[Help] Automatic Gearbox Problems..

[tronnogull]

Here is another one of those ' is there anyone out there who knows about this stuff ' pleas for help.

Mrs TG has a 2013 VW Golf automatic. It only has about 50,000 miles on the clock. I was driving it about a week ago, doing a three point turn. Put the car in reverse and there was a clunk from the gearbox after which the car could reverse but no forward gears could be selected. I got it towed to a local garage who have confirmed that it needs to go to a specialist shop and that, although they will need to assess it, the repair cost could very well be $ 4k.

So now I have three problems.
1. Specialist transmission shops are not able to even look at the car until late May.
2. From looking on auto trader it looks as if the car has a retail value of around £ 8k. So, although it feels ridiculous for a very clean, low mileage, car I don't know if it is worth getting the repair done.
3. The garage have found a transmission place which will see the car sooner to assess it but it would have to be towed to them and back. Probable towing cost about £ 300 just to get assessed.

I would be very grateful for any thoughts from any of you who are knowledgeable about any of this.

 

[WATFORD zero]

4K sounds a lot. I've used these guys in Hove, who have been excellent in the past. I think I paid less than £1500 for them to rebuild a gearbox on an expensive classic sports car

https://www.automaticgearboxcentre.co.uk/

 

[The Wizard]

4k for brand new auto gearbox wouldn’t be that surprising, it’s a heck of a lot of labour but that’s for an entire new gearbox and install its highly unlikely that’s your issue.

For a car of 50k miles i wouldn’t think it’s a catastrophic failure, it could be a few things, things as simple as fluid leak can cause a big clunk that sounds dramatic when it fails but it’s not a 4k fix

You need to take it to someone who knows about auto gearboxes, they are much harder to diagnose issues than manuals and a lot of normal local garages won’t have the knowledge.

Can you push the gear into neutral/drive or is it stuck in reverse position?

 

[Bold Seagull]

4K sounds a lot. I've used these guys in Hove, who have been excellent in the past. I think I paid less than £1500 for them to rebuild a gearbox on an expensive classic sports car

https://www.automaticgearboxcentre.co.uk/

I used them for my Saab 9-5 a decade ago, excellent service and a far better price, all be it opposite a certain retail park...but at least they're only opposite it!

Because they specialise in auto-boxes, rather than a sharp intake of breathe and not really wanting to do it, it's their bread and butter.

 

[Superphil]

3. The garage have found a transmission place which will see the car sooner to assess it but it would have to be towed to them and back. Probable towing cost about £ 300 just to get assessed.

I would be very grateful for any thoughts from any of you who are knowledgeable about any of this.

Not sure where you’re getting in shipped to and from but I just had a car delivered from Warwick to West Sussex for £260. Do you have AA/RAC/Green Flag, is it included on your bank account/insurance, they’ll transport it for you within their recovery service.

 

[tronnogull]

4K sounds a lot. I've used these guys in Hove, who have been excellent in the past. I think I paid less than £1500 for them to rebuild a gearbox on an expensive classic sports car

https://www.automaticgearboxcentre.co.uk/

Thanks for this. I just called them. Very helpful folks who can check the car when it is brought in and work on it in a couple of weeks.

 

[tronnogull]

4k for brand new auto gearbox wouldn’t be that surprising, it’s a heck of a lot of labour but that’s for an entire new gearbox and install its highly unlikely that’s your issue.

For a car of 50k miles i wouldn’t think it’s a catastrophic failure, it could be a few things, things as simple as fluid leak can cause a big clunk that sounds dramatic when it fails but it’s not a 4k fix

You need to take it to someone who knows about auto gearboxes, they are much harder to diagnose issues than manuals and a lot of normal local garages won’t have the knowledge.

Can you push the gear into neutral/drive or is it stuck in reverse position?

The gear selector can be moved. But only reverse can be engaged.

 

[Fungus]

Has she noticed yet? Tell her someone must have nicked it.

 

[tronnogull]

I used them for my Saab 9-5 a decade ago, excellent service and a far better price, all be it opposite a certain retail park...but at least they're only opposite it!

Because they specialise in auto-boxes, rather than a sharp intake of breathe and not really wanting to do it, it's their bread and butter.

Just called them . Very helpful bloke and I'll likely be getting the car to them next week.

 

[tronnogull]

Not sure where you’re getting in shipped to and from but I just had a car delivered from Warwick to West Sussex for £260. Do you have AA/RAC/Green Flag, is it included on your bank account/insurance, they’ll transport it for you within their recovery service.

I was told about £150 each way. But I didn't get a firm quote yet. No, I don't have any recovery service arrangements.

 

[tronnogull]

Has she noticed yet? Tell her someone must have nicked it.

When I was making my initial post I listed 3 problems but I did think of listing the 4th , bigger, problem.........

 

[wellquickwoody]

With 50k miles on it, have you actually had the transmission serviced?Not a normal service but a transmission service. Often overlooked as it is expensive and many garages ain’t interested. But vital. Mine just cost me around 3000 dollars.

 

[The Wizard]

The gear selector can be moved. But only reverse can be engaged

Did the garage check the transmission fluid? I’ve heard of transmission fluid stopping automatic cars going into drive because it can’t build up hydraulic pressure, a friend of mine had this problem because the tube that carries the fluid snapped, was a cheap fix so hopefully that’s your issue.

Were there any warning signs before hand at all? Heard any noises before??

 

[Ⓩ-Ⓐ-Ⓜ-Ⓞ-Ⓡ-Ⓐ]

Have you tried turning it off and on again?

 

[Official Old Man]

Why use a tow truck when it is driveable? Just shove it in reverse and off you go.
Do have pity though. Had an auto many many years ago and it cost me a fortune to service.

 

[Justice]

That’s a five minute job for a good mechanic

 

[Bold Seagull]

Just called them . Very helpful bloke and I'll likely be getting the car to them next week.

You’ll be in good hands.

 

[Icy Gull]

I had a gearbox problem on a Porsche 968 tiptronic on a car living in France. I was quoted similar to you. I ended up getting the gearbox removed and taken back to England by a mate who was buying antiques and taking them back to England in a transit. He delivered and collected for me. Long story short, the rebuild was around £1200 from these guys, Three years ago and not a single problem.

It may be worth trailering the car to them after you get a quote. (I paid exactly what was quoted)

Automatic Gearbox Specialist & Automatic Gearbox Services - East Sussex - UK

Auto Gearbox Specialists are a long established automatic transmission specialist. We recondition & repair automatic gearboxes & torque converters, and also carry stock of all the industrys top brand names in both the OE and quality aftermarket.

www.autogearboxes.co.uk

Edit, looks like you may be sorted

 

[Deleted member 37369]

I had a gearbox issue on my BMW a few years back. Opposite to the OP - I lost reverse gear (and my car was manual).

BMW initially quoted around £4k for a new gearbox mmox. The car was out of warranty and had done around 67k miles.

I did some research and found a number of others with same model where reverse gear was lost at a similar mileage. This was on a forum and there were various discussions about how people had dealt with it.

I went back to BMW with this 'evidence' of an 'inherent' fault. I maybe had the advantage of having driven the car from new (as a company car - which I bought when made redundant) and had always had the car serviced at BMW main dealer ... but they agreed to take it up with BMW.

BMW agreed to supply a new gear box at no cost and I just had to pay the initial diagnostic fee and then labour - coming in at just over £500 in total.

Not sure what the history of the OP's car is - appreciate it's now 10 years old - but very low mileage. But maybe worth checking via good old Google to see if the fault is 'common' with the model etc.

 

[beorhthelm]

i'd get on to some VW forums for advice. might be theres a known issue, hopefully in the selector mechanism rather than the box.