VW gearboxes made of plasticene now?

Daughter's 1.7 SDI Lupo, '99 (T), done all of 93k miles. The box had to be repaired about 10k miles ago, (18 months back), and it's gone again. Now making a heavy whine on the overrun at low speed. This suddenly came on yesterday. The last time the fault was the roller bearing on the mainshaft disintigrating, made obvious when I dropped the oil out and several graunched-up rollers came out too. Wonder what it is this time? Either way I'm not impressed. It's been the most unreliable vehicle ever in our family. Not as if it has a powerful engine stressing it is it? Do VW do exchange boxes, and if so how many arms and legs do we have to sacrifice?

Just had the front wheel up and there is no nasty noise when turning it. Next thing is to check the oil.

Reply to
Brian
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Just checked oil, and yes, you've guessed, a chewed up roller plus a fair amount of swarf came out too. Looks just like the first roller 18 months ago. Although I accept that there might be more than one bearing of similar size in the box, it does look as if the "repair" has failed.

Reply to
Brian

Ham-fisted driver?

Reply to
SteveH

It could be there's some other fault that's putting more stress than expected on that particular area or an oil problem. Bits of bearing going about in the gearbox for ages isn't going do a lot of good in general.

Reply to
adder1969

Thanks for the constructive reply.

Reply to
Brian

It's actually a serious suggestion.

Yes, there have been issues with that box, but to have it happen twice would suggest there may be other factors involved.

Reply to
SteveH

Steve didn't mean to offend... and I agree with SteveH that it's a possibility. Lupo SDIs are not known to chew gearboxes.

Reply to
DervMan

It is also possible that the last repair was not done properly, however, I will try to check on my daughter's driving style. To date though, whenever I have been with her, I have not noticed anything which might lead to this sort of failure. (My wife got through a clutch in 15k once, she used the pedal as a footrest - not any more though). The guy who did the repair has been mending gearboxes for 30 years, and told me he had had a lot of VW boxes in with this bearing failure. He gave the impression that it was a well-known weak point. I doubt if there have been many failures of SDI boxes, as there are very few Lupo SDIs about anyway. But I keep reading on various fori about other recent VW gearbox failures. Normally the bearing, so it must be a weak point. It is also difficult to work out how a bad driving style can knock out a mainshaft bearing in 10k miles. The cage has clearly disintegrated as I found a loose roller in the bottom of the box.

Reply to
Brian

I often rest my foot on the clutch, i know you're not meant to but I must do it lightly because i never have premature failure.

On to the OP - id suggest either the repairs were done badly (box not properly stripped and cleaned) or there is a fault in the housings/machinings.

Reply to
Coyoteboy

My thoughts too. Been offered a box from a scrapyard with 60 days warranty for £125, so will go for that. Just don't trust the current box anymore. If that bearing has gone twice now, it may well no longer be repairable.

Reply to
Brian

Perhaps this person who fixes things twice is a bit suspect?

Reply to
Robert

My thinking too, but as it was last fixed 18 months ago, not much chance of redress. In any case I would have doubts about the box being repairable if the same bearing has gone twice.

Reply to
Brian

After I had an accident and couldn't walk for a bit, my wife had to drive me round. Noticing how she rode the clutch at every light or junction, I bought her an automatic, and she's driven them ever since!

Reply to
asahartz

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