Hard Shifts for all gears

[BaFil]

Hello all

Its been a very very long time since I've been on the org but I need some help with my little NB. First off My NB is a 2000 1.8t with a manual 5 speed and I have about 93,000 miles on it. It was in storage for about 2 years but maintained during that time. Ok, enough of the history and on to the problem.

I have been driving it for about a year or so again and I have never had a problem with the tranny. I was driving on the freeway the other day and when I shifted gears from 4th to 5th I noticed that it took a lot of effort to change gears but I didn't hear any noises like grinding or anything out of the ordinary. I got off the freeway and when was downshifting through the gears to slow down (never letting the RPM's go over 2500 or so) I noticed that all gears were hard to shift into. When driving away from a stop it is very hard to change to any gear. If I am parked and I hold the clutch in and shift it feels ok.

I don't know much about transmissions and need some help with this.. I do know plenty about cars and especially this beetle. I have done a few upgrades to the engine and turbo system. I don't think its the clutch because it doesn't feel like its slipping or shuttering, but it is still the original clutch. I guess I should also mention that I did install a neuspeed shortshift kit and also a dieselgeek shift kit but that was about 9 years ago when the car only had about 30k miles.

Any suggestions???????? I am having to use this car as a daily driver again and I cant afford to be stranded .

Thanks,
Phillip B.

[DZLBUG]

Could be several issues, but you're going to have to do some more checking.

1. Shift linkages - check them out and adjust if necessary
2. Gear oil - is it full? Consider changing it.
3. Does the clutch feel normal? The clutch may not be releasing fully or it could be dragging. If you hold the clutch in for longer and shift slower, does that help any? Consider doing a flush/bleed on the brake/clutch fluid.

[BaFil]

Hey DZLBUG

Thanks for the suggestions. Sorry for the late reply but I checked out the shift linkage and all seems ok there. The clutch feels fine, not spongy or different feeling. How do you check the gear oil on this tranny? If it is low do I have to use special gear oil, if so what is it called and where might I find it?

Thanks again for the help. I really have to get this car going because its a daily driver. By the way I have noticed that as long as I shift gears at lower then 2000RPM it shifts a bit better but if I shift at higher RPM's it gets harder especially when down shifting.

[DZLBUG]

75w-90 synthetic GL-4 only. NO GL5 or GL4/5 spec fluids.

I would go ahead and just change the fluid. It takes just shy of 2 liters. With the car jacked up and level, remove the fill plug on the front of the transmission (17mm allen), do this BEFORE removing the drain plug. You'll be in a bit of a bind if you drain the fluid and cant refill it. Fill the transmission until the fluid starts to run out of the hole. Give this a try first.

Considering that you have TWO short shift kits on there, I am a bit concerned about your syncros. Do you frequently take advantage of the short throws and shift really fast? Dieselgeek has a warning on their site about this. If it is the syncros, nothing short of a rebuild/replacement is going to fix it.

Before worrying about that though, consider doing a brake/clutch fluid flush and bleed. An excellent write-up here:
Motive brake fluid change (caution 3MB of pics) - TDIClub Forums
This is shown on a Jetta TDI, but everything is the same.

I'm still suspicious as well that your clutch could be dragging.