My 06 2.0 FSI makes a nasty sounding mechanical crunch/grinding noise when changing into 2nd gear, unless i let the revs drop below 2k.

This can be a real pain when trying to make a swift manoeuvre into traffic.

It happens from 1st to 2nd and 3rd to 2nd.

Any ideas what the cause may be?

Its only done 23000 miles and is still under 3 years warranty. I bought the car back in January and the fault has always been there just been to busy to get it back to dealer, but will be getting them to have a look at it soon.

I wanted to be armed with some likely cause before they spout some b/s.

Any help much appreciated

sounds like the syncro on 2nd gear needs replacing, get to the dealer asap. :rotz:

yup, worn synchro on 2nd. The parts are not too dear, but the 'box will need to be stripped and rebuilt, so that's a shed load of labour!

Thanks for the info guys, car is booked in for next week. At least it's still under Skoda warranty so I wont be paying.

Are they more likely to repair it or replace the whole box?

Update on this if anyones interested............

Dealer had the car for a few hours to assess it , agreed that there was a problem so booked it in for a week to get it fixed.

Gave me a brand new fabia greenline as a courtesy car, only problem is that has "£2500 scrapage contribution" plastered all over it..... and the dealers name.

So after 5 days they've removed the gearbox, sent it to a transmission expert, and worked out that 2nd gear synchromesh bearing has failed, and are now waiting for the parts.

I'm still stuck with the advert on wheels.

What suprises me is that a car with only 23, 000 miles and less than 3 years old has such a failure. Not very confidence inspiring in someone owning their 1st Skoda. At least its still under warranty.

What suprises me is that a car with only 23, 000 miles and less than 3 years old has such a failure. Not very confidence inspiring in someone owning their 1st Skoda. At least its still under warranty.

Doesn't surprise me at all. VAG have had a LOT of trouble with gearboxes over the years and the version fitted to the 1.6 engines were terrible.

The ones on the 1.9tdi sometimes have the rivets fail on the crown wheel. Jamming the gearbox and typically blowing the internals through the gearbox casing.

I had a rivet failure in the final drive of a year 2000 1.6 Octavia with about 75,000 on the clock. Cracking noise while rolling as well as significantly more drivetrain drag, followed by no drive being transmitted to the wheels at all. Needed a new gearbox and final drive. If you start to hear a whirring/tapping noise from the car while rolling with the engine on overrun you've probably got about a month before it fails... Apparently the gearbox centre it went to had 3 other Octavias in at the time for exactly the same problem.

My 06 2.0 FSI makes a nasty sounding mechanical crunch/grinding noise when changing into 2nd gear, unless i let the revs drop below 2k.

This can be a real pain when trying to make a swift manoeuvre into traffic.

It happens from 1st to 2nd and 3rd to 2nd.

Any ideas what the cause may be?

Its only done 23000 miles and is still under 3 years warranty. I bought the car back in January and the fault has always been there just been to busy to get it back to dealer, but will be getting them to have a look at it soon.

I wanted to be armed with some likely cause before they spout some b/s.

Any help much appreciated

So it's not just me then!

I have EXACTLY the same problem, also on a 2006 2.0 FSI, which has only done 20k miles. Except my car is now out of warranty, although I first noticed it more than a year ago. It it got progressively worse and so I told the dealer when it went in for service. They road-tested it and said there was nothing wrong...

To be honest I am getting seriously p***ed-off with this car. Having paid nearly £17k for it I expect the gearbox to last longer than 2 years and resent having to pay over £200 to (possibly) fix the faulty alarm that I never even wanted in the first place (see other thread).

When i took mine into the dealers they agreed that there was a problem right away, but then they would have looked stupid if they said anything else as it was so obvious.

Took them 3 weeks to sort it out, but all done under warranty. Turned out to be a bearing failure.

If I was you I would go back and demand they fix it seeing as you reported it earlier.

Some months ago Skoda had issued a technical bullettin regarding second gear problems on some Octavia gear boxes,it required the replacement of the 2nd gear and it's synchro rings,make sure the dealer checks and replaces everything that's needed.

Some months ago Skoda had issued a technical bullettin regarding second gear problems on some Octavia gear boxes,it required the replacement of the 2nd gear and it's synchro rings,make sure the dealer checks and replaces everything that's needed.

Thanks . I would like to see that bulletin if you know where I can find it (PM sent).

Went to dealers today to get alarm sorted :( and told them about tech bulletin re the gearbox problem (Thanks again 110ivan). Managed to persuade them to find the bulletin on the system and also they road-tested the car and agreed it has the fault described, BUT it is out of warranty by 5 months, even though I noticed the fault before the warranty expired, this is the first time the dealer has found it.

Dealer has notified Skoda UK and I have logged a call with them. Have to wait and see how they respond but the repair could cost £1200!

I am not a happy bunny - my other car is 44 years old, and has done over 200,000 miles on the original gearbox. With all the other problems I have had with this Octavia I am not impressed and will certainly never buy another VAG car.:thumbdwn:

Have Skoda UK never heard of goodwill warranty ?,if Skoda had problems with the gearboxes they should help you,write to Skoda CZ if need be,or even What car magazine,with Skoda's reputation of being the top manufacturer in the JD power surveys,they won't want their reputation tarnished,let's say they cover half the costs the lease,provided that the car has a fill skoda service history they should be able to help you.....

Skoda UK have said that once they have 'gathered all the evidence' they will then make a decision as to whether they will contribute to the repairs, and if so by how much.

So I am waiting at the moment, but I must say that I am VERY disappointed. Having been the butt of Skoda jokes for the last 3 years it is humiliating to have to admit that the jokers may have been right.:(

Skoda say that the first thing to try is to change to a different type of gearbox oil, which costs about £95, of which they will pay 60%, so car is booked in Monday for this to be done.

If this doesn't cure the fault the syncromesh will have to be replaced, but they won't yet say how much they will pay if that is necessary.

I can't help thinking that putting in a different type of oil will just mask the problem, rather than curing it.

My 1.9TDI had the gearbox reconditioned before i got the car, and only cost £400 to do.

Had the gear oil changed today to a different grade, and Skoda paid 60%.

Seemd okay on the way home, but I haven't given it a really good test drive yet.

Still not impressed, as my main reason for buying a new car at all, and an Octavia in particular, was that I thought they were meant to be reliable. In the last 3 weeks I seem to have spent a lot of time either at the dealer or on the phone to Skoda UK:thumbdwn:.

Hi Let me know how the oil change goes. Ive got an 06 Octavia 2.0 TDI all gears seem slightly sticky. I wondering if I should change the gear oil too. I praying its not the syncro!

I'd recommend swapping the standard tranny oil for Redline synthetic tranny oil. I had a few older cars that had rough synchros and the Redline made an enormous difference after about 100 kms. I'd say a solid 30% better going by feel of the wrist and ear. The stuff is legendary amongst MR2 owners in North America...

Hi Let me know how the oil change goes. Ive got an 06 Octavia 2.0 TDI all gears seem slightly sticky. I wondering if I should change the gear oil too. I praying its not the syncro!

So far the change of gear oil does seem to have cured or hidden the problem, but I have only done less than 1000 miles since it was changed.

I'm guessing it was ATF they put in the box as they tried that with mine, and it cleared the crud out, but there was a box repair and then replace after this.

Going to a thinner or more highly friction-modified oil (like Redline MTL or Dexron ATF) will hide the problem, but it won't fix the underlying issue (worn synchro). The synchro is effectively a small wet-plate clutch. When it wears you get poor synchronisation and hence gear 'crunch' and 'catching'. A thinner oil will help the worn synchro bite a little better, but sooner or later the problem will re-emerge. The thinner oil also allows what remains of the synchro to wear even faster....