...mine came off in my hand!
I discovered a few weeks ago that it was quite easy to fiddle with the plastic disc in the top of the gear lever while bored in traffic, and, as you'd expect, it has now snapped off it's fixings and come off in my hand.
Anyone know if the plastic thing is a part that can just be ordered and slotted in or if it's going to be the case that I have to order a whole new gear lever? I don't think Appleyard will accept this one as fair wear and tear so I'm expecting to have to pay for it myself! That said, do I have to let VW fit it because the car's still under warranty?
I can't superglue it back on as the bits that snapped off are making it hard to get a good fit, and I expect it would just come straight off again.
Help! :) I knew it was a bad idea to have a brand new car with so many bits to ruin!
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You won't need a new gear lever but probably just a new gear knob - maybe a tenner but I am guessing.
I knew a person who stole one once from a car in the dealership - I would never advocate doing that though.
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Aren't you glad you went for the VW with the extra quality buit in!
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Its part of the gearknob and that will come off seperate from the level. Price is anyone's guess - I would go for about £20.
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Sorry, meant seperate from the ** lever **
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Get a wooden one, or one of those knurled alloy jobs with a subversive slogan on top instead of the gear pattern....
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Memorise.
A touch typist never looks at the keyboard!
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Put it in for a warranty repair.... and insist that VW quality is so brilliant that it should never have broken in your car. I am quite serious.
On my old Passat the control for the electric mirrors snapped and the clip holding the arm rest closed when upright also broke. It was repaired. Actually not sure if the lease company paid or VW but I know I didn't.
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pretend you are american ,tell them you broke a fingernail and want compensation
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"pretend you are american ,tell them you broke a fingernail and want compensation"
I like your approach there ;-)
With VW, and quality/noise/etc. throw at them the 80s advertising campaign including the squeaking earring. It worked for me after persistence. How can a brand grow their reputation on something and then when you have a problem they say "live with it".
Another tip, get a decent courtesy car and keep it until they sort it. After a VW dealer dented my Passat by reversing another car into it, got even better service and good courtesy cars. It was a mistake and they admited it but were good to me afterwards..... not have the troublesome Mondeo which actually has had fewer serious issues than the VWs.
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...mine came off in my hand!
Help! :) I knew it was a bad idea to have a brand new car with so many bits to ruin!
Actually PG in the only true classic car I have ever owned, a Peugeot 205 diesel inherited from my father, that disc used to stick to the sweat on the palm of your hand and just come out and fall on the floor and get lost.... the recessed white numbers soon got full of filth as well. The gear lever on my present car, one of these modern rubberoid jobs, is severely worn at less than 140k miles and I notice the ring I wear on my, er, ring finger has wrought a severe secondary piece of damage. You'd have to be an archaeologist from the 37th century to read the gear pattern.
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I seem to remember you're a Hamster fan PG, am I right?
If so, surely you've got to go down the same route he did with the TG Porsche challenge and have a silver skull with LED eyes for your gear knob? ;)
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Replace the whole knob with a Golf ball.
I did that on my new 1988 Golf. I machined the lever down by about 2cm and screwed a big black plastic golf ball on it. It was marvellous and made changing gear much easier. I was only 23 at the time though.
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Is it possible you're being too rough with the knob?.
I was taught one shouldn't hold one's knob while changing gear, but to hold the shaft and then gently push forward or pull back. Very little effort recquired if you do it correctly and I've yet to have one come off in my hands.
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Is it possible you're being too rough with the knob?. I was taught one shouldn't hold one's knob while changing gear, but to hold the shaft and then gently push forward or pull back. Very little effort recquired if you do it correctly and I've yet to have one come off in my hands.
Mods!!! :-)
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Is it possible you're being too rough with the knob?. I was taught one shouldn't hold one's knob while changing gear, but to hold the shaft and then gently push forward or pull back. Very little effort recquired if you do it correctly and I've yet to have one come off in my hands.
Long-term, this approach can cause damage to any leather covering the shaft might have.
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Replace the whole knob with a Golf ball. I did that on my new 1988 Golf. I machined the lever down by about 2cm and screwed a big black plastic golf ball on it. It was marvellous and made changing gear much easier. I was only 23 at the time though.
No, a number 8 pool ball is more cool ;-)
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Find something else to play with?:)
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when cars were designed by former steam engine designers, they had Proper gear knobs.. Like Triuph's 2.5PI with overdrive switch on top. One push and you have 8 gears.
They don't make 'em like they used to:-)
madf
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madf..On my Triumph 2000 overdrive only worked on 3rd and 4th gear giving you six gears.
Although I do remember some used to do a little mod on the solenoid ( or something) of the laycock De Normanville box which would allow it to work on all 4 gears. Not recommended by Triumph however.
wemyss
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They don't make 'em like they used to:-)
Thank goodness for that!
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L\'escargot.
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PG, you must stop playing with the gear knob.
I have had this problem but now I pick my nose instead.
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PoloGirl, That's the new car then under warrantee. Just smile and ask them to fix it. Regards Peter
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Silly. What happened to embossing the legend on the top of the gearknob?
Smacks of cheapness to me -- they can put the same knobs on 5- and 6-speed cars and stick the legends on with a bit of double-sided tape. Poor.
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Emulate what we had to do during WWII ~ "make do and mend". Fashion a new part yourself and stick it on with an appropriate adhesive. With a bit of ingenuity it shouldn't be that difficult.
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L\'escargot.
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A nice furry dice, drilled and tapped should do nicely, I would imagine, and be soft on the hands, except for those sharper furry edges!
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My sister has this problem as she is one of the many drivers who seem to insist on driving around with only one hand on the steering wheel (for some reason), the other hand resting on either the gear lever or handbrake - can't fathom this trait out, myself. I like to keep both hands on the wheel unless changing gear, of course or adjusting heating and audio controls.
There's nowt so queer as folk and their driving habits.
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Claim under warranty, it shouldn't have come off that easily.
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Curse you PG! I went out to my Mk5 to see what you were talking about; with dedicated probing with fingernails, I can now see that the disk could be prised off - and I must now desist from fiddling with it also!
As suggested, try blue tack (or a little plastic padding?), otherwise fit a new (decent) go-faster gearknob, if you cannot get a replacement disk!
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Ahhh...but it would have been fine if I could just stop at prising it off once! I did it so many times I've snapped the tabs off and there's no replacing it now.
I must phone up tomorrow and get a new one sorted. Something tells me it'll be a "hmmm...that'll be eight weeks, madam" part. Good old VW!
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>>I did it so many timesI've snapped the tabs off .........
It's known as CFD ~ compulsive fiddling disorder! ;-)
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L\'escargot.
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Surely some SuperGlue placed at strategic points would solve the problem providing there are some points of contact?
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