Leaking green gearbox cap - what's in there?

[Neill Watson]

My first post here, a new VW owner. Just bought a nice simple Bora 1.6 for general commuting. The car is 1999 (V) and has recently had gearbox work. It now has a significant oil leak from the green end cap. Browsing the forums leads me to believe someone's been cutting corners and re-used the old one.

Given that it's a 120 mile round trip to have an argument, I'd rather just sort it myself. My query is, assuming the cap is a simple 'interference' push fit, I can prise it off?
If so, will I need to then catch a significant amount of gearbox oil as it comes off or will it be fairly dry? Also, I assume some simple gasket sealant to help things along is also a good move?

Many thanks in advance for any replies. The Bora's a tad in the flat side to say the least, but if it proves as reliable as rumoured, I'll move to a Golf GTi pretty soon.

Neill W

[sparkplug]

Hi Neill welcome
it is an interference fit cover yes
i jacked the car up on that side ,so the cover was higher than the oil level
just in case, then swapped it over 
sorry i cant remember if any oil leaked out but as the gearbox only holds around 2 litres
of oil you wouldn't need a huge container to catch it

[Neill Watson]

Thanks, Sparkle,

Good thinking with the jack, will do the same. I guess that if a lot had leaked out, you'd have remembered it! :-)

Thanks for your reply.

Neill W