UK-POLOS.NET - THE VW Polo Forum

Hi there,

At the moment ive got a love hate relationship with my little GTI, I love everything about the car except for its stupid gearbox.

28th Feb '07 (at 47k) the cars original gearbox practically exploded leaving it stranded at the roadside and needing a new gearbox and clutch. I paid £1200 for a new Black Diamond sports clutch and a re-con Black Diamond gearbox (with 12month warentee).

19th Feb '08 (at 55k) the gearbox makes a terrible whining noise when in gear but off the gas, mechanic advises it is the gearbox differential over-run and replaces the box with another Black Diamond re-con under warentee. (although i had to pay £200 for him to fit it, as he advised that if we sent it Black Diamond to do the repair for free then they would knock it back due to my mods).

2nd March '08 (only 535miles on the latest box) whining noise has started again when changing up from 1st or 2nd gears, took it back to the mechanic. Who told me that it sounded like the diff over-run again and also that my warentee had expired on the 1st of March and that any parts and labour are likely to be chargeable.

Ive got absolutely no confidence in the gearbox in the Polo GTI and if I could afford to sell up and upgrade my car I would, but Ive gotta keep it at least until Nov '09 when i'll have paid it all off. (unless i downgrade to a more reliable but less exciting car)

From the experiences of all you other Polo GTI drivers once the gearbox has gone once am i likely to be looking at repairing replacing it every year? Or is there a chance that my next box might be a good one that lasts or all they all as crap as one antoher. Coz I just cant afford to shell out for multiple gearboxes on a car that has already had more spent on it that I paid for it in the 1st place.

If your gearbox has gone what did the mechanic say (if anything) was the cause of it?

Why wont VW acknowledge the 6n2 GTI gearbox issue as when i've spoken to them about it they advised that there are no known issues with the gearbox on this car!
(The lady i spoke to also tried to tell me that the Polo GTI shares a gearbox with the Lupo GTI, however when challenged on this she couldnt advise why the same gearbox on the Polo has 5 forward gears whilst on the Lupo has 6, muppets!)

I feel your pain 100% mate. Mine is currently in the gearbox re-con place hoping to get it back tomorrow. I'm also in a similar circumstance with regards to the warranty. Hoping to come to 'some arrangement' about it.

I would have (and will do if mine goes before I sell it) cut my losses after the first rebuild, but that is a bit late now.

I don't think there is much point trying to sell it now without repair, so either:
A) get it repaired and move on to something else (there are some half decent cars for around the value you would receive e.g. 172's etc
B) if it is still driveable p/x it as quick as you can to an unsuspecting garage. My experience of p/x'ing cars has been that they check the general condition i.e. bodywork, tyres, service history etc but seldom drive the car. Morally wrong, so check the contract small print, but you'd most likely get away with it.

Mine is fine but I do know the inevitable will happen in the future. I'll be pissed off first time. If the first rebuild fails, I'll be flaming, and if there was a second I would probably have to get rid no matter how much I love the car.

VW really should of sorted this out ages ago. This was a 14k Polo when new, people paid a lot of money for them. Now because the youngest model is 6 years old, they are less likely to give a crap than ever.

VW = pretty good cars, crap aftersales service

Mine has had one gearbox rebuild by previous owner, it's been good to me since.

I dread the day if/when this happens to mine. There's a sticky gearbox box thread that may be worth giving a read too mate

Mouse_GTI wrote:
VW = pretty good cars, crap aftersales service

Haha seconded

Spoke to my mechanic again today. He said that the guy from Black Diamond wants to come out on a drive in the car with me to see/hear the box for himself.

I guess once he's had a look I'll know more about whether they will replace it free of charge and pay the labour costs this time too. Although the mechanic advised me not to get my hopes up too much as he thinks BD will just blame my mods.

Now i didnt receive any terms/conditions or any paperwork regarding to the 1st BD box I bought (the one with the warentee) and cant find any such information on BD's website. But the mechanic assures me they will have a problem with any non OE spec equipment fitted to the car, I was wondering do you think that this applies to the uprated BD performance clutch that was supplied and fitted along with my 1st box?

I just cant see how the minor mods that I have done could affect the gearbox, what can i say to the guy from BD is he tries to blame the mods.

(my main mods are: eibach lowering springs -45mm, BMC, Full custom st/st exhaust and sports cat, 280mm brake upgrade, 16" 7j wheels 195/40/16 tyres)


Thanks for any help

LiverpoloGTi wrote:Spoke to my mechanic again today. He said that the guy from Black Diamond wants to come out on a drive in the car with me to see/hear the box for himself.

I guess once he's had a look I'll know more about whether they will replace it free of charge and pay the labour costs this time too. Although the mechanic advised me not to get my hopes up too much as he thinks BD will just blame my mods.

Now i didnt receive any terms/conditions or any paperwork regarding to the 1st BD box I bought (the one with the warentee) and cant find any such information on BD's website. But the mechanic assures me they will have a problem with any non OE spec equipment fitted to the car, I was wondering do you think that this applies to the uprated BD performance clutch that was supplied and fitted along with my 1st box?

I just cant see how the minor mods that I have done could affect the gearbox, what can i say to the guy from BD is he tries to blame the mods.

(my main mods are: eibach lowering springs -45mm, BMC, Full custom st/st exhaust and sports cat, 280mm brake upgrade, 16" 7j wheels 195/40/16 tyres)


Thanks for any help

with those mods you are only looking at probably 5-10 ish extra bhp over standard so there is no way that would kill the box!? and wheels and suspension are pretty irelevent when it comes to the gearbox i would have thought? arnt black diamond suppliers of uprated clutches/brakes/gearboxes anyway? in which case they should be able to cope with a few minor mods?!

nogwuy wrote:
with those mods you are only looking at probably 5-10 ish extra bhp over standard so there is no way that would kill the box!? and wheels and suspension are pretty irelevent when it comes to the gearbox i would have thought? arnt black diamond suppliers of uprated clutches/brakes/gearboxes anyway? in which case they should be able to cope with a few minor mods?!

Thats exactly what I thought.

Spoke to my mechanic again today (god he must be getting sick of me and my polo) and pretty much said what is quoted above, he agreed and said that the extra power shouldnt impact the box at all, but he reckons that the suspension and wheel mods have changed the geometry of the car and that this could be affecting the gearbox. Im not sure what to think about this.

Anyway surely even OE spec 6n2 GTI's have had gearbox problems?

LiverpoloGTi wrote:

nogwuy wrote:
with those mods you are only looking at probably 5-10 ish extra bhp over standard so there is no way that would kill the box!? and wheels and suspension are pretty irelevent when it comes to the gearbox i would have thought? arnt black diamond suppliers of uprated clutches/brakes/gearboxes anyway? in which case they should be able to cope with a few minor mods?!

Thats exactly what I thought.

Spoke to my mechanic again today (god he must be getting sick of me and my polo) and pretty much said what is quoted above, he agreed and said that the extra power shouldnt impact the box at all, but he reckons that the suspension and wheel mods have changed the geometry of the car and that this could be affecting the gearbox. Im not sure what to think about this.

Anyway surely even OE spec 6n2 GTI's have had gearbox problems?

dont see how lower/stiffer suspension can damage a gearbox? and as for the wheels, so long as you have 40 profile tyres on a 16 inch wheel, they are the same size as the oem ones?!

Dont know much about gearboxes tbh but I heard that it puts the driveshaft at a bit of an angle when you lower a car, hence maybe effecting the gearbox. Not 100% sure but just a thought

Yeh I've heard this too, I wouldn't take the extra 5-10bhp so lightly either, although it's a small percentage increase I'd feel it may affect the gearbox somewhat

Right a bit of an update and a few new questions.....

Just got back from Black Diamond where a technician drove (without ever going above 2.5k revs) about 6 miles with me in the car and agreed there was a noise but didnt think that it was from the gearbox. He thought it could possibly be the clutch release bearing or that the clutch cable was snagging or twisted. I'm to take it back on Tuesday so he can take a look at and lubricate the clutch cable.

The guy also said that the gearboxes in these Polos were crap (a quick look around the yard and I saw 3 6n2 Polos and a red 6n2 GTI all in for gearbox work!) and that they cant handle the power from the 1.6 or 1.9D engines. He also said...that exactly the same type of gearbox is fitted to every 6n2 whether it be a 1.0 or the GTI.

Is that correct?
As I always assumed that the boxes would be specific to each engine?

I then went to my mechanic and told him what the guy at BD told me. My mech didnt think it was the clutch release, as he had fitted mine 13mths ago and saw the clutch when he changed gearboxes 6wks ago.

Im begining to wonder how much it would cost to get a custom box made up that could handle the power better.

The gearboxes for each 6N2 all have different gear ratios, so you couldn't put a 1.4 box in a GTi,

see here,

http://www.tyresmoke.net/gallery/albut34/DSC02262

http://www.tyresmoke.net/gallery/albut34/DSC02263

A custom box will set you back into the thousands I reckon

i had the same issues....so now im ready for the 1.8T