Afternoon all,

Title says it all really. Picked up a black GTI yesterday from a friend, aware of an existing issue selecting gear. Ended up being recovered by the RAC, and now have an as yet undiagnosed (major) engine fault to work on as well.

I may be here a while...

Welcome to CP.

How dead are we talking? unfortunately 6n2 polos in general (not just GTIs) are known for gearbox issues, mainly because they're made of chocolate... but you can get reconditioned gearboxes for them which are cheaper than brand new ones.

not sure how expensive they are though!

Oil pressure light started flashing, so pulled off motorway and stopped. It wouldn't restart, have low compression on 3 cylinders. Cambelt is intact as far as I can see. Not sure where to go from there.

I'm hoping the gearbox is just a linkage issue, read up on the problems they can have before buying.

Is your oil low? Top up to max and spin it over. Sounds like 1) oil pressure low not allowing rockers to open valves fully or 2) You will need to take cam carrier off and put all the rocker fingers back on the valves. Does it make a harsh click tapping noise when the engine is cranking?

Been meaning to update this.

Oil level fine, no noticeable clicking noise.

I've managed to source a replacement engine, which I'm in the process of trying to swap - seemed to be the easier option at the time, but now I'm not so sure.

Gearboxes are made of chocolate mate, if it fails and you get or can hear the whirring/whining noise, get the box professionally reconditioned with new bearings. Don't bother sourcing another box as it will just happen with that. Recon box is roughly 500-800 depending on where you go.

Best of luck with the engine swap.