Volkswagen Amarok Gearbox & Transmission Problems

You need to get this vehicle to a transmission specialist right away. There’s clearly something not right either mechanically or electronically with the gearbox, and continuing to drive it in its wounded state is a big chance to cause more damage than has already been done.

Any vibration in an automatic transmissions suggests either torque converter or internal problems. It may already be too late for your vehicle, and the damage may already be done. But the sooner you get to a specialist, the less expensive, permanent damage will be done.

The refusal to shift from four to two-wheel-drive could be any number of things from an electrical or switching fault to a mechanical failure within the transmission or transfer-case. So that needs to be checked out before you do any more damage to the vehicle.

In fact, the best advice would be to not drive the car any farther at all, because the jerkiness you describe is typical of a part-time all-wheel-drive vehicle that is locked in all-wheel-drive being driven on a normal, or grippy, surface. The need for the inside and outside wheels of a vehicle need to turn at different speeds when cornering, is over-ridden in a car like yours when low-range all-wheel-drive is selected. At which point, what you're feeling is the entire driveline fighting itself and loading up incredible stresses into the axles and differentials. Drive it any distance like that and you'll surely break something mechanical.

The deal VW has offered you on the diff rebuild is the industry standard deal on a car that is a few years old and has done a few kays, such as yours. It's frustrating for you, but cars do wear out and do break down. Regarding the belt and tensioner, they are normally considered consumable parts and not covered by the warranty. If you could prove that it was design or production fault that caused the problem you could make a claim against the company.

It's disappointing that you have had so many problems, but at least it appears that VW has fixed them when they have occurred. As for the brake rotors, it seems that Europeans makes are more prone to brake wear than cars from some other parts of the world, and 60,000 from a set of rotors is not bad.