Transmission Troubles

Hello, I just found this forum and I'm impressed so far, I have recently gotten back into the VW scene. My first car was an '86 Jetta which I loved but at 17 years old I couldn't afford to fix everything on it. Anyway, jump forward 11 years and here I am back again.

I've recently aquired a 98 Jetta GL (2.0, Standard Trans.) from a neighbor, the catch is that he thinks it needs a new tranny. Which is fine, I'm getting the car for dirt cheap. What I know is that the trans. won't go into reverse, and even if you hold the shifter there it still pops out. He called and asked a VW dealership and was told that he just needed a new tranny, however, I have read some things on the internet which say it may just be "the shifter bushings and the ball on the relay shaft are worn out". How can I figure out which is the case, or do I just need to replace the bushings etc... and see if that does it? As I said, if I just need to drop in a new tranny that's what I will do, but obviously if I can do the other and save a few bucks...

Any suggestions or comments would be great, and if anyone else has any possibilities as to what my issue could be, please let me know.

99% sure its not the shifter bushings but you should probably replace them anyway and adjust the shift linkage. You can buy the kit @ www.diselgeek.com for about 30.00 and its pretty self explanitory.

You have a bad reverse idler gear, there about 110.00 at the dealer plus the tranny needs to be removed, disassembled and rebuilt along with removing the diff and replacing the rivets with bolts (also avail at the website).

Personally I would replace the trans because the previous owner obviously drove it with a bad gear and who knows what alse is broken (or about to break). A new trans can be picked up for about 900.00 on ebay just type in 020 trans

Thanks for the info. If I do replace the trans, I still need to replace the shifter bushings and adjust the linkages, correct? Is there anything else needed when I replace the trans, or is it pretty much drop in and good to go?

And while were on the subject, what is the difference between the different transmission codes? I think there's 3 different ones for this year but not sure what they are.

you can basically get any vw 020 trans from 83-99. The older trans that come in the gti 16V have a close ratio for better speed and the newer ones usually have better gearing for mpg's. The 94-96 trans is the strongest but still have the same old riveted diff pins and reverse gear issues. I would reccomend a rebuild trans with diff bolts and new reverse gears.

Also replace the clutch and everything also.
www.blackforestindustries.com

Also would reccomend a new front and rear trans mount due to vw using rubber and there always shot, I installed the bfi urathane mounts and they were awesome but did hear drivetrain noise more.
Also replace the shift linkage bushings and what not, there most likely shot also.