B6 A4 Avant - 6 Speed - Shifter Movement Backward/Forward Under On/Off Throttle

[Rez4]

Hey guys,

I recently picked up a 2002 Audi A4 Avant, 6 speed with the 3.0 V6 motor clocked at 150k miles. It's a great ride and I'm enjoying it a lot. One issue I am currently looking into is under and off throttle the manual shifter moves back and forth a significant amount.

My understanding is that the transmission mount is rubber but the engine mounts are hydraulic. I'm guessing the issue is with the transmission mount. What do you guys think? Should I replace the transmission mount? The motor mount? Do you have any theories or can you provide any assistance?

Thanks all!

[Luxus Panzer]

mounts for sure. Have a look at your snub mount.

[Charles.waite]

^^ Agreed on the mounts. Check the snub mount first. I would just buy an aftermarket poly snub mount and replace it regardless, the stock one is mushy and adds a lot of vagueness to the shifting.

[Rez4]

mounts for sure. Have a look at your snub mount.

Looks to be the easiest one to replace too. I spoke to a local shop and they mentioned if the snub mount is bad for long enough, it can put more strain on the hydraulic motor mounts and result in them going out also. Since I don't have much history on the car, and since the OEM snub mount looks like a plastic/foam and seems pretty soft, I'll assume it's been gone for some time now.

^^ Agreed on the mounts. Check the snub mount first. I would just buy an aftermarket poly snub mount and replace it regardless, the stock one is mushy and adds a lot of vagueness to the shifting.

I'll take a peak at the snub myself and see what condition it's in. I suppose I can also do a visual on the left/right motor mounts and see if they have leaked out or not. That should be a pretty clear indicator that they are toast.

Thanks for the replies guys.

PS: At 150k miles, do you think the motor mounts should be replaced also? I really don't know how long these should last with normal use. My gut tells me to do the snub as well as both left/right motor mounts. Any advice on this is appreciated.

[deyrag]

snub is a pain on the 3.0 as you need to put the front end into service position. If you are dong that you may as well replace the engine mounts at the same time.

[Rez4]

snub is a pain on the 3.0 as you need to put the front end into service position. If you are dong that you may as well replace the engine mounts at the same time.

The snub mount seems pretty easy to replace, at least according to the APR instructions I was able to dig up in PDF format. It's actually the two hydraulic side to side mounts that are a pain to replace.

[19jdog]

snub is a pain on the 3.0 as you need to put the front end into service position. If you are dong that you may as well replace the engine mounts at the same time.

Not a pain in the ass. 20 min off 20 on... OP, I would replace all the mounts. I just did this and mine 3.0 feels solid!

[texasboy21]

The mounts the shifter assembly sits on wear and could be the the culprit. It could also be the stabilizer bushing which connects the shifter assembly to the transmission.

[imnuts]

There is a lot of play in the shifter assembly itself. Once I replaced mine with the JHM short shifter, a lot of the movement went away. There is still some, but not as much. I want to avoid getting rid of all of the movement as that can just bring more NVH into the cabin from the drivetrain.

Sent from my DROID Turbo 2

[road_tripper]

don't fool around with just the snub mount. On my 3.0, replacing it did absolutely nothing to alleviate the gearshift lever movement.