Well it was quiet yesterday. There were two minor issues to attend to on the new beater car. The windshield washers did not squirt but the low fluid level light was not on. So up with the hood and put some washer fluid in.

Back in the car to see if they worked. Well now the wipers did not work either. Yet they had the last time it rained. After some troubleshooting it turns out the wipers do not work with the hood up.

The hood would not interfere with the wiper arc if they were operational. So I thought some caution should be used when working on this beast. I can only think the designers did not want you driving around in the rain with your hood up. Second problem was a little heavier.

Trip odometer went back to zero every time you turned the engine off. also the clock returned to 12 o'clock. Found a fuse out quick enough but things did not return to normal. This problem had been attended to by the dealer when the car was new. It was not clear from the invoices if they had ever repaired it but it was reported by the service advisor on the invoice.

During supper with family guests I mentioned it to a younger guy. He suggested I had to either drive the car 300km or get into the computer. Probably before the functions would return.

Makes a guy feel somewhat incompetent with the newer vehicles although this one is 11 years old. Although I was glad I did it as the service records where accidentally found in the process.

I was going to change the timing belt as I had found no way to determine if it had been changed or not. The original owner had expired unfortunately. Plus the original selling dealer had no record of the change.

The service records clearly indicated that he had separated from the dealer service for a good alternative early. The timing belt was changed but not the water pump and tensioner and roller. I can live with that. Car now needs nothing hopefully other than the oil changed and I will buy an oil extractor over removing the under pan every time.

The lesson learnt was to really exercise caution and assume your old knowledge is not really good enough. I got two suprises on two minor issues.

The service invoices also show that the older owner took care of everything pretty much as it arose. Most work like brakes etc occurred in 2013 and the car has only accumulated about three thousand miles since..

He had done alignment and expected General maintenance pretty well. I suspect the last oil change may now be overdue. This is one thing you just do not want to do on these Volkswagon diesel engines.

You have to study the dealer service invoices to understand why he left them. Some of the fairly minor work under warranty was not done properly. Although they charged over 100 dollars per oil change. After warranty their charges where high to say the least. There are a few things that should be recalls by Volkswagon. Volkswagon is not customer friendly in this regard. They will occur with time with this car but for the present the car is pretty much as new.

The alternative place he took it to offered good competent specialist service on the audi volkswagon line although not a dealer. Still a little high but not highway robbery.

If this old car is a partial earlier reflexion of what is today. When purchasing really new vehicles you want to or expect to keep after warranty. It is pretty obvious that you should buy the most reliable brand you can find. Otherwise after warranty work could financially really put a dent in your wallet.

These are not your fathers cars. Instead with multiple busses and many computer modules and seemingly a lot of almost endless complexity. Unrelated functions can have an impact on each other that you would not expect. When they act up I think it will be very costly in many cases.

Thanks for the informative story Barry!

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[SIGPIC] Diesel loving autocrossing grandpa Architect. 08 Dodge 3/4 ton with Cummins & six speed; I have had about 35 benzes. I have a 39 Studebaker Coupe Express pickup in which I have had installed a 617 turbo and a five speed manual.[SIGPIC]

..I also have a 427 Cobra replica with an aluminum chassis.

The car is doing really well. Even got a 36 inch by 44 inch new window into the trunk yesterday. Had to drop the rear seats and the adjustable headrests must have a secret that I do not know.

Enough miles driven now to know nothing is lurking. The last owner being the original one. Either took exceptional care of this car or it spent a lot of time behind his RV. The wife even likes to drive it.

Wives or at least mine are fault finding experts and she found nothing to mention. Other than the clock issue. This is why I was pretty much forced to keep her in new or fairly new cars years ago. She would notice of find things even of a very minor nature and always wanted them dealt with right then.

Was getting a little too painful to find the latest squeek or whatever on occasion. Car warranty period inflicting the dealer with her instead was the better option. She just pulled into the driveway. Returning from the hairdresser. So better go have a coffee with her for the current local news update from her hairdresser.

Heh heh!

My mrs is still happy with her 2012 Mazda5 which we bought new after the 013s were out.
I offered to get her a new one (with her money of course) but she still likes this one with 40K or so miles on it.

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[SIGPIC] Diesel loving autocrossing grandpa Architect. 08 Dodge 3/4 ton with Cummins & six speed; I have had about 35 benzes. I have a 39 Studebaker Coupe Express pickup in which I have had installed a 617 turbo and a five speed manual.[SIGPIC]

..I also have a 427 Cobra replica with an aluminum chassis.

So for the benefit of an occasional poster, wjat kind of car is it?

I thought he implied at least it is a vw, though its not for certain, is it?

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[SIGPIC] Diesel loving autocrossing grandpa Architect. 08 Dodge 3/4 ton with Cummins & six speed; I have had about 35 benzes. I have a 39 Studebaker Coupe Express pickup in which I have had installed a 617 turbo and a five speed manual.[SIGPIC]

..I also have a 427 Cobra replica with an aluminum chassis.

OK I missed that. Sorry to bother you.

No bother to me.

Cheers!

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[SIGPIC] Diesel loving autocrossing grandpa Architect. 08 Dodge 3/4 ton with Cummins & six speed; I have had about 35 benzes. I have a 39 Studebaker Coupe Express pickup in which I have had installed a 617 turbo and a five speed manual.[SIGPIC]

..I also have a 427 Cobra replica with an aluminum chassis.

Jetta diesel pretty loaded up model delivered new in Jan 2007. Built date was last month of 2005 so it is a 2006. No new 2007s tdi where sold in Canada. So dealers perhaps overstocked with 2006s.

I suspect something bad may have occurred with the original owner in late 2012 or early 2013. As the car did not accumulate many more miles after that. This extrapolated basically from the service invoices. He had died apparently and the used car dealer picked it up at an auction or somewhere. I tried calling his home telephone number but it was disconnected. I hoped if his wife survived him she might have told me where he had the car serviced.

It was a basic impulse purchase. I drive by that dealer every day. So I turned around this time as the car was so sparkling ..Looked new. Abnormal as I knew it was older. Mid life crisis maroon type red I like but that was too late for me. I got through that period with my pants on . Maybe my wallet intact as well as a result.

After really having a good look at it. I thought this dealer might want too much of a premium. When I approached him he said 4k. That's about 2.8K American. I told him I wanted the car for two days to really check it out. He said he had heard of me when I gave him my licence to Photostat. Yet we had never met. Still he agreed to my request.

I would not have purchased the car otherwise. This year can have some real problems. Cam goes out and injector bore problems. Think new head then. No service records at the time.

I found them much later well after the purchase. Hidden in the upper manual compartment of the glove box. Four rv towing points on the front but not too obvious.

This diesel engine has no high pressure fuel pump or injection pump. The injectors are driven by the cam but fuel from them is managed electronically. Twenty seven thousand pound injection pressure.

Anyways the car at this point did not have any of the potential problems established by some interesting tests. So back to the dealer to complete the sale. Told him honestly at the time that I found no evidence of the timing belt being changed. The selling volkswagon dealer also had no record of it when contacted. So since volkswagon charges about nine hundred labor and parts. Can we do something on the parts? I suggested two fifty and we settled at two hundred. So 3.8K Canadian or about 2.6K American and sales tax we amicably parted company.

Less than the sales tax on it when new. And except for one superficial scratch on a rear passenger door. Not through the body primer. The body and interior are pretty much pristine. I have no ideal and would not ask why he priced it this low.

I suspected when he initially quoted the price there was something seriously wrong that he knew. So I felt it might take a couple of days to find it if there. There are a series of non destructive tests to apply.

When I eventually found the service history the car was well maintained in general. The original owner had tried to keep up well with everything.

Getting the right engine oil locally is a real pain. There is a very specific oil
For these pump diesel engines. They were only used the one year as far as I can tell in the Jettas. Only way to make the cam last. BRM engine code designation. Used in other models longer.

I purchased some Castrol 5-40 edge synthetic but even though it meets some of the newer specifications for their even newer diesel engines. It does not meet this ones needs. Talk about oil threads. Using the wrong one is proven to flatten the cam. I now know why he paid 100.00 plus for oil changes.

An older car in really good condition overall for this type of money. That seems to do about 52.8 miles per imperial gallon in mixed usage is not all that bad. Since diesel is also 95 cents a gallon cheaper currently here also adds to the milage for the dollar. Since it is also totally rust free I will keep the Honda beater on the road this winter instead of selling it and using this car.

It also has the manual transmission so no worry about their questionable automatic transmissions. It still has the problematic dual mass flywheel that was not changed out. Or no record of it. Since I will not push the car really hard it may go some distance yet. There are no indications of a problem there now.

The wife has not driven a standard transmission since the new Jetta we purchased in 2000. This engine does not have the heavy sustained torque at idle the 2000 had. Yet even after all the years since the last Jetta the wife did well with the clutch. I have not stalled it out in first gear the last week or so myself. I did several times earlier. The 2000 was not as fast as this car but you never could stall it in first gear. Instead it pulled like a horse. they really moved the torque curve since 2000.

You buy this model and Year. Volkswagon dealers will skin you alive when dealing with the known problems. Goodwill policies where an abstract policy until volkswagon were nailed to the wall. Doing them yourself is not all that bad other than if the injector bores distort or wear. Then it is new head time. You pull the fuel filter and look for how black it is. Used heads are too risky unless changed reciently.

I could not totally estimate the condition by the filter at the time as I had no ideal of when he last had it changed. Until I eventually found the service invoices. Some of the byproducts of combustion land up in the fuel filter turning it jet black. The second test for this is to really come on to the car when accelerating . You do not want to see a cloud of black smoke. Or the slightest hesitation when accelerating hard.

Bad cam or one on the way you get a lot of strange codes stored. Eventually getting bad enough to impact running. No codes stored on this one currently. One service back in 2011 indicates they did clear a lot of codes then. I think some service invoices are missing. There are some indications of this. No mention of a cam change then on the same invoice.

Basically keeping the exact right oils in this engine seems to keep some of these problems at bay for a long time. I also have no ideal of the driven miles as when towed by the rv. It seems from my first test it records the milage. Not an absolute conclusive test as the hill was not really long enough to satisfy me totally. With the key to the first on position. The steering is free and the dash is dead. At the bottom of the hill I coasted down. Turned the key on to the next position and the milage was a kilometer higher. One of the very few faults was the trip odometer cancels every time you shut the engine down unfortunately . I seriously dislike tests that are or feel less than positive.

The turbo is designed to leak some oil into the exhaust. So you really do need a low ash oil. Oil must meet 501.1 rating. Or is it the 505.1 rating? The common 501.0 rating is not good enough apparently.. Availability of 507 is good as used currently but suspect for this engine.

This car is making me into an oil junky. Volkswagon dealers damaged a lot of these engines by putting the wrong oil in. The manufacturer added too much confusion on what to use back then. Being Volkswagon of course they accepted no liability. Usually it is a scam if you put the wrong oil in and the company denies warranty if the engine is damaged. For this engine there may be more than a grain of truth. I suspect the proper oil may have a very high rate of friction or pressure modifiers or holds its viscosity better. It is in reality a European synthetic. Volkswagon pulled sales of the 2007 tdi in Canada at least. I have to wonder if it was engine issue related. Or just earlier polution issues.

For 2008 onward they had direct fuel common rail high pressure injection. With a 40k high pressure pump. This pump does not fail in Europe but does in north America.

Some people use a fuel additive to hopefully stop it. As it is caused by our poorer diesel fuel I understand. Also the egr circuit can really load up the intake system on these models. You can illegally disable the egr system but must turn the function off in the computer or the engine light will persist. Gets bad enough and engine will go into limp mode. I suspect on the models under question now. The egr circuit may have been disabled electronically when the newer versions where on the road. Yet on during testing to pass. If so part of the approved fix will probably involve a lot more accumulation in the intake system. Kind of a periodic maintenance item on my model.

Engine power and milage might just increase with it not functioning as well. It appear to be designed to flow a lot of exhaust in the recirculation mode. The size of the water cooled heat exchanger In the egr system indicates this. Diesel unlike gas engines do not burn all the oxygen in the cylinders. So I will have to think this over.

This may be why the system is larger than you would see on a gas engine. This car could have had many of the usual problems and been a real money pit. Chances are high I will see at least some of them if I drive it enough. A clutch job will almost or always require a new probably expensive double mass flywheel . The clutch plate has no dampening springs in it. The clutch can be converted to a single mass flywheel and normal clutch plate but there will probably be a change in things. They do sell a conversion kit.

I think a clutch job is about 17-1900 dollars at a dealership on average. Does the cars handling fuel milage and ride justify the complexity? If you do the work as needed yourself in my opinion yes. Otherwise drive a Toyota. Original parts manufactures open market sell the original parts. Through vendors at far more reasonable cost.

I was never convinced that Volkswagon cheated on the emission deal only for customer benefits. I suspect instead the warranty costs where too high for the carbon build up problems. Volkswagon states they will again sell new diesel cars in Canada at some point. I am not sure just how they will make them compliant. More turbos on a much smaller block comes to mind. Mixed fuel is another possibility. Cars get more and more complex then.

You asked what it was and diesels are the reason for this site. Not all are Mercedes cars but we forget. Usually Mercedes diesels or domestic diesel light trucks get our primary focus. I have pretty well given up any hope of Japanese diesel cars ever appearing here. Most of us never really understood why they were kept out. It could have been as simple as less road tax revenue on fuel usage. They might have gained a large percentage of the market here like elsewhere in the world. It would not have surprised me if they were ultra reliable.

On the lack of torque on takeoff....it seems as if the engine management system is set up to cut off fuel if the rpm drops below a certain level....800 perhaps. I speculate that this is to prevent damage to the engine from lugging.

Its very irritating as I still kill it occasionally....usually if trying to get out into traffic, the worst possible time.

I am spoiled by the abundant torque of the old mercedes diesels....of courst the cummins in the dodge is ridiculously torquey on take off, being able to do so in fourth gear without a load in it if you like.

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[SIGPIC] Diesel loving autocrossing grandpa Architect. 08 Dodge 3/4 ton with Cummins & six speed; I have had about 35 benzes. I have a 39 Studebaker Coupe Express pickup in which I have had installed a 617 turbo and a five speed manual.[SIGPIC]

..I also have a 427 Cobra replica with an aluminum chassis.

I used to think I wanted a diesel Jetta or maybe even a bug. Looking at the tight quarters for changing the timing belt made me hesitant.

My niece bought a five speed about 2003 or so. I have driven it several times over the years and it has received superb care by her Dad who is a long time certified MB dealership tech. I have been a little disappointed by the car as it has played out over the long term. Just spoiled by the old diesel MB's I guess. The car has not been bad, just not an MB. Of course it didn't cost as much as an MB either.

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2001 SLK 320 six speed manual
2014 Porsche Cayenne six speed manual

Annoy a Liberal, Read the Constitution

Back in 2000 I did a lot of work in Europe, mostly Germany. Most of the time I drove a company car which was a 2000 or so Audi A4 five speed, turbo, sport suspensioned car. It was a hoot on the Autobahn. Anyway, it had some sort of automated throttle/clutch control that made it, as far as I could tell, impossible to kill it when starting from a dead stop. It would move the throttle or something to keep you from killing it. I experienced it a few times. It felt very strange, but was really helpful when you first got in it before getting the feel of the new to me clutch.

__________________
2001 SLK 320 six speed manual
2014 Porsche Cayenne six speed manual

Annoy a Liberal, Read the Constitution

Sounds cool, wonder if I can get that in mine?

__________________
[SIGPIC] Diesel loving autocrossing grandpa Architect. 08 Dodge 3/4 ton with Cummins & six speed; I have had about 35 benzes. I have a 39 Studebaker Coupe Express pickup in which I have had installed a 617 turbo and a five speed manual.[SIGPIC]

..I also have a 427 Cobra replica with an aluminum chassis.

On vacation in Europe this past April and May I ended up with a Renault diesl, 6 speed. The car turned out much better than I expected, but as far as I could tell it did not have such throttle/clutch gadgetry. I put well over 5,000 kilometers on that car in three weeks. Went all over the place. Fun driving.

__________________
2001 SLK 320 six speed manual
2014 Porsche Cayenne six speed manual

Annoy a Liberal, Read the Constitution

We have one really competent dealer about 70 miles away. I will ask them about the issue when down there next. The closer dealer has nowhere the same reputation for service quality and knowledge.

There is a strong possibility they are the flagship for service dealership when it comes to their product for a great distance. People that have purchased at the other dealers go to them as well when they are unhappy.

I know your issue is very common and extensively discussed on the Volkswagon sites. The place I am thinking about may have worked out something. It never hurts to ask. It is like asking a lady. She will probably say no hope but there is a chance of yes I can fix you up.

There is no way that volkswagon would issue a TSB on this in my opinion unless forced too. It is a bit of a safety issue though. Again it is just the way the company is. Yours is still under warranty as well I believe.

They have a portable scanner to check all the engine operational parameters on these diesels for a long time while on the road. Many values are tweeked for the individual car in production. The tech can of course modify them. Then again maybe there is no cure but the dealership I refer to is the place to ask.

Also it might not hurt to talk to customer service but do not expect much. Unless they have changed. In my limited experience they were like robots programmed to say no. Yet after the fiasco with the emissions perhaps they have changed to save the brand.

There always is that chance I suppose. That joke of a customer service department I dealt with showed about the same intelligence as a rock. In my opinion it has hurt the brand.

Last thought I might consider. Take the wives car to a dealership. Test drive a used car with the same setup as yours. Same year if possible. Clutch acts better or worse or just the same. They had some issues with the double mass flywheels. It is very remotely possible that you have a defect. I doubt it but still would check.

You too have driven cars for a very long time. It is scary when you are not absolutely confident it will not stall out. It bothered me on mine. It kind of has the same issue but not as severe. The key system where you have to totally back the key off to get past the safety system to prevent energizing the starter. While the engine is running take takes time as well. Time that you may not have in certain situations.

The large and much longer cushioning springs in that double mass flywheel make the ones that are in most clutch plates totally insignifigant. There are no springs in your clutch plate. Your thoughts that the engine self kills below a certain rpm threshold is far from out to lunch. They would not design this to prevent lugging I believe at the same time. It would more likely be a design flaw .

I actually have some information for you. We have about the same engine blocks with two different fuelling systems. The wife mentioned that after I stalled out. In stop and go traffic at a road repaving site. We have two seasons this far north. Winter and tear up the pavement.. She noticed there was a little black smoke on the restart. She was following me home right behind me. So I do not think it is fuel related.

Restarts or general starts are instantainious on these engines. I touch the start position and instantly pretty much release it and observe on the the tach that it is running. I know this sounds unbalanced but it is factual. Also it has nothing to do with the emissions cheating system since I do not have that.

If I keep this car and I expect to. I am going to make the egr system off road legal. Or I guess I could drop the car off at volkswagon and ask them to program it to cheat. They seem to have some experience in that area. You just would not believe the amount of buildup that can occur in the intake system on these with that egr system in operation.

It is not that I want to cheat. It is pretty time intensive to tear the intake system off and clean it up periodically. Plus it cuts power down obviously at least a little. It may hurt the fuel milage a little as well. This is not a toy like egr system as in gas cars. It is designed to put a lot of exhaust back into the intake system. There is even a coolant cooled sizable stainless steel heat exchanger for the exhaust gasses. This adds heat to the cooling system but that is not an issue as their cooling systems have usually been overkill. Pus the engines are so efficient they generate little heat.

In fact there are glow plugs in the cooling system to get the coolant temperature up faster so you have a heater quicker. I have to wonder what a replacement alternator would be and have no wish to look. The glow plugs and there are probably 7 of them. Should last as they are seldom really needed by this engine unless it is really cold. That is a good thing as these are not the old Mercedes glow plugs in price. The ones In the water jacket that are called up below a certain operational temperature if the heater controls are on. Should last as they are not really stressed the same when operationally immersed in the coolant.

My engine is strong but not as strong as yours would be. My getting the egr circuit off line should equalize the two. These engines make substantial power and that is one reason people like driving them. Decent power and really decent fuel milage. Although up here since fuel costs more we might appreciate it even more. The fuel prices adjust here weekly. Four dollars and ninety cents an American gallon in my province this week for diesel. Gas is even higher. We buy it in liters but the conversion is simple.

I have two simple predictions. To get permanently rid of this low torque at idle rpms situation. The next generation of these volkswagon diesel engines may have variable cam timing. Their lack of torque is just too obvious at the very lower end to ignore. In your case my feeling is you just need a little more torque in that rpm area. Oddly enough our 2000 had torque seemingly all over the place. Perhaps just less at the higher end.

The second prediction is an aftermarket cam may appear on the market for these engines at some point. There are some out there now but no information if they help or are just the same grinds as the originals.

Where I can work the torque band in this car if I really want faster acceleration. At two thousand rpm going up a certain local substantial hill I do not have to drop a gear and the car seems not to notice the hill much either. A gas car would have to drop a gear or struggle seriously. Or at least the bulk of the four cylinder ones would.