I'm hoping someone out there will groan 'not one of those again' after reading the title of this thread.
Took our 99V Passat 110 TDI on hols last week and noticed it struggling up gradients. Initially put it down to a car full of kids and cases (i.e., more weight) but the longer it went on the more convinced I was it had simply lost its mid-range muscle somehow.
Took it into spannerman today and he said the air mass flow meter (??) had failed, it was a common problme with Passat TDIs, and it'd cost £230 all in to fix.
Does tjat sound like the cause, what difference does failure normally make, what improvement can I look forward to when fixed?
As if that's not enough both front CV joitns need replacing cos the boots split...yippee
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The MAF on my 2001 Golf was £85 exchange genuine VW and five mins to fit. Unplug the maf and drive the car ad see if the performance returns.
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Not another VW MAF post.....
differing symptoms but hestitation, flat spots, lack of go. Try disconnecting the maf and see if you notice anything - some people with lack of power report that it runs better with no maf than a knackered one. But it will be overfueling as the ecu goes into some strange mode.
Anyway I'll do it for £200. (and still make £100+profit), as mentioned they are available exchange at a fraction of the cost and it takes 5 mins to change them. You might need to get hold of an appropriate anti-tamper tool, some of them seem to be fastened with standard bolts some have odd anti-tamper ones. My set of anti-tampers cost under £10.
CV joints are a bit more expensive, I think the joints were £50 for our A4. Worth checking the condition of the abs reluctor rings while your at it - actually they might be part of the cv joint.
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The dealer replaced mine for £127 inc. (in addition to £44 diagnosis) - so your price is at the upper end of the scale.
However, the dealer had misdiagnosed it anyway, so I have asked for my money back and some compensation because they swapped vacuum control pipes around as part of their 'diagnosis' and this took another garage to discover and rectify.
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If the cv joints are'nt noisy on full lock and have'nt been ripped for too long and full of debris you'll get away with just changing the boots only
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And an update: the bill for everything is now down to £268 from a non-franchise VW specialist. He's a solid (ex-VAG) guy who operates in a less affluent town than normal spannerman. Wonder if that explains lower rates.
The guy who made the original diagnosis (who I've used before and is perfectly decent) didn't seem bothered that I'd decided to take it somewhere nearly £300 cheaper.
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£268 isn't £300 cheaper than £230!
There must be some mistake!
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Ashok,
I think the £230 mentioned at the start by the OP was only for the air mass flow meter. There was also mention of both CV joints needing replacing as well - separate bill?
Maybe the total bill from the other garage (£268) includes replacement of the CV joints as well as the flow meter?
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Impeccable deduction, as ever, DD.
I'm trying to keep quiet about, though, just in case the car twigs and throws a horseshoe...
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