Fabia 1.9 TDI Elegance - Crunchy Gears ?

[Hudson1]

The car has been owned from new (2006) and is in immaculate condition, regular servicing and every job thats needs to be done, has been done. It has done 48,000 miles and for a while now i have noticed that on some gear changes.... always 1st to 2nd gear, it can crunch when going into 2nd gear ? If you do it very gently it is fine, but do it fast or with any force and it will crunch..... is this normal ?

[Holmesie]

my vrs does this, and a few others on here do lol .... but you try adjusting gear cables

[RaMpAgE--93]

sounds like syncro is going weak on second

[lukeanderson31]

Mine crunches 3rd to 4th when driving spirited and i shift quickly

[chrisw880]

My gearbox is fine, no crunching in the ~67k miles in my ownership (car is on 177k)

[aolt]

I used to get crunching from 1st to 2nd. But I did blame myself for that. I haven't crunched it in a few months.

[Barbourc1]

Three things which you can try to eliminate the problem:

Adjust the cables as they may have stretched over time (the link is somewhere on the site with a video guide) which is a free solution

Change the gearbox oil - think its 5quid a litre from the dealer, you'll need 2 bottles.

And replace the bottom gearbox bush (dogbone bush) think its 30quid for the powerflex upgrade or 25 for the standard one from the dealer

Hope this helps

[Phil-E]

This old chestnut. Quite common on these gearboxes.

It can be a few things:

Could be cured with a gear oil change

Adjustment of cables needed

Gear lever selector fork rivets loose

Wear on syncros

Worn bearings (ours had this)

Phil

[Hudson1]

Three things which you can try to eliminate the problem:

Adjust the cables as they may have stretched over time (the link is somewhere on the site with a video guide) which is a free solution

Change the gearbox oil - think its 5quid a litre from the dealer, you'll need 2 bottles.

And replace the bottom gearbox bush (dogbone bush) think its 30quid for the powerflex upgrade or 25 for the standard one from the dealer

Hope this helps

Thanks for this, i will give it a go.

[Hudson1]

This old chestnut. Quite common on these gearboxes.

It can be a few things:

Could be cured with a gear oil change

Adjustment of cables needed

Gear lever selector fork rivets loose

Wear on syncros

Worn bearings (ours had this)

Phil

The first two i see but how '' bad '' are the last 3 ??

[Holmesie]

The first two i see but how '' bad '' are the last 3 ??

Gear lever selector fork rivets loose

Wear on syncros

Worn bearings (ours had this)

repair or replace the gear box .... syncos you could live with for a while the other 2 would die sooner rather than later

[Hudson1]

This does make me worried a bit, can the gearbox oil on the Mk1 be changed easily or is it a gearbox out issue ?

[Phil-E]

It's very easy to change.

 

You need a special tool for the drain and fill plugs. It's used on nearly all VAG cars so can be got very cheaply.

 

Make sure the fill plug can be removed before the drain!

 

Take it for a run and get it nice and warmed up then remove the plug and leave to drain for as long as you can. Refit plug (it's advised to get a new washer but it might be ok).

 

Refill gearbox. Should take about 2.2 litres from memory. Check with garage and get the proper VAG stuff as it's not expensive.

 

You will need some kind of tube to get it in the hole due to tight space. I used a bit of pipe with a funnel on the end to fill it.

 

I did mine on a 6 speed and it was really yukky with 96k on the clock.

 

Then check alignment of the gear leavers etc.

 

Phil