My 97 jetta wont go into fifth

[import2ner]

hey guys just picked up a 97 jetta with low miles from my buddy. he just put in a rebuilt tranny amd for some reason it will go into fifth but do nothing , it's like putting it in neutral, it doesnt connect. Im by far not a dub fan but i did hear that the shift linkage has to regularly be adjusted? Another peice of information i obtained was that fifth gear can be removed form the tranny while keeping it intact with the motor( something about part of the tranny on an e20 tranny can be removed?) anyways it's got me at a standstill..what do you yall reccomend? Thanks

[Brian*]

Hmm, if its the linkage it could be going between gears... I also know nothing about VDubs* I don't see them removing 5th when they rebuilt it but you never know... Jack the car up and check it, have him try to put it in 5th gear and watch the linkage. Hell I dunno, just throwin out some ideas

Does it grind when trying to go in, or when its "in" 5th

[import2ner]

na man no grinds at all..slips in fine just doesnt do anything. And it honestly doesnt look like the sfift linkage is bent or off..much appreciated

[Tech5]

Its in the tranny!!!

I have rebuilt a few of them ... Those trannys are not cheap to build or buy used either!!

Best of luck

[Brian*]

^^ that sucks, who rebuilt it?

[Tech5]

^^ ME!

the parts to rebuild are high an hard to get too, southern gear, and dealer to get parts and not cheap

[import2ner]

i can get a low rpm fifth gear conversion from dj autohaus for like three hundred ....i dont think its inside it but once again it's not my type of car

[phcarmaster]

Thinking of changing the gear? I think it will be the best move. I think your friend just bought a fail tranny.



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[Kaiser]

Does the tranny lock into place for fifth, or does it just fall out of fifth?

[import2ner]

once put into fifth it will stay there but like i said no go..i honestly think that something is blocking the linkage from fully going into fifth..but since there is no grinding it's not a synchro problem. so yeah good times

ANY VW TECHIES??

[Kaiser]

I'm not a VW Tech, but I've got a few friends. You say it locks into place, but yet you think the linkage isn't fully engaging? If the linkage wasn't going into the proper place you should easily be able to figure that out, it would be visually obvious as well as you'd feel it. It sounds to me like there is no 5th gear cog in the transmission. If you said it wouldn't go into 5th at all I'd think it was an old 4-speed, as unlikely as that would have been. Whoever rebuilt the trans may not have put the lock rings and such in properly.

[import2ner]

it's not the lock rings..you'd hear the fifth gear rattling against the tranny housing

[Kaiser]

You'd think, but you'd also think from the description he gave that he didn't have a 5th gear cog at all, but in that case it wouldn't stay in 5th at all. The only other explanation is that 5th gear is ground out ENTIRELY to the point where it doesn't even grind any more. That's hard to believe out of a rebuilt trans.

[import2ner]

yah i know and i have never heard of anyone grinding out fifth, that usually only happens in the snatch gears..but oh well im just going to drop it off at my buddies place for a free estimate . thanks everyone