Any Lifers In The Auto Parts Business?

limeygent

Having spent the last fifty years in the Automotive business here in the U.S., I've run up against an issue that I (frustratingly) haven't yet found a fix for, and of course, it's with a family vehicle.
My son drives a 2012 VW Golf with a 5 cylinder engine (unusual over here} and a 5 speed manual gearbox (also unusual because most of them here have automatic transmissions, those with manual gearboxes are 6 speeds). It's got quite a lot of miles on it but it's been a great car and he's looked after it. Last week the gearbox started making noises to the point where it sounds as if it's about to come apart, though it still operates normally,   He's taken it to two repair facilities, one of them a main dealer, and has been told by both that it will cost $14,000 US dollars to put in a new gearbox, more than double the value of the car. I thought that a good used transmission would be the best fix considering the age of the vehicle, but it seems that there are no used gearboxes for sale for this car in the entire USA. I wondered if there was a Lifer with connections that might know where I could buy one of these gearboxes over there, and who would be willing to ship it to the USA. We would really like to save this car, otherwise it'll have to go for scrap.
Any help with this would be much appreciated.

SuedeAdidas

Call Mike Brewer. 

He manages to make a phone call and within minutes is filming in a shop that has every spare part for every car. 

cafcfan

These guys do recon gearboxes. https://reengineeredtransmissions.co.uk/volkswagen/vw-golf
Seems like a fair price. But you'd have to talk with them to make sure that they sent the right one. Also it seems to be an exchange deal; you'd have to send your old one back. Shipping might be prohibitive?  Would they ship to the US? How much would the customs duty be?

Gribbo

SuedeAdidas said:

Call Mike Brewer. 

He manages to make a phone call and within minutes is filming in a shop that has every spare part for every car. 

You won't be able to get through, he's on radial for tickets -

letthegoodtimesroll

limeygent said:

Having spent the last fifty years in the Automotive business here in the U.S., I've run up against an issue that I (frustratingly) haven't yet found a fix for, and of course, it's with a family vehicle.
My son drives a 2012 VW Golf with a 5 cylinder engine (unusual over here} and a 5 speed manual gearbox (also unusual because most of them here have automatic transmissions, those with manual gearboxes are 6 speeds). It's got quite a lot of miles on it but it's been a great car and he's looked after it. Last week the gearbox started making noises to the point where it sounds as if it's about to come apart, though it still operates normally,   He's taken it to two repair facilities, one of them a main dealer, and has been told by both that it will cost $14,000 US dollars to put in a new gearbox, more than double the value of the car. I thought that a good used transmission would be the best fix considering the age of the vehicle, but it seems that there are no used gearboxes for sale for this car in the entire USA. I wondered if there was a Lifer with connections that might know where I could buy one of these gearboxes over there, and who would be willing to ship it to the USA. We would really like to save this car, otherwise it'll have to go for scrap.
Any help with this would be much appreciated.

Aren’t there local/State/US VW Golf owners forums out there where you could tap into the knowledge base ?

letthegoodtimesroll

letthegoodtimesroll said:

limeygent said:

Having spent the last fifty years in the Automotive business here in the U.S., I've run up against an issue that I (frustratingly) haven't yet found a fix for, and of course, it's with a family vehicle.
My son drives a 2012 VW Golf with a 5 cylinder engine (unusual over here} and a 5 speed manual gearbox (also unusual because most of them here have automatic transmissions, those with manual gearboxes are 6 speeds). It's got quite a lot of miles on it but it's been a great car and he's looked after it. Last week the gearbox started making noises to the point where it sounds as if it's about to come apart, though it still operates normally,   He's taken it to two repair facilities, one of them a main dealer, and has been told by both that it will cost $14,000 US dollars to put in a new gearbox, more than double the value of the car. I thought that a good used transmission would be the best fix considering the age of the vehicle, but it seems that there are no used gearboxes for sale for this car in the entire USA. I wondered if there was a Lifer with connections that might know where I could buy one of these gearboxes over there, and who would be willing to ship it to the USA. We would really like to save this car, otherwise it'll have to go for scrap.
Any help with this would be much appreciated.

Aren’t there local/State/US VW Golf owners forums out there where you could tap into the knowledge base ?

Also, aren’t those engines/parts used in other VW/Skoda/Seat vehicles ? Try widening your search of garages to ask

cafcfan

letthegoodtimesroll said:

letthegoodtimesroll said:

limeygent said:

Having spent the last fifty years in the Automotive business here in the U.S., I've run up against an issue that I (frustratingly) haven't yet found a fix for, and of course, it's with a family vehicle.
My son drives a 2012 VW Golf with a 5 cylinder engine (unusual over here} and a 5 speed manual gearbox (also unusual because most of them here have automatic transmissions, those with manual gearboxes are 6 speeds). It's got quite a lot of miles on it but it's been a great car and he's looked after it. Last week the gearbox started making noises to the point where it sounds as if it's about to come apart, though it still operates normally,   He's taken it to two repair facilities, one of them a main dealer, and has been told by both that it will cost $14,000 US dollars to put in a new gearbox, more than double the value of the car. I thought that a good used transmission would be the best fix considering the age of the vehicle, but it seems that there are no used gearboxes for sale for this car in the entire USA. I wondered if there was a Lifer with connections that might know where I could buy one of these gearboxes over there, and who would be willing to ship it to the USA. We would really like to save this car, otherwise it'll have to go for scrap.
Any help with this would be much appreciated.

Aren’t there local/State/US VW Golf owners forums out there where you could tap into the knowledge base ?

Also, aren’t those engines/parts used in other VW/Skoda/Seat vehicles ? Try widening your search of garages to ask

Don't think Skoda or Seat are sold in the US - Audi might be a good shout though.

letthegoodtimesroll

VWs seem to be assembled in various plants in the US. Contacting one of those might find somebody with some useful solutions/names to contact.

letthegoodtimesroll

cafcfan said:

letthegoodtimesroll said:

letthegoodtimesroll said:

limeygent said:

Having spent the last fifty years in the Automotive business here in the U.S., I've run up against an issue that I (frustratingly) haven't yet found a fix for, and of course, it's with a family vehicle.
My son drives a 2012 VW Golf with a 5 cylinder engine (unusual over here} and a 5 speed manual gearbox (also unusual because most of them here have automatic transmissions, those with manual gearboxes are 6 speeds). It's got quite a lot of miles on it but it's been a great car and he's looked after it. Last week the gearbox started making noises to the point where it sounds as if it's about to come apart, though it still operates normally,   He's taken it to two repair facilities, one of them a main dealer, and has been told by both that it will cost $14,000 US dollars to put in a new gearbox, more than double the value of the car. I thought that a good used transmission would be the best fix considering the age of the vehicle, but it seems that there are no used gearboxes for sale for this car in the entire USA. I wondered if there was a Lifer with connections that might know where I could buy one of these gearboxes over there, and who would be willing to ship it to the USA. We would really like to save this car, otherwise it'll have to go for scrap.
Any help with this would be much appreciated.

Aren’t there local/State/US VW Golf owners forums out there where you could tap into the knowledge base ?

Also, aren’t those engines/parts used in other VW/Skoda/Seat vehicles ? Try widening your search of garages to ask

Don't think Skoda or Seat are sold in the US - Audi might be a good shout though.

Good point. Mexico seems to be Seat’s biggest market outside of Europe so that might be an option depending upon where Limeygent lives. Might be worth looking at some Hispanic sites/forums/garages

limeygent

There are no Skodas or Seats over here, no one can tell me if there's an alternative vehicle to get the gearbox from. The VW part number is 0A4-300-052-J. 

Rob7Lee

VW (or VAG) did on some models use the Porsche 5 speed box, I had one in an Audi 80 and had the same shock when the box needed rebuilding. I'm not sure the 5cyl was sold over here but the boxes should be available.

The box is available in the US complete for about $5.3k - https://parts.vw.com/p/Volkswagen__/Manual-Transmission-Assembly/67801601/0A4300052J.html

All of that said, if it's still working fine there's other issues it could be, VW's have been known to have a failed temp sensor cause this sort of thing. Do you have access to getting it scanned for fault codes? Has the garages actually said what's wrong with it?

If you can access the parts list you may be able to order the individual parts and rebuild it, if it needs it, it's not difficult, the hardest part is usually getting the box out.

Also has the box ever had the oil changed? Might be worth that to start with (if not fault codes present)

limeygent

Thanks Rob, rebuilding might be an option, but at this high of a mileage it will need a a lot of parts. I can rebuild gearboxes, been doing it all my life, but by the time I replace all the worn parts I'll be back to square one cost-wise. I've found a few listed over here, but when I call they're "out of stock" or just plainly "no longer available". I have scanned it for codes myself, and there are none. not unusual for a manual transmission. I found a used one in Russia (!) but there's no way I'd send money over there thinking I'm dealing with an honest person. At the moment we're thinking of replacing the car but keeping this one while we explore more options, it's just too good to scrap.