Volkswagen Golf V TDI - Gears

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Fri 27 Sep 2013 02:27
Volkswagen Golf V TDI - Gears - J03y

Just wondering if anyone can help me?
Basically my car is playing up with the gears. When I change gear I don't have to put the clutch down, i can just take it out and put it into a new gear. This is worrying me slightly because it's not supposed to do this, and I've had the car for 2 months.
Could anyone tell me what the problem will be? And how it will have been caused? I've got full warranty with Volkswagen so maybe they'll cover it?

Thanks in advance. Joe

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Fri 27 Sep 2013 13:35
Volkswagen Golf V TDI - Gears - Peter.N.

I would have thought that almost impossible unles your clutch is slipping severly - or you have an auto.

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Fri 27 Sep 2013 13:56
Volkswagen Golf V TDI - Gears - DrippingSump

I am very curious about this, and subsequently have a few questions.

Has it always done this from the day you bought it? Or is something recent?

Exactly how did you discover this "feature"? I for one have never put a manual gearbox car into gear without dipping the clutch, so how did you discover it?

Are you sure you have three pedals down by your feet?

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Fri 27 Sep 2013 15:24
Volkswagen Golf V TDI - Gears - Andrew-T

I've got full warranty with Volkswagen so maybe they'll cover it?

Maybe a VW dealer will say there's nothing wrong? :-)

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Fri 27 Sep 2013 16:07
Volkswagen Golf V TDI - Gears - unthrottled

I'm assuming this is a wind-up.

It's called floating gear change and all gearboxes will pop into gear if the dog clutch has the same angular speed as the relevant gear ratio. It's not advisable to do this with a synchro box though-the dogs are cut differently to unsynchronised transmissions.

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Fri 27 Sep 2013 17:11
Volkswagen Golf V TDI - Gears - jc2

Was the engine running?

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Fri 27 Sep 2013 17:36
Volkswagen Golf V TDI - Gears - craig-pd130

I used to be able to do clutchless up-changes on our old Punto 6-speed, a momentary lift of the throttle would unload the box enough to allow the change without forcing the lever. Combination of close-ish ratios and a long gearstick that gave lots of leverage over the linkage.

Never tried changing down clutchlessly, though. Used to amuse me when watching BTCC races from the early 90s, when the cars still mostly used conventional gear levers: drivers like Steve Soper would flat-change up the box without lifting, they'd just yank the lever. Into corners, they'd left-foot brake, slamming the lever clutchlessly with just a tiny blip on the gas to 'help' the gear in.

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Fri 27 Sep 2013 20:55
Volkswagen Golf V TDI - Gears - Peter.N.

I have had to do clutchless gear changes on a number of occaisions when I have had clutch cable failure away from home but I did manage to drive a citroen XM from Slough to Dorset with no clutch as the thrust bearing had failed, but it takes a bit of practise so unless the OP has driven a lot of very old cars with no synchromeh I would suggest its a wind up.

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