its dead, and vw killed it

[jfoldbar]

i have an '04 2.5 tdi man with 180kms. ive had it since new and problems were water pump and drive shafts at 80k and new turbo at 160k. i guess i was let off light. ive been told im lucky i havnt had cam failure, dmf problems or alternator bearings. i suspect from strange noise returning that was fixed under warranty (3 months at vw service centre)that dmf is coming. i wondering is there anything else that can go wrong with these cars and what kind of life could i expect from it. can i prevent dmf from breaking.

[Transporter]

Mine is August 2004 made and now at almost 90,000km I've replaced only water pump and it is running as new. I'm always positive and I don't expect that because there is few that posted in the forums their failures that my T5 has to brake down with the same faults as theirs.

I expect to get 500,000km from my van, should it come to that I want to keep it that long?

[jfoldbar]

i have an '04 2.5tdi man t5 180k. lately its sometimes been hard to start. warm or cold seems to make little difference. it winds over but wont fire. it does it about 1 time in 5. any ideas

[IN2VWS]

I had a similar problem with a T4 TDI some years ago.
I repeatedly took it back to an independent motor mechanic that worked on our late model VW's. He could not find the problem.
After a few years later, I took it to VW. They plugged their PC in, and found one of the settings was wrong. Can't remember exactly which setting it was, but it had something to do with the pump timing. $105 to get fixed, and it ran like a dream after that. So now, I only use Genuine VW service.

[Transporter]

So now, I only use Genuine VW service.

Hmm... a good independent VW mechanic should have the VCDS and would be able to check the fuel injection timing.

[IN2VWS]

Hmm... a good independent VW mechanic should have the VCDS and would be able to check the fuel injection timing.

nope, he didn't have VCDS. He had some other gizmo. cant remember what it was called. It supposedly worked on VW/Audi, Benz, BMW etc.
Hence, I don't go there anymore.

Also, just having VCDS, does not necessarily make someone a good mechanic. They also have to know how to use it, and know what default/standard settings are, otherwise the readings/values mean nothing to them.

[mikinoz]

I think that your point on independent mechanics is vastly generalised and appreciate you are really saying that your advice to the OP is to take it to a dealer.

But the reality is that there are many factory trained independent mechanics out there that do know which shifter is metric or imperial and do have a clue. At the end of the day, you use who you feel happy with.

Sounds like the person you used IN2VWS was not of the calibre that I am referring to.

[IN2VWS]

I think that your point on independent mechanics is vastly generalised and appreciate you are really saying that your advice to the OP is to take it to a dealer.

But the reality is that there are many factory trained independent mechanics out there that do know which shifter is metric or imperial and do have a clue. At the end of the day, you use who you feel happy with.

Sounds like the person you used IN2VWS was not of the calibre that I am referring to.

I agree that the mechanic that I am referring to, is not the caliber of mechanics that you are referring to. However, I don't think there is that many factory trained independent mechanics out there, yes there are some, but the number of non factory trained mechanics far outweigh the factory trained mechanics. There are many factory trained mechanics from the older air-cooled days, but they have not had factory training on the modern VW's.
There are many independent mechanics, that buy VCDS or other diagnostic equipment, and then claim to be experts. The fact is that their ambitions outweigh their talent. I have seen this many times with customers cars......."I'll try this and see if it fixes the problem", a few days later the customer comes back because the fault is still there. So the mechanic tries something else.....at the customers expense.
While these types of independents charge a lower hourly rate, the time, number of visits etc., at the end of the day cost the customer more, than what a dealer may have charged.
At the end of the day, if you find an independent that you are happy with, then stick with him. Me, I'll stick with the dealer that I am happy with.

[jfoldbar]

i finnaly had time to take it to mechanic. fault came up as air mass meter. does anyone have any thoughts on this?

[rob64981]

From the way this thread reads....

If you took it to a "Independent mechanic" then it might be the problem....
If you took it to a "Genuine VW service centre" then it defiantly will be the problem!

VW can and regularly get things wrong even when they have plugged things in.

Air mass meters are renowned for failing,
Before you buy a new one can you try someone else's on your T5 to check things?

Rob