vw sms gearbox pinion shaft problem affects all vw gearboxes!!

[animaniac]

i can now find 4 websites on a google scearch with pinion shaft problem on vw gearboxes!

according to them the 1995 vento or jetta in usa still has the rivet problem! this is because vw fitted vivets to hold the pinion shaft instead of using the proper snap rings or circlips!

i dont know if the vr6 has this problem but when i change the gear oil . i'm going to jack the car up
and look through the drain plug hole this is under the diff and i should see if there are rivets or circlips holding the pinion shaft! this will help us prepare and expect a failure of this! when it may fail i dont know!

i just hope vw used the circlips as i dont want to fork out money for something which is a fault of vw's at my cost!

i would suggest everyone to do this when they change their gear oil! i just wish i'd have seen this before i had a recon box put on the gti! if i had it probibly wouldnt be getting scrapped now!


4spd & Early 5spd Note all rivets are flat. We really hardly see a problem with these. They
are really tuff to remove once drilled.

84 & Later 5Spd Note one broken extended rivet at end of cross-shaft. Flat and extended rivets are now softer and press out much easier than their early cousins.

Mark III Jetta with 75K. Correct they still
haven't fixed the problem. '95-'84=11 YEARS!
but i think its more like 20 years and the problem stil exsists! on the mk 4 golf! some bloke in the golf mag had his box go on 30000 miles and vw wouldnt replace it!!

UPDATE: ALL VW GEARBOXES ARE AFFECTED BY THE PINION SHAFT PROBLEM!

[animaniac]

the answer is no! as i've done quite alot of research on this!!

all vw sudi seat skoda gearboxes have this problem!

there is a alot of people on various car websites who have brought vws and seats and the gearboxes are going like crazy!!

some of them are trying to take legeal action against vw for this!!

i think this self machining syndrome pinion shaft problem is only starting come to light because they are failling early mileage! vw know about this problem thats why they sell the bolt kit!

but they dont concider this as a problem!
if it goes under warranty they replace it if it goes outside.. they dont care!! but there are alot of angry people who are having to pay upto £1k for another gearbox!! and they are just abit p*****!

[richandhazel]

The earlier mk1 gearboxes had pins and circlips, however, VW in their infinate wisdom cut costs by switching to rivets. My girlfriends Dad's mk2 GTi let go and blue the rivets through the side of the case and lost him all his oil! Wrecked the box!

There is a mod kit available for replacing the rivets with pins and circlips. If you hunt through previous posts you will find the thread where this was brought up before and you will find a part number for the mod kit.