Hi All,

Not posted for years, just been enjoying life with my vw polo breadvan... Sadly recently the gearbox has begun to whine. Definitely my own fault, there was a gearbox oil leak I didn't attend to. Have replaced the gearbox oil but still whining.

The dilemma is what to do, I have found a random geabox on ebay (AKV part type), but really not fond of the idea of buying an unknown gearbox from spain, fitting it. Seems like a total gamble. I know what I would love todo, which is show it some love and engine swap it but there just aren't the funds for those sorts of adventures in the near future...

Potential options are to either break it for parts (I have some other spare parts too) or sell it as a non-runner. Which is a bit heart breaking as I love the car and had it 11 years.

This is the obvious place to ask as there is likely some here that can relate, and I would value any thoughts or suggestions/questions...

If you have not got the funds and don't trust buying gearbox and don't have space to store the car until funds are available you know it's got to go.

Again if you not go time to part the car out it needs to go as a none running spare or repair etc.

I know your pain although not same situation as you , I sold my 91 gt coupe with 6000 miles after 21 years ownership.

Now I have a 90 GT breadvan that's been a project that's almost ready for MOT.

Watch this space.😁

Have been browsing the forums a bit more to see if any one has posted similar issues. After talking with a friend, they said it maybe the thrust bearing but did find a post confirming its the gearbox (same part code as mine, same whining sound when under load).

Thankfully they also posted a thread about a replacement box so know what codes I am looking for, so will do that in the parts forum, if I can find a box in the uk from a polo fan instead of a scrapper from europe it would be worth the risk/cost!

Thanks for the reply, GT breadvan project sounds ace! Glad to hear you close to MOT, will keep an eye out.

There's a long way between a gearbox whine and a car being a none-runner. There's people in this world (I'm one), who'd just turn the radio up and keep enjoying it.

Failing that, before you decide on a drastic course of action, give a gearbox specialist a call. These gearboxes are pretty simple, especially if it's a 4 speed, so it probably won't be as much as you think to have it looked at. Probably even cheaper if you take the gearbox out and put it back yourself.

You aren't wrong about the distance between a gearbox whine and it being a non runner, its just if I were to sell it I couldn't really sell it as a runner because of the known impending major issue with the gear box. I am not that different from yourself, it doesn't have a radio (I use a bluetooth speaker sometimes), but has a loud exhaust, which may have contributed to me not dealing with the issue earlier haha. It is at a point now it can be heard over the exhaust so is no longer a quite noise...

I did have a quick look at some gearbox repair places, didn't make any inquiries but from the comments the budgets are thousands and not close to the hundreds, which comes close to the home engine swap budget I don't have. I love the idea of getting a Kei car power train to swap into it, they are around 600cc, lighter, more efficient and close to double the power of the 1.0 in mine. It feels like a simpler version of doing a motor bike engine swap but it would take a while to save up for it.

Yeah, some of them will want to quote themselves out of the job because it's an old car, but there'll be one or two who look at it and see how simple it is, have a ring round, or better still, nip in. Google maps is really handy for finding the back street specialists who've been doing it for years and aren't all over social media.