Go to your dealership and ask to see this TSB. In it, it describes how to
adjust the transmission selector shaft. It involves loosening the mounting
bolts and turning the selector shaft in either the clockwise or
counter-clockwise direction depending on wether you have the
vibration/knocking in 1st-2nd or 3rd-4th gear.
If your dealer refuses to give you the info, just whip out your warranty
booklet and show them the part that tells you are authorized to see the TSB.

Ralf
95 Passat GLX
87 Golf GT

Ok Dave,
       I'll give you the short story so I don't bore anyone.(if you need
more details let me know)
        My "Shifter Shake" problem was more than mild. I could feel and
see the shift lever vibrating Quite a bit at various rpms. Second gear
was the worst. 1st trip to the dealer they they  attempted to solve the
problem (I did mention to them that I know of the TSB relating to this).
I got the car back only to find - 2nd gear much better but now the
problem has moved to 1st and is MUCH worse. Back to dealer. This time
they "modify"  selector shaft housing,By "drilling it out a bit".
unsatisfied with the results they replace the selector housing with a
new one and adjust, Still not fixed. Next they Drill out the  new
selector housing,( Huh?)
(This, by the way, is to allow for more clockwise or counterclockwise
rotation of the housing.The housing is rotated in one direction or the
other depending on which gears the shake manifests itself. the rotation
of the housing allows more free play in the system so less
vibration/shake is transmitted to the shifter),still not fixed.  Next
step, they call the engineers at VW. Engineers say "Drill some more!",
dealer drills some more. After having my car for 4 days, (5 total, if
you include the 1st visit),and 39 miles of road testing(I hope that's
how those miles got there!) I get  BLUE-DEVIL back.
          Is the problem solved? Well,in 1st gear I can feel some shake
under certain conditions,but it's not too bad(MUCH better than before).
All other gears are now completely shake free so I guess the Operation
was a success......On the other hand, of all the other cars i've ever
owned or driven From subaru to Posche to Triumph to the honda civic
station wagon with 189,000 mi on it that I Just got rid of,(there are
lots more but  you get the point) none had any vibrations similar to
this......
At any rate ,I can live with the small amout of vibration that remains
and I'm still Crazy about this car, I'm just very dissapointed that VW
allows design flaws like this to continue uncorrected for years!
   Hope that answers you questions Dave and yes this is the Short
version!
    If I can be of help to anyone else with the same problem don't
hasitate to contct me.
     Now I'm off to wear some more rubber off those slippery Eagle GA's
. Would any one care to comment on the best high performance tire for
the money? I'm sticking with the stock rims.
so far the Pirelli P700 Z at $71.00 ea. (205/50/15) from tire rack
sounds good to me.Anyone know how this tire is in the rain? any other
suggestions?


            Loren Bookbinder
            '98 porcelain Blue( and much smoother              now thank
you) GTI VR6

>Benjitaaol wrote:
>> I recently purchased a '95 with 23K miles.  The problem is that the when the
>> car is in first gear the shift lever vibrates significantly, like 3/8".

Andy Nguyen <aqndev.tivoli> replied:
>  According to past experience, the selector shaft or the selector shaft
>  housing need adjustment.  There is reputedly a TSB on that.  Perhaps
>  Don can look it up for us.

The TSB number and title (from the archives) are:
"TSB 349701: Shifter Lever, Vibrating/Knocking"

>For info on other people's experience with shaking shifters, see:
>http://www.panix.com/~aqn/GTI_VR6/gti_vr6/archive/transmission/
>vibrating_knocking_shift_lever.html
>(For access to the archive, use ID: driver  password: hired.)

My dealer performed the TSB on my car and it went from a mild shake in first
to a much more pronounced shake in second. When I get around to it, I'll ask
them to do what Loren B. had done (it's in the archives). I don't think it's
a serious problem, just an aesthetic one, really.

BTW, what happened to Loren?

-Jason
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In a message dated 98-08-08 13:13:42 EDT, jaymarterols writes:

<<
 Are you saying that your dealer completely fixed your shifter shake? My
 dealer tried to fix mine but all they did was move it to second gear. Is
 yours completely gone?

 -Jason
 '98 Silver Arrow >>


Yup.....the shakes are completely gone:-)

Cory
Black '95
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The TSB for the shifter shake is 34-97-01  All VW dealers should have a copy.

Don
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