MK3 AUTO GEAR BOXES????

[Golf Loon]

It came out of a 12/95 Car. What are the two gearbox codes?
Do they look the same?
Disregarding the loom, does the gearbox ecu fit into the same connector on your car? Use your loom, my ecu and my gearbox, should be ok.

[DOUBLECAB]

Hi again Golf Loon.....will get back to U tomorrow after having checked the gearbox codes etc.

Regards....Doublecab

[DOUBLECAB]

Hi Golf Loon.....

This is what we have....

your gearbox code: C321105AH-AJ

our gearbox code: 01M321105E

Your gearbox has 2 sensor/plug/loom conections on top of the gearbox whereas ours has 4 sensor/plug/loom conections on top of the gearbox.

Our vehicles nos: Engine: ADY 046289

Vin. No: WVWZZZ 1HZSW373023. Built 01/95.

At this point we have not checked that the ECU connections on our loom would 'mate' with your ECU.....however that aside ....it would still leave 2 sensor/plug/loom connections on our loom unconnected to the gearbox and what effect that may or may not have in the running of the vehicle is ??

Btw where is the ECU normally located.....VW tend to changes things around a bit. :roll:

Regards...Doublecab

[Golf Loon]

ECU is usually in the scuttle panel, near the wiper motor, towards the passenger side of the car.

Can you swop over switches etc, to make the loom work.

Sounds like a can of worms, I hate autos, at least any manual box will do.

[DOUBLECAB]

ECU is usually in the scuttle panel, near the wiper motor, towards the passenger side of the car.

Can you swop over switches etc, to make the loom work.

Sounds like a can of worms, I hate autos, at least any manual box will do.

Hi Golf Loon.....Yep...looks like we have a can of worms.....because..

1. Have checked with the local VW Dealer/spare parts dept and they advise each auto car can only have a matching auto gearbox change over if the VIN nos of the vehicle comply with the gearbox nos.

2. Changing the ECU (ie putting yours in ) does not gaurantee it will be 'sympatico' with the engine etc ....also at this point no body can tell us if your ECU will interchange with the fittings/connections in our vehicle...VW tend to have differing items/systems in vehicles of the same year/build as we see with your gearbox and ours.

3.As for changing over the (quote) 'switches, etc'..... one of the connections to make it fit to your gearbox would require a hole drilled into the gearbox (without letting the drill filings fall into the gearbox) to fit the sensor/whatever and another hole drilled and thread tapped to bolt down the sensor/whatever.

4. The second additional connector/sensor on our gearbox requires a sensor/whatever to be removed from the bottom of our gearbox and again drilled and fitted to your gearbox.

5. This is all time and money with no gaurantee that our ECU is compatible with the sensors/whatever on your gearbox or that your ECU (if it fits to our loom connector) is going to be compatible with our loom wiring.

6. It appears that unless the VIN nos are matching with the gearbox nos then they are incompatible without performing alterations that nobody can gaurantee will work.

So Golf Loon.....methinks its time to call it quits on this exercise and put it down to a 'learning experience' and you return my money plus $45-00 freight back to you (I will wear the $45-00 freight I paid to get it to me).

I think thats a fair and honest arrangement and I guess my daughter will have to suffer with no car for somewhile (maybe considerable while) longer.

Regards...Doublecab

[Golf Loon]

Sounds like you had a fun day Leo

Is this being fitted by a VW mechanic, has he ever seen one of these boxes before?

1. The ecu, loom and gearbox need to stay together. There is one connector from the car loom to the Gearbox loom. It is only about 4 wires, even if the connectors are different, are the wires the same colour? I dont see how the engine would know what gearbox it was hooked up to, or why it would need to. The gearbox is a standalone system, keep the system intact and use all of it.

2. If you need to return it, I am prepared to accept it, but dont see why I should pay the freight. You bought the item. I drove over an hour each way to deliver it to the freight depot you chose, to save you a few dollars. I will have to go back there again to reclaim the box and there is obviously 2 lots of petrol, tolls and 4 hours of my time. I reckon you are getting pretty good value for $45.

I still reckon you can fit the entire loom that I sent you to your car and plug the gearbox into it.

If the auto vin number had to match the car, the only number that would ever fit would be the original box. I reckon hes having you on, or trying to sell you a new box.

Does anyone on here have any more details of whether this box should fit Leos car? I have insufficient knowledge of the autos.

Just spoke to my mate Steve, who has fitted lots of these boxes, he confirms that it will fit and that you need to use the entire loom and ecu that I sent you. The gearbox computer only has a few inputs, live, coil wire, earth and an ecu feed. Other than that, its freestanding. Different model gearboxes had different sensors etc and that doesn`t matter, so long as you use the correct ecu for the box.

[DOUBLECAB]

Sounds like you had a fun day Leo

Is this being fitted by a VW mechanic, has he ever seen one of these
boxes before?

:!: Mechanic runs a 'Euro' car repair shop that handles..Mercs, BMW, SAAB, Volvo & VW to mention a few...services my Mk2 GTI, Mk3 and T4 doublecab.

1. The ecu, loom and gearbox need to stay together.

:!: You didn't specify this as a requirement on the outset.

There is one connector from the car loom to the Gearbox loom. It is only about 4 wires, even if the connectors are different, are the wires the same colour? I dont see how the engine would know what gearbox it was hooked up to, or why it would need to. The gearbox is a standalone system, keep the system intact and use all of it.

2. If you need to return it, I am prepared to accept it, but dont see why I should pay the freight. You bought the item. I drove over an hour each way to deliver it to the freight depot you chose, to save you a few dollars. I will have to go back there again to reclaim the box and there is obviously 2 lots of petrol, tolls and 4 hours of my time. I reckon you are getting pretty good value for $45.

I still reckon you can fit the entire loom that I sent you to your car and plug the gearbox into it.

:!: You maybe right and you maybe wrong....but my Guy like most outsource the electrics to a auto electrician which means additional unknown costs for non guaranteed results.

If the auto vin number had to match the car, the only number that would ever fit would be the original box. I reckon hes having you on, or trying to sell you a new box.

:!: According to what I have been told (by the local VW dealer)..the vin no off our car produces a VW gear box part no that specifies the specific gearbox for our car......accordingly as the gearbox off your car is somewhat different to ours your vin no would produce a different gearbox part no than ours.

BTW Just curious but what is the vin no off the car U dismantled?

As I said earlier....vw tend to have variations in the same model and thats why your box has different/less connections.


Does anyone on here have any more details of whether this box should fit Leos car? I have insufficient knowledge of the autos.

Just spoke to my mate Steve, who has fitted lots of these boxes, he confirms that it will fit and that you need to use the entire loom and ecu that I sent you. The gearbox computer only has a few inputs, live, coil wire, earth and an ecu feed. Other than that, its freestanding. Different model gearboxes had different sensors etc and that doesn`t matter, so long as you use the correct ecu for the box.

Anyway Golf Loon, with no malice or hard feelings....methinks its time to pull the plug on this and send U back the box, loom & ECU as its all getting to hard....... and I will wear the freight bill.

Will U2U tomorrow with my daughters account details for the refund.

Regards...Doublecab

[DOUBLECAB]

Hi once again Golf Loon....latest update.... ....daughters boyfriend has some electrical nouse....is looking at loom/ecu transplant exercise on Monday.

Will keep U posted.......what a saga........ :roll:

Regards...Doublecab

ps. have a good weekend.

[Golf Loon]

Yeah no worried doublecab
I`m not wriggling out of anything. My reputation is important.
I just feel sorry for you that the damn thing doesn`t work.
Talk to you soon.
Matt

[Golfwise]

Maybe the difference is because one may be a 1.8 and the other a 2.0
I'd keep looking at a way to use the $500 box as $2000 from a wrecker would sure hurt

[DOUBLECAB]

Interesting point Golfwise....maybe Golf Loon could fill us in on that point..... I did also ask him for the Vin nos.

Still waiting..?

[Golf Loon]

Its a 1.8 Car, cant find the VIN, still looking

[DOUBLECAB]

Hi Golf Loon...daughters car is a 2Litre.....and having said that...any Idea as to whether there will be any probs mating it to the 2L ....ie differing torque converter coupling ??

Are U able to find out any info from your mate that has done these conversions before,............and before we pull the loom & ECU out of our vehicle tomorrow...incase it is not as simple as swaping the loom & ecu as your motor is 1.8l and ours is 2L.

Regards...Doublecab

[Golf Loon]

He reckons the Torque Converter is the same and it should work.

He did however say there was a rogue box that did not fit. Hes gonna check at work tomorrow.

You should just lift the plastic in front of the windscreen and see where the gearbox loom joins the car loom. You should be able to just plug my loom in there and connect the gearbox to it.

Talk to you tomorrow.

[DOUBLECAB]

Hi again....

He reckons the Torque Converter is the same and it should work.

He did however say there was a rogue box that did not fit. Hes gonna check at work tomorrow.

Be interesting to see where our luck lies with your box. As I said earlier...VW have a tendancy to have variations in the same year/model....might pay to give him both our and your VIN nos.

You should just lift the plastic in front of the windscreen and see where the gearbox loom joins the car loom.

:!: Yep...have already located where the ECU and loom starts.


You should be able to just plug my loom in there and connect the gearbox to it.

So is the latest....that we just use your loom and OUR ECU??

Talk to you tomorrow.

Wait till I hear from U tomorrow with the latest.

Regards...Doublecab