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[Chops]

Possibly worn shifter bushings.

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[BellCityDubber]

My 90 Jetta in a sense lost fifth gear. You can get it in fifth but you gotta force it. Need to fix quick as I gotta see my new grandson. Anyone have any ideas on the first thing to try?????? I am reading my book but wanna get on the road.

Thanks for any suggestions,
KathyLee

Hi.... seeing as it's your old mk2, it's an 020 5spd... let's check out what it could be

bent shift fork?

^ this is VERY UNCOMMON for an 020... I would rule this out as a last resort.... 020 shift forks NEVER go.... the synchronizer gears and dog-teeth off the syncro ring usually are the first to go, but not usually the case for 5th gear problems.

Possibly worn shifter bushings.

This is a little more possible, but perhaps not the case in an 020.... I've driven some rabbits with NO shifter bushings and could "find" all 5 gears... engagement shouldn't be troublesome as claimed with shifter bushings.

try aligning the relay shaft that points to the engine that comes out from the bottom of the car, if your relay shaft isn't aligned properly, your gear engagement wont go all the way into the gear selection detent
(depending how old it is, you may need to adjust this here) http://www.brokevw.com/5detent.html and will "pop out" the same can also happen to an 020 box if it's low on GL-4 Fluid. 1st-4th will be fine, but the 5th is higher and farther out from the box and could be starved of gear oil. when this happens the gear heats up and will "unselect" itself and be hard to select again. in some cases it can be completely damaged like this
http://www.brokevw.com/0205thdamage.html

If it is that far along, it IS possible to do a 5th gear swap with the transmission in the car.

http://www.brokevw.com/5thswap.html (it's easier than it looks, ya just gotta have patience, and one or two of the proper tools...)


hth
BCD

[LilHottieJetta]

Thanks Brendan, Chops and Bell City Dubber,

I had a gear shift repair kit so I replaced those parts in the shifter but didn't fix. Took another good look under hood and found the one plastic knuckle on the shifter rod was split. Had a spare and replaced that. Fifth gear now seems to be working fine. Haven't tryed it out too much as now my alternator is not working properly!!!!!! Dam dam dam!!!!!! Guess it is time to pull the dam thing and get it rebuild, tired of the ones from the wreckers as they are ok but never right up to snuff. Hopefully the guy don't take to long, I wanna see my new grandson!!!!!!

Thanks guys for all your help. Thanks Phil for those sites they are very, very helpful!!!!!! Hope to be up and running again soon.

KathyLee

[KtownDub]

I'd go with worn shifter bushings..

[BellCityDubber]

well, with an 020 proper gear selection depends on a few things.
shifter setups and lengths changed slightly from mk1 - mk3, meaning they cant "really" be swapped. An "unworn" mk1 small dogbone will not work in a mk3 setup, it will "feel" warn out because the lengths changed. Consequently, the bushings in the relay shaft can also cause play, as well as the ball socket at the base of the shifter.

it's hard to say which item would be worn out without actually seeing. in this case pictures are worth MORE than a thousand words.