1998 A4 Shifter Problem
Thread Starter
Drifting
Joined: Feb 2003
Posts: 1,761
Likes: 235
From: North Carolina
1998 A4 Shifter Problem
Problem just started this morning while backing the car out of the garage.
Shifted from Park to Reverse fine and backed out, slipped shifter into D and nothing, no forward movement, tach shows rev's increasing as if car is in N. I pull the shifter down into 3rd and it will go forward but when I did this it had the same feel as if it was in the D slot not 3rd. Pushed the shifter up to the D slot and all was normal. Can drive the car around town while now in D and if shifts and downshifts normally. Trying a couple of things, went from Park to N and slid the shifter into D car won't move forward, pulled back on the shifter a little harder up against the stop preventing shifting into third but not pushing the button down on the shifter to get it into the 3rd slot and the tranny will engage.
Other notes, if I manually pull the shifter down to 1st gear, the shifter will not hold in place in the first gear slot, it kind of slide up and feels like it really is in 2nd gear.
Any help appreciated. The 98 has 37,500 on the speedo, and not tracked/raced. No recent work on the tranny or car for that matter.
Shifted from Park to Reverse fine and backed out, slipped shifter into D and nothing, no forward movement, tach shows rev's increasing as if car is in N. I pull the shifter down into 3rd and it will go forward but when I did this it had the same feel as if it was in the D slot not 3rd. Pushed the shifter up to the D slot and all was normal. Can drive the car around town while now in D and if shifts and downshifts normally. Trying a couple of things, went from Park to N and slid the shifter into D car won't move forward, pulled back on the shifter a little harder up against the stop preventing shifting into third but not pushing the button down on the shifter to get it into the 3rd slot and the tranny will engage.
Other notes, if I manually pull the shifter down to 1st gear, the shifter will not hold in place in the first gear slot, it kind of slide up and feels like it really is in 2nd gear.
Any help appreciated. The 98 has 37,500 on the speedo, and not tracked/raced. No recent work on the tranny or car for that matter.
Last edited by MAC5; Sep 5, 2012 at 12:55 PM.
Thread Starter
Drifting
Joined: Feb 2003
Posts: 1,761
Likes: 235
From: North Carolina
RonSSNova
Thanks for the picture. I got a chance to back it up on the ramps this morning or a look. Everything look connected but noticed what looked like a plastic tab sticking out away from the end of the shifter cable assembly. I pushed the tab down onto the assembly and it snapped back into a locked position.
Pulled my shop manuals out and found out this tab is called a: "transmission shift control adjustment lock". I lowered the car and shifted P thru 1st and back up. All position notches lock into place as they should. Started the car and it goes in/out of all gears fine now.
My only questions now are, did this adjustment lock just work its way loose? Is it possible the last time they had to drop the rear end at the dealership that the tab was not completely depressed? Or is this something that is going to happen again at the wrong time and in the wrong place? I'm going to swing by the dealership this coming Tuesday and talk to the tech that'd done most of the work on the car over the years and see what he thinks.
Here's a pic of the tranny end of the shifter cable that shows the adjustment lock tab
Thanks for the picture. I got a chance to back it up on the ramps this morning or a look. Everything look connected but noticed what looked like a plastic tab sticking out away from the end of the shifter cable assembly. I pushed the tab down onto the assembly and it snapped back into a locked position.
Pulled my shop manuals out and found out this tab is called a: "transmission shift control adjustment lock". I lowered the car and shifted P thru 1st and back up. All position notches lock into place as they should. Started the car and it goes in/out of all gears fine now.
My only questions now are, did this adjustment lock just work its way loose? Is it possible the last time they had to drop the rear end at the dealership that the tab was not completely depressed? Or is this something that is going to happen again at the wrong time and in the wrong place? I'm going to swing by the dealership this coming Tuesday and talk to the tech that'd done most of the work on the car over the years and see what he thinks.
Here's a pic of the tranny end of the shifter cable that shows the adjustment lock tab
Last edited by MAC5; Sep 7, 2012 at 02:56 PM.
