Signs of gearbox failure?

[weirdbeardmt]

Hi all

Getting a bit worried about my 2000 gti. Just read the gearbox failure thread and now even more worried!

In the last couple of month there's been this very unusual sound. Hard to describe. Had a similar thing on my previous jetta. Basically, when you're on engine breaking, coasting etc. There's like a really bad kind of grinding sound, well it's not grinding as such, it's just really unsmooth. That's a bad description, but it's only when you're driving, gas off clutch out. And the car gets kinda jumpy too. In my uneducated opinion, it all points to a gearbox problem but I'm not sure.

Does any of that sound familiar?

[nigelelliott394]

Sounds familiar alright! I'm having a similar problem but I too am unsure as to what it is. I'm just saving for the inevitable now

[weirdbeardmt]

Maybe it's just gearbox oil or clutch oil needs replacing? I don't want to take it to the garage if I can avoid it, but equally going away on holiday in a week and don't want it to break down...

[6N2 GTI 00]

Could be the exhaust bracket located towards the front of the car. Mine was rattling about for ages, sounds like its coming from the box when in fact you just need a replacement bracket. Could be more serious than that but its worth checking out.

Always worth getting the gearbox fluid changed every couple of years, got mine done a few months back and it feels great now

[weirdbeardmt]

I took it in to my local garage and took it for a drive with one of the mechanics. He agreed it was the gearbox but obviously couldn't give an estimate on how long it might last, only that gearboxes in these gtis are "rubbish" !! Same ones used all over the place and have a tendency to fail. With new clutch and whatnot near £1k to have it replaced. I'm not sure how that compares to the prices in the gearbox thread, but here in the channel isle ds, it wouldn't surprise me.

He said we could draj out the oil in the gearbox and look for signs, eg metal filings or some such.

So I'm not sure what to do

1) drain the oil, check for damage, replace the oil and hope it goes away
2) take the gamble, ignore it and wait for it to go pop... Either tomorrow or in 18 months...
3) try and sell it, or px it somewhere
4) repair it... Doesn't seem worth it though when cost is half the value of the car!

ATM reckon it'll be 1 then 3...

[6N2 GTI 00]

5) Try another garage and get a cheaper quote!

£1000 is an absolute crazy amount ofmoney! You wont need it replaced, just get it refurbed if it needs doing.
No point whatsoever putting a brand new box in there unless you can afford to do it.

The problem isnt just going to go away unfortunately so will need doing if it is the gearbox.
Selling it with this problem isnt a good idea either or very nice.
Anybody with a fair amount of knowledge will know something is up when they drive it anyway.

Get a few more quotes dude, you can get refurbed boxes off eBay for £500 and you should be able to get yours stripped & refurbed for around £400.
Just make sure if its done, its done properly.
Some people unfortunately have had theirs refurbed only to find it now has the TDI gear ratio's.

[weirdbeardmt]

The £1k was his rough estimate based on

£600 for refurbed box
£250 labour to get it out, put back in
£125 if did clutch as well

So yeah could get a cheaper box and not do clutch but still gonna be at least 500-600 notes all in to get it done.

Trouble is I'm limited for choice over here in garages... That was from the Skoda garage, if I went to The VW garage it'd be twice! When the car is probably worth £2k ish, not sure it's worth spending £xxx to get it fixed...

[6N2 GTI 00]

The £1k was his rough estimate based on

£600 for refurbed box
£250 labour to get it out, put back in
£125 if did clutch as well

So yeah could get a cheaper box and not do clutch but still gonna be at least 500-600 notes all in to get it done.

Trouble is I'm limited for choice over here in garages... That was from the Skoda garage, if I went to The VW garage it'd be twice! When the car is probably worth £2k ish, not sure it's worth spending £xxx to get it fixed...

Its either sell it with a damaged box and get maybe £1200-1500 though or just scrap it which would be a real shame.
Depends how much you like the car really, despite their value dropping heavily in the last couple of years its still a hell of a car for the money. Much better than any Renault, Peugeot, Citreon, Ford, Vauxhall or Fiat you could add several others to that list aswell

[weirdbeardmt]

Its either sell it with a damaged box and get maybe £1200-1500 though or just scrap it which would be a real shame.
Depends how much you like the car really, despite their value dropping heavily in the last couple of years its still a hell of a car for the money. Much better than any Renault, Peugeot, Citreon, Ford, Vauxhall or Fiat you could add several others to that list aswell

Agreed... I really like the car, my biggest fear though is that I spend the money to get it done and then in a couple of months something else big goes wrong and it turns in to a money pit. I know that no car comes with a guarantee (well apart from those under warranty ) but at this point I'm wondering if I cut my losses... definitely wouldn't scrap it though!

Hohum, decisions...

[6N2 GTI 00]

The Gearbox is one of the big expensive jobs on the car if it needs changing/refurbing, another big job is the cambelt tensioners which is a costly fix.
Everything else is fairly straight forward provided you look after it, mine needs a CV joint at the moment which isnt a cheap fix either but there are not that many faults with the GTI. Most of the problems are Sensors or electric window failures. The Pedal box was another issue with these cars but they were recalled by VW for this repair soyours has probably been done

[James W]

Is there any other stronger gearboxes that could be used as a replacement, like diesel ones or Lupo 5 & 6 speed boxes?