September 2011
I have my "low oil pressure" warning light on and off when I press clutch down or when slow down. It goes back to normal after a while, or when I speed up again.
I checked the oil level, it looked ok within limit.
What are the possible causes? I want to get a little bit more knowledge before I just go to the local garage for them to have a look at.
It's a toyota corelloa car... Read more
I have an 06 Passat diesel estate and the 'Emissions Garage!' light has been on for about 2 years!! My local garage have interrogated the computer on numerous occasions and it always suggests that the glow plugs have a problem...so they were replaced initially....then the relay to them.... then the glow plugs again...and finally the garage replaced part of the loom as they told me this often went wrong and sent false messages to the computer. That lasted less than 24 hours before the light came on again. The best we have done is to get it to stay off for about 2 months.
The car starts and runs beautifully and I have not the slightest doubt that the glow plugs are fine - for instance, it started easily all last winter in that cold weather and was standing outside. ... Read more
You will also start to fail MOTs next year
I would like to know if anyone has done driving experience with LIVIT X formally Driving Experiences Direct.
... Read more
I know the guy
I cannot afford to have this car off the road for weeks again this winter because the rear wheel drive doesn't function at all in snow / ice. I would be grateful for advice or information on my options, including fitting winter tyres. Exactly how practical and costly will it be - is it worth it - or do I sell the car within the next couple of months? Read more
No rear drive car will perform particularly well in slippery conditions because there is not enough weight on the drive axle. Virtually all FWD cars are nose heavy and therefore have an advantage in gaining traction.
I currently own a 2006 Skoda Octavia 1.9TDi PD Ambiente which has only just completed 41,000 miles.
It has a FULL SKODA DEALER service history, the timing belt was replaced at 36,000 miles, everything
has been done EXACTLY as Skoda recommend.
The car has NEVER been thrashed or driven in anger.
I used to regularly get 60mpg over a tank of diesel.
3weeks ago whilst driving home, at a busy motorway junction, I was pulling out onto the roundabout and
suddenly, without any warning, noise or indication the car lost ALL POWER, engine dead, electronics alive,
but no engine, no brakes, no steering!!! It could have killed me!
Fortunately the oncoming vehicles managed to avoid my car and eventually some people pushed me to safety.
I have AA cover, so they assisted but the OBD2 laptop didn't report any engine fault codes whatsoever?
The engine still wouldn't start and some smoke was coming out of the turbo air-intake ducting as the AA
turned the engine over. He couldn't fix it at the roadside, so the car was taken to my nearest Skoda dealer,
the same place it goes for all services, timing belt exchange e.t.c.
After 2 days they diagnosed that:
(i) Turbo seized
(ii) Catastrophic turbo failure - turbine/fans disintegrated
(iii) Metal parts from turbo ended up inside intercooler
Their recommendation, to replace turbo £1200 + intercooler £500.
Cannot guarantee this will completely resolve issue, meatal parts may have reached engine!!
Also THEY ARE UNABLE TO CONFIRM THE ROOT CAUSE OF THE TURBO FAILURE!
Now, given that the car is only 5.5 years old, has only done 41,000 miles and has a FULL SKODA DEALER
SERVICE HISTORY, I would expect that Skoda would take some responsibility for this PREMATURE TURBO FAILURE.
However, they are saying that as the car is out of warranty (only 3 years with Skoda!), they are not
willing to pay anything towards the £1700 repair costs! The car is probably only worth £4000, so basically
it's half the value of the car!
I have heard that this particular Volkswagon Audi Group (VAG) turbo design has a known design fault, but
VAG are not admitting to it. The design fault is this:
The turbo relies entirely on engine oil to spin freely, it has no additional bearings, just oil.
The problem is that engine oil is fed to the turbo via a single braided pipe.
If the turbo is starved of oil for just 1 or 2 seconds it will seize and/or destroy itself.
It is easy to imagine that the likelyhood of this happening is fairly high, just a kink in the pipe,
some oil sludge or air bubbles is all it would take!
THIS IS A SERIOUS SAFETY ISSUE! There is no warning at all, then complete loss of engine power, brakes &
steering.
I would like to know if anyone has experienced similar issues with early turbo failure.
I personally would NEVER buy ANY VAG car again!
David. Read more
As previously reported here, when my 2005 1.9TDi (at 103k miles) lost all power during a gentle downhill mottorway cruise and refused to restart, it was diagnosed as turbo failure. VW trusted dealer said that this was due to vane breakup, not bearing seizure. They had suspected the turbo and this was confirmed when they disconnected the outlet and the engine (breathing atmo air) started immediately. Air could not get through the turbo compressor without it turning.
HJ had reported in Car by Car that there were many turbo problems - seems to me that besides the issue of dirty/low oil causing seizure (presumably common to all manufacturers), there was another design or mfg problem with 2005/2006 1.9 TDi engines specifically.
The alarm comes on when locked for no reason. No flashing lights just this annoying high pitched noise.
Have found what it is and have cured the problem by following this amazing link (good one for John-H) ... Read more
In order to be a Cat. 1 Thatcham alarm, the alarm has to operate if the main car battery is disconnected. Obviously that won't now happen on my car....
Recently bought the above car and it seems that some nasty fumes are getting in through the vents. I feel very light headed after driving and also notice a 'sooty' quality in the air. There is an occasional smell, seems more like exhaust than anything else.
I have a very friendly and very local indie garage (though I'm not sure how expert they are with diesels). I'm inclined to take the car to them as a first port of call with this issue.... Read more
Thanks for replies. Don't think the heater matrix is the problem. I've had that issue in the past and coolant fumes have quite a different effect on me (unfortunately I am a walking chemical detector!). But will nevertheless keep an eye on coolant level. Ford checked injectors when investigating low power issue (which turned out to be MAP sensor btw.) and found nothing amiss.
What I've realised is that there is a constant smell of OIL inside. And there are some spots of oil on ground under the car. I'm now thinking perhaps some oil is getting onto something hot... That wouldn't explain the 'sooty' quality to air but might be part of the picture. I also notice oil is over max on dipstick... Kwik fit couldn't find anything wrong with exhaust so will be taking to my local garage to check out....
My Audi A2 Tdi has done 158,000 miles and has started using more oil. I bought the car new in 2001 and used the extended service/long life oil option. Until it reached about 145,000 miles the car used 1 litre of oil over 20,000 miles. This has now increased to 1L per 2,000 miles.
I can not afford to buy another car for more than £4000 plus what I might get for the A2. But I understand that a new Tdi engine costs about £4000. If it does, I could keep what is a lovely car, still in good condition and fitted with a new engine.... Read more
If the oil is going into the intercooler this may not be a smart strategy. Also, these engines use a very specialised 506/507 spec oil which is quite expensive and never on special offer unfortunately....
Hi all
I have experienced my 2009 2.0 tdi gt 140ps mk6 golf cut out twice since i picked it up on tuesday (2 days).... Read more
we used to have quite a few of something similar and it could be the intake valve sticking causing the car to stall...but also the lift pump in the tanks could also be a potential source of problem .
We have a vw passat sport TDI 140 have just heard from the garage that the turbo we had fitted wasnt the whole problem we have been told that the engine is run on a chain and needs to be changed to a gear which vw only can sell and fit this is going to cost in the region of £2000 all in and then we still have the stering rack and a case of the 5th gear not working ? we paid £8,000 for this car just over 18 months ago with 103,000 on it now we were hoping for a good couple of years were do we stand with vw cos at the moment it uneconomical to reapir and we have a lovely looking car sitting there which we cant use any ideas please Read more
This will be the chain that drives the oil pump.
VW modified their old PD engine which originally used a chain to drive the oil pump....
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