Hi,

Hopefully someone can help me out, it was a weird day. This afternoon I took my 2007 IS250 to the local VW dealership to have it “appraised” for possible trade in. The car is a manual transmission with 54K on the clock, 80% of this is autobahn/highway miles and I purchased the car “used” with 200 miles on it. I have had ZERO problems with the car in the time I have owned it.

When I arrived at the dealer I came to a stop in the parking lot, pulled the E-brake, put the car in neutral and turned off the ignition, then I put it in 1st gear. Shortly after I arrived I handed my key to the appraisal manager so he could look the car over and I stayed in the lobby with my son’s. About five minutes later he came in and said “Your car is stuck in gear.” I was very confused; it’s a manual. We went out together and looked and the car was stuck in gear, something I thought was almost impossible on a manual. The shifter will not move more than a quarter of an inch in any direction. Things got a little heated at this point; I will spare you the details.

All of the tech’s were gone for the day but one of the sales men brought out a floor jack so I could get under the car and see what was going on. I could not see much because of the heat shield that is in the way. Then I jacked up the differential and with the wheels off the ground I started the car. It was in first gear and everything was running smooth, but I could not move the shifter.

From the looks of where the shifter is this is what I can tell. The transmission is in first gear, but the shifter is some how in the reverse gate of the shifter pattern. How can this happen? The only thing I can think is that the guy tried to force over the shifter instead of lifting up on the lockout and this caused the linkage to bind.

Anyone else have any ideas? What should I do?

Thanks

 

Sounds like the guy messed up your transmission. Complain to the manager is all i can think of right now.