thrust bearing

[UKjarvis]

Hi im going to buy a golf very soon and the potential seller has stated the thrust bearing needs replacing, im not sure whether to take his word for it, he said he had one go before on another golf and that its the same thing, and that when the clutch is pressed the noise goes away, is this the case or is the box itself nacked,.. a quick response would be great as im due to collect soon, thanks peeps. oh its a 1.8 k-jet

[rubjonny]

usually thrust bearing would be the opposite, quiet till you press the clutch pedal. rattling with foot off pedal suggests bearing inside the box, though it'll probably last years like this if you dont abuse the box.  release bearing is an easy job tho, remove green plate and clutch cable then swap, refit cable and new green plate

[UKjarvis]

thanks for your advice, il take the gamble with that said, but in worst case is it a major job to change the inside bearing, again thanks.

[rubjonny]

yeah its not an easy job unfortunatly! how bad is the rattle? my old driver had a bit of a rattle from this bearing but i drove it for a year no probs without it getting worse.  how good the the gearbox overall, they can get crunchy into 2nd at which point you would want to do a box rebuild or replace it anyway. box swap isnt too bad in a mk2 if you know all the shortcuts

[UKjarvis]

I changed one in my last golf with alot of learning curves (new ecu ect..) the problem I face is I dont want to get another box to have the same problem as I havnt got the money for a recon, il change the trust bearing and hope it makes a difference but like you say it proberbly wont, so il just hold out for a decent box and steer clear of ebay.  Cheers Jonny