OneThirtyEight

This will probably apply more to people with the pushdown ( to enter reverse) shifter then the non-pushdown

I noticed I had an extreme amount of shifter slop in my 5spd (pushdown shifter)in my 98.5 A4. This was present in and out of gears.

If you unscrew the **** and unlcip the shifter boot you should see where the ball and socket are. Right around the socket (and attached to the socket) you will see a black rubber grommet with a diameter of about 2 inches. It should have a C clip on it also.

I noticed my rubber grommet/socket assy was very loose and moving around inside of the metal housing. Bad.

So I removed the shifter assy. (see the tech section for how to..kind a PITA). You have to take the whole thing out, remove the C clamp and bottome bracket...then push the shaft and ball out.

I then wiggled the grommet and socket out of the shifter assy. Then I used a goo gone cleaner to remove any debris or old adhesive inside of the shifter assy.

Now I just used some high strength epoxy, smeared it liberaly around inside of the metal housing, stuck the rubber grommet and socket assy back in, waited 2 hours installed it again and my shifter is now much tighter with much less slop.

This is not a mod to be done to shifters that are in good working order... rather it is a fix to a common problem from the pushdown shifters causing undue strain on where the grommet/socket is attached with adhesive to the metal housing.