New to Group, seeking guidance

[AussieDanny]

Hello fellow VWr's, I'm a long time air and water cooled devote and find myself with a dilema. I have a 2005 T5 Transporter, dual cab ute. The best ute I've ever owned for passenger capacity and matching full sized tray. It had an AXD engine but was replaced with an AXE April 2021. The dual mass clutch was also replaced along with every rubber pipe and tube. It ran like a trooper, got better than 10L/100km and started every time!

Fast forward to October 2022, I started it and it felt like it was running on 4 cylinders (it is a 5cyl for those not in the know). I drove it for about a month until I found a temporary vehicle to drive while it got attended to.
Someone mentioned the camshafts and lifters can get badly worn, so I took the cam cover off (without removing the whole front end) and inspected. Everything was fine, but I didn't get the timing right when reinstalling the cam, so it wouldn't start.
I found a place in Sunshine North that professed to be VW specialist, so I took the T5 on a trailer. They took a month, replaced the lifters on the advice they were wrong, did a compression check (all good) replaced the O rings to the injectors and changed oil/filter. After getting the timing right, they took it for a test drive and it was as they described 'in limp mode'. They forced me to pay for the repairs to date even though the engine was still not right... never in my life have I paid for something that wasn't finished!

They now tell me they think it is the head gasket. I am at a loss. In all my years around cars I would never put the running state of this vehicle to a head gasket, it feels like an injector or the computer (which was never changed from AXD to AXE).

Anyone got any advice, or someone who could help resolve this issue. I've spent way too much on this vehicle and am almost at a point where I sell it for a loss, but would still love to get it sorted and drive it.

Sorry this is so long, but it is a bit of a saga ... and they are always a story in the telling.

Thanks in advance for any assistance.

Cheers,

Danny

[MIG]

Welcome to the forum!

What made them rule it a head gasket? A compression test and a combustion leak test would rule that out.

Were the injectors tested at all?


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[AussieDanny]

Welcome to the forum!

What made them rule it a head gasket? A compression test and a combustion leak test would rule that out.

Were the injectors tested at all?


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See, that is the part I don't understand. They say it uses water, but only a little bit. The compression is fine (albeit crudely measured). A mate of mine said there is a chemical test where you put additive into the coolant and if it changes colour it shows presence of CO2. They simply put a clogging liquid into the radiator to see if they could fill the leak... yeah, like that is good mechanical practice... and somehow determined it was still leaking.

I don't know if they tested the injectors, originally a fault code came up for #1, but that went away. Given they charge $50 for each diagnostic scan, I am surprised they haven't checked.

[MIG]

Yep that's the combustion leak test, a chemical is put in a sample of coolant and changes colour if there is a leak.

That place sounds a bit dodgy, I would be looking for a place that deals with TDI engines primarily

[AussieDanny]

MIG, any referrals? I'm in Sandy Point, the car is currently at Sunshine North and I am willing to trailer it to someone who knows what they are doing.