keep or sell the golf??

[SasaG93]

so i just had my rego and all renewed for another year. spent about $1000 for it all up. car passed the check and the mechanic said he might have to just have a look at the noise possibly coming from the wheel bearing and shouldnt cost much to fix. a week late the car starts making some clunking noise here and there which did not sound good. took it back to the mechanic and he said its my gearbox and it could break any second

just wondering if its worth it to get a new gearbox and fix a few other small issues, or to sell the car? total repair cost would probably be close to $2000
the car is a 2003 golf 2.0 automatic

[DoggiesUtd]

u poor bastard...sell it

[Martin]

What's the car worth? $7K~$8K??? And is it in good condition otherwise?
Can you afford to buy another $10K car (which may come with it's own surprises)?
You may have left it too late to make the call about selling/replacing
As it's developed a serious fault you are going to loose $2k fixing it or loose $2k+ of the sale price

Sad to get into this situation, but it happens...

[Stan]

see how you go locating a decent gearbox here: Matt at Camden GTI, a member here (Golfloon), might have what you need for a lot less

[kendog]

yep, poor bastard indeed. I had the same thing happen to me in the '1.6L'. Just spent over a grand on it, then bam! Gearbox gone, hole in it! I was quoted ~$3400 for a reconditioned gearbox fitted.. SO I ended up doing a whole engine & subframe swap including brakes etc, for about exactly the same money, parts & install. Very happy with which way I chose to spend that money..

[bloödstorm]

That sucks, dude. My first car (Subaru AWD 5 speed) had a dud gearbox, it failed the day I bought it. Lesson learned.

It might be a good idea to get a second opinion though. Was it a European/VW specialist mechanic that you went to? They usually have knowledge of problems specific to the model.

If it's definitely rooted, I'd be searching around for a good used gearbox, to put in myself. Swapping a gearbox is not as hard as it sounds for a DIYer. Plus once you've done one gearbox swap, you've got the skills for next time, if need be.

[SasaG93]

It might be a good idea to get a second opinion though. Was it a European/VW specialist mechanic that you went to? They usually have knowledge of problems specific to the model.

it wasnt a vw specialist, just a mechanic that our family has been going to for years so i do trust his decision, but i am very tempted to get a second opinion at my freinds vw dealership. mechanic said he could find a gearbox for around 500-600 and labour cost should be 400-500.

would it be better to fix the gearbox and then sell it or sell it as is? would price be much different? it has 1 year of rego just put on it a few days before the gearbox problem.

[leighaus]

cars with rooted gb's fetch nothing. fix it, keep or sell.

[Stan]

Second hand box swap would be easy, seriously, get an all done price from Matt, Golf Loon

[kendog]

keep or sell the golf??

Yep, agree with both posts above. Fix with 2nd hand gearbox, and either keep or sell.

[SasaG93]

UPDATE: took it to a few other places to get the another look and none of them knew what the problem was with the gearbox except one which told me it was the ball joint and not the gearbox. had both ball joints replaced with new control arms and new wheel bearings aswell. got the car back today and it drives perfectly with no clunking noises

not sure if the first mechanic was lying to me to get some cash because he saw me driving a golf

[kendog]

That's awesome!

No, I don't think the first guy was lying/trying to rip you, it IS a common problem, but just goes to show a good diagnosis from an average one!!