pjones

Recently, with my 2001 S4 (114K mi.), when I hold the shifter all the way to the left (without pushing down on the ****!) and then push it forward, it goes into reverse instead of 1st, as often as not. So I have to be very careful going into 1st, finding a sideways location slightly to the right of all-the-way-left. (Pushing down on the **** still unlocks much more leftward travel and ensures getting into reverse.) Also, presumably related, I now can't get into 2nd by holding the shifter all the way to the left and then pulling it rearward-- it gets caught there-- instead I have to find a sideways location slightly more rightward to get it into 2nd.

Does this sound like something that can be fixed by adjusting, tightening, or replacing shifter/linkage equipment that is easily accessible to me? (All of this stuff is stock and original to the car. I've never much minded the feel of the stock shifter, until this problem started over the past couple of months.)

[This car has always had a different shifting problem too: sometimes, when trying to go from 3rd->2nd while slowing down, it just won't go into 2nd next, so I have to go back to 3rd or maybe down to 1st. It even did this when the car was new, but so infrequently-- every few months?-- that I didn't bother with it. Nowadays, though, I can seem to trigger this phenomenon almost every other day. Is this likely caused by the sticky 1st-2nd collar problem that I see mentioned frequently? Note that I never have this problem going from 1st->2nd. If so, might a fluid change improve it at all?]

Thanks,

-- Peter

pjones

For anyone curious about this-- I ended up getting a JHM short shifter kit installed last week, which, perhaps needless to say, resolved the problems described in the first paragraph of my post, and overall shifting feels much nicer (now wish I had done this a long time ago). The tech showed me my old stock shifter, and the plastic pivot ball was sliding way up/down in the ring.

Also, a few weeks earlier, I had the transmission fluid changed (with Red Line), and I haven't experienced the 3rd->2nd problem since then. (And on cold New England mornings like today's, the shifter action doesn't feel all gummed up at cold start like it always used to.)

Cheers,

-- Peter