Cant Get My Car Into Reverse??

[winkyridg]

Morning, we have an 07 plate Golf, we had a new Gearbox and Clutch fitted just over a year ago, we cant get it into reverse, my partner drove it yesterday, gears 1-6, not a problem but the gearstick isn't quite shifting far enough to the left to engage reverse, does anybody have any idea what the problem could be?

[bhg481]

I'm certainly no expert on manual gearboxes, not having owned one for many years, but my first car was a P4 Rover with a column change; wear in the selector linkages made 3rd gear very difficult to engage sometimes. Judging by the age of your car and the fact that the clutch and gearbox are newish, I would favour wear in the selector mechanism as favourite.

[Old_Geezer]

Take it back anyway. Whether it's the new part or the old, they have to work together. May as well get the place you've been to, to check their bit is correct, even if you have to pay for the old stuff to be fixed too.

[Buenchico]

I had a Citroen BX which wouldn't go into gear. It turned out to be that a small L-shaped piece of metal, which formed a linkage to the clutch cable, had become 'torn', so that what should have been a 90 degree angle between its two arms was more like 120 degrees.

A few blows from a mechanic's hammer knocked it back into shape and a quick bit welding ensured that it would stay there. The whole job only took a few minutes labour, with no parts to pay for, so you might find that your car can be fixed just as simply.

(Unfortunately though, the garage only spotted the warped linkage on my car after they'd already charged me for a replacement clutch, which I didn't actually need, and for 8½ hour's labour!)

[Khandro]

It brings back memories; the first car I owned was a Riley Pathfinder and the reverse gear was knackered. I used to always park on the end of a block so I could drive off without a problem, unbelievably now, I drove it like that for months. The things one did in one's youth! (and before the advent of the MOT)

Re the OP, your gearbox is I'm afraid, similarly knackered. There's no easy fix and probably after a year the warranty (if there was one) has expired. Was it actually new? "Reconditioned" gearboxes usually means "Used" and the previous driver could have crashed the gear a lot (maybe with a worn or badly adjusted clutch) so it was probably worn when you bought it.

A new gearbox from VW plus labour would be rather expensive. You might have to bite the bullet, and start looking for another car.
Sorry, but most of us have been there.

[KJN]

I suspect reverse gear selector fork if all forward gears are ok.