Whirring form gearbox

[ysto]

I have a 55 plate Passat (not new shape) 1.9TDi Sport with around 30K on the clock. Lately I've noticed a whirring sound coming from the gearbox which is more noticeable at speed in gears 4 to 6 and changes with car speed rather than engine speed. The car is typically just out of warranty, and I'm worried that it may be expensive. Anyone have any ideas? Don't want to take the car to my local VW place, be told that it's expensive and then have problems with a part ex there cos they know there's a problem.:1zhelp:

[cazyp]

Personally the first thing i'd do is contact VWUK. Politely argue 50'000 is not acceptable.

If no joy get it looked at. First thing to TRY is a gearbox oil change. May do the trick.

I would say though that it's probably the pinion bearing. At a specialist gearbox place approx £500 job. Shop around!

[vincentbob]

My pinion bearings went at 43,000 miles, just out of warranty.
VW offered to pay half the cost subject to it being found to be a quality issue as the vehicle had been fully serviced from new.
They claimed that it was not a problem they had come across before (they lied, it's a common problem), and said the cost would be £1000 minimum. As I was unsure if they would pay half or not I went to an independant (not a small company) and had it done for £400. It was a bad decision because they made a pigs ear of it, it took them two goes and the box has been plauged with synchro issues etc ever since, and it has just recently gone again (same problem, pinion bearings) at 80,000.
If you can get VW To pay half which I am sure you should be able to argue, I would do that and have it done right.
Best of luck

[ysto]

My pinion bearings went at 43,000 miles, just out of warranty.
VW offered to pay half the cost subject to it being found to be a quality issue as the vehicle had been fully serviced from new.
They claimed that it was not a problem they had come across before (they lied, it's a common problem), and said the cost would be £1000 minimum. As I was unsure if they would pay half or not I went to an independant (not a small company) and had it done for £400. It was a bad decision because they made a pigs ear of it, it took them two goes and the box has been plauged with synchro issues etc ever since, and it has just recently gone again (same problem, pinion bearings) at 80,000.
If you can get VW To pay half which I am sure you should be able to argue, I would do that and have it done right.
Best of luck

Thanks, though my attitude towards this is that I should be the one making the contribution not VW. This seems far too common a problem and the mileage to low for VW to not be covering the majority of the cost. Took a techician out for a drive on Friday and he tried telling me it was a wheel bearing as he could only hear it from his side of the car (bear in mind he only sat on one side of the car!!!). When he realised that I have an engineering background myself, the diagnisis changed to a more realistic gearbox problem. Car booked in for Tuesday to delve deeper, but I want more commitment from VW UK before they start taking it apart. Fingers crossed!

[Ian Godney]

I have just removed my gearbox to have the bearings changed , I have taken it to Cwmbran gearbox centre , hopefully get it back monday or tuesday , I bought the bearings from VW , new diff side bearings , and the 3 on the pinion shaft , I have also bought a Quaffe diff which os being fitted at the same time , and new clutch as it was more than half worn , I want to have the car remapped so thought it best to do it now.
My car has done 90k , I have only had it a few months it was perfect when I bought it .

[martin1810]

The best thng to do is to ask the dealer to get someone out from VW to assess the problem. Not surprising the dealers don't want to do warranty work and then find vw won't pay them. You have to push or the dealer may not bother.

[ysto]

Success! (to a point)

Gearbox replaced and I managed to push VW's contribution up to 60%. It took a very angry phone call to VW customer services, with talk of SOGA and Trading Standards, but happy with 60%. Can't say I'm overly happy with my 40%, but at least I have a replacement gearbox on the car, and that it's been done properly. One thing I find funny though is that the reconditioned gearbox comes with a 2 year unlimited mileage warranty. Does this mean they trust their reconditioned boxes more than they do their new ones?!

Have to say though, the dealership couldn't have been more supportive, especially when you consider that I didn't buy the car from there and they made a sizeable contribution towards the VW 60%. :biglaugh::arms::booty: