lost all gears, clutch works,

[Ricky Twine]

hiya, fairly new to here.

my problem is that my sharan 1998 mk1, has allways grinded between gear 1-2, never been a problem jus tried to not use gear 2.
but pulled up to a roundabout yesterday, and as i went to to pull away i had no gears, like the stick can do a 360 with no resistance?
there was no loud nose from the engine, or bumpiness from the car, was as normal as ever untill that happened, i am not 100% sure but as we was pushing it to the side of the road it felt like it was trying to go into gear a couple of times.. like there was resitance to the push,so would stop let it roll bk a foot an push again and it would move, it was  uphill and there was a curb at this point so could have jus been that, but i feel i  should mention that as it would help diagnostic.
i been through my ford galaxy mk2 haynes manual and it appears there is a cable arrangement from the gear stick (makes sense as its transverse),

so my question is... is this the same setup for my car, there be a cable arrangemnt, leading to gearbox etc, and also what fault finding would i do to determine the problem, im assuming its the cable has broken or maybe something inside the gear stick mechanism its self, hoping not the gear box because only info i could find was something about a pin snapping and needing to drop the engine etc (but saving having to replace the gearbox and costing hundredsÃ,£Ã,£) ..

thanks in advance for the information, much appreciated

[insanitybeard]

I'm not sure if the MK1 Sharan has the same gearbox setup as the Mk1 Galaxy (5 speed manual) but the Galaxy was prone to shearing off a bolt in the gear selector mechanism on the gearbox- take a read here.

[Ricky Twine]

hiya, thanks for the link.
ive had a look and it seems to be the setup gear mechanism as mine, (visually from the outside.

so i removed the battery tray today, and it was holding the gearbox up, it fell down a few inches.... no biggie i can prop that up an refit when time comes....

the shift cable (blue, backwards and forwards on the gear stick movements) has no spring to it, on the gearbox i can move it backwards and forwards with no resistance and it stays put (located on the top of the mechanism with a long arm, as on the pictures of the link to the other post), as opposed to the selector cable (black, left and right on the gear stick movement), which moves bkwards and forwards with a click and moves back to place, seem to be working okay. also this one seems to have been temporarilly fixed as it has a loose cable tie around it and the connector to the mechanism is loose, pretty much comes off and move around considerably...

this confuses me as the one that seems "broken" looks fine but has no spring, and the one that seems fine now seems "broken"..... any advice?

thanks again

[Ricky Twine]

hi, so i got the mechanism out today, and indeed the bolt is missing, not snapped head or still some in the threading, just gone.... so next few days once parts arrive, i will attemp to drain it and use my telescopic camera (bought off ebay for like Ã,£7 that connects to your phone, really worth the money for helping with the car) to see if i can locate the bolt, wont seperate the gearbox just yet....

also, when i undone the battery tray and the engine fell down, im guesssing it on the wish bone, meaning i shouldnt move the car just yet? as its on the roadside not my driveway.... any suggestions?

[insanitybeard]

I definitely wouldn't be driving it or even starting the engine without the gearbox mount secure and bolted up! You'll need a trolley jack to allow you to raise the gearbox back up into position so that you can get the bolts 'caught' in the threads on the mount.

[Leighton Wood]

had this problem a few years back with my old galaxy, just make sure you get the bolt out, garage did mine but couldnt get the bolt out, until it decided to come out on its own when it smacked the diff and bursted the casing,,not pretty

[Ricky Twine]

so i got the bolt out, i drained the oil and had a poke about with a magnet and managed to get it out the drain hole, the was intact, mangled and bent with chomp marks in it, so im guessing it undone itself and fell out. we now have the car all back together, working as it should, also the connector that was controlling the arm was lose, re attached it with my own cable ties and it seems to have stopped crunching so bad into second gear, and feels better all-round, guess the damage has allready been done in regards to the teethys =[

thanks for the help/advice guys =]

[insanitybeard]

Good that you were able to get the bolt out without a gearbox strip, hopefully any metal debris has been picked up by the internal gearbox magnet and nothing is badly mashed to cause a problem down the line. What have you had to cable tie? The selector cable end onto the mechanism on the gearbox? Not sure if you can remove the cable ends without replacing the whole cable but if you can you may have luck finding one in a breakers and substituting it.

[Ricky Twine]

hey insanity,

yeah its a result, wasn't looking forward to splitting, see you tube videos and it was a bit much for me with no tools etc haha.

so yeah its the bowden connector on the gearbox end, ive wrapped a cable tie around the circle mechanism and folded it over the cable, so its and secure and tight, but its against bare 90 degree metal, so i have no faith it will hold, it will snap haha.
so ive been looking on ebay for a replacement but i cant find anything for pre 2003, it seems like the whole cable is one, and after 2003 the connector is removeable... im not keen on holding the cable tight and trying to unscrew the connector, in case i break it completely =/
before we started his job, i had noticed the connector was held on in a similar way with a piece of metal wire, but tied round the actual ball joint beneath the connector, and tied round the cable, i guess he came to the same conclusion as me that it cant be fixed without a complete replacment lol
also ive checked my "local" breakers and they have no galaxy/sharan/alahambra in stock, so im not sure without going down tomorrow what kinda car i try the removal of the connector on lol

any ideas?

thx for the help

[Chrispb]

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/95-00-VW-SHARAN-MK1-1-9-TDI-8V-110BHP-5SP-MAN-GEAR-CHANGE-CABLES-REF-DD454-523-/262510275115

[Ricky Twine]

awesome find!! litterally couldnt find shiz!
thanks pal!!
ill speak to my dad an see what he wants =]