Here we go. Firstly a diagram of the gear lever etc etc, taken from LLL Parts. I shall be referring to this. What we started with. Very kindly donated by @afbiker02 I started, obviously by dismantling it. First thing was to remove the bottom plate. To do this you simply gently prise up the tabs until it comes free. This was what I found inside. Next disconnect the cables. They are held on by a very small clip. Gently prise it off, don’t lose it. Then unbolt the two cable mounting plate bolts from the front of the housing. And withdraw the cables.
I found this in the housing. It turns out it is the remnants of item 47, a small plastic ball. I have order3d a kit of three bushes from the USA via Amazon which replaces this ball with a block. Whether it will be an improvement we shall see. AONED Cabin Side Solid Shifter Bushing Repair Kit for 02A Transmission for VW Golf MK3 / Jetta MK3 / Corrado/Lupo https://amzn.eu/d/g31w4N5 Then it is a case of carefully dismantling taking lots of reference pictures as you go. I have copied them here in case it helps anyone later on. The most difficult clip to remove, actually the only difficult clip to remove is the one that retains the spring on the gear lever itself. I had to put the lever in a vice, compress the spring to relieve the tension and then use two screwdrivers to push the clip off. I could have done with two pairs of hands for this. This is the aforementioned troublesome clip. Number 17 is a bit suspect but is just a damper ring for when part 1 gets pushed up and down. A suitable O ring would do the job just as well. All told there are 8 plastic parts which do come in a kit from Autodoc. However, because my middle name is lucky they are out of stock. The kit is not available anywhere else. The parts that could need replacing are, in no particular order, 14, 4, 9, 3, 17, 27, 6 and 1. In actual fact some of the parts on our lever seem ok. 6 has disintegrated and 17 is a bit suspect but the other are passable. I will compare them with the new ones when I get them.
I then took the whizzy wheel to the housing to remove any and all rust. Lovely inside Some Bilt Hamber Hydrate 80 to be on the safe side. Then there followed some parts cleaning. White spirit, washing up liquid and then 20 minutes in the ultrasonic cleaner has them all squeaky clean. I even cleaned the bit we are likely to replace, just in case. Put it all back together (except the troublesome clip ) for two reasons, a) refreshes my memory and b) so I don’t lose bits Next is painting the housing and waiting for the kit to come back into stock.
One thing I will mention though is that the plastic part at the bottom of the gearstick does not seem to be a replaceable part.
I’ve always loved taking things apart Only since owning cars have I got good at putting them back together.
You sure didn't waste any time. Your attention to detail is second to none and I'm glad my old parts are being put to good use
Little bit more done today. Cleaned up the cables. No picture yet as forgot while I was in the shed. Bracket cleaned and painted. Tower weight cleaned and painted. No. 1 son wanted it bare metal but it didn’t look good so next best thing was bling. Who am I to refuse
I just realised the diagram I posted in the first posted bore no resemblance to the one I was referencing so I have changed it for the actual one I’m using.
