Help me please my Golf is broken

[Gemma]

Yesterday my clutch made a big clunk sound and went to the floor. I called the garage and they came and drove it away, he shoved it into third gear and drove it in third to the garage.
I then got a call saying that i may need a whole new gearbox as something to do with the hydraulics. Is this correct? how much is that going to cost?
I am sure i got a duff Golf as last year my cambelt snapped and that cost £1600 to fix. The cambelt had been replaced at 77k and then snapped at 84k the idiots did the tensioner and timing wrong, don't know how but thats what my mechanic told me.
Please can someone advise me on what may actually be wrong with my car could it really need a whole new gearbox?

[Hex69]

Hi there Gemma,

Sorry to hear of your woes.

If you can give us some more information, that would help us diagnose your problem.



Age of car
What engine is has in it
What gearbox (these 2 will be on a sticker in the handbook)
How many miles it has done.

Hopefully someone on here, will b e able to help you.:D

[Gemma]

The car is from 2002
Engine is 1.9 TDI 110bhp
I don't have the book as am at work and its at home, so don't know exact gearbox
Its now done approx 93k mile.

[Hex69]

The car is from 2002
Engine is 1.9 TDI 110bhp
I don't have the book as am at work and its at home, so don't know exact gearbox
Its now done approx 93k mile.

So it's a Mark 4 Golf like this?

http://homepage.ntlworld.com/chicane-uk/mygolf.jpg

[Hex69]

I've done a quick search on the Mk4 Golf sub-forum here

http://www.vwaudiforum.co.uk/forum/forumdisplay.php?f=173

And come up with these threads which could help you.

http://www.vwaudiforum.co.uk/forum/showthread.php?t=44902&highlight=Clutch

http://www.vwaudiforum.co.uk/forum/showthread.php?t=26793&highlight=Clutch

http://www.vwaudiforum.co.uk/forum/showthread.php?t=37348&highlight=Clutch

[Desertfish]

Hi Gemma:

The problem you’re describing could indeed be a broken gearbox. Not sure how much a new one would cost, but if it comes down to having to put another gearbox in, you don’t necessarily need to go for a new one, you could get a reconditioned one or even a second had one from a breaker yard. I found www.breakeryard.com (http://www.reakeryard.com/) the best place when I was looking for spare parts in the past.

Also, if someone is going to replace the gearbox, make sure they put in another clutch as well. Its an extra £70 to £80 for the part but well worth doing if they going to strip the gearbox out anyway.

As for the cambelt issue you described, it seems they either tensioned it too much or haven’t tensioned it enough. It’s the only reason I could see a cambelt snapping after barely 10,000 miles. I would certainly not get the gearbox replaced by the same people who have done your cambelt. And if they are the ones that diagnosed the broken gearbox on your car now, I would certainly seek a second opinion.

[Gemma]

Thanks for your help you've been great!
My car does look like the black one only it has just a red I in the TDI bit not a red D&I i think they are the better ones.

Its not at the same garage as the idiots!
Its at my local VW & Audi specialists as i cannot really afford to take it to VW garage they charge loads.

I have another problem with it, nothing to do with the engine! The clock that shows how many miles I have traveled will not reset also the key lock & Unlock button has stopped working and the service light won't go off even though it was serviced in Feb the guy said the connection may have come loose in the Odometer (whatever the hell that is) as this is how they reset the service button and also how they reset the keys, so i have been unlocking it manually and then i have to be mega fast at getting the keys in the ignition before the alarm goes off!

My first old mark 1 GTI was much more reliable than this i had no engine probs with that at all.

[Ben]

hi gemma,

just pop your location down in your profile. we have people in various areas we could recommend. hopefully you are not too far from nottingham.;)

[paul b]

Regarding your key problem, that is the coding problem, hence the alarm goes off. The keys need re-matching to the central locking system. The keys obviously are okay with the immobiliser, so you don't need new keys, just for them to be re-matched. The VW specialists should be able to do that, and if you spend enough money with them they may sort that FOC.

Paul

[Gemma]

The garage have told me that my master cylinder has gone and they have ordered one in for me, they said they will not know whether the gearbox has gone until they put in the new cylinder!
Is this all going to cost me loads?
Is it worth getting it fixed? or should i just get rid?
Its quite upsetting, when my clutch went on another car I had all i needed was a new cable why is this one so different?