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Gear selector fork broken?

777cupra

Active Member
Jan 12, 2007
448
0
Buckinghamshire
Hi its been a while since I've been on here, however I am in now need of help and advise from the seatcurpa.net family.

Basically I was driving home from work today stopped at a roundabout...slected first and went to pull away....i got nothing the car just revved like it was in nuetral...i tryed second and still the same!

I then pushed my car off the road opened the bonnet and managed to select a gear by wiggling the linkage on the top of the gear box. I got 3rd gear and was able to limp the mile or so home on that! I then could not move the gear lever out of 3rd....another quick wiggle later and The linkage freed up. Now the gear lever inside the car moves fine, however I still have no drive in gears 1 and 2.

All the gear linkages seem intact and the RAC have been out and confirmed this it is suspected the gear selector fork has been broken.

I have done a search and a few more people on here have had similar problems...thing is I have no idea how much its going to cost so anyone got any ideas?

Is it a simple fix for a garage or is it gonna be get a new or recon gearbox job??

Any other things it could be apart from gear selector fork?

I really need some help I feel gutted and worried its gonna cost me a fortune just before xmas!:cry:
 

777cupra

Active Member
Jan 12, 2007
448
0
Buckinghamshire
Just for the benefit of anyone who searches and finds this thread in the future, I can now confirm that y problem was the gear selector fork. I shopped around for a bit and got someone to strip down my gear box and replace all the bits that needed doing and then put it back on the car.

Whilst the gearbox was off though I took the opportunity to have a few other common bits replaced to hopefully save money in the future. Just to give you an idea of cost if you are unlucky enough to have this happen to you this is what I paid.

New clutch £120
New dual mass flywheel £300 ish
New clutch master cylinder £?
Gearbox oil replaced
Hydraulic Fluid replaced
and a few other bits and bobs.
All that coupled with the labour for taking the gearbox off the car stripping it down and putting everything back together came to a grand total of:

£1000.00

I did get quotes for much more than that so make sure you shop around!

I got the car back a couple days ago and its awesome....drives like a new car now, gear change and clutch is very smooth and light!
 

efunc

Guest
I know this s a very old thread, but do you happen to remember where you took it? The same things happened to me and I need to find somewhere that can rebuild the box correctly. I'm in NW London. Cheers!
 

ReDBull

Every day's a school day.
Nov 21, 2006
2,991
14
Lincoln
This happened to me after owning the car a few mounts. It needed riveting back on, new clutch, DMF, Slave cylinder and Quaife ATB Diff...
The annoying thing is replacing the fork is a 5min job once the gearbox is out!
 
Last edited:

efunc

Guest
This happened to me after owning the car a few mounts. It needed riveting back on, new clutch, DMF, Slave cylinder and Quaife ATB Diff...
The annoying thing is replacing the fork is a 5min job once the gearbox is out!

Interesting, thanks for the info. Did you go to your usual garage, or a specialist? Not sure who to trust with a gearbox rebuild. Also, did you fit a new clutch, DMF, Slave cylinder because they needed doing too, or just for the sake of completeness? How much did it come to if you don't mind me asking? Thanks again.
 

ReDBull

Every day's a school day.
Nov 21, 2006
2,991
14
Lincoln
It went to Jabbasport but its not been back there since...
The clutch was needing replacing and the DMF/slave cylinder really needs at the same time. Where do you live as I would try and find a local VAG specialist that people recommend.
 

efunc

Guest
Jabbasport are too far from me, I'm in Harrow, Middlesex. Because the car is immobile I need to find somewhere fairly local that the RAC can drop me off at. I usually do all my servicing at one of the best VAG indies, Russell Automotive Centre, in NW London (rac-london.co.uk). They're more a straight-up garage that doesn't get into modding, or non-standard parts, etc. They are totally reliable and thorough though, so unlike other mechanics I can trust them to do an honest top-quality job. However I'm not sure they would want to **** around on a job like this, and even if they did I'd have to deal with the £75 p/h labour or whatever they charge. So it could clock up to be very expensive. Maybe a gear box specialist might be cheaper.
 

efunc

Guest
Well, I went to Diamond Transmission in NW London to get the gearbox selector fork fitted and new sachs clutch kit and flywheel fitted too, just for the hell of it! The bill for the Gearbox was £660. That was just to replace the selector fork, not a full rebuild. The new Sachs clutch kit, release bearing and dual mass flywheel was £420 and they fitted that for me at the same time. Not a small bill, but it drives fine again.
 
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