Owners Forums for Ford and Volkswagen MPVs / SUVs

Hi people   just joined the forum and already have a query.  some knowledgable person may be able to help with this. i have been running the car over the weekend and noticed a slight grumbling noise and rattle when accelerating ,but take the power off and smooth as anything.   thought possibly cv shaft as quite common on these { not a major problem  to fix} but having taken the near side wheel off i could see an exposed bearing towards the front  of the engine. turned engine on and yes it goes around. i know enough about engines to know this should not be like this { cover missing?} the bearing has only 60% of the balls in. i can poke my finger through the centre. possible it could be a shaft support for the auxiliary drive that runs along the engine front.   getting too late to start investigating more   any help would be appreciated as to what is missing?  what the bearing  does and if its a pull out in situ job or gearbox out job.   thanks

Howdy!

Was the bearing like this?

I think if you had the right kind of internal puller you could possibly get the bearing out, and if the bearing hasn't completely collapsed and spewed debris into the transmission then it might be worth a go before condemning and dropping the box. It is a gamble though.

Update to the gearbox fault is that i now have a replacement gearbox in and all looks good.   took a sample of oil out the original box and looked like pearlescent paint with all the sparkly metal filings in. luck was in and a 6 speed was had  for just over a ton, so saturday was spent jacked up high and box was out in 2 hours.
new clutch kit and flywheel obtained and all assembled by five. managed to split the vacuum hose to the brake booster so another unexpected repair. A piece of advice for any diyers get a brake /clutch bleeding kit that attaches to an air line, sucked that fluid out of there and new fresh put in {it was black as coal} good bit of kit. clutch is now smoother and new oil in the box as well { thats expensive stuff}.  so anyone else has a grumbling gearbox sorry but there is no easy solution its rebuild or swap. thanks for everyones input this is a good forum and hopefully i may be able to help someone else out one day.