Cracked intake manifold

[Creniac]

Well, after a month of rough idle after cold start, constant surging and hesitation during acceleration from 2000rpm, it was quickly found my Tiggy has a cracked intake manifold.....
Problem now though is I have to wait 3 weeks to get into the workshop due to a heavy booking schedule....

[MGV]

That's a right bugger, mate! Were the symptoms part of your initial timing chain tensioner fear or a separate issue?

I'm beginning to wonder if it's not just brake pads/rotors/fluid/entire wiper arms/pollen filters etc etc being billed as 'consumables', or if that term has been engineered into the durability of the entire car...

Don't mean to be negative, but i've been into the workshop 8 times in the last 5 months.

On a positive note, i turned up this morning, unannounced, with yet another issue, & my car was ready to go again after lunch! They also have a mechanic available from 6pm - midnight, 3 nights a week!

All the best, mate...

[team_v]

That's a right bugger, mate! Were the symptoms part of your initial timing chain tensioner fear or a separate issue?

I'm beginning to wonder if it's not just brake pads/rotors/fluid/entire wiper arms/pollen filters etc etc being billed as 'consumables', or if that term has been engineered into the durability of the entire car...

Don't mean to be negative, but i've been into the workshop 8 times in the last 5 months.

On a positive note, i turned up this morning, unannounced, with yet another issue, & my car was ready to go again after lunch! They also have a mechanic available from 6pm - midnight, 3 nights a week!

All the best, mate...

Wow.
I have had the complete opposite, been back once for a safety recall on the door handle and on pickup the passenger power window button wasn't connected so i had them fix that.

[nat225]

How rough was the cold start iddle? Gentle or violent movement? I can feel mine shaking a bit from inside at cold start (during the 1200rpm brief moment) then once settles at 900rpm it goes back to smooth.

[donweather]

Well, after a month of rough idle after cold start, constant surging and hesitation during acceleration from 2000rpm, it was quickly found my Tiggy has a cracked intake manifold.....
Problem now though is I have to wait 3 weeks to get into the workshop due to a heavy booking schedule....

How old is your vehicle and how many k's has it done?

We had to have our intake manifold replaced last month on our Tiggy. Car 3.5 yrs old and 55,000k's. Needless to say, I was fairly dissappointed to have to replace something just outside of the warranty!!! $1,300.

[Umai Naa!!]

In any case where you haven't caused the fault yourself, always hit Volkswagen up for goodwill assistance.

From experience, they will help to some degree.

[Creniac]

The idle is quite rough at startup with the choke on around 1200rpm, once it settled back to around 900 rpm it would be smooth, BUT as soon as you tried to take off you can feel the surging, although not violent you can certainly feel the hesitation.... like it's starving for fuel.
Another thing it's doing it when you're cruising around 2000rpm in say 4th (approx 60km/h) if you touch the throttle to increase speed you can feel a shuddering, the rpm doesn't pick up until you put your foot down a bit more then it wants to bolt on you.
The tech felt it almost immediately.
Lucky I took the extended warranty as it came out of the factory one in December...... it's a 2010 model (October 2009 build).

[Creniac]

Donweather, mine has done 45,000km..... by the sounds of it, about the right time for it to fail according to many forums and personal experiences with friends cars....
But don't worry too much.... the later models got the improved intakes so it's not an issue now.

[ido09s]

I would write to VW Australia and let them know how disappointed you are.

An intake manifold should not fail and you would hope they would pay for some, if not all, of the cost to repair the car. If it had 200,000 klms on it and was 10 years old well its just bad luck i guess, but not 6 months out of warranty and with only 55,000klms on it. It sounds like its a common problem.

Remind them of the intake being 'fit for purpose' and tell them part is obviously not fit for the purpose its intended to do so you feel its up to them to at least help pay for the repair.