Damn gearboxes

[mikepologti]

this maybe a stupid question, how can you find out where your car was made?

[Blitzen]

Look at the 11th figure on your VIN. This will tell you where it is made...Mine was made in Pamplona, Spain. As far as I know, all Polo GTI's are made there.

http://www.vwwatercooled.org.au/newforum/upload/showthread.php?t=23102&highlight=polo+built

[Sharkie]

All Polo GTIs sold in Australia are made in Spain. South Africa only builds 5 door GTIs.

[Desmo]

I think the pertinent question here may be WHEN was your car built?

I have a little theory that may be worth investigating.

[mozzzy_2000]

this maybe a stupid question, how can you find out where your car was made?

Also check out in your engine bay you should have "Spain" written on every rubber hose! Or at least mine does have 50 million "Spain"s written all over it.

Interesting though. I thought the Aussie delivered Polos were also made in SA.

[morbo2000]

I think the pertinent question here may be WHEN was your car built?

I have a little theory that may be worth investigating.

From memory i think november or december 06, complianced jan 07.

[Markybhoy]

From memory i think november or december 06, complianced jan 07.

If you look in your boot, beside the spare wheel is a big plate stating the factory build month. I was quite surprised when I saw mine. I bought it December 06. It was actually built in April 06! Must've been on the ship for a LOOOONG time!

[mozzzy_2000]

From memory i think november or december 06, complianced jan 07.

Yikes! Exactly the same as mine; Sept 06 built, Jan 07 registered. 'Touch wood' I hope mine hangs in there..

[morbo2000]

If you look in your boot, beside the spare wheel is a big plate stating the factory build month. I was quite surprised when I saw mine. I bought it December 06. It was actually built in April 06! Must've been on the ship for a LOOOONG time!

Yeah I think that's where I saw it. Problem is that the car is at the VW dealer in Geelong with the gearbox in pieces and i'm in Fairfield.

[morbo2000]

I spoke to the dealer in Geelong today. Apparently a pin fell out of fifth gear and got lodged in the gearing somehow which is why I couldn't get it out of fifth gear. In addition the pin punched through the backplate in the gearbox.

So they are replacing the fifth gear and associated shafts, etc. And they are also replacing the backplate, but unfortunately the backplates are on back order so has to be shipped in from Germany.

So looks like it's going to take about a week for the backplate to come in and then how ever long it takes to put the box back together.

I've had warranty work done on this gearbox before to replace second gear and it's synchro to fix the infamous crunching. So the speculation is (without any proof or way to prove it, and not wanting to point fingers at anyone) that my gearbox wasn't put back together properly after my previous warranty work.

[Spec83]

Why they don't replace the entire gearbox is a mystery to me...

The casing (and a lot of the internals) have suffered damage or potential damages that may result in another warranty claim further down the track. A total new replacement unit would solve this??

The only thing I can think of is VW is not paying for the repair but the dealer directly as it was a labour fault in rebuilding the orignal gearbox??

[morbo2000]

The only thing I can think of is VW is not paying for the repair but the dealer directly as it was a labour fault in rebuilding the orignal gearbox??

It's a different dealer doing the work this time as the closest dealer when I broke down was in Geelong. I will be writing a letter to my regular dealer though as I've been very dissatisfied the last one or two times my car was serviced. Which is a shame because early on they seemed quite good.

[mikepologti]

It's a different dealer doing the work this time as the closest dealer when I broke down was in Geelong. I will be writing a letter to my regular dealer though as I've been very dissatisfied the last one or two times my car was serviced. Which is a shame because early on they seemed quite good.

why whatd they do to your car, during the service?

[naughty]

Also check out in your engine bay you should have "Spain" written on every rubber hose! Or at least mine does have 50 million "Spain"s written all over it.

Interesting though. I thought the Aussie delivered Polos were also made in SA.

as mentioned above our SA assembled Polo Gti's are 5 door only - we used to get the three door bodies in for the TDI diesels - but they stopped those cos the turbo's were blowing like it was going out of fashion - i know some guys who had three turbo's replaced in a year

either way the SA assembled Polo's dont have a stronger gearbox either - cos mine also was on its way out and had to have a bit of work done on it under warranty though thankfully

[mikepologti]

sweet mine says may 08, hope theyve ironed out the problems by then .