Gearbox oil leak

Morning all,

my mk1 has dumpded all of its gearbox oil on the floor of the garage. The question I have is can I start the engine and warm it up? will any damage be done to the gearbox?

many thanks

Rollsey

First of all, what it caused to dump all its oil?  

Where did the oil come out from? I'm not sure if it's good for the gearbox to be spinning around without any oil in it. If it's the seals which have gone they are not much money to replace and straight forward to replace, if it's a crack in the case then bin the gearbox and get another.
Welcome to BrokeVW.com
lots of info on this website.

over the winter i was starting the car and moving it out of the garage about once a month. Then one day whilst doing this I saw a great big puddle of oil on the garage floor, I ran to my car and turned it off, my fear was that the puddle of oil was from the engine . I put the car back in the garage and left it alone as I was saving money for a complete rebuild of the engine.

a few weeks ago I checked the oil dip stick and it showed no loss of oil at all, this is when I realised that the oil must have leaked from the gearbox.

my car is booked in at Jabbasport for the re build and they said that they would sort out the leak at the same time. they are going to pick the car up from me and trailer it back to their workshop so I don't really have any need to start the engine, I just wanted to as matter of habit really.

I thought it was strange that the gearbox oil was fine one month and then the next it had all leaked out,, after all I hadn't been using it over the winter.

Cheers
Rollsey

the input shaft will be spinning if the clutch is released, so its best to either press the clutch in while engine on or just avoid running the engine if possible

Excellant, thanks!