[V6-12v] A6 transmission mystery

[Roger Woodbury]

I am sending this query to everyone that I can reach about a transmission
issue with an A6 Avant that my wrench has.  The car has a very hard gear
selection problem that needs a diagnosis and solution if possible. Perhaps
someone on one of these lists has had or heard of a similar problem.

The car is a 1997 A6 Avant Quattro with just over 200K.  The car is in very
nice overall condition but was towed in yesterday due to the very hard gear
selection problem

What happens is that the gear selector has a very stiff troubled movement
from Park to any gear, and then from gear to gear.  It would appear that the
main transmission input shaft may be corroded within the gear set itself, or
perhaps within the valve body of the transmission itself.  

Short of doing a complete tear down we are wondering if this is something
that anyone has had happen before. The car's overall condition is excellent,
not even considering the miles:  the car looks like less than 100k not more
than twice that.  Maintenance is current.

The car was given to the current owners and they will not do a $2,000
transmission job on the car but will move on to something else. Our question
is whether or not this might be something simple, or it will involve a major
operation to get the transmission to move from gear to gear smoothly.

TIA,

Roger