Golf MK4 difficulty in selecting first / second...

[TROOPER88]

Hi chaps
I have a mk4 1.6 petrol golf. I put it in the garage a few months ago and purchased a van as the golf was becoming to difficult to drive.

It used to be fine but gradually selecting first gear was becoming more and more difficult. It got to a point where it was virtually impossible to select first so was taking off in second.

What's important to say is that with the engine off all is well and all gears can be selecting well.

I spoke with a mechanic friend who seemed to think it would be the clutch.

Ok moving on to this past week when I have had chance to take a look.

I decided I'd remove the engine and gearbox as one so that I can carry out some other jobs whilst out (timing belt for one).

Today I removed the gearbox and fitted a new clutch. The old one did look worn, here you can see it alongside the new one:



Inside the flywheel was also a fair bit of old material:



Does the problem sound clutch related to you or more gearbox??

The last thing I want is to refit everything to find the problem still there.

Tomorrow I'll fit a new release bearing and begin putting it all back together.

Many thanks

[Polome]

I had a The same symptoms a few years ago. Turned out one of the forks on the release bearing operating arm had become detached not allowing full movement to open clutch when peddle pressed. Wasn't obvious until closely looked at...may be worth a check...good luck anyway.

[SuperchargedVR6]

Is this one of the MK2 style gearboxes with the reversed flywheel / pressure plate assembly and the push rod through the middle? Had similar probs when the 'thing' the pushrod pressed onto wore away. Can't remember the exact part as it was years ago!

[aka_kerrly]

Polome said:

I had a The same symptoms a few years ago. Turned out one of the forks

That would be my guess to.

[TROOPER88]

Hi
Thanks for the replies.

I think I found the source of the problem.

I removed the green cap at the end of the gearbox to inspect the fork and replace the release bearing.

The fork looked good but when I pulled the old bearing out with a magnet it became apparent that it was in a poor state. The plastic casing had broken and the ball bearings had/were fallen out.
I then removed the push rod and there was a ball bearing on the end of that.

Would a collapsed bearing cause such problems?

I have now fitted a new bearing and am ready to reinstate the engine and gearbox into the car.

Many thanks

[TROOPER88]

Hi
Update.....

Put the engine and box back in the car and connected the clutch. The problem was still there; heavy, dull feeling clutch.

Replaced the master cylinder (on clutch pedal) and the slave cylinder and the problem was still apparent!!

I decided to prise the cap form the end of the bell-housing again to have a look at the fork. The fork looked good.
I removed the new release bearing and once again inspected the push rod. It looked good and did not look bent. I could see wear on the end but nothing to bad.
On the bench I had a spare push rod from a mk1 Golf.
Holding them side by side the one on the bench was longer (11mm longer!)

I fitted the longer push rod and low and behold the clutch is sorted. It is that light that it can be pushed to the floor with your hand!

So the push rod that came out has shrunk by 11mm meaning that it was not disengaging the clutch fully.

Would this be the case or is it more likely the end has snapped of??

Is this common, I had a look on the web and it appears not.

The push rod fitted to the Golfs across the mk1-mk4 use the same length push rod (3410mm).

Cheers