November 2008
I posted in the techincal forum last week about a problem that I had with low oil pressure on my 05 Passat TDI.
In short, two weeks ago I was 50 or so miles from home when a STOP - Oil Pressure - Engine Off! - Owner's Manual red warning came up on the MFD. Having ignored a coolant warning on my Golf 6 years ago I stopped straight away, followed the instructions in the owner's manual, and ended up calling the RAC to recover me back to Manchester.
The patrolman didn't even bother to start the engine and winched the car onto his foldout trailer. The car was then given a follow on tow a few days later to my local VW garage.
They diagnosed two small leaks from pipes, and something called the 'rocker' (?), which they fixed. The warning light persisted, so they then decided to check the strainer in the sump, and quoted me a price, which I accepted. It was when it was stripped down that they discovered the spindle in the oil pump had sheared. I was told that as a good will gesture VW UK would pay the close to £700 bill for the part, and 30% towards the labour.
This was fixed on Monday of this week, but they discovered a 'rattle' like noise that wasn't previously present. It was explained to me that it could be consequential damage to the engine, and that if it was VW UK would pay for the part, and again 30% towards the labour. However, there was also a possibility that it could be the flywheel in the gearbox that had gone, in which case I would be liable for the full cost. Apparently the noise has the technicians split in opinion.
I had a call last night to say that they had decided to strip the gearbox down first, and found nothing, so they will be looking at the engine today. Some of the technicians now think that it might be a loose belt or something rather than engine damage. They say that the noise is obvious up to 2000rpm, and then dies off, which is why they suspected a gearbox fault before engine damage.
Now the bill for the work that I had authorised, that being the replacement of the leaking pipes, the rocker cover, a glow plug, and the checking of the strainer came to around £700. I asked last night whether I had been charged for their stripping of the gearbox. I was told not, but that the final cost would obviously depend on what the problem was. I asked if they thought that the noise indicated a major, potentially dangerous though, and the response was that they didn't know.
Being the cynical type, I'm expecting a large bill, so am seeking a bit of advice in these forums as to how to deal with any monstrous bill that may come my way. As far as I am aware I didn't authorise the stripping of the gearbox, nor the engine. I was told on Monday that the oil pressure warning problem had been fixed, but that they needed to investigate a noise which wasn't previously there, and that VW would pay for any consequential damage.
What I don't know at the moment is if I will be charged for the stripping of the gearbox, if the problem turns out to be with the engine.
The car is actually out of warranty by 16,000 miles. It's done 76,000 miles and was 3 years and 6 days old when the pump failed. I'm wondering why VW would be willing to stump up £700 for a pump as a 'good will' gesture, and also replace the engine, should it have been damaged. They've no need to, so I'm wondering if this is a known problem.
I'd just like advice on how to deal with any charges that they throw at me for investigating this noise, which isn't something that I asked them to do. They told me they needed to investigate for damage, which I assumed to be from their repair. Should I have said no at that point? Read more
The new style MOT has a box to say if an advise was issued.
If the advise sheet is "lost" is it possible to see online what the advise was ? Read more
DP,
Thanks.
Presumably, each model has its own target to beat, so a mean value pass for one car could be a fail for another and vice-versa,
My Focus managed a fast pass, by the way.
I have a problem with a leak from the master cylinder on one of these.It looks like the master and slave cylinders come as a sealed unit,as I cannot see how the pipe can be disconnected from the slave.Can anyone confirm if this is the case? Read more
Dont go to the main Jeep dealers , they will rip you like £500+ for parts that are not needed. Use a local garage if must.
The slave is the only part that is needed here, its a common fault. Here are the parts you need.....
Last year my Lambda sensor had a reading of 1.0. At this year's MOT it was 1.28, just below the 1.3 maximum limit.
Is my Lambda sensor on the way out or is there something else that could have caused the change in reading? Read more
It might be helpful
to those who might respond to your question if you could post all of the
emission values CO HC etc.
Thanks - but I don't have them with me at the moment. I'll check for air leaks like you suggested.
Several clues in this photo ;)
tinyurl.com/5hqb6a
Questions,
1) What is happening?
2) Where is the location?
3) What are the clues (in the pic - not my habits ;) that lead to your conclusion?
Answers after 8pm tonight.
Read more
Nearly oldnotbold ;)
The test pic was taken on the later, September trip at Sanctuary Wood though.
I've been racking my brain, but couldn't come up with a witty title for this - so over to you.
tinyurl.com/6jdfvn (links to an article on Sky News)
Or if you want, you could just comment on the news article.... Read more
Doggy fashion accessory
Our 306 has been intermittently struggling to start and then when starting the accelerator needs to be pumped or held firmly down to generate enough power to make the car move. This problem got gradually worse over about a week. Then one evening both headlight bulbs had blown. The next day the car wouldn't start at all. The starter motor was trying and the battery was ok but the engine wasn't catching. It started a few days later and I drove 4 miles to the garage keeping it on very high revs and avoiding going up hill to prevent it stalling. After about 3 miles it was running pretty normally. The garage replaced the light bulbs and found it started and ran fine. Since then it's been generally starting OK but sometimes with the same struggle to start and I can feel the jerkyness and lack of pull occassionally. Any ideas? I don't think the problem was solved by fixing the lights and I'm expecting it to happen again soon because I still feel the lack of pull sometimes. Read more
It's not necessarily a dealer thing; but you'll need to find someone with the right plug for your car - unless it's an early 16-pin one above the dash fuse box, it's almost unique.
ole cruiser,
You have an e-mail concerning the above. Can you contact us by mail if you want to respond ! Read more
June 08 Reg with 20 miles
1 can be bought at nearly half price....
www.broadspeed.com/kiaspecial.htm
Its a canny marketing method...its got my wallet twitching!
Read more
Yes I have I've had them as rental cars. I'm surprised about HJs comment. The
Vectra is also not particularly nice to drive and definitely not a patch on the
Mondeo but the Magentis is horrible. It feels like an early 80s japanese car.
Are we talking about the old one or the new one?
I've driven the newer one but not the newer one: the newer one reminded me of a Toyota Avensis, and while that car is no ball of fire that is hardly a damning indictment either. Well made and quiet with decent, though dull handling. Not significantly worse to drive than my current Primera, which was considered a worthy rival to the Mondeo in its day.
The older one -- well to be fair it's an old design now (it was released in 1998 in Korea). You have to compare it with the Vectra that was around at that point -- and it'd have to be pretty bad to be nasty compared to that car. I always HATED Vauxhalls of that period. I have a late-90s Daewoo as a second car, and everything I dislike about that car (numb steering, horrid gearchange) is shared with my disdain for the MkIII Astra of the day.
Am just posting here after getting in seething from an altercation with an arrogant London cabbie.
Just interested in views of BRs.
I am a cyclist and approached a junction near to home. Junction is quite complicated so will do best to explain. There are three lanes all turning right into a road with three lanes too. Furthest left lane is a bus lane on both roads. once you've turned into the main road the three lanes run parrallel for 100m before the left and middle lane peel off at an angle to the left. At this point the right hand lane continues straight on and just before the parting it then widens to become 2 lanes going straight on. At that very last point a cycle lane on the left hand side of this pair appears for all of 10 metres until a set of lights.
Anyhow I approach junction on my bike, if traffic behind me is clear I signal and get right over into the furthest right lane to go through the junction. I then cycle down the right hand side of the left lane marker for the right lane all the way until i get to the cycle lane and the traffic light.
Anyhow tonight I set off as per the above round the corner onto the main road to sense flashing lights and horn tooting from a London cabbie behind...anyhow he then moves left into the "wrong lane" for straight ahead...goes around me while yelling "you can't cycle there" and anyhow at the lights he winds his window down and I ask him what he was doing. he says you can't do what you're doing you'll get yourself killed. I pointed out the continuation of the whole lane straight through to the lights and that i have as much right to be there as him. he said I should be in the other lane (or I think really as most cabbies think not on the road at all). I think i was in the right and he both was being aggressive to save all of a second or two waiting until the road widened and also was in the wrong for crossing into an inside lane to go around me on the inside and then pull back in front of me and stop.
It just got my blood boiling although there was another cyclist backing me up at the same time.
What do car drivers think? my side or his? if his where am I supposed to cycle on that junction given that cycling on the kerb is 2 "wrong" lanes away from where I need to be and the more I go along the kerb the more I run out of time to cross back to the right hand lane?
Read more
thanks westpig. yes it does feel vulnerable there being so far right but I think it's the less of two evils. The vast majority of traffic coming from Kennington Road is aiming for the a23 not the A24 clapham Road so that is why I have deduced that doing what I am doing is safer than anything else.
The junction was altered in the last 3 years but still si one where effectively there is alot of traffic weaving from lane to lane and deal with buses doing the same.
I think the only saving grace in London is generally speeds are low.
Browse
.jpg)
" I'm not convinced it would be wise to keep it"
Bonkers, I'm afraid. You and VW have just spent a shed load of money to keep it on the road, and the parts fitted will have at least a 12 month gtee. Keep it for the next year, and then take a view.