New Turbo

[Jettinabout]

Went for a drive to Rainbow Beach last Wednesday(3rd)...was going around a roundabout and the yellow oil light lit up(anal sphincter tightened...became an instant follower of the Shiite faith). Rang the 1800 VW number they put on your windscreen and went through what had happened...oil was low and was told expect the oil to get a bit low around 15000 kms and to go to a Shell servo and put a bit of 5w30 or 0w40...Shell had neither of these and the person behind the counter was as helpful as the proverbial ashtry on the motorbike. When I turned the engine off and restarted the car the oil light was out but the level was on the bottom third of the dipstick.

So I drove to Maryborough and went to Auto Trend and got some Castrol "EDGE" 0w40 (I read the Castrol catalogue and that is the one specifically made for VW, Porsche,Audi and FPV). topped up the oil and was advised by VW Assist(they are fantastic to talk to over the phone .. and extremely knowledgable about your vehicle) to go to my dealer and change the oil.

Got to the dealership on Friday morning and they looked at the car and said "the oil level is fine" to which I replied "I know, I made it fine". Anyway to cut the story short a tad, they are putting a new turbo on it under warranty as there is a leak from the main shaft of the turbo. Spoke to the chief mechanic yesterday and he said that the car is fine but because there is the leak they replace the turbo as normal procedure under warranty..so I am very impressed by the care they gave me and extremely satisfied and impressed by the service, I cannot say enough good things about the folks at VW. Mechanic also said if anything really damaging is likely to occur in your car it will shut down in a manner that will cease or reduce any risk of further damage to your engine or vehicle.

[brackie]

Good win with the dealer. Who makes the turbo? Pretty shoddy to have a fault like that when so new. Any blue smoke before the light came on?

[Rod_H]

Sorry to here about the turbo.
I hate it when any of my cars have to go to a dealership for any work!
Just on a side note your driving style for this car is it nice and gentle or do you give it a bit of stick...
Ive had mine a week and driving it with a bit of gussto, every now and then
gotta make sure there is no room for cobwebs

[Jettinabout]

Firstly to answer your question Brackie...no blue smoke just a tiny bit a dark smoke on driving off when starting, as is reasonable for a diesel and I don't know who makes the turbo. I did some research and found out that most retirements in the 2006 Paris-Dakar by the VWs' were from the same problem They are not having that problem this year so I suspect that it has been rectified and is why they put the new one on immediately and I'm happy with that.

Secondly to answer your question Rod_H, no I don't baby it. I, like you, believe in driving it for what it is ...an absolute pleasure to drive(and they are) and I absolutely love it. My enthusiasm has not been dampened by a turbo that was in all likelyhood going to fail at some stage anyway....you get that on all cars. My 2002 Subaru Liberty had to go back for a widget in the gearbox, So all things being equal they are a fantastic car in all respects.

Thanks for the questions and a great site Brackie...

[Bug_racer]

Its great that you found a good dealer !

But I must correct the mechanic in the car shutting down .

The engine will not shut down under any circumstance unless it can no longer run ( out of fuel , multiple sensors failing etc )

As an example there was a post earlier about a Bora that had the oil light flashing . it was probably a wiring fault or something not an oil pressure problem . The car still started and ran , the only thing that will happen is the lights on the dash will go nuts and it will constatly beep and carry on telling you to stop . It wont stop until its completely out of oil/coolant and its cooked the motor to the point that its seized , and yes Ive seen this happen before !

[Jettinabout]

I figured that it would be as you said B_R as when I spoke to the guy on the 1800 number he said the same as that ...the yellow light will flash red and alarms will go off "three Times" ....if it does ..pull over and they will come and get you.