1996 VW transporter gear linkage problems

[Cblake]

Hey all,

So I've been having a few problems over the past few weeks with my 96 petrol VW transporter and would really appreciate any advice.

A few weeks ago I lost all my gears. When I looked under the van I could see a rod hanging down so I simply crawled under the van and pushed it back onto what seemed to be the end of the shifter. I drove straight to my local vw workshop and bought a new bush for $12 and installed it myself. Drove like a dream up until yesterday when I the gears went to loose and were really hard to find. So back to the mechanics I went. Turns out the bush under the bonnet had also worn out and they needed to take out the whole thing to fix it. He told me it was something I couldn't do and told me he'd fix it for $250 and will take around 2 hours. So I just said do it. He called Me a few hours later and told me he can't find my reverse gear and wanted to know if I've ever had a problem with reverse before. I haven't.
So now he wants to take my transmission apart to see if he can find the problem. But I'm sure you know that's an expensive little exercise and want to try and avoid that route as I'm not sold on that being the problem.
One thing I should note is that if you go to find reverse you end up loosing 1st & 2nd you have to go all the way upto 5th to reset the gears to get 1st again.
Has anyone ever had this before or does anyone know if this sounds like a transmission problem or a gear linkage problem?
Thanks guys

[Umai Naa!!]

You need to loosen the clamp at the shifter end of the shaft that runs from the gearbox back to the base of the shifter, adjust the position of the shifter, and re-tighten. It'll need to be rotated to the right spot, and the length set.

It's a very basic setup, but just a little time-consuming to get it spot-on.

When the bushings wear out, or fail, the whole thing binds up and can slip out of adjustment.

[Sunny43.5]

I would agree with Umai the part under the shifter is usually the main cause as I had two T4's with selection problems . The first one was the gears were really stiff to select turns out the shifter was rubbing against the inner wall of the housing under the floor some grease sorted that out . My son's current T4 has a rather vague selection because of worn parts his is way too easy to hit reverse instead of first ! having a look at that this weekend as its going up for sale this week .

[Sunny43.5]

Okay result for me on this one , the rubber bush that locates the main shaft from the shifter under the floor was badly worn . The result of the worn bush was that reverse was too easy to mistake for first as normally you push down to engage reverse but as the bush was worn reverse could be selected without pushing down as the whole shaft would go down instead of the selector thing . Easy fix without parts used some thick walled plastic tubing and slipped piece over the shaft which filled out the worn hole in the bush back to normal operation again . Now I can sell this van as all little things are now fixed ,anyone interested in a nicely fitted out 1996 T4 2.5 petrol manual ?

[Gold Coaster]

the rubber bush that locates the main shaft from the shifter under the floor was badly worn . The result of the worn bush was that reverse was too easy to mistake for first as normally you push down to engage reverse but as the bush was worn reverse could be selected without pushing down as the whole shaft would go down instead of the selector thing

Hi sunny, I also have a 96 T4 and have to be careful that I don't select reverse instead of 1st, especially when in a hurry!
I don't suppose you have a pic, or reference, as to what you are referring to as my motor skills are very basic?

Thanks GC

[Sunny43.5]

Okay easy one put the van up on some ramps if you have them much safer than jacks , okay get right back behind the gearbox from underneath look up just in front of the fuel tank is the selector housing , there is one large shaft running from selector right up to the gearbox . there is a smaller shaft next to the big one but it does not get involved with the big one for this exercise . Okay look right at the back the shaft goes through a rubber bush which is held in place by a metal frame , the shaft will be very loose with a load of up and down movement which is not normal . All I did was get some thick walled plastic tubing which fitted nicely over the shaft I slipped the tube in from behind the back of the bush and forced it through the bush . To make sure it would not work its way back out I put a cable tie around the front part which then was visible in front of the bush , that's it . PS the vans back on the ground so I cannot get a quick photo .

[Gold Coaster]

Thanks for the detailed description Sunny ..... leaving for China on Friday so will have a look at it when we get back.