StueyB 0 Posted February 24, 2009 Hey guys, Looking for a bit of advice / guidance. Am having an absolute mare with the VR in 2009, had what I would call solid years motoring out it last year, routine maintenance and no major issues. Was well happy. Since the turn of the year its been broken longer than its been fixed. After having a small electrical fire, ignition lock jamming and immobiliser going up the swany, I finally got the car back last week. Used it for work and all seemed well again until Friday night. Pulled out of work as usual, got up to first major roundabout and hit a set of traffic lights, stopped then pulled away only to hear a rather nasty bang followed by repetitive graunching noises and then lost all drive. Coasted to next set of traffic lights only for the car to be stranded with no drive in either direction, called AA and eventually got car towed home. Inspected damage on Saturday only to find a nackered drivers side inner cv joint, literally fell apart when bolts were removed. Also noticed I managed to snap drivers side roll bar linkage. Thankfully I was able to lay my hands on a used driveshaft and picked up new linkage and ball joint same day (fooked old one getting it out). With the help of my dad we refitted parts this eve, all seemed well. Fired her up, let warm up, jumped in, selected first, bought clutch up, touch of gas and nothing bar a rumbling noise coming from drivers side of engine bay, doesn't matter what gear i select car won't move. After trying to this a few times you could start to smell clutch. My heart sunk massively. Wondering if anyone has suffered similar failures? Any ideas on what to start checking next? Car's had a clutch about 10k ago and has been spot on ever since so I'm guessing it can't be this? Assuming it is likely to be gearbox related but after that i'm pretty lost. All help / advice / thoughts greatly received. Stu Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
mic_VR 3 Posted February 24, 2009 Carefully get it up on some axle stands so you've got the driven wheels off the ground and try to see what's actually going on under there. If once you've selected a gear and let the clutch out nothing is moving still or it isn't obvious then I'd suspect some form of gearbox problem. The fact it doesn't matter what gear you select I would be thinking something clutch/diff related unfortunately :( Does the clutch pedal feel strange at all, you sure it's engaging correctly? Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
dr_mat 0 Posted February 25, 2009 Carefully get it up on some axle stands so you've got the driven wheels off the ground and try to see what's actually going on under there. The fact it doesn't matter what gear you select I would be thinking something clutch/diff related unfortunately :( Definitely sounds like a locked diff to me. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
vwdeviant 0 Posted February 25, 2009 Up in the Air, then turn one wheel, see if other turns other way (With no engine on obviously) Will give a quick Diff check, If nothing happens at the other wheel... Busted diff If the other wheel turns same direction... busted diff If the other wheel turns opposite direction ... diff OK From memory... Some-one will probably correct me... Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
dr_mat 0 Posted February 25, 2009 If nothing happens at the other wheel... Busted diff If the other wheel turns same direction... busted diff If the other wheel turns opposite direction ... diff OK .. if it won't turn at all .. busted diff. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
StueyB 0 Posted February 25, 2009 Thanks for the responses guys, has turned out this evening to be a lot simpler and thankfully less serious. After getting the car up on axle stands with engine running, it turned out to be the replacement drive shaft. The outer cv was not properly connected to the shaft so was just spinning loose, almost as the inner was on my original nackered drive shaft. So with everything back together car now moves forward and backward, great I thought - fixed. Took it out for a road test as you do and to my annoyance the next issue rose its ugly head. Car's now pulling badly to the left, steering wheel now sits a quarter turn to the left apposed to straight before and its looks as tho the o/s wheel is toeing out (think this is the term) badly when it should be toeing in? Could this be all caused by changing a ball joint and roll bar linkage? Seems like quite a big change for things with only minor adjustment? The saga continues, again any help greatly appreciate as i'm starting to loose my cool with it and so's my wallet. Stu Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Jim 2 Posted February 25, 2009 From memory, if you change a ball joint you have to do enough that you might have seriously knocked the tracking / camber etc out of alignment. Might be worth just getting it in to your friendly local tyre / exhaust place for a tracking / alignment? Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
