$38 of wishful thinking, 4th gear synchros. are toast

[Alex Kowalski]

Tony Hoffman wrote in response to Roy:

>Well, I have one with 165k, and third is SHOT. I have to do exactly the same, 
>double clutch. It's fine cold, if you shift at a reasonable speed. But, warm, it 
>grinds into third, and third only. I don't doubt the problem with the trans. If 
>it was a clutch problem, it would do it in every gear.

>"E. Roy Wendell IV" <erwendell at mac.com> wrote:
>Something about this picture isn't right. I've driven or owned four of 
>these cars every one of which had well over 150k miles on the 
>transmission. Not a one of them had shifting problems. I don't see how 
>anyone could manage to abuse one gear bad enough to wear out the 
>syncro, especially fourth. Second gear I could see, maybe.

I'm perplexed also.  If you saw the rest of the car and the underbody especially, the situation is strange, because the problem with 4th gear just flatly contradicts the mileage the rest of the car bespeaks.  The clutch is very smooth, the takeup is broad and linear -- it is really one of the smoothest clutches I've ever used.   The transmission and clutch will also take full-throttle shifts at or near redline in every other gear, but fourth just will not cooperate.

The only thing that I can guess is that either the 4th gear synchros. were the oddball defective pieces when installed by the factory way back in 1986/7, OR that the previous owner was a bit of a dolt and rested his/her hand on the shifter, causing the 4th gear synchros. to die prematurely.  That scenario would make some sense, too:  the car seems to have been owned by a suburbanite, garaged and probably maintained at a dealer (even the air conditioner still works properly, and the filters on the car were OEM Audi when I bought it) who perhaps drove it into the city, to work and back.  4th gear would be a perfect choice for cruising on the various highways into and out of the city between 50-60 mph.  3rd is a touch too short, 5th is a little too tall.  If the owner rested their hand on the shifter that might have led to the problem.  I'm also going to fully disassemble the linkage.

It's all speculation so far, and I'll know more when I get it apart.  I am trying to get in touch with the original owner to find out what he/she knows about the problem, if anything.  They now live in a different state, from what I understand.

Cheers,
Alex Kowalski
'87 5KCSTQ