A good few weeks ago I booked my car into the specialist VW garage I use for them to look at my suspension to see what needed replacing as the car sits slightly loop-sided and pulls to the left. They said it was tired springs and dampers the bushes where fine.
Whilst they had the car, I said can you have a look at why the gearbox sometimes blocks 1st gear and the leaver is rather sloppy. After inspection, they said it could just need a oil change and the cable re set. I booked the car in a week later for them to fix a small oil leak and change the gearbox oil and reset the cables.
All went well, but they could not fix the 'blocking' issue. One minute they made it go nicely into 1st, but block 6th. The boss had a look and said it was 'end-float' issue. When I heard, I thought oh great. more expense. As this was much more important than suspension, I booked the car in for them to remove the gearbox, they would then send the box to a gearbox specialist locally to shim, clean and polish selector forks etc...
Whilst they had the box off they said it would be wise to replace the clutch and dual mass flywheel (and bits) as they have found clutches last between 80-100k miles, mine is on 74,600 miles. It was sensible considering what I had to have done.
So now, I have a lovely gear change that is positive and precise. I have to get used to the new biting point and take it easy for about 350miles or so. I know my bank balance is some what lighter, it was money well spent. The garage did a fantastic job.
P.S. my is a 57 plate 6sp manual.
