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Driving from London to Brighton last night and the gearbox went, couldn't shift into first or any gears, and at one point the gear stick actually came off! Couldn't do more than 60mph without the rev counter going crazy.
Horrible burning smell as well. Oil had leaked under the bonnet. Spoke to my mechanic and he said at least £500 for the part alone, to fit and replace clutch too would take it over a grand.

Put so much into it including new cambelt, clutch, alternator and power steering pump. MOT in April passed with no advisories. Service was only last month. Can I possibly still sell it? Or is just a write off and I should scrap it?

Hard to say. you could possibly sell it and recoup some cost

Alternatively, pick up a used gearbox and new clutch and be done with it.

How would I be able to tell if its definitely the gearbox as opposed to the clutch?

If you remember 2 years ago I had a new clutch fitted (foolishly) by Halfords Autocentre. I'm suspecting the problem I had on Weds is stemmed from that.
Changing gear when the engine is off is really difficult if at all possible. Is that a clutch problem or gearbox? The burning smell can come from clutch too.

So supposed it is the clutch it won't cost as much to repair but if the gear stick broke it might be interlinked.

I do remember

Sounds like the clutch is screwed

The gear shift cables may have snapped off their mounts which throws the alignment

Cost wise, a new box is like 100-150 plus the clutch and labour. Say 400 all in.

Unfortunately the 2 year warranty for the clutch has passed (by about 2 days lol) and I don't want to use them ever again.

I can get the parts for clutch and gear box but I don't know how to fit it. Usually all places or mobile mechanics refuse to fit parts supplied by someone else.

A decent local independent will do the work for you with what you provide. Mine has no issue when ive gone down that route in the past.

The one I normally use won't let me provide any parts, and all his has 4 years warranty.

Thing is I'm not 100% sure if its the gear box or clutch or even both. There's a good chance its clutch as well cos of the botch job Halfords did.

Id be surprised if its the box

Its likely the selector mechanism and the clutch

Perhaps find someone different? Where are you based?

The bloke who towed me back from Brighton said VW gearboxes are renowned for being s**t lol.

I could use someone else, just I trust the one who's done my cambelt, alternator MOT's and service.

I'm based in West London.

I think the main question I'm asking is it is worth doing the work, if something else goes next month then its just another hole in the wallet. I don't think I can keep doing that.

Thats the big ask sadly. Its a shame its gonna die a death!

The diesel boxes are generally pretty tough due to the higher torque

Maybe time for a new polo and salvage what you can off this one

Yeah if somehow I got a second hand gearbox and new clutch I could get another 100,000 miles out of it I reckon. The engine's are near enough bullet proof.

Then again I could experience similar problems with a newer car anyway.

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Volkswagen-Po ... SwzRlZhDL0 perhaps?

Hmm, there's an idea

If I want to get a new motor though what would be the minimum litre engine I'd want to do motorway driving? Won't be on them as much as before but will need to make the odd trip every month or so. It'll defo be less than 5000 miles a year, so diesel isn't economical.

Would a 1.4 litre cut motorway driving ok?