Hi everyone,

I'm looking for advice before I rip my car apart any further (e.g. attempt to take out transmission) or sell it for less than I feel it's worth.

My manual 2006 Jetta TDI is currently stuck in, what I assume is, 5th gear. I removed the linkage cables and the stick was then able to move freely. However, the shift tower on top of the trans/gearbox still cannot be moved by hand (maybe an inch left/right).

My boyfriend was driving the car when this happened. He said he took off from the gas station and very soon after the clutch pedal depressed all the way to the floor. He was able to pull over and eventually get it into 5th, where it has since been stuck (until I removed the linkage cables and discovered it's the shift tower that's not budging).

I soon after discovered that the black plastic push rod behind the clutch pedal (connected to master cylinder) has broken in half. There doesn't appear to be any brake fluid leaking from the master or slave cylinder and the brake/clutch fluid resevoir is full.

Am I looking at an internal transmission issue (Selector fork? Flywheel? Etc.)?
OR
Is it possible there is an issue in the shift tower itself and I can just remove that versus the whole transmission (not sure if shift tower removal is possible/difficult in an mk5)?
OR
Is it possible that I just have to replace the master cylinder/pushrod?

I'm a 25 year old girl with no mechanical experience here - sue me for being naively optimistic! lol

P.s. Almost all the inspection/work that I've done so far has been thanks to lurking as a non-member on forums like this, so thank you for everything already! (:

 

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Stuck in 5th gear is that a manual or DSG gearbox?