f@*king gearbox

[spankyVR6]

On my way to work today, I came to a stop and put the car into 1st (it went unwillingly) only to be in 3rd (in the 1st position), oh my god I thought! managed to limp to a car park, only to put it into reverse to park, but found out reverse is now 1st gear!!!  . All the gears are totally mixed up, it's a bit of a lottery as to what gear you get and where!!
RAC man looked and says it's not the linkage and that it's an internal problem, then towed me to a garage. They can't look at it until friday, but I rang a bloke that can come and pick the car up today and fit a recon box (with warranty and inc towing and VAT) all in for £550. Does this sound a reasonable amount? and what gearbox code is a '97 non highline VR6 golf?

cheers

[Len]

Reasonable

[lew893]

I paid £600 for a diff rebuild and new clutch with 6 months guarantie so sound ok. O only had my car a day!!! bloody sh**y vw gearboxes!!! 

[spankyVR6]

Tell me about it, aswell as mine I have a mate with another VR6 and his gearbox went about 3 weeks ago, and I'm mates wit Outlaw Torn off this web site, his box has been knacked for a while and the lost 5th gear totally yesterday! As you said lew893 "bloody sh**y vw gearboxes!!!
Well it's all booked in for it's spanking new (recon) gearbox for tomorrow! If it's of any intrest the warranty is 2 years or 20,000 miles, not too bad really!

[Mk3Tim]

On my way to work today, I came to a stop and put the car into 1st (it went unwillingly) only to be in 3rd (in the 1st position), oh my god I thought! managed to limp to a car park, only to put it into reverse to park, but found out reverse is now 1st gear!!!  . All the gears are totally mixed up, it's a bit of a lottery as to what gear you get and where!!
RAC man looked and says it's not the linkage and that it's an internal problem, then towed me to a garage. They can't look at it until friday, but I rang a bloke that can come and pick the car up today and fit a recon box (with warranty and inc towing and VAT) all in for £550. Does this sound a reasonable amount? and what gearbox code is a '97 non highline VR6 golf?

cheers

I had the exact same symptoms but all it was, was a loose bolt on the gear selector on top of the gearbox which controlled the left to right movement, and cost nothing to fix.  You've probably already checked but if not check they are all tight.

[adyh]

I have to agree with Mk3 Tim , doesnt sound like its a new gear box to me .

[lew893]

Where is that at spanky?

[spankyVR6]

Cleckheaton gearbox centre, just outside Bradford. TBH the box was not as good as it should have been, at high revs it sometimes wouldn't go into 3rd until the revs dropped below about 4,500 (no good when your neck and neck with an Audi TT). And on very cold days it could be a bit crunchy! So have bitten the bullet and the gearbox is being fitted now. Peace of mind and all that :grin:£550 worse off, but at least I know I've got a new gearbox!

[vwagain]

My gearbox is pretty much fooked to. Thing is, i was looking through the bills the other day and i found one from "Cleckheaton gearbox centre" !! They supplied a recon box on the 10/07/05!!!!!!. it also came with a 2 year 24.000 Mlle warranty. I had a guy look at it the other week whilst he was doing my rear engine mount and he said the pinion shaft or something was about to go pop and when they go they pop a hole in the casing Its also leaking oil at an alarming rate!! He also told me it didn't look like a recon and that all they had done was spray the top of the box black!!!!!

Now, the trouble with this warranty is that they have not filled in the mileage of the car when the gearbox was fitted!! So there's no way of proving if its done less than the 24.000 miles. Hmmm, im thinking "is this a dodge so they can wriggle out of replacing the box?" Also the reg number isnt on the warranty sheet either!! So they could just say tham i have found the recipt and that im trying to pull a fast one!  Oh and its a bit of a hike for me to take the car to them to look at only to be told to piss off!! 

Anyway, i shall be ringing them tomorrow to see what they say.

Stu

[spankyVR6]

That doesn't sound too good. I have been told they are good though. But I will make sure I get the reg and milage filled out. I know if they just supply rather than supply and fit the box you will never get any joy as they will blame whoever put it in!! That's why they are doing the job lot, so I have some comeback if things go wrong!