Transmission grinding, car not driving, stuck in ocean city, help!

[Jet.Life]

I NEVER make these kinds of posts but because i am stuck in Ocean city, MD with transmission problems this is an emergency. I only have the condo booked til thursday, help!

This is what happened to the best of my ability... Was driving in traffic when the clutch pedal suddenly dropped momentarily, the car started making a loud grinding banging noise and the car started to move violently, i hit the brakes and shut off the car asap. At this point my clutch still had pressure to it, so i started the car and attempted to shift into first. No dice, the car would not engage any gears even with some force applied. I shut off the car again, now the clutch was letting me engage gear with the car off, so i started the car and again it wouldnt let me put it into gear. So with the car off i put it in first, started it up and attempted to drive... It made the same loud noises except this time the pedal dropped to the floor and i lost pedal pressure all together.

As the car sits the pedal has very light pressure, and still engages the clutch letting me put it into gear with the car off, but with the car on it prevent me from engaging the clutch. With the car on and the clutch pedal engaged everything sounds fine, but when the pedal is not engaged
it makes an odd grinding sound, which i have taken a video of with my phone.

www.youtube.com/watch?v=Kojpe2ph1CQ

Like i said i never make these kinds of posts, but this is threat level midnight for me, i have 3 1/2 days left on this condo, no tools, and $300 in my pocket (after factoring gas to get home) to get this car back on the road. Any help is greatly appreciated, and desperately needed.

[Broke]

It made the same loud noises except this time the pedal dropped to the floor and i lost pedal pressure all together.

Sounds like you need a clutch.

As the car sits the pedal has very light pressure, and still engages the clutch letting me put it into gear with the car off, but with the car on it prevent me from engaging the clutch.

With the engine off the clutch does essentially nothing, as no shafts in the trans are being spun.

With the car on and the clutch pedal engaged everything sounds fine, but when the pedal is not engaged
it makes an odd grinding sound, which i have taken a video of with my phone.

No, that sounds horrible no matter what.
With the pedal depressed the clutch should be disengaged, it doesn't allow the engine to engage the trans in movement.
With the pedal released the clutch is engaged and it is allowing engine movement to engage the trans and move the shafts in the trans.

With your pedal depressed, it sounds LESS nasty, but still nasty.
With the pedal released the clutch is engaged and it is spinning the input shaft, and that sounds really nasty.

It's either going to be at the clutch parts in the bellhousing (trans removed from car) or it is going to be something in the 5th housing of the trans with the actuation finger and throw out bearing and related parts but my money is on clutch parts damage.

Either find a local shop to do the work and get a rental, or get a rental and haul the MK2 home or have it towed home.

[Jet.Life]

It's either going to be at the clutch parts in the bellhousing (trans removed from car) or it is going to be something in the 5th housing of the trans with the actuation finger and throw out bearing and related parts but my money is on clutch parts damage.

Either find a local shop to do the work and get a rental, or get a rental and haul the MK2 home or have it towed home.

I actually have done a clutch replacement on a 8v mk3 before, and i have just sourced tools and a clutch kit here in MD, so i am going to start getting the transmission out tonight to see whats gone wrong exactly. Thank you so much for your help, im not so good at diagnosing transmission issues but i have done a clutch replacement before.

I do not have the money to have a shop do it ($650 quote), or to get it towed home... Renting a uhaul to bring it home is the only other option and it will cost more then if i just fixed it here, and i've never driven a hitched trailer let alone for 300 miles... I dont think that will turn out well

[Broke]

I actually have done a clutch replacement on a 8v mk3 before, and i have just sourced tools and a clutch kit here in MD, so i am going to start getting the transmission out tonight to see whats gone wrong exactly.

In that case, I think I would check the 5th housing parts. You can either pop the green end cap off, or you can unbolt the 5th housing. Either will cause a loss of oil so plan on catching it or draining the trans.
If you pop the green end cap, you'll need a new one.
If you remove the 5th housing, you should have a new paper gasket or source some sealant paste. Some black RTV would probably do the trick in a pinch.

This will give access to either the finger only (green end cap removed) or the 5th gears and the finger will be visible (5th housing removed). There will only be a portion of the finger visible, and if it is bad, you'd need to pop the green end cap anyway so if you can find a green end cap local then go that route.

Make sure the finger isn't cracked, and see if there is debris collected behind the green end cap indicating something inside the trans going bad.

It MIGHT save you pulling the trans... probably not as the sound in your video sounds like something at the flywheel in the bellhousing, but for the price of a green end cap you can verify the finger is OK and then carry on with pulling the trans out to do the clutch job.

I think it is in at the clutch parts still, but I'd hate to have you pull the trans because it "sounded like" on a video to be the clutch and it is something easier like a broken finger... but a broken finger won't cause that kind of noise.

[Jet.Life]

Hey thanks for the heads up, didnt find anything behind the cap and the finger looked ok, im going to go ahead and pull the transmission. I appreciate everything i have spent countess hours on your website in the past you truly are the guru of the vw transmission.

[onewiper]

Just had the same problem, anti chatter spring gone sideways and rubbing on transaxle, pushing in on pressure plate would pull spring away and stop rubbing sound also when pushing in clutch other end of spring would bind against pressure plate causing disk to spin with the pressure plate causing the unable to shift problem. Hopefully for you that's all it is.