Reverse Gear Disappeared

BelleekBeetle

BelleekBeetle

Member
Hi folks

I have a 2002 A2 1.4 petrol BBY which I rescued from the scrappers two years ago

Reverse gear has just disappeared on me - just feels very tight when I try to engage it - the other gears are there OK

I have previously tried to reset the cables using the recommended method without much luck

Is there one of the cables on top of the gearbox that I need to check in particular for reverse?

Thanks in advance
 
Can you get reverse by moving the selector tower on the gearbox? Check all the linkages on the cables for wear or even if they have fallen off.

You could have a problem at the gear stick end, the cables or their linkages or the gear box selector tower..

selector mechanism Audi A2 (A2) 2003 year Audi EUROPA 711030

selector mechanism Audi A2 (A2) 2003 year Audi EUROPA 711030 spare parts
audi.7zap.com audi.7zap.com


Once that is all confirmed OK then the cables will need to be reset correctly as per the manual.
 
Hi

This is a pic of my selector on an AUA which should be the same on a BBY. You can manipulate by moving the item identified left/right and up/down

5F8D93B4-8892-4DF5-A014-299DE658B87B.jpeg
 
Yes for the selector central spline, but I was trying to indicate the bit you can grab hold of to select gears, which in hindsight I haven’t made clear

J
 
birtyA2 said:
Yes for the selector central spline, but I was trying to indicate the bit you can grab hold of to select gears, which in hindsight I haven’t made clear

J
Click to expand...
I assumed that by turning, and/or, lifting the "quadrant" each gear could be selected, as long as box is OK.
Luckily, I've not had selector problems, (yet)
Mac.
 
Last edited:
PlasticMac said:
I assumed that by turning, and/or, lifting the "quadrant" each gear could be selected, as long as box is OK.
Luckily, I've not had selector problems, (yet) 🤞
Mac.
Mac.
Click to expand...
I can confirm this - when my AMF original gearbox selector went I could find reverse, first and second with both gearlever and the counterweight, but the shaft would not go further into the box to access third/fourth and fifth (or vice versa, I can't remember if it was pulling it upwards or pushing downwards that failed for now).
 
Robin_Cox said:
I can confirm this - when my AMF original gearbox selector went I could find reverse, first and second with both gearlever and the counterweight, but the shaft would not go further into the box to access third/fourth and fifth (or vice versa, I can't remember if it was pulling it upwards or pushing downwards that failed for now).
Click to expand...
Ahh, so the pointer in the pic is to the counterweight. I understand now.
Mac.
 
Hi folks
I am back at this trying to get it sorted - I have reset the cables a few times now and can get all the forwards gears (1 to 5) perfectly well and probably better than they have even been
When I try to select reverse inside the car using the gearstick there seems to be a lot of resistance against the push down motion that you normally use to get into reverse and it will then select a forward gear - probably 1st I guess
What are the movements at the gearbox tower to select reverse so I can at least try to rule out the gearbox being damaged?
Thanks again
 
Tower selector all the way down and rotated clockwise. First is almost all the way down and clockwise. Fifth is all the way up and clockwise.

With the cables disconnected from the selector can you engage all gears easily on the gearstick? If not then the problem is likely to be under the gearstick.

Edited directions of movement.
 
Last edited:
audifan said:
Tower selector all the way up and rotated anti clockwise. First is all the way down and anticlockwise. Note not exactly all the way but to the extreme

With the cables disconnected from the selector can you engage all gears easily on the gearstick? If not then the problem is likely to be under the gearstick
Click to expand...
 
Thanks for that Audifan - just to confirm is anti - clockwise when standing in front of the car?

Not too sure I understand about if the cables are disconnected from the selector - is this at the shift tower? If so then the gearstick will not be connected surely?
 
Anti-clockwise is anti-clockwise from wherever you can reach to turn the tower, doesn't matter whether you're directly in front of the engine or coming in from the wing down the side. The only exception would be if you were trying to do it from underneath, which basically isn't feasible anyway.
 
Cables disconnected from the selector shift tower whatever you particularly want to call it. Now can you move the gearstick as if you were selecting all the gears especially reverse. Trying to find if the issue is the gearstick itself.

Hold the stick roughly where reverse would be then see how far off the cables are to connecting to the " insert your preferred name for it " fitting on top of the gearbox.
 
No worries - thanks again - sorry only ever heard it called the shift tower before
What I was trying to say (rather clumsily) is that once I pull back the collars on the cables to loosen them at the shift tower / selector then basically the gearstick is quite floppy in the car so am I then checking to see if the gearstick will make that movement where I have to press it down to go into reverse?
I appreciate the help as its very frustrating having the car sat at my house and not being able to drive it for a few weeks
 
Yes want to see if the gearstick end has full movement as there could be something blocking the gearstick going into the reverse position.

When you adjusted the cables did you do it as per the manual locking the gearstick and gearbox? Explain how you adjusted them.
 
Hi Audifan
Yes I followed the procedure for adjusting the cables - even bought a correct 5mm bit of steel bar as recommended by someone else on the forum to hold the gearstick in place
The only thing I was not sure about was pushing in the little plastic pin at the shift tower as on the videos the right angle was pointing upwards in order to push it in and lock the tower but on mine the pin needs to be pointing closer to 3 o'clock as such (rather than 12 o'clock on the videos) before it locks the tower in place so not too sure why that is
I will have a go this evening at trying to select reverse from the shift tower and will also check the movement of the gear lever itself but if this is a potential problem it might be better to source a replacement gearshift lever and try that?
Again many thanks for the guidance so far
 
audifan said:
Tower selector all the way up and rotated anti clockwise. First is all the way down and anticlockwise. Note not exactly all the way but to the extreme

With the cables disconnected from the selector can you engage all gears easily on the gearstick? If not then the problem is likely to be under the gearstick.
Click to expand...
With the tower selector all the way up and rotated anti-clockwise my gearbox is in 4th and all the way down and anti-clockwise is 2nd
This is a 1.4 petrol engine - is it a different gearbox to other engines maybe?

With the cables disconnected the gearstick moves freely and the downwards push to go into reverse feels fine too
 
OK may be a different pattern to the gears. With the cables connected select the various gears and note the direction of travel. From this you can work out where reverse would place the tower selector. Can you obtain 5th? Then can you obtain reverse? Now disconnect the cables and put the gearbox in reverse.

By the sound of it the gearstick end and the cables are OK. So either bad adjustment or the bearing in the selector is corroded. You may also benefit from replacing the gearbox oil.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top