Let's play a guessing game...

[ParaBul]

Update: The Good, the Bad & the Ugly.

The Good:
VW Australia have agreed to cover the costs of the ECU replacement as a Good Will gesture.

The Bad:
I have to pay for the diagnosis time - that's not covered by the warranty.

The Ugly:

• A replacement ECU will take 10 days to come from Germany.
• They're not sure this will actually fix the problem, but it's the only way they can test the theory.
• There's no loan car available.

[The_Hawk]

Here's hoping this solves the problem.

So who supplies the extended warranty? I'd be hitting them up to cover all of the repair costs (or be able to point at which part of their fine print allows them to get out of it)... after all, that's what it's for right?

[Lucas_R]

Lets hope the ECU is the culprit - my friend paid over $3k to have the ECU in his Mk5 GTI replaced about 2years ago.

His car was fine one minute, then he tried to start the car when he was leaving my place and it cranked but wouldnt fire. All the DSG gear indicator lights on the dash were flashing.

I did a scan with VCDS which showed up several electrical communication faults.

After leaving the car for about 10-15mins (during this time we were checking things and doing the VCDS scan etc) we tried again and it fired. My friend managed to get the car home (only a few mins drive away) but the car never started again after that. The car was towed to an independant VW mechanic who quickly diagnosed that the ECU was faulty, but said that it had to go to VW to code the new ECU and immobiliser as he did not have the equipment to do it.

Update: The Good, the Bad & the Ugly.

The Good:
VW Australia have agreed to cover the costs of the ECU replacement as a Good Will gesture.

The Bad:
I have to pay for the diagnosis time - that's not covered by the warranty.

The Ugly:

• A replacement ECU will take 10 days to come from Germany.
• They're not sure this will actually fix the problem, but it's the only way they can test the theory.
• There's no loan car available.

[Arnold]

Here's hoping this solves the problem.

So who supplies the extended warranty? I'd be hitting them up to cover all of the repair costs (or be able to point at which part of their fine print allows them to get out of it)... after all, that's what it's for right?

Definitely. Even if it is only a driveline warranty, ECU is part of the engine. And diagnosis cost.

[Ozsko]

Update: The Good, the Bad & the Ugly.

The Good:
VW Australia have agreed to cover the costs of the ECU replacement as a Good Will gesture.

The Bad:
I have to pay for the diagnosis time - that's not covered by the warranty.

The Ugly:

• A replacement ECU will take 10 days to come from Germany.
• They're not sure this will actually fix the problem, but it's the only way they can test the theory.
• There's no loan car available.

That is a load of rubbish, some dealers are just either plain dumb, stupid or think their customers are. Pull the computer out and put it in another car, we do it all the time with any component we need to test. Do not put a known good component in a car with a fault always the other way round.

[ParaBul]

That is a load of rubbish, some dealers are just either plain dumb, stupid or think their customers are. Pull the computer out and put it in another car, we do it all the time with any component we need to test. Do not put a known good component in a car with a fault always the other way round.

Really? You're calling me dumb or stupid? Have we met?

Modern cars typically have 8 (if not more) ECUs all interconnected on a CANbus system. For many cars, if you try to swap one without coding it properly the others detect a problem and the immobiliser won't let the car run - see ECU Replacement - VW GTI MKVI Forum / VW Golf R Forum / VW Golf MKVI Forum / VW GTI Forum - Golfmk6.com for an example. You get in an expensive contractor to re-code ECUs all the time?

Anyway, Solitaire came through with a loan car last Tuesday - I picked up a Polo Bluemotion with DSG on Wednesday morning. Impressively economical (almost as efficient as the GTD when driving gently) and enough power / throttle response to keep up with traffic. Not overly impressed by the response if the transmission if I asked it to go in the wrong gear, but the GTD probably only feels better because I typically drive it in manual mode and use the flappy paddles.

The Golf came back today. Phone call this morning to say the new ECU fixed the problem, then they completed a service and even gave it a wash - which is good, because the poor thing had been looking embarrassingly unloved.

The first couple of times I braked it pulled up hard - I guess the Polo has a higher pedal pressure, not that I noticed while I was driving it. I already miss the Polo's MFD & dash unit - I find it staggering how much better a current base model Polo is when compared to a Mk6 that (I thought) was a high-end model. All in all, I'd rather have the GTD - but (for various reasons - not just this experience) I may put it on the market soon.