Evening all,

Had an interesting problem occur today, a constant droning on the drivetrain, I've read through the pages looking for similar and found various tyre/bearing/tracking descriptions but I think this is different.

Recently there was a rough intermittent droning noise and knocking/vibration on the floorpan kind of like a bearing but I had the bearings done last year and the CV joints seemed OK, also new tyres on the front, so I thought driveshaft or gearbox. I swapped out the gearbox oil for OEM and although I didn't have it perfectly level I got just under 2 litres in (Haynes says 1.9ltr, Skoda said just over 2ltr and VW said 1.4ltr?!?), about 2 litres came out so I figured it was about right and it sounded sweet afterwards. Today we had a 2 hour drive and towards the end it started with a droning noise getting noisier, it was constant regardless of direction/cornering and continuous when the clutch was pressed. On arrival I jacked it up and the NSF has a whirring noise coming from the inner driveshaft when I turn the wheel......I checked the gearbox oil on level ground and some came out (maybe one or two hundred ml).....am stuck where to look next,I'm just hoping its not a gearbox fault so any pointers will be appreciated, I'm going to swap the tyres round tomorrow but don't think that's the problem as the droning doesn't start until it's warmed up

OK well as i half expected the tyre swapping made no difference and the droning is constant now, so i'm looking at the inner CVs. 

 

Finland being super expensive i've been looking on Ebay and found these

 

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/SKODA-OCTAVIA-1-9-TDi-TURBO-DIESEL-5-SPEED-OFF-SIDE-DRIVESHAFT-1998-2010-/171098170395?pt=UK_CarsParts_Vehicles_CarParts_SM&hash=item27d63ee41b&clk_rvr_id=809505669957&afsrc=1&rmvSB=true

 

Inner CVs being €80 each i'm tempted to give these a go with the 2 year warranty offered and a testimonial from a rally driver!!   Has anyone got any experience/tips for replacement CVs????

Well after much umming and ahhhing its sorted, not the inner CV after all, it was the bearings! I took her to my local garage (who'd replaced the bearings about 18mths ago with what turned out to be cheap bearings, but still charged me €42 each) who dismissed my thought it was the inner CV, from his office in the garage he diagnosed it was the gearbox or diff and told me to put some gearbox treatment in, 2 or 3 tubes at €20 a pop! He then went on a rant that Inner CVs never go......so we went elsewhere for a second opinion and they said straight away it was the bearings, i said they were only 18mths old and he said they must be the really cheap and nasty ones, today he confirmed it......needless to say i'll never be visiting first garage again!

 

Happy now she's running sweet again  :clap: