UK-POLOS.NET - THE VW Polo Forum

Right, i bought my Polo Gti in July, and love the thing to pieces, however recently the gearbox rapidly deteriorated to a point where the radio wouldnt mask the noise!!!

I Got a Recon box put in by a local company, who sourced a box from A gearbox specialist in Bristol ( i live in Clevedon).
It all went smoothly, got the car back on Saturday, took it for a drive and noticed that the ratios have changed!

The car accelerates quite a bit slower, and 5th gear is 15mph different.
I.e. @ 4000rpm it was around the 80 mark, like any other hatchback.

Now, its 4000rpm at around the 95mph mark (on a private road, accompanied by a variety of saftey vehicles)! This seems odd, and considering that i've heard that only Gti gearboxes fit Gti's, what the hell did they put in it, gears from a diesel???

I phoned up the company saying the above, the gearbox spec is NOT the same, from when i brought it in 3 days earlier...

The guy apparently phoned up the specialist he sourced the gearbox from, and told me that i should run it in for a 1000 miles, and then go back, as i shouldn't be doing 95 with it. The only reason i did that, is to see the actual difference, and as it happens, the 4000rpm marker was one that i remembered!

I fail to see how this can change the amount of teeth on the cogs, and therefore reduce final drive! I understand that the oil being new could be viscous and new, and hinder the acceleration, but i didn't think this would change 5th gear by 15mph!! 4th is longer, but i havent got details on that one....

Can anyone vouch their final drive (5th gear) speed to 4000rpm? If you have no access to a private road i think it was 3000rpm at 70mph..

i have spoken to others, and they reckon that il get no-where as they'll just say they took the number off the box, and ordered it as per that spec!

Any advice, tips, steps to take would be extremely helpful..

Cheers guys

Laurie

I think you will find that the gearbox from the 1.4 polo is IDENTICAL to the 1.6 appart from the gear ratios..


So its possible that they have given you a 1.4 box...check the serial number...

Mine:

3000rpm at 70mph / 4000rpm at 80mph

Cheers

P.S. welcome to the forums!

Mate there are lots of polo boxes that fit into a gti that have all sorts of ratios and final drives! My gti has a box in it at the moment as a stop gap messiar that a mate had out of a tdi that he broke while i decide what 2 do with my gti and flat out on the red line in 5th it will do 100mph and my gti is not standard, but let me tell u with such short gears it gets there quick! loll
Gti gearsets r very hard 2 track down second hand and expensive from vw! Chances r your original gearset was dammaged which happens, chipped a tooth or damaged the layshaft or mainshaft so they just rebuilt your box with the gearset from another polo!

Take it strait back and tell them u want a gti gearset! i can give u the speeds at dirrernt rpm in different gears that u should see on a standard gti so u can check!

And dont take any rubbish about new oil causing drag cause anydrag new oil would make is so small theres no chance u would even notice it let alone cause u 2 lose 15mph!!

ment 2 say gain not lose 15mph!

Hi Guys, cheers for your opinion, they have been very helpful!

Tegwin, cheers for your comments, i havent had the chance to check the no. on the side, and couldnt find the gti gearbox number on the internet to compare it to...

BBS polo, the gearbox they put in was a recon one, and not my box rebuilt. And as for the speeds, that would be brilliant, as then i can get on paper the comparison between the mystery box and the original one!

Si GTI, its a really good site and have been looking on it for a while, not really posting anything, but ive noticed everyone on here are really helpful, and willing to offer advice! Its really impressive to see what people have done to their polos, and id love to modify mine (subtly), but money is not on my side at the moment, and i have other things to buy aswell!

As for my car, the mpg is now brilliant, at 3200rpm at 80 =D but it feels a fair bit slower, and to be honest, i didnt buy a gti for the fuel consumption!

I just want it back to normal, the nice lively car it once was!!

the gearbox code you need for the gti s are etg or ffw they are the only codes on gti boxes any other code and you possibly have a 1.4 box in. the garage that fitted it will now this as the clutches are different from 1.4 and 1.6. so they probably had bother with the clutch fitting at the time.keep at them they are hoping you will get used to it after 1000 miles because there is no running in period on a recon box trust me i work for a gearbox repairers. hence it only cost me £150 to get mine rebuilt.

Ah cheers mk5coz, didnt know any of that!

cheers for the codes, il quote them after i go back to the garage. I just like driving the free 1000 worry free miles on the gearbox =). Doesn't half feel like a slog though!

cheers again,

My GTI does 3250 RPM in 5th gear at 70 MPH