Scirocco Register

This is a crosspost from the mk2 subforum. I'm posting here also since I realized that I shouldn't have posted in the mk2 subforum since this is a tech issue.

OP:

I have a 1981 Scirocco mk2 GTi. Yesterday was driving on a motorway and suddenly lost torque in 5th gear and it made a ungodly sound not unlike the sound it makes when I've not managed to get the reverse gear on. Now all other gears work fine. I think that the first two are making a slight rattling noise, but I might just be paranoid.

Any ideas what might cause the problem?

I was on a road trip and left the car behind to be worked on. Got a message from the garage today that they think that the problem was the bushing in the stick and that the gearbox is fine. Can a worn out bushing cause this? The gearbox manufacturing number is FK29091.