2016 Fabia Monte Carlo 50k. miles, gearbox rattle = bearing gone

[Donc111]

Had occasional intermittent rattling while driving, couldn't locate it ... looked under & saw oil under the engine ... booked in to my long term independent repair garage who just called that a differential bearing has gone on the manual gearbox &, given possibility of contamination of damaged bearing, new gearbox needed ... they're checking on recon. for possible next step ... any experience/ thoughts welcome & appreciated. Thanks.

[xman]

They can be repaired but costs depends on the damage and how far it's progressed. If the box has been running for a while with little or no oil then case hardening may have been damaged on other gears due to excessive heat.

 

Our Octavia was rebuilt by a really knowledgeable and talented one man gearbox specialist local to us. One or both of the bearings at the drive shaft flanges had disintegrated allowing the diff to move side to side. Loud clunk when applying or lifting throttle. Fortunately caught in time and only minor blueing of the pinion gear and slight shaving of the inside of the housing where the diff had made contact. Cost (2 yr ago) was £650. Otherwise I'd have been looking at £1350 for a complete rebuild.

 

Our skoda dealer initially highlighted the gearbox oil leak at the flanges, during a timing chain change, but incorrectly said it only needed new seals, they hadn't checked the driveshafts for the inch or so of end play. Probably had been leaking oil for some time as it only had about ⅓ litre left when opened up by the gearbox specialist.

 

A trusted independent correctly diagnosed it and recommended I try their go to gearbox specialist when it proved impossible to source a replacement box.

 

 

[Donc111]

Thanks, xman ... our long term trusted independent garage found a fairly small amount of play at the nearside diff because of bearing damage, but enough to leak some oil at the seal ... it's booked in for work to be done in a couple of weeks time & should be done in 5 days, to remove gearbox / send to specialist be dismantled, inspected, flushed, new diff bearing / refitted by end of that week, all for estimated £1,200 inc. VAT (all assuming no further damage is found, of course ... & they recommended & will do new clutch plates at the same time given its 50k. miles).  I'm wondering if the bearing was damaged by clouting a big pothole ..? So many of them this year, and with care we manage to avoid almost all, but inevitably got caught by a couple through winter months ... I guess the diff. bearings on front wheel drive cars (esp. the nearside 'potholes side', of course) are vulnerable in  way that diffs. on rear wheel drive ain't ...

[Donc111]

Thanks, xman ... our long term trusted independent garage found a fairly small amount of play at the nearside diff because of bearing damage, but enough to leak some oil at the seal ... it's booked in for work to be done in a couple of weeks time & should be done in 5 days, to remove gearbox / send to specialist be dismantled, inspected, flushed, new diff bearing / refitted by end of that week, all for estimated £1,200 inc. VAT (all assuming no further damage is found, of course ... & they recommended & will do new clutch plates at the same time given its 50k. miles for another £200 inc. VAT).  I'm wondering if the bearing was damaged by clouting a big pothole ..? So many of them this year, and with care we manage to avoid almost all, but inevitably got caught by a couple through winter months ... I guess the diff. bearings on front wheel drive cars (esp. the nearside 'potholes side', of course) are vulnerable in  way that diffs. on rear wheel drive ain't ...