Trouble shifting into 2nd and Reverse

[Wallace White]

David -

My 5k had similar trouble: most gears easy to get into, but 2nd and
Reverse occasionally were tough. The shift handle would move but it
wouldn't get all the way in gear. It happened more when the car had been
driven a while.

It turned out to be a loose clamp on the shift linkage. The two long
rods from the transmission to the shifter are both split and clamped
together (can't say whether the 80 has a similar setup). One of these
was loose, allowing the shifter to move without actuating the
transmission.

Good luck,
Wallace
'87 5kcstq 177k

David Miller wrote:
> 
>     Hello, I recently bought a 1990 80 Quattro and now a few problems have
> cropped up.  Namely: I have problems shifting into 2nd and reverse.  When
> the car is cold (as in when I start it in the morning), I have trouble
> shifting from 1st to 2nd.  It seems that there's a gate or some sort of
> thing that catches the stick and holds it for a second before letting me
> shift (I have made sure the clutch is fully depressed of course).  It just
> feels bad for there to be a slight jerk when shifting.  Also, depending on
> how the car feels it seems, there's a problem shifting into reverse.  Even
> making sure the stick is fully depressed, I have problems getting the stick
> into gear.  As with the previous problem, it seems some gate is catching the
> stick, and in this case preventing it from moving into the gear at all.
> When I've tried to reverse at night and this has happened, I've noticed it
> happens at exactly the point where the reverse lights would come on... (as
> in, when this happens, the reverse lights don't come on).
> 
> Thanks for any help you can provide,
> David Miller