UK-POLOS.NET - THE VW Polo Forum

Hi all,

i have just got a '96 mk4 with 36700 miles on the clock for £1200. There was a full service history / MOT history and the car is in great condition, no rust! However, i find the car to be quite noisy when accelerating and decelerating; there is like a high pitched whine that i can always hear. Does anybody know what this is?

The car drives fine and was great on the motorway with no problems whatsoever, except for this whine....it seems to come from the front of the car (under the hood actually).

I would be really greatful for any help, im a bit worried about it!!

Great forum by the way, there are some really nice polos here!

Many thanks.

get the gearbox checked
thats a worst case scenario

yeah that sounds like the dif bearing in the gearbox. The way to check it is if you drop the clutch on the motorway does the whining stop? if it does then it'l be the box. There not too reliable.... mine went at 80k.

Danny G wrote:yeah that sounds like the dif bearing in the gearbox. The way to check it is if you drop the clutch on the motorway does the whining stop? if it does then it'l be the box. There not too reliable.... mine went at 80k.

Damn! So these can go even at 36000 miles and with virtually no use for the last ten years?!

Ill check it out later, but im pretty sure the whining is there all the time. Ill check it out and get back to you.

my car whines but its a dor seal on the passenger side. Funny cos it kinda sounds like a lil tiny turbo.

Anyway do what the gusy say here and im sure youll come up with the solution.

Chris,

yeh i'd get your gearbox checked, cos my car whined aswell when it went. whined quite quietly for a couple of days, spent the next couple getting louder then lost 4th gear and started rattling. but the whining stopped when i put the clutch in, so if it does the same, get it checked ASAP, cos you might be able to catch it before it gets bad! i just left it and ended up paying, big time.

Well i just took it for a spin, and the whine did go when i put the clutch down, so i guess its the bearing. I dont understand, i mean the car has been doing only approximately 2000-3000 miles a year, the condition of the car is excellent, and runs smoothly too. Changing gears is ok too.

Ill get it into a garage as soon as i can, but how much will repair costs be do you guys think? i hope its not too much....feel like i should have gone for an automatic. My dad uses a 1.6 S-reg polo auto and it hasnt had any problems, and he's doing close to 20,000 a year!!

But the manual is definatley a lot louder than the automatic.

I hope this isnt too big a job cos im pretty skint at the moment.

So would anybody know approx how much this will cost to fix? Thanks for any advice.

Yeah get it done before it bust like mine did - just got my new gears today for my gearbox cos when the bearing burst it crushed 2 gears.

Bearing was cheap only £27.85 +VAT

I'm doing mine myself so no labour charge

James

When uve got your gearbox fixed can u tell me what went wrong and how much it is to replace (if u go to a garage) and the diffuculty if u do it yourself? i think ive got the same problem ive only done 44,000 miles but it whines only when i get into 4th but the other gears are ok.

Thanks for that info guys...i really hope i dont have to change the whole gearbox, id be pretty annoyed if i had to. By the way, where did you get the bearings from?

I can change gears fine so im guessing its just 1 bearing or so...

@ James14100, is it a hard job to change these yourself? I take it you are quite experienced at this work? if it is easy i wouldnt mind giving it a go myself.

You guys have been great, i cant thank you all enough

Its pretty easy when you know how:

Firstly drop the box out
Drain the oil
Slit open the casing
The bearing that burst on mine was on the output shaft

I didn't get my bearing from VW i got it from a bearing company - have got the same bearing before for a freind of mines box and it's exactly the same so i know it's right

I'm doing my rebuild on wednesday so finger crossed for the gears being right

If I were you i'd pop into vw and just ask about warranty because it has only done 36k miles

I've seen alot of the diesels on ebay that say 'recent gearbox refurb under vw warranty' so that would be worth checking out

I personnally wouldn't advise you doing it yourself unless you've done gearboxes before (my dad and i rebuilt his skoda rally car box - hence the knowledge)

Regards, James

James14100 wrote:Its pretty easy when you know how:

Firstly drop the box out
Drain the oil
Slit open the casing
The bearing that burst on mine was on the output shaft

I didn't get my bearing from VW i got it from a bearing company - have got the same bearing before for a freind of mines box and it's exactly the same so i know it's right

I'm doing my rebuild on wednesday so finger crossed for the gears being right

If I were you i'd pop into vw and just ask about warranty because it has only done 36k miles

I've seen alot of the diesels on ebay that say 'recent gearbox refurb under vw warranty' so that would be worth checking out

I personnally wouldn't advise you doing it yourself unless you've done gearboxes before (my dad and i rebuilt his skoda rally car box - hence the knowledge)

Regards, James

If the car is sri;; ten years old can it still be on warranty? i doubt this is ill have to check the paperwork....

is it possible James for you to tell me where you got the bearings from because if it is the bearings that have gone id rather get them myself than let the garage overcharge me!

Many thanks, hope the repairs go well

My old sorted the bearing through his company

You need exact measurements for it i know that much - this was impossible for mine considering there was nothing left of it however like i said we did my friends and is exactlly the same.

I'll find out exactlly what part number u need and give u all the details

Will be doing this on tuesday now so i'll do loads of pics for you

Just took it to my local garage mechanic and he said it was the clutch release bearing that was causing it; he advised me to not change the clutch etc yet cos it still has lots of life in it...he said it was caused by bad driving, i.e the clutch being pressed more than it should while driving etc

He would have charged approx £120 + parts for the job, which would mean a new clutch..anyway im not that fussed cos i wont get it replaced just yet, he could have told me that it needed changing right away too but didnt rip me off in that sense...so hopefully now ill carry on for a while and when i can afford it and it needs replacing i will.

Thanks for the pics james, will be really interesting to see how you do it.