Hey all,

So I bought a 2001 GTi last year with 78K on the clock and other than the clutch being a bit average was happy with my purchase.

Lately it started to shudder a bit at idle but seeing how it was due for a service didn't really worry as it was very internittant. Last week however I left my house and started driving the car and when it was in gear there would be a shuddering cyclical sound, like something was rotating but at a certain point was scraping against something. When in neutral the sound wasn't there and would only happen when in a gear. I pretty much shat my daks and returned the car to the driveway and left it there.

On Sunday, I decided to go for a drive to see if I could hear the sound and pretty much once on the street it started making the same sound. I then thought I might as well take it around the block! I stopped at some lights and turned left and in first revved it to ~1700 RPM. My heart sank as I heard a large clunk and something falling off the car... I rolled in neutral to the side of the road and went to pick up what fell off and went to the car and started it and went to drive off and the car wouldn't move... I didn't know whether to cry or laugh as it would rev and the speedometer would increase but the car wouldn't move.

So I got a tow and they said they'd tow it to Barloworld as I didn't have a regular mechanic, Barloworld had a look at the piece that fell off and said it was part of the CV joint and that they'd look to see how much damage there was.

The guy gave me a call today and told me that the gear box is rooted and that the drive shaft now has a hole in it and to repair with new parts will be $6000... I shat my daks at this point...

In the last 12 months, I've replaced the clutch (but not the flywheel, my brother in law who's a mechanic said it was fine). T-boned a car that decided to turn right in front of me and expecting me to go from 60 km/h to 0 in under 10 metres, but I wasn't at fault so didn't pay anything and got a new front end. This is after having a falcon for 5 years and having one minor ding and the usual falcon mechanical issues.

So I'm now looking at reconditioned parts to see what I can find. I called around and it look like it'll be $3000 to install a gear box and ~$500 for a drive shaft. Is this reasonable?

I'm also wondering what could have caused the problem. I put in an aftermarket 2 tonne clutch, could that be the problem? Or has the front on accident (at ~30km/h) caused some stress on the metal that Barlow world didn't notice when it went to check the mechanical aspect of the car after the accident?

Oh well I'm now poor and not going out for 6 months...