Crunching into Reverse

[Fanaki]

guys/ gals,

i'm having difficulty engaging reverse without crunching the gears. tends to happen on cold mornings.

steps: press down clutch(all the way to the floor), press stick down, shift to reverse, "crunch", engage and release clutch.

also on the odd occassion it can be difficult to get the car out of reverse and into first gear...

just wondering if anyone has had a similar problem with their manual transmission.

is it the cold weather, the clutch plate or something else?

thanks in advance.

[Silver dub]

I have a similar problem with my mk4 bora. I get the crunching ocasionally but no problems pulling it out though. I'm also interested to know if there is a reason for this

[Preen59]

Try waiting a second or two before selecting the gear. You need to wait for everything to stop moving before you can 'shove it in' so to speak.

Reverse has no synchro, so it has nothing to stop the gear and help it mesh.


If you're having trouble going from reverse to first, try pulling it into neutral, drop the clutch, depress the clutch again and then select first. That kind of gets everything moving and helps it engage.

[bazzle]

Plate may be getting dragged around by the thicker oil. Try just touching 1st or 5th before pulling into rev.
Of course worn or mal adjusted parts can give same symtoms.

Bazzle

[coons88]

Yea common problem. As bazzle said, try preselect 1st gear before going into reverse, I find it eliminates the crunching 95% of the time. Just because there is no synchro in reverse

[maca]

I have a similar problem with my mk4 bora. I get the crunching ocasionally but no problems pulling it out though. I'm also interested to know if there is a reason for this

I also had this problem quite a bit on my old Mk4 Bora..

Yea common problem. As bazzle said, try preselect 1st gear before going into reverse, I find it eliminates the crunching 95% of the time. Just because there is no synchro in reverse

And this was often the solution to said problem on my old Mk4 Bora..

[Fanaki]

thanks for all the replies guys!

it generally happens in the morning when i'm reversing out of the garage, so waiting for the car to stop isn't an issue.

i'll give the preselect method ago

thanks again and if it becomes a bigger issue, i shall let you all know.

Fanaki

[bazzle]

You onkly have to just touch another gear so the syncros slow the spnning shaft down for rev selection.

Same issue is common to many other makes too.

Bazzle

[onevan]

If the clutch is crunching loudly into reverse it may be a worn clutch that needs replacing!

[gerhard]

If the clutch is crunching loudly into reverse it may be a worn clutch that needs replacing!

Hardly likely on an 09 Golf.

I'd be inclined to turf the gearbox oil and fill with Redline MTL.

Shouldn't be necessary with a new car, but as previously mentioned the problem is common across many makes and models.