VW Jetta 2003 GLI 6 Speed manual stuck in gear.

Question

My 2003 VW Jetta GLI VR6 6 speed manual is "stuck" in gear. ATM stuck in 2nd gear as i was about to back into my driveway and as i went to shift into reverse it wouldn't shift and basically is stuck in 2nd gear. clutch engages and disengages fine. The stick will only move forwards and backwards but with no resistance, like just flops to and fro. Would like to know possible cauces and fixes please.

Answer 1

I'm betting that the cable responsible for front-back shifting has either come loose at a mounting point (transmission or shift lever) or has broken completely.

You may be able to have someone operate the lever while you observe the heavy cables on the top of the transmission bell housing. It's also possible that a bracket that holds one of the two cables is broken or loose.

Here is a diagram that shows the key parts at the shift lever.

So it's not really stuck in gear, it's just that you can't change it with busted linkage. Hopefully an easy and reasonably inexpensive fix. If forks inside the transmission are broken, this will be very serious and expensive. But I sincerely doubt the latter is the case.