Hi, I have 2015 Skoda Octavia 230 VRS,

Anyway, my gearbox has developed an ominous rattle, sounds like rocks rattling in a box. By elimination i have narrowed the issue down to DSG itself or maybe the VAQ LSD.

Here are few clues:
1. If the car is stationary and in neutral, the rattle is not there while spinning the engine.
2. If the car is rolling in neutral, the rattle is there.
3. The rattle is tied to wheel speed, not engine speed.
4. The rattle seems to be a bit less loud in higher gears (4th, 5th, 6th)
5. The rattle sound changes depending on left or right turn I take.

Other than that, the car drives and shifts fine. If I go fast enough the rattle is inaudible (could be that the frequency is just to high to differentiate from the engine noise). If it wasn't for the horrible noise it makes when driving slowly I would never guess there is something wrong with the car.

I have few videos of the rattle, but this one is imho the best as the car is in the air and there is no load on the wheels.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AL56c1V-Pmk&ab_channel=WHOME%E2%80%9Ctech77%E2%80%9D
ANY ideas or information would be great, I love the car and I cant drive it like this knowing that it could potential result in even more damage.

Not a clue.

Has the VAQ been serviced every 30,000 miles / 3 years & the DQ250 every 40,000 miles?

How many miles / km has it done?

17 minutes ago, Ootohere said:

Not a clue.

Same here.

Sounds more diff/final drive than DSG - to me anyway. Not a good sound though 😟

Gaz

33 minutes ago, Ootohere said:

Not a clue.

Has the VAQ been serviced every 30,000 miles / 3 years & the DQ250 every 40,000 miles?

How many miles / km has it done?

The car has done 118 000km (~73 000 miles)

DSG has been serviced (oil and filter) at 60 000km (~37 000 miles) and than again last year at 100 000km (~62 000 miles).

VAQ was serviced once at the the same time the first DSG service was made. I was about to service it this season again. I know I'm a bit late, but considering most mileage the car does is highway, and absolutely 0 track time or launches i thought i was OK.

The car is ruining 300bhp for the last ~70000 km + TCU tune to handle the torque (the clutches never slipped and there was never an issue with shifting).

20 minutes ago, Gaz said:

Same here.

Sounds more diff/final drive than DSG - to me anyway. Not a good sound though 😟

Gaz

My thoughts as well, but I was hoping (rather foolishly) that it might be something else :(.
I was always under the impression that given proper servicing and tune, the DQ250 and VAQ can handle much more power and torque than I'm currently running. This still might be true, it could just be my unlucky ass...

Is the diff/final drive a serviceable item at all? Or should I start looking at replacement units?

The DQ250 handles power. The VAQ diff needs serviced properly and for performance type power @ 2 years / 20,000 miles is what is recommended by people that care. Not VW / Skoda obviously.

Edited 11 April, 20251 yr by Ootohere

My previous car (Octavia vRS 220 DSG) was running 300+bhp without any issues.

One final thought - it's not driveshaft CV's giving up is it? with the sound transferring up the chain so as to speak. Stranger things and all that.

Think you need to be sure what the problem is before you start spending money on replacing things. It's unlikely to be cheap, so worth investing some dosh in finding the actual fault first.

If it does come to needing a replacement, it might be worth looking at the second hand market. As in there could be good ones about from rear ended cars.

My 2018 GTI's a 230, but doesn't have the trick diff. that's on the 245 PP's, so there'll be other makes that share the same components.

Good luck - it'll be interesting to know what the actual fault is - please report back.

Gaz

12 minutes ago, Ootohere said:

The DQ250 handles power. The VAQ diff needs serviced properly and for performance type power @ 2 years / 20,000 miles is what is recommended by people that care. Not VW / Skoda obviously.

Fudge! :( This is on me, should have been more diligent with VAQ servicing, kinda hope its VAQ and not DSG, its a more cheaper fix.

11 minutes ago, Gaz said:

My previous car (Octavia vRS 220 DSG) was running 300+bhp without any issues.

One final thought - it's not driveshaft CV's giving up is it? with the sound transferring up the chain so as to speak. Stranger things and all that.

Think you need to be sure what the problem is before you start spending money on replacing things. It's unlikely to be cheap, so worth investing some dosh in finding the actual fault first.

If it does come to needing a replacement, it might be worth looking at the second hand market. As in there could be good ones about from rear ended cars.

My 2018 GTI's a 230, but doesn't have the trick diff. that's on the 245 PP's, so there'll be other makes that share the same components.

Good luck - it'll be interesting to know what the actual fault is - please report back.

Gaz

The axle was out and both inner and outer CV joint passed mechanics inspection. Said there is no play or anything pointing out to a failure (like torn boots or chunks of metal or dirt in the bearings) + it also doesn't "feel" like a CV failure when driving.

I will be reporting as the situation unfolds. I have a date with DSG "specialist" on monday to see if he can guess what it might be.

Thank you for responses, much appreciated.

Just a quick, short update.

The DSG mechanic told me that sound and vibrations are coming from the gearbox itself. Its likely that some bearing (likely on the main pyramid) got destroyed. Once he opens and looks at the internals I will have more info, but that will have to wait till his schedule opens up.

Really NOT the news I was hoping for, but what's done is done, such is life. I will post more details once I know them and hopefully some photos of metal machine horror.

oh - possibly the dual mass flywheel taking a burton in that case. Not terrible, not the end of the world, but certain a pain in the butt.

The bearing got pounded hard it seems. Lack of lubrication would be the main suspect, but the gearbox was not low on oil... could be just bad luck or the car sat at side incline (this did happen) before being driven.

More teardown will happen, and I will post final verdict.

Wowzer, they've seen better days 😱

Certainly worn enough to make a god awful rumble.

G

On 22/04/2025 at 21:50, Gaz said:

Wowzer, they've seen better days 😱

Certainly worn enough to make a god awful rumble.

G

What is odd is that it failed "at once". Usually these bearings fail progressively, first producing some humming, whistling sound that gets worse over time. This went from no sound to "what is that horrible noise" in one 150 km drive. Granted, it was a spirited drive on the highway, but still...

Well, the gearbox is repaired and the car is back at converting gasoline to happiness. 🤩
Except the bearing, nothing else was damaged, but several other items were replaced, the list is as follows:

• Clutch pack cover/gasket

• Pump gasket

• Gearbox casing gasket

• Cover gasket

• Inner filter

• Outer filter

• Output bearing of the main pyramid

In retrospect, there might have been very subtle sounds that signaled to something going wrong, but i would have never guessed its the gearbox problem. Another interesting fact, the bearing is made by SKF in Brazil.
Anyway, here are some more pictures.

Jeez - that was well and truly knackered! Looks more like a potential bearing material defect TBH than anything else?

Thanks for the updates - glad to hear it's all sorted 👍

Gaz

10 hours ago, skomaz said:

Jeez - that was well and truly knackered! Looks more like a potential bearing material defect TBH than anything else?

Yes, several people, with knowledge of material sciences, and the gearbox specialist, all commented the same thing. They all said that carburizing (i believe that's the English term) failed and thats probably a manufacturing defect.

4 hours ago, Gaz said:

Thanks for the updates - glad to hear it's all sorted 👍

Gaz

No one happier than me :)

Carburising is right but I know the process as Case Hardening.

Definitely seems like a bearing manufacturing fault but at least you got it sorted.

From my apprenticeship days, carburising is the process of stoving steel in a carbon-rich medium, in the first stage of case hardening. The metal then being hardened in the 2nd stage by heating and quenching.

Hi. Whilst researching exactly the same symptoms in my 2017 vrs230 I cam across this post, could you tell me where your repair was carried out please, and a rough idea of cost if possible. It would appear my car has suffered an almost identical failure.

Thanks

On 18/12/2025 at 12:24, T44CYW said:

Hi. Whilst researching exactly the same symptoms in my 2017 vrs230 I cam across this post, could you tell me where your repair was carried out please, and a rough idea of cost if possible. It would appear my car has suffered an almost identical failure.

Thanks

Hi
Im from Croatia so this info wont be of much use for you as I'm guessing you are located in UK?
The price of repairs was 1.2k euros, the parts (bearing, filters new oil and other bits and bobs that you do "because you are already there) were not expensive, but the labor was (800€ to be exact). The repair was done by a DCT expert that worked at official repair shop for over a decade before he opened his own shop. I guess if i went to official dealer the price would likely double if not triple.
If you have the same issue, it would be really great if you could also take photos of the bearing. This could be a bad batch from SKF.
I hope you get your car sorted. Good luck.

I have a 2017 mark 7 golf r and for the past 3-4 weeks it’s been making the same kind of sound as shown in that YouTube video and symptoms are more or less the same as you described however wanted to ask, did you test the car with the engine off gearbox in neutral and let the car roll to see if the noise is still there? In my case the noise is still present

On 08/02/2026 at 20:47, Fesi said:

I have a 2017 mark 7 golf r and for the past 3-4 weeks it’s been making the same kind of sound as shown in that YouTube video and symptoms are more or less the same as you described however wanted to ask, did you test the car with the engine off gearbox in neutral and let the car roll to see if the noise is still there? In my case the noise is still present

No, that idea didnt cross my mind. But yes, as long as the gearbox is spinning the sound should be there. I think you answered your own question.

Mine also stays the same no matter what gear I’m in, the noise just gets faster the quicker I go doesn’t change whether I turn or not like you previously mentioned so I’m not sure. Checked the gearbox and transfer box oil both are clean with no metal swarf or anything that shouts a big problem. Did you check your oil and how long were you driving the car until you got it repaired?

44 minutes ago, Fesi said:

Mine also stays the same no matter what gear I’m in, the noise just gets faster the quicker I go doesn’t change whether I turn or not like you previously mentioned so I’m not sure. Checked the gearbox and transfer box oil both are clean with no metal swarf or anything that shouts a big problem. Did you check your oil and how long were you driving the car until you got it repaired?

You wont see metal shavings because there is internal filter screen and there are magnets that are used for sensing (i think). So no shavings will reach the outer filter (the one that can be serviced).

Didnt check the gearbox oil before the service.

I drove few hundread km, max 300 before fixing it, the sound was driving me insane and i was worried of a bigger disaster if i continue driving.

Tell me about it 😂 mine is not noticeable in the cabin to be honest only when driving past houses and cars with the passenger window open, and also on motorways it’s almost as if the noise is not there. Changes from time to time sometimes it’s quiet sometimes it’s slightly louder and ironically this noise started a couple days after I got wheel alignment done so it’s kind of confusing and hard to diagnose and it’s been around 6-7 weeks the noise has stayed stable not got worse

Edited 23 February23 Feb by Fesi