stefan-w

My bad if this has been covered, but I've searched the interwebz for three days now and all I could find are issues my car does not have; so I could use some pointers.
I've got a '01 Allroad 2.7t tiptronic, and lately when I want to put it in drive, I have to pull down the gear selector further than D (I usually go all the way to the end) and then back up or it will not engage fully; I can usually drive off, seems to be stuck in 1st and then seems to seamlessly slide into neutral; when I put it in D straight away the D lights up next to the selector but not on the dashboard (nothing lights up on the screen, as if nothing is selected).
After pulling it down all the way and then back up to D, the D in the dash screen now lights up too and it has no problems shifting, auto or manual mode.
I also noticed I can not select 2nd with the gear selector, seems like it won't go back enough to fall in the slot... no problem selecting P, R or N, no problems in manual mode, and the selector seems to sit in the right place... no codes either, I hook up VCDS regularly (it's a 2.7, you have to scan regularly )
So to me it seems the otherwise smooth ZF is not to blame, and what's between the slushbox and selector just needs some adjusting... I worked on all my cars before this one but have had tremendous amounts of luck with transmissions; so I just don't know where to begin; is it just a matter of cables/brackets, or is it more complex?