t5 transporter

[jfoldbar]

your right cousin about being in a transition period. transition to what i dont know. only time will tell.

"Also car makers (mostly) only make what we buy"
i think its the other way around. we have no choice but to buy what they make. if they pumped out some new cars from the 80's i think they would sell like hot cakes. the thought of being able to buy a new car that can be driven along the road and can be fixed sounds satisfying to most people. unlike the rubbish their making now. cant drive it cant fix it and cant sell it. but the greenies wouldnt like that. and so here we are. i suppose the question is what do we do about it. well i know for me i have no choice but to go back to bombs. even if they dont pass rego and i gotta drive with none thats still better than new car. but each person has to work out what is best for them, and i guess most people prefer a car that spends more time at workshop than on road for the sake a few minutes "good" driving experience ( which i think is why theres so many accidents).

[Cousin]

But getting back to the kid in jeans and laptop, jfoldbar, I believe it's all about finding the right person to look after your vehicles

I had a problem with one of my T4's, petrol, many years ago

Would just die driving down the road. Pull over, turn the ignition off, back on and away we go

Went to the dealers three times, they could'nt find it

Eventually they decided on process of elimination, but at my cost

Goodbye dealers

Sourced out a very good specialist Vee Dub mechanic, soon as I told him the problem, he said probably fuel pump solenoid

He turned out to be right, replaced it for pocket money, back on the road

Been going back to him ever since, and while I am a little pi$$ed at some of the problems with Volkswagens, it mostly doesn't cost me a bomb anymore

If you're doing your own servicing, it will only get harder due to the complexity of things

That's why I feel it's much less stress to find a mechanic you feel works for you

My son works in a major car dealer service centre, and he agrees with my feelings that a lot of the mechanics at the dealers are just grease monkeys with very little thought going on between the ears, based on some of the things that used to get done to my Vee Dubs, and a lot of what he sees every day

So chase a good mechanic, solves a lot of problems


M

[jfoldbar]

that sounds easy on the outside, but here in sydney i personally know of 2 reputable independents who refuse to work on 2.5 t5's because "they have too many problems". i have tried 5 vw service centres and 4 independents and as yet cant find anyone who knows about this car. last time i checked GOD does not have a mechanical workshop.

the reason my car spends more time off the road then on is noone knows how to fix it. the reason so much money is poured into it is they have a dart board out back with various parts printed on it and whatever the dart hits thats the part they change.(far more accurate then the computer they plug in) with no regard to whether it makes sense or not.

i think if there was some law something like a "no fix no fee", then that would make them use their brain to try to work it out and there would be far less parts changed unnecessarily. but i doubt that would ever happen cause parts is how vw make their money.

so i have realised that i will never be able to get this thing fixed so unfortunately have no choice but to let it go.

[Transporter]

The Toyota has a very good reliability reputation, you can't go wrong and a lot of service centers all over the country.

[Sunny43.5]

Hey Cousin had the same issue with my first VW T4 just driving along and it would just cut out and sometiimes in the worst places . After repeated visits to VW their answer was if its not broken when they have the van on a computer diagnostic then they cannot fix it [bloody marvellous] . Then the mongel stopped in the middle of traffic quick as a flash I hit the left indicator put it in first and drove it to the footpath with the starter motor . Two minutes later it starts again , so back to VW pleading with them that this was going to get me killed if it decided to stop in the middle of and intersection or some other situation . Still no one could give an answer eventually one of the spare parts guys overheard the conversation and told me that the engine control relay $19 worth was the fault , he had sold heaps of them and my problem was solved . So it makes you wonder, this is the problem with todays technology all the repair manuals are written in a way that repairs can be made as long as the part is not broken you see the manual does not tell you how to dismantle something if it no longer works . This why we are having to replace whole units nowdays .

Transporter you are right about other makers maybe having a better reputation but I would never own a Toyota Van , bricks on wheels are not my scene . The rear end of a Hi Ace van unloaded will actually jump off the road when it goes over rough surfaces , I was following one a week ago here in Brissie the road we were on had been partially stripped of bitumen leaving small high spots every 20 metres or so . We were both travelling at the same speed and to watch the Hi Ace from behind was at first funny as each time he hit a bump the van would be 6 inches off the ground ,after a few of these jumps the van was then jerking sideways as it went in the air the guy finally decided to slow right down to a near crawl . Probably different with a load but not my cup of tea . Howard

[Transporter]

Transporter you are right about other makers maybe having a better reputation but I would never own a Toyota Van , bricks on wheels are not my scene .

Neither is mine.

[Skoda VW]

Have to agree about the training.

My Skoda had an intermittant fault with the dash dinging and telling me the tailgate was open when going over small bumps. Dealer had a look told me it was a tailgate latch and ordered a new one. The weather cooled down and when the part turned up 6 weeks later I had never had a problem during that time. Fast forward 10 months and the first hot day of summer it starts again. Take it back to the dealer, but it is now out of warranty and because the car has CANBUS it will cost about 5 - 6 hours of labour at $120/hr to apparently trace the wiring and find the problem.

Lucky I am an electronics tech and found the problem in an 1.5 hours (With the help of some wiring diagrams). Turned out to be solder balls stuck to the PCB lacquer where the wiring from the tailgate connects into the CCM (Comfort Control Module). Brushed away the solder and away it went. No doubt would of been charged $$$ for a new CCM plus labour. I am not VW trained so ......5 to 6 hours?

The hardest thing I have found is getting hold of the info required to do your own work (Wiring diags, parts listings and in VW case VCDS).

I have since bought VCDS just in case and hope the Multi and Skoda don't give too many headaches in the future.