2000BiTurboA6

My 2000 A6 started having a spongy feel to the clutch about 2 days ago and then all of sudden yesterday it won't shift in and out of gears, but you can start it in gear with the clutch depressed. Some have said it's clutch or slave/master cylinder, but if that were true, wouldn't the clutch not disengage when the clutch pedal is depressed? It's hard to shift into any gears regardless of if the car is on or off or the clutch is depressed or not. Seems more like a linkage issue? And it will not go into Reverse period! Any ideas?

fjasper

It sounds like the clutch may be failing to disengage. Starting is controlled by a switch on the pedal, rather than the clutch itself, so it's not an indicator of anything except pedal position.

"Spongy" clutch pedal suggests a possible problem with the clutch fluid (brake fluid that operates the clutch). Try checking the level and bleeding it. If it was low, try to find the leak.

Having a different level of trouble shifting into different gears (reverse vs. the others) makes it seem like shifter linkage might be the most likely. I haven't worked on mine, so I can't offer any insight, I'm afraid. You might be able to see something if you take off the shift boot and look in there. Or maybe crawl around under it with a flashlight and a mirror-on-a-stick checking for anything loose or interfering with the linkage. I had a rock wedged into the linkage on a different vehicle, and I was about ready to drop big money for a transmission until I got under it and found the rock.

If the linkage is ok and it still seems unusually notchy even when the engine is off, it might be a transmission problem. I'd change out the fluid (Redline MT90 is good, there are others that are also rumored to be as good or better, but I haven't tried them) to eliminate that possibility. Look in the oil to see if the transmission is making metal. You might even be able to get the oil analyzed to see if it has specific metals in it that would give you a clue what's going on.

I have more time than money, so I usually suggest cheap but time-consuming things to try first. Of course, you could take it to a reputable shop and have them check it out as well. Good luck.