UK-POLOS.NET - THE VW Polo Forum

Hi Folks

Have had my Polo (2016 1.2 Match) for two months - mileage is now 11200.
Generally very pleased with it.
I think I am detecting the start of a transmission problem - occasionally there is a small hassle to get into reverse (intermittent and this happens I know on most cars) BUT there is now a problem in getting out of reverse beginning to make itself known.
The clutch seems to release (no drag noticeable).
Is this a known quirk/problem - if so what is the way to correct. Car still under warranty.

Your comments welcomed

If still under warranty, see a dealer.

Get it into the dealer. Even if the dealer maintains ‘its normal and they’re all like that’, at least it will be recorded on VW’s system if it becomes a bigger, more serious problem in the future.

You could also ask the dealer to let you drive another Polo that’s the same model as yours to see if it has the same characteristics as yours. That should either help reassure you ‘it’s normal and they’re all like that’, or confirm there is a problem with your specific car that needs to be put right.

That does not sound like a typical behaviour for any gearbox and certainly not for one so new!

Polonut,

Presumably, you're eventually getting back from reverse into neutral and then transmission's okay? Could it be just a gear linkage problem, with possibly originally the linkage only marginally adjusted properly? If so, then it might not be an imminent gearbox failure, it might simply be a case of the linkage requiring inspection and adjusting. Let's hope it is something like that.

Classic symptoms of clutch failing to release properly, invariably causes more problems in reverse than first in the beginning.

Ricmondo,

That's exactly what I thought at first. But on a 2016 Polo that's done only 11,000 mls?

I'm led to believe that, in these particular Polos, clutch activation is via a fluid-based slave cylinder buried in the inside of the clutch bell-housing. If that slave cylinder is leaking a bit, or for some reason has some air trapped in it, the clutch actuator/fork may not push enough to release the clutchplate from the flywheel and therefore it'd make changing gear difficult (hit and miss). An alternative is that a seal in the clutch bell housing is leaking oil on to the clutch, as this would tend to produce the same non-release symptoms. There's normally, I gather, a bleedscrew for the slave cylinder on the top-outside of the bell housing, so if that's the case that'd be something you yourself could try, just in case this is all due to an air bubble being trapped in the hydraulic line to the slave cylinder. (Bear in mind that hydraulic fluid is damaging to car paintwork, so have a rag at the ready, and that if you bleed off hydraulic fluid you'd need to ensure that the amount is replenished at the master cylinder/reservoir, otherwise there'd be a risk of yet further air entrainment).

From one veteran to another I did say failure to release rather than clutch failure so the mileage is not really a factor.

Failure to release can be down to many things, I’ve encountered a spanner in the bellhousing but perhaps the most bizarre was on a Meadows engined Lagonda where a dead rat was preventing the release mechanism from functioning correctly.

Not suggesting a rat or spanner in this case, our sort of Polo even in mint condition is not the one with a hole but most likely a hydraulic malfunction a frustrating and tiresome fault to remedy.