Hi,

I am trying to help my eldest tighten up his shifter in his mk4 2001 1J1 1.6 golf, He recently picked it up and it came with the sloppy gearbox. I have put a bush kit through a Ford laser before and thought it might be similar ... It isn't

We have the car up on axel stands at the moment and have removed the exhaust heat shield so we can see the gear stick linkage through the gearbox at the front. Here are a couple of pics.

The first is the shifter connecting to the linkage, this has some play in it, and I don't know if it is normal and should have a washer or bush where the gearstick connects to the linkage?

2001 1J1 1.6 sloppy manual shifter-screenshot-2024-01-01-170026-png

The second looks like a dog's breakfast and the picture doesn't do it justice (In the third photo I have numbered two items and I'll refer to them here). The part at the bottom of the circled area in the photo is 1 and that has some silicone or similar product packed around it, I am guessing it was molded off the part and then slid over the top. The molded silicone is packed into 2 and that part has a lot of play in it. I would be surprised if it wasn't responsible for the issues.

2001 1J1 1.6 sloppy manual shifter-screenshot-2024-01-01-170113-jpg

Below is a gear lever repair kit however it doesn't include any bushes and I am not sure if 2 simply sits over 1 and is machined to a high specification so it sits together snugly, and no bush is required?


2001 1J1 1.6 sloppy manual shifter-screenshot-2024-01-01-171704-png

Is anyone able to offer any advice on what would be required here?

If you need any more info or a better picture let me know and I will sort it out.

Cheers.