I have a 2001 vw jetta 5 speed manual transmission and it wont go into 1st or 2nd. I had a car to stop in front of me so I went to down shift to help slow down , but instead of going to 4th I went to 2nd. It didn't go in gear but felt funny through the shifter. When I came to a stop, it wouldn't go into 1st or 2nd. All other gears work fine. Nothing that I can see looks to be out of ordanary under the shifter in the consol or on the transmission. Any ideas what to do. Its my work car and I have to get it going. Thank you !!

Asked by kymark Feb 06, 2013 at 06:30 PM

Question type: Maintenance & Repair

4 Answers

176,035

You're limited to what you can do on the outside of a manual transmission. You have a pair of cables that operate the mechanism on the tranny. Oil everything in that mechanism and hope for the best. You might be able to work the levers and see where it has to go to get into first gear.

First gear does not have a synchronizing gear and must had the vehicle stationary to engage without damaging anything. Perhaps you found it difficult to shift to first....you should have chose second, if you're off and going~

Clearly you've forced something out of place, investigate and see what needs attention. It's hard to do from a computer console-

Having the same issue I down shifted into 2nd gear now I can no longer get into 1st or 2nd gear never had any issues with the transmission no grinds or pop outs nothing out of the ordinary should I try adjusting the cables/changing shifter bushings ?

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