Has anyone ever heard of a manual transmission that propels a car in the opposite direction of the selected gear? Me neither, until I got a 2012 VW Golf R. I’ve parked it on slopes a number of times (always setting both the handbrake and putting it into 1st gear) with no problems. But, on three separate occasions, when I’ve put it into gear while parking on a slope, it goes the wrong direction when I let out the clutch!
The first time, the nose was pointed uphill, and when I put it into 1st gear, it kept wanting to go in reverse. The 2nd and 3rd times were just the opposite – nose pointed downhill, put it into reverse, and it wanted to go forward. OK, I know what you’re thinking: You’re in the wrong gear, moron! Au contraire … I’ve driven manuals all my life and I know the difference between 1st and reverse!
On all three occasions, after several futile attempts, I put the parking brake on and … voila! The next try resulted in the car moving in the desired direction. Two additional things: 1) When I pull up on the handbrake, it seems to pull up further than usual and 2) the second time this happened, the tach didn’t work until I stopped/restarted the car. Is there any chance that the reverse idler gear is somehow involved and isn’t engaging/disengaging properly? Anyone with any other suggestions? Please help!
Or there may be a problem with the shift linkage or motor mounts. If the engine/transaxle has shifted position relative to the shifter, it may not go into the correct gear.
The fact that it occurs on hills also points to broken motor moints, because the engine may be tilting slightly when parked on an incline, changing the geometry of the shift linkage and causing it to go into the wrong gear.
There is nothing wrong with his car, read his post carefully, its simply rollback and he is just having some fun at our expense. If the car were actually selecting the wrong gear, I would make sure the shift cable is clamped down properly, but if this were the case, i would expect it to happen on level ground and it would be difficult to get it in to any gear.
Assuming the OP is on the up and up, this VW could have a “hill holder” function incorporated in the traction control system. The clutch master cylinder does have a clutch position sensor.
So Chas52, did this Golf hold in place until the clutch pedal was lifted that no longer works?
Seems like the gear may not be fully engaged, and when the clutch is let out, it’s like the xmission is still in neutral, it’s slipping in other words, and the car is just rolling downhill. It might be driver error, but it could also be that there is in fact a transmission problem, possibly just the linkage, that is not allowing the gear to become fully engaged.