Whats this bit called, and how do I replace it?

[Nick Nick]

Hi all,

I'm having trouble getting into 1st and 2nd gear. 3rd 4th and 5th are ok, as is reverse, just 1 and 2. I've had a look at the linkage and the bit I've circled on this picture http://postimg.org/image/m4oh9l1xz/ doesn't look like the same bit on my old car - the old car has a bigger piece that fits properly and doesn't move freely when changing gears. I've no idea what its called, so if someone could let me know I'd be grateful. Also, how much of a pain is it to change?

Thanks very much

Nick

 

[bete noir]

I am not sure exactly what you would call that part, but if you buy a new relay shaft, that will come with it. However, I have just (yesterday) sorted the same issue with my son's 8v GTi, without changing that part.

Just above and to the right of the circled part in your picture, you can see where the gear lever shaft passes through a bracket attached to the steering rack. There should be a bush in the bracket, that allows the shaft to rotate, and slide backwards and forwards, but does not allow it to move significantly off its axis. On my son's car, this bush was virtually non-existent. I cannot make out if this is the case on your car, but it is worth having a look. What this meant was that movement at the gear lever was not all being translated into movement of the selector rods, instead some of it was being lost in moving the shaft around within the bracket.

I bought a Golf mk2 GTi gear change linkage bush kit off eBay for £7, and spent an hour or so stripping the gear shift mechanism and replacing all the bushes (have a look here), and problem solved.

 

[Nick Nick]

@bete noir ,thank you very much indeed for the information - I have been reading around and have decided that a gear relay rebuild kit is probably on the cards - there are a good couple of threads that I've found that describe what needs to be done.
Thanks again, and one day soon I'll have all the gears back, lol.