When changing into 5th gear I need to ram the gear stick in hard otherwise it won’t engage. It feels like it’s catching on something as I’mpushing it in. All other gears are finger light. It was a mates car before andapparently it's been an issue for years but he was too busy to get itchecked/resolved. Personally I like my cars to work properly and smoothly. Thecar only has 110k. It's a 6speed manual FSI 2.0.

I can't seem to reproduce the issue when I gointo the engine bay and change gears by hand so initially thought it wasrelated to a linkage, cable, or the gear shift lever itself. I've removed, cleaned,greased and adjusted the linkages, and pulled the gear stick out to check forobstructions and to ensure the ball bushing wasn't worn, damaged or catching on something. Nothinghelped though tightening the cable a touch does make marginally easier toengage 5th gear. If I tighten more though 1st gear becomes reverse! Ialso changed the gearbox oil but that didn't resolve the issue though it's beenproposed as a solution on other forums.

I've had a mechanic quickly check and tryadjusting while they were doing other work but they couldn't find anythingwithout taking the gearbox apart and costing me $$$. They suggested thatperhaps the clutch was changed sometime in the past and something wasn't quiteput back right creating an alignment issue.

1. Any thoughts of what the issue could be?

2. If I take the gearbox cover off will I be able to see 5th gear and how it engages, or are the relevant parts somewhere deep inside requiring the whole thing to be dismantled?

Thanks!