LASERsareRED

So I decided to do a soft launch and go through first second and third earlier yesterday. Went for 3rd and missed it, hit the gate between 1/3rd twice and put it into neutral and reengaged the gear. The gates in this car are extremely odd compared to what I'm use to but regardless now it wont go into second and the shifter is notchy side to side. Hoping I didn't break anything internally, though I didn't really shift that hard. Kind of afraid to slam gears after all the stories I've heard of the notorious 1-2 shift collar failing :/. Symptons of what is wrong

Diagnosis:
-Won't go into second.
-R, 1, 3-6 work just fine.
-Lever feels notchy going side to side.
-Shifter doesn't return to neutral location when you pull it out of gear. It says in the gate path you just pulled it out of.
-When I popped the shifter cover off, a small gold clip fell out. Checked the attatchment points and it doesn't seem like it has anything to do with the cover. Its a small square u shaped clip with a hole in the middle of the base, don't know if it has any significance.

Took a video last night, and did some research. I don't think the wedge fell out of the linkage, but I'm hoping its either that or maybe I broke the stabilizer bushing..any thoughts on what you guys think it may be or something that I missed?!

Click the image, it will link you to the photobucket video. It won't embed for some reason.

<embed width="600" height="361" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowFullscreen="true" allowNetworking="all" wmode="transparent" src="http://static.photobucket.com/player.swf" flashvars="file=http%3A%2F%2Fvid2.photobucket.com% 2Falbums%2Fy41%2Fnismo4life%2F43a551c0.mp4">

Any help you guys can provide would be most appreciated. Danke.

LASERsareRED

Whoops, link didn't work here it is again >.<

Chris's S4

You gotta slow way down in the video, frames per second suck and trying to watch that is not easy when we're trying to look for details while the shifter goes into gear. anyways.. moving on... hahahaa

Since you can get into all gears other than second... and seeing the video in which you couldn't get into second. It only leads to one thing, second gear slider is trashed. But... the notchy feeling
that I saw seems weird because it looks as if the bolt to the shifter rod had come loose. Which would allow the rotation and sliding action come into play... here's the kick in the nuts... you can get into R,1,3,4,5,6... So again that only leads to one other thing... second gear slider is trashed. I would've thought maybe it came out of adjustment. that's happened to others before.

These gearboxes are super super sensitive to miss-shifts. Once you miss.. man give it up.. give up the race, give up whatever your doing. Seen too many ppl mash their gearboxes cuz they missed and wanna keep on trying to get it in and end up ruining their trans.

Simply isn't worth it... Now in your case, your gonna have to tear down your gearbox and do one of two things... either buy a new slider.. which is about 600 bucks... or just do the rebuild kit for a 1100.... and call it a day and have a new trans after that. Or.... your second option which is this,

https://www.audiworld.com/forums/sho...6&postcount=10

Read that post... if ya wanna read the whole thread it's here,

https://www.audiworld.com/forums/sho...d+gear+chamfer

I'm definitely using this method, possibly even on all the gears when rebuild my tranny. Getting a second tranny that has this problem on third and fourth... buddy of mine ruin his second gearbox. He'll never get around to actually fixing that trans, so I'll take it off his hands.

JHM has a dvd out of how to disassemble the gearbox. If you end up doing it yourself.

Good luck, and let me know what you decide..
Chris

LASERsareRED

Thanks for your insight Chris. I was about to list this car for sale too...fml . Wonder if I can sell it still :/

Chris's S4

Of course you can... I'll buy it cheap... HAHAHAHAHHAAH

Best thing to do is tell the buyer what the situation is and let them decide... sucks I know...

Why would you sell it anyways? Such an amazing car...

LASERsareRED

Honestly, really ended up not liking the car after driving it for a few days...sucks because I flew to Buffalo from Hartford and drove it back only to find that out...fml. For me personally its too dated. The design is too old, I can't find a comfortable seating position and it just doesn't feel right. I think it may just be a german car think, everything I've owned besides my old MK2 was japanese and other then the power which is fantastic, I still prefer my 6spd 04 TL over the S4 :/.

Chris's S4

that's sad to see your not happy with the car. I can understand that the seating can be odd. But takes a little getting used to. It took me a little while cuz I was so used to my honda be a lazy *** sitting the way I did... now having a sports car it's a little different. But not horrible. Now my vegas trip was a bit uncomfortable being I had to drive the whole way up and back and not move for a while.

Anyways sucks your not happy with it... AS for it being old.. well ya knew that before buying it. lol Honestly.. I'd rather go with old and proven.. than new and unknown. Though I do like new cars.. it's just that you can't mod or have any aftermarket stuff usually for a while.

Good luck with your car
Chris

conall

I realize that the shift collar for 1st - 2nd is a common problem.
I've never had a problem with that.

However, it is strange that I sometimes have problems upshifting into 3rd.
It grinds if I'm above 4,500 rpm's.

I'll be getting a complete rebuilding kit if this gets much worse, though.

Chris's S4

your syncro that's on it's way out... It gets harder to engage as its gets worn out. Have you had some bad miss-shifts?

conall

No. It's been like this since I bought it 2 yrs. ago.
I just haven't often shifted into 3rd with the revs quite that high.