Not a 6, but I need some help here
(1.8 16v)

Was driving down my street today at about 40km/h in 2e gear, when suddenly there was a rattle, a bang and some serious smoke/stench coming from underneath the bonnet

There was gearbox-oil everywhere (fire-fighters had to come and clean up the street ) the heatwrap on the manifold was soaked with the oil (hence the smoke)

Now my main concern is, what could be the cause of this? Are there any other parts I should check that could be damaged?
It's very strange because I never noticed anything..
And it had the correct oil in it (75w80)
I'm going to put my spare gearbox on but want to make sure it doesn't go BANG again

Some say it's due to the (mild) tuning and hard driving... but wouldn't it break when pushing it if that was the case?
And if so, is an xsi gearbox a better option? (or same gearbox?) or rather one from a xsara vts (xu10j4rs)

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Team Wheelwhore
Team Limited Edition

Astor 306 Francorchamps RIP
Virtual Blue 208 GTi

seen this loads of times, mainly on 205s, just fit another gearbox

Think mine has just done this - hopefully my diff hasn't exploded as it's a Quaife one!

JP

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HDI Engine Tuning / Remapping Services - https://www.facebook.com/dervtech

306 GTi-6 Track Car - 200+ hp all N/A!
306 DTurbo Track beasty - 209.9hp - RIP

Dunno, not taken it to bits yet... Just poured petrol all over it and looking for a lighter

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HDI Engine Tuning / Remapping Services - https://www.facebook.com/dervtech

306 GTi-6 Track Car - 200+ hp all N/A!
306 DTurbo Track beasty - 209.9hp - RIP

Planet gears failed?

They suffer fatigue quite commonly. I've a diff removed from a perfectly operational gearbox. Several small chunks of the planet gears had chipped off and there's some severe cracking on others. Only a matter of time until more had come away and got caught up. Another diff I've seen recently had in tact planet gears yet signs of cracking - so they are getting to the age where they start to fail.

While a box is out it's worth taking 5 minutes to pop the cover off an have a nosey. Replacement planet gears are about £100 iirc. Or I've a 306 diff here with clean ones if it's of use to anyone in a similar boat upon inspection.

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Senior Test Automation Engineer for the 306GTi6 Owners Club Forum

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dangti6 wot????

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306 rallye reproduction decals (full sets/individual decals) | 306 b-pillar textured vinyl weatherstrips
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winner of Extraction of toys from prams with outstanding vigour award 2009 [source: gti6 owners club]

They did this even when they were new, You could get a uprated set from Pug Sport in the day

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306 Rallye Sptint/Race Car, 205 CTI 1.9 8v to name a few

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Thats just standard 1.8 gearboxes! Ive replaced 3 now because of this.

When I was replacing my thermostat a couple of weeks ago I dropped a nut down that very same hole, luckily it rested on top of the flywheel and I managed to fish it out with some Blu-tac on a screwdiver.

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'90 1.6 205 GTi, '98 306 GTi-6

really handy those. i dropped a large bolt in the same hole but wasnt so lucky. the bolt went all the way round down to the bottom of the bell housing. Was worried that what started as a simple manifold change was going to end up in taking the gearbox off lol