After being off the road for a couple years, I finally finished a bunch of maintenance (new pktensioner, t-belt, w-pump, oil pump seals, ps pump seals, & clutch job) and got my 1988 S4 on the road.
I figured I would be good for a while ... not so!
The shift lever is not springing back to the center .... ugh!

I've done some reading, but it seems to be all older articles.
I'm not driving it until I drain the gearbox oil and see if I can fish out the end of the spring.
What are my options? ... besides just living with it ...
I don't have a hoist ... does the gearbox have to be completely pulled out ... can I do it without a hoist?
Who has parts?

 

Unfortunately, if the spring is broken, your options are limited to not driving the car until it is replaced. Very bad things can happen if the car is driven with a broken centering spring.

The transmission needs to be removed to replace this spring, but this can be done on jack stands with a transmission jack. This is somewhat involved as the usual method requires that the rear suspension be removed, but it is not too difficult and there are several posts detailing how to do this.