Hi Ho Hi Ho its to off the transmision shop I go.

[volksMuller]

sorry to hear of the trouble on the auto,I run a vw audi alternative service centre and have a few suggestions .I currently own a tdi t5 auto with over 225k on the same gearbox...this t5 mainly tows heavy laden car trailers all round the country. Oil changes are your best friend and many of them,the pre 07 model have a smaller trans cooler and suggest to change oil every 30-50k.60k for the later model is my suggestion. Its actually common for the auto to **** itself after new oil has been fitted once the customer has detected erratic shifts or thumping into gear [usually 2-3]. We outsource these repairs at an average cost of about 7k drive in drive out. cheers steve

[bluefin321]

So don't expect anything in a reasonable amount of time from VW, they have all the time in the world to stuff you around.

Brian

Took VW 3 weeks to approve my good will claim, pretty slack.

[Sunny43.5]

Thanks guys for the words of support , this particular van is used by our family my wife is the most frequent driver as we have two disabled kids in wheel chairs and without the van any medical emergency that was to occur would be a very serious issue as its the only one of our vans that has been converted to carry both kids . I pointed this out to VW as a priority as I in my own opinion believe they have a moral obligation to treat my inquire with haste , in saying that I do not expect them to pay for the whole thing as we obviously have had some use out of the auto before failure . But if you pay $50.000 plus for a car regardless you expect better from a major manufacturer who make billions of dollars profit from us their customers . Every one of us knows that VW have gone through 3 different transmissions since 2000 and they appear to still not get one that is totally reliable . You only have to read the posts on this forum from owners of different models that have to have "software" updates to fix their problems . In this day and age too much emphasis is being placed on technical interference from the car itself in how we drive . The motor car is a hostile enviroment for electronics and failure is always on the card . Read this article from China :- Despite Volkswagen’s DSG gearboxes being generally bulletproof, Chinese customers have had problems with their DSG-equipped cars since last year. VW officials have acknowledged the faults, have apologized for the inconvenience and have increased the warranty for the gearboxes to an unprecedented 10 years and 160,000Km (100,000miles).

In February, VW recalled the affected cars, in order to install a software update, however it was not a fully-fledged recall, as they deemed it not to be a safety issue. The software updated did fix problems at first, but the over 500,000 affected cars from VW and Skoda came back to the dealerships with even more problems than before. This very widespread problem may affect VW's credibility on the Chinese market, but they will definitely figure out a way to reinstate their image, with more than just a warranty extension.

Apparently, this DSG gearbox issue is the most complained-about problem among Chinese car buyers this year. Hopefully, the extended warranty will satisfy customers, but from what we can gather, nobody has actually fixed the problem, nor can we find out what the problem is, exactly.
Even in the US they have had problems with DSG boxes and the Triptronic as well and these were addressed but not here . Another story on the Chines issue makes an interesting read Aritcle

[jfoldbar]

i can totally relate to the picture. mine spent more than 3 years on that trailer

[IN2VWS]

Howard, I sympathize with your problems, particularly because of the fact that it is a wheelchair carrying vehicle, therefore the inconvenience that it is causing you and your family.

However, I would like to clarify your comments on the DSG. The DSG in passenger cars is a different animal than the DSG that is in the Transporters. To my knowledge There have not been failures of the DSG in Transporters. I do not see the software upgrade as being a failure.
So please, don't throw stats about passenger cars into the mix when you are talking about Transporter transmissions.

I hope you can get a satisfactory resolution with VW. If it were me, I would be calling them daily, due to the urgency you stated.

[Racemag]

Can I suggest the following course of action. Contact VW Australia and find out who your states service manager is. Then write a letter to your dealer and CC it to the service manager and Toby Hagon, editor of the Age's Cars Guide section. You will get a reaction, particularly if you include the Chinese article and mention your kids.
A phone call is easily ignored, a letter is not.
BTW Hyundai iLoad next time.

[bluefin321]

.. ..

[smithy]

Hi All,
Total noob here.....This thread seems appropriate I guess, unless I should start a new one, just smack me if I'm in the wrong. I'm in need of help/advice from those more knowledgeable than I, although my woes are with a T4 not a T5..!
I have a '97 T4 van, 2.5 5cyl petrol (AET) with a dead 4speed auto, I bought it a few days ago knowing the trans was shot. The van itself is actually in pretty good nick for it's age and I picked it up for just $2500.
My question is, can I get a reco box or good second hand unit from somewhere, I'm in Campbelltown, SW of Sydney. If anybody has any ideas or leads which may help...I'm all ears..!

Cheers and thanks in advance.
Smithy.

[Transporter]

Contact Camden GTI Camden GTI they may be able to help you.

[Sunny43.5]

Hi all again thanks for the suggestions Racemag I will follow up , as a matter of interest I left a post on the Volkswagen Australia Facebook page and the cheer laden reply made my blood boil again they had the gall to tell me that their customer care person had rung me well yes they did but I missed the call due to any number of reasons so when I see a missed call I usually hit redial and see who it is . Not VW they rang from an unlisted number and did not have the decency to leave a message . So again their sytem and Customer Care has failed , plus the fact that the customer care person on Monday assured me the caller would call back again the very next day , still waiting . IN2VWS I admit here that I have made an issue with the DSG but the underlying problem is that either VW engineers -designers or the people who actually build the autos are the the real culprits , I would admit that I cannot recall any T5 owners who,s DSG auto has actually failed BUT and I repeat BUT there is a very high number of owners of T5,s who have experienced unsatisfactory behaviour and some with only very very low kilometres . It seems that the autos are far from perfect right out of the box and it is VW,s answer to apply software updates to try and sort out the problems . I am not a mechanic but I am a bloody pratical person who does know how to use his brain to see past the BS manufacturers use to sell their products . Now in relation to the Triptronic "sealed for Life" auto did VW actually test the auto for 100,000 plus kays in our climate on our roads with our driving nuances in stop start situations steep hills fully loaded towing trailers and all the other situations that the "REAL" world can have , well I don,t think they did . So when I have seen photos of internals of the T5,s box with big fuzzy metal hedghog balls of shavings and oils that are burnt black what does that tell you . There is no way a sealed gear box is going to give a satisfactory service if the oil cannot or has not been changed . If VW have changed their service schedule to now service their transmissions then they have a moral obligation to make good any problems that have occured before this time . Now the next thing it is well known among auto transmission repairers that the valve bodies of these autos are not up to the job so why do VW ignore the fact that so many have been rebuilt ??? , as a matter of interest the company that I buy my sunroofs from a huge German company Webasto AG had a fault with their roofs because of a manufacturing fault at a factory they were using to manufacture a particular part . The fault was recognised and they issued a voluntary recall it affected over 58.000 cars here in Australia and hundreds of thousands worldwide . Well the interesting thing was the manufacturer of the part has a Product Liability Insurance so the costs of parts and repair labour was all covered so customers as far back as twelve years have been kept happy . Would be interesting to know if the Aisin Company has the same policy .