Gearbox - Replaced or Repaired?

[shaneth]

they'll fix the box; why should they replace it on your whim? dont want to be blunt but... you're not the centre of the service dept

Yes but when i went in i said i knew of others here and OS and they replaced it without me even having to push. I think peter is just annoyed that they do it for one but not another, and not only this but they stuffed it when they try to fix it in the first place. Maybe VW have cracked down on this otherwise they would have replaced a few gear boxes by now and when does a problem like this actually get classed as a proper RECALL.

[GT3]

When mine developed a 1st-2nd crunch, I took it in for the 'recall' oil change. The service dept requested a diagnostic (sought VWA approval) on my gearbox under warranty just to ensure all was ok. The service dept also took photos of my mods and forwarded them to VWA. VWA declined the diagnostic and despite making them aware that it was a documented and established problem, VWA didn't give a ****. Luckily for me the oil change fixed things, but if you've got mods, prepare yourself for a drawn-out battle with VWA on the fearbox issue.

[pologti18t]

When mine developed a 1st-2nd crunch, I took it in for the 'recall' oil change. The service dept requested a diagnostic (sought VWA approval) on my gearbox under warranty just to ensure all was ok. The service dept also took photos of my mods and forwarded them to VWA. VWA declined the diagnostic and despite making them aware that it was a documented and established problem, VWA didn't give a ****. Luckily for me the oil change fixed things, but if you've got mods, prepare yourself for a drawn-out battle with VWA on the fearbox issue.

And why not? You mod your car/engine and the manufacturer has no responsibility to replace/repair anything those mods may affect. Harsh, but reality.

Mind you, my polo gti is a 2005 build and has had the APR tune for 90% of its life (~30,000km). No gearbox issues at all so far. Mind you i dont commute in it and it got a good 1000km run-in thrash (Oxley Highway) when I got it. No gearbox issues (not even the oil change) and uses bugger all oil between services. Touch wood!

[PeterHBne]

Yes but when i went in i said i knew of others here and OS and they replaced it without me even having to push. I think peter is just annoyed that they do it for one but not another, and not only this but they stuffed it when they try to fix it in the first place.

Exactly.

A gearbox that has done 30,000km on the wrong oil and has been stripped twice with first gear replaced becuase the case hardening fell off and the shifting mechanism is rooted clearly has serious problems.

They told me today that after stripping it again there is nothing wrong with it except that the selector mechanism needs to be replaced and no new gearbox for me

I'm hoping that the damn thing seizes soon so I can get a new one with the correct oil from the start.

[Oneofthegreats]

No - Highway VW.

Service Manager believes he has only ever heard of one other Polo GTI with gearbox problems (Shaneth) even after talking with other Service Managers.

They'll say that & play dumb to cover there arse's!

We've replaced a few box's now, but it comes down to how bad the internal's are.

Eg. If it's really bad, normally the 2nd gear syncro will go & throw all it's metal particles all through the gearbox, pitting nearly all the gear teeth surfaces & scoring the bearing races.

We take picture's, send them off with a document & wait for a reply.

Also. If it's been modded in any way, shape or form, then warranty is denied. Full stop & no argument's.

I asked about this the other day in regard's to remap's & such.

Reply was simple, if it's been remapped, chipped etc. warranty on all driveline component's is forfeited.

[Whubbsie]

They'll say that & play dumb to cover there arse's!

We've replaced a few box's now, but it comes down to how bad the internal's are.

Eg. If it's really bad, normally the 2nd gear syncro will go & throw all it's metal particles all through the gearbox, pitting nearly all the gear teeth surfaces & scoring the bearing races.

We take picture's, send them off with a document & wait for a reply.

Also. If it's been modded in any way, shape or form, then warranty is denied. Full stop & no argument's.

I asked about this the other day in regard's to remap's & such.

Reply was simple, if it's been remapped, chipped etc. warranty on all driveline component's is forfeited.

Ouch lets hope I don't have any problems, the weird noises from my gear box and clutch went away a few weeks ago... funnily enough after a good trashing... go figure.

[jueshen]

HI All,

Im from South Africa and almost every 1 i know with a PGTI here has sent there's in for issues experienced when changing from 1st to second at high rev's... sent mine in they changed the oil according to VW campaign letter... still had issues. they then changed secong gear and syncro ( maybe 1st as well... cant remember), problem solved

[Jetstar]

Just took mine in yesterday for the 'recall' oil change, and that seems to have fixed the problem.

Luckily I've got 1 year left on the warranty, so I figured if this was to come up again in the near future it'll still be under manufacturer warranty, fingers cross I guess.

I've thought about writing to VW to express my concerns and to maybe get some sort of extension on the warranty, just for safe measures. But Im not sure if that's really gonna do anything.

But my qustion is, does this kind of thing happen all the time?
And how much damage does it really do on the gear box with the wrong oil, and is the 'recall oil change suffient enough to get rid of the problem?

I dont know a whole lot about cars but this was a very annoying experience.