BANG!! & the gearbox is gone.

[DaveDreads]

So i'm driving home from work today on a duel carriageway with no hard shoulder or laybys,
i'm doing 70mph for quite some time and all of a sudden CLUNK!!

The car starts decelerating so hit the clutch take it out of gear a release it and it starts declerating again, so I franticly try and find another gear and I think I found 3rd so I press the accelerator to see if it revs or drives and it drives, badly.

I managed to do 50mph @ 6K rpm and get off at a roundabout (so I assume i've got third)
but it's now stuck in gear and sounds like an absolute bag of spanners.:S

I have a horrible feeling that the oil I found in the sump tray wasn't from the leaking rocker cover bolt but from the gearbox,
so I reckon it's been driving without gearbox oil and has destroyed itself.

I know there's not much any of you can do to help me, I just thought i'd share my misery.

 

[fletch8]

feel sorry for you mate. Can you check your gearbox oil levels at all? Reckon that's the only reason its gone?

 

[DaveDreads]

Yeah, I got a breakdown truck to bring it back to my house and managed to pull it on to my drive so on Monday i'll have a look,
i've got work tommorow and will be driving my mums £400 Mondeo shed............oh how the mighty have fallen. LOL

I now worried that it's knackered the driveshfts aswell, a new gearbox or refurb of mine was on the cards anyway
as 2nd had become grindy when changing.

 

[imprezaworks]

Gutted mate. Hope you get it sorted

Dan.

 

[DaveDreads]

I've had the car 4 years and this is the first major thing that's gone wrong with it,
so I guess i'm lucky really as i've read horror stories of people buying 1*2s and they've had the cam belt snap on the way home
or a few weeks later.

A second hand box is £400 delivered from ClioSpares, although any other damage or the resulting labour is another story.

 

[ashy_gtt]

Your driveshafts wont be damaged mate.

 

[DaveDreads]

I hope not as it could get expensive, although I know i'm looking at the best part of a grand to get it sorted.
It's a good car with a strong engine and apart from todays gearbox nightmare, there's nothing really wrong with it.

 

[MonkeyKnifeFight]

When my box died it cost me £1000 to get the car back on the road i wish i had bought a secondhand box but my hands were tied at the time. The garage i took my car to said stripping the box was an 8 hour job!! so it was never going to be cheap.

 

[scotty2hotty81]

I hope not as it could get expensive, although I know i'm looking at the best part of a grand to get it sorted.
It's a good car with a strong engine and apart from todays gearbox nightmare, there's nothing really wrong with it.

Unlucky mate, I have had it happen to me twice before, but the second time was only the circlip, source a gearbox and go and see Fred @ btm I'm sure it won't cost a grand!

 

[DaveDreads]

Well I rang BTM Fred the other day about my grindy second gear and he recommended rebuilding my existing box as he thought
it was just a sellector, but after todays destruction I think i'll just get a £400 quid box delivered from ClioSpares,
buy a new clutch and just have them swapped.

Then when i'm a bit more flushed with money i'll have the knackered box rebuilt, so i've got a spare for the future,
unless it's totally f*cked.

 

[mitch1503]

i know your pain.. mine obliterated a drive shaft so got that fixed and 2 weeks later spat the new shaft so me and a mate had a look and it was just the circlip so fitted it agin and all was fine 4 another 4 hours and then done it again so i ended up putting a box on and new clutch kit. since then its had new pads,discs all round,2 tyres and then its now getting a track rod end and new rear calliper.. all in all 1 expensive month

 

[mitch1503]

i know your pain.. up to now this month mine has obliterated a drive shaft so got that fixed and 2 days later spat the new shaft so me and a mate had a look and it was just the circlip so fitted it again and all was fine 4 another 4 hours and then done it again so i ended up putting a box on and new clutch kit. since then its had new pads,discs all round,2 tyres and then its now getting a track rod end and new rear calliper.. all in all 1 expensive month

 

[DaveDreads]

As I spent an hour and a half sitting waiting for recovery on a grass verge of a roundabout off the A46,
all that was going through my mind was 'BLOODY FRENCH!!'

But I guess you can't have that much fun and enjoyment out of a car without a little pain every now and again.

I also thought this never happend when I drove Golfs. LOL

 

[mitch1503]

same thoughts as me then.. bloody french heap of s**t that i was quite ready 4 smashing up lol.. orr yea also 4 got 2 mention it locked its self with the engine running so tried 2 get in through the passenger door lock and after no joy in about 20mins the solution was a hammer through the rear quarter glass lol

now want another car next year but i have covered 19k in 9 months so was only a metter of time before something major happend

 

[bmh.01]

They all weap from the selector so the oil you found is probably the same oil you'd find on all of them. Just coincidenal unless it was pissing out?

 

[DaveDreads]

The sump tray was wet with oil when the engine oil was changed last week, as was everything under the sump tray,
but it didn't seem like loads, which is why I thught it was a leaking rocker cover bolt,
as I found one that wasn't tight and was weeping, so I sealed it and thought job done.

I'd imagine i'd have to loose at least a litre of gearbox oil in order for it to heat up so much it goes bang?
With that much gearbox oil you'd think there'd be a puddle under the car a some point,
unless the foam in the tray absorbed more than I thought it could?