Bloody VW

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myglaren
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Bloody VW

Post by myglaren »

My son has an 02 Golf 1.8 GTi Turbo. Bought 18 months ago. He's had a fair amount of problems with it.
Last year he wanted it servicing having had KF do it and been rather dismayed with them.*

As it happened I could only change the air filter as it started to rain and that was that.
Was going to do it after Christmas but RSP again.
Easter I was to do it and replace rear discs & pads + front pads.
Couldn't shift the rear calipers.
Did get the front pads OK but the discs were shot.
Got a friend to drag the car away and replace discs & pads. In doing so he discovered that the front dampers were completely shot.
Replaced those and all was fine, for a while.

A few weeks later the offside spring snapped, many beer tokens to Ford dealer (nearest garage) to replace that, plus recovery costs.


My problem today is that #1 son arrived on Saturday wanting a few jobs done on his Golf. Replace busted mirror, do the oil/filter change that we were going to do last August but rain stopped play then and on each subsequent visit.

He went to his mother's first, a couple of miles from here. On leaving there, the nearside front suspension spring snapped .
I don't have the equipment to deal with that so dragged a third party out to deal with that. He couldn't get a replacement 'til today - scrapyard closed yesterday, he's coming with a new one on the rebuilt strut in an hour or so.

In the interim I changed the oil/filter. Sump plug very hard to remove
Replaced plug, still hard to screw in.
Filled it with 10w40 semi-synth as advised on the www.
Suspension fixing guy was dubious about it and dragged out a manual that recommended 5w30 fully synth and is bringing some with him. Says that the turbos are very picky about the oil grade and I don't doubt it.
Drained the 10w40 out and poured it back into original container.
Replaced plug - won't bite now .
See much swarf in the bottom of the bowl used to drain the oil into - threads from the sump of course (alloy sump, steel plug).

About to go and by some blue Hylomar to seal it in before replacing the oil but is there a better alternative? They have to go home today (300 miles) should have gone yesterday but broken spring vetoed that.

Tried Teflon tape and Hylomar, no go, threads went completely.

Guy has tried a few things and has bought a tap and die set at huge expense to the management and is on his way to fix it but son and girlfriend have gone home in my car (St. Ives) no fun in bank holiday traffic, took them nearly nine hours to get her (3 hour journey) and he was going to bring my car back tonight and take his home.

He will be selling the Golf! (tomorrow)
Can't interest him in a Citroen though.

*Kwick**it charged him a lot and we are not convinced that they actually did anything more than reset the counter. Air filter looked ancient and the oil that came out was like Mississippi mud. I suspect that they started to remove the sump plug, felt it binding and didn't bother to change the oil and filter.
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Post by citronut »

Steve have you tried this gear

http://www.hemmingsdiy.co.uk/quickste.htm


brilliant stuff and you can use it in oily conditions and under water

regards malcolm
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Post by myglaren »

Guy tapped the thread out to 16mm and put a new plug in. Will remember that for next time though Malcolm thanks. All done and checked now.

He bought a tap & die kit, cost £140!

Want to buy a Golf? :twisted:
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Post by CitroJim »

Poor Steve :(

Ummm,

So much for German reliability :roll:

Sounds like the sump plug has suffered some brutality in the past or do VW use poor alloy?

Many Citroens have alloy sumps but don't seem to suffer from this to my knowledge...

France 1, Germany nil.
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Post by myglaren »

My sump is alloy - no problem with it a couple of weeks ago, nor daughter's Saab same day (did need to get a new plug fitted at Christmas though, chewed to bits)

German reliability is a myth. My Citroens and Renaults have been more reliable without a doubt.
We were just speaking of fitting a new sump when he turned up with the tap and die set.

Great fella. Runs a high end electronics factory by day and fixes cars in his 'spare time'. Charges peanuts. £120 for today and yesterday, he must have done >100 miles searching for springs and tools and the price included the spring, new sump plug and oil that cost him >£80! His hourly rate must be about £5.
He did most of the work removing the door card and refitting the replacement mirror unit, even supplied screws as Richard dropped the most vital one, never to be seen again.

He read the fault code and reset the service interval too - a bit of a nightmare without the code reader, needs at least three hands and a prompter to read from the instruction sheet and even then it doesn't work, not at all like the very easy Peugeot/Citroen method.
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Post by CitroJim »

They always say the game of golf is a good walk spoilt; sounds like the automotive one is a (potentially) good car spoilt :roll:
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Post by DickieG »

VW are quite cunning, they ensure that the bits you see, dash/panel gaps are very tight giving the impression that VW cars are well built whereas the rest of the car is thrown together and certainly no better than any of the other common manufacturers, in fact when the Plod tried using Golf VR6's and Transporter vans they found them to be far less reliable than Ford's and Vauxhall's.
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Post by Citroenmad »

We too have had many many more problems with VW cars than we ever had with any Citroen or Renaults.

Ive said it before but at 2.5 years old our VW had to go in for a warranty repair on rust on the body work. It then went back a year or so later for more rust problems. It was in the bodyshop every year for the 5 years we owned it due to rusting issues.

The auto box went wrong which cost almost £2000 to put right.

We have just sold it.

My Seat had major running problems at 2 years old and 20K miles. Endless lengthy visits to the Seat dealers (who are clueless and should never work on cars, ever) only made its problems worse, much worse. After the Seat dealer had had my car over 3 MONTHS (i had a loan car), SeatUK requested that the dealer fit a complete replacement engine under warranty. We still have this car but before and after its running problems it was back and forward to the dealer for various things, i was there every other week. The girl at the desk said she should keep my licence as they needed it more often than me (for loan cars). Redicoulous situation.

Never have we had any major problems with gearboxes or engines with any French car. And we have owned a model of just about every Citroen at one time or another.

I agree with Richard, they are made to feel and look like quality, but in reality they are pretty poor at times.

Gearboxes are quite common problems, especially on the smaller petrol cars. Engine wear isnt un common. Not to mention most of the range is quite dull! I had a ride in a TT the other day, 190BHP, what a dull car that is, feels like it had half the power too. VW group cars often handle quite poor too, grip is low and body roll is high.

However, i do like VW group cars and would maybe, possibly, have another. I do attend quite a few VW events throughout the year, mainly as friends run VWs. There are VW group cars which are better and more intersting than others.

The 1.8T is quite fussy about oils, and clean oil too. I think it has a tiny oil strainer which is easily clogged and for this reason regular oil changes with the correct oil is important. No oil flush should ever be used on a 1.8T VW engine.

Yes we have had many niggly issues with French cars, but very few which has made the car unusable and none which have cost anything near what the VWs box cost.

French cars from now on i think ...

Most of our Citroens have been 100% reliable, with routine servicing most have never gone wrong. The older Citroens are less niggly than the more modern ones, but thats just because they have more electronics.
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Post by KP »

I too find the VW's of late ratther shocking.

I have to drive them every now and again for work instead of using my own xantia, usually a Jetta or Passat with a 110 or 130 tdi unit, and think they feel far too hard, even compared to Rachels SSS i just think they should go round corners and handle better than they do.

The always seem to have a rattle and teh seats always give me a DVT kind of feeling after a while as they are hard.

And the worst bit, for such a blooming pricey car why can they not put steering mounted controls for teh radio and maybe even Cruise on them?? my xantia has radio controls on the wheel and its nearly 15years old! and the economy isn't that great, about 40mpg i have averaged to and throw across the M62 and the A628 recently... My old TD did better than that on Veg!

rachels dad had an e class merc, 320 petrol i think with all the toys, and it was always costing loads to repair and service. in teh end he got shut and got a Kia ceed instead. not a bad car and seems to be holding together rather well although it doesn't do many miles and the MIL has a Picanto which takes the daily grind of kids to school and nursery without any compliants at all and even has a car park scar thats not rusting :)
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