parts and have a go at fixing it.

[rubjonny]

Yea I was pretty convinced it was the spring as well, but now it takes a good firm push to get into reverse so the spring is OK!