So, I was driving the other day and my transmission was hard to shift into. I found that it almost seems like it is having trouble pivoting. If I want to shift I have to almost pull it into gear. So I went to shift into reverse and it feels like it is hitting some rod in there and it sounds like that rod is hitting up on the underside of the center console. I was talking to a friend of mine that works a little bit on audi's and says he has the same transmission and he almost guarantees that it is a shift linkage that is messed up. By the way once in gear it stays in gear just fine, but there is a lot of play in the shifter. Does this sound like my friend knows what he is talking about. Aslo, if it s the shift linkage, how hard is something like that to replace. I've done my own suspension, and brakes, but that is about as much as ive done. What do you guys think?

 

Is this all the time, when it's cold out, when the car is cold? Could just be the fluid if it gets better as the car warms up. You can get under the car and look for something odd in the linkage, it's on the passenger side just after the bell housing.

 

my tranny was hard to shift when it was cold. one day at 14 degrees i could barely move it. Change the fluid.

 

baring other mechanical issues, redline MT-90 will make the tranny shift better and can cure mild grinding when shifting, tranny fluid is NOT lifetime. you prolly have the o2j unit, they were prone to syncro issues, which the MT-90 may help as it did in my 01 jetta 5 spd o2j unit

 

02j is a transverse tranny. These are longitude motors. Same fluid still applies