Austinado . . .
I have confronted this problem myself. When I bought my VW TDI I made a point to buy a new car as I didn't want someone else's problems and I also figured it might be nice to have someone else maintain it. I took it to the dealership during most of the waranty period, which was handy as when the turbo blew up and destroyed the engine VW warrantied it. I had done a few oil changes, but had my receipts for factory filters and Mobil I Delvac so no issues there. After 7 weeks I got my car back - it ran but had the following problems: loose left halfshaft, noticed after a trip to Monterey when it left a grease trail up the firewall, turbo oil pressure line clamps not correctly attached to engine, and the turbo itself was defective. At that point I gave up on the dealer and since then have maintained it myself as with all the other cars I've owned.
Part of the problem is with the factory manual: there is almost no theory in the manual, just a list of items to be replaced if something malfunctions. This means the mechanic has to either just replace parts until the car works or suss out the way systems work by himself. Shortly after the engine replacement I got a check engine light. I hooked up my laptop wtih Ross-Tech's Vag-com and found a code for "excessive EGR". The factory recommendation was to start replacing parts of the EGR system and various sensors. It didn't make sense to me as the car ran fine, not something that will normally happen with excessvie EGR. After some experimentation with my Mighty-Vac and vacuum gauges I figured out the proper opening vacuum required for the EGR valve, and found insufficient vacuum coming from the electrovalve that opens it. Turns out a small piece of smutz had partially clogged it so the EGR wasn't able to open at all. The car's computer wasn't seeing any EGR, so kept calling for more EGR until it maxed out the duty cycle and then gave the error code for excessive EGR even though there was actually none at all. Duh . . . all it took was a little spritz of computer dust off through the electrovalve and it was fixed, but the warning code was totally counter-intuitive. Same when the airbag computer failed, it gave codes for failed airbags and not itself but it didn't make sense to me that there was a repeatable (albeit very hard to document) sequence to the error codes. Replacing the airbag computer solved it, but according to the manual I would have first replaced four of the six airbags at great expense. I also saved a friend a lot of money when his ABS failed in a New Beetle: 25,000 one-owner miles on the car, but the warranty had timed out. According to the dealer their computer diagnosed a failed ABS unit, and what with labor and all they wanted nearly $3000. I normally don't ever work on anybody else's cars, but since it was a VW and I have Vag-com I checked it out. Sure enough, the computer said a failed ABS system. There were no blown fuses, but the owner had replaced the battery and there are several connectors that must be pushed out of the way to do this. I checked the wiring diagram and found that one took power to the ABS. He had managed to just barely loosen the connector so it didn't fall off but also didn't conduct power. We seated it properly, I cleared the code with Vag-com and that fixed it. The dealership guys should know this, and it should be noted in the manual!
I'd like to think these problems are unique to VW but have browsed through a few other repair manuals and I'm sure they're not; this kind of crap is why all the really good mechanics I've known have opened up their own shops and try to do high-end collector car work.[this post was last edited: 11/22/2010-15:36]
He is 19, and works a full time security Job. this has been his dream car for several months. Hes "crunched his numbers" so to say, and has managed out his payments on everything, so hes good to go. Its all him paying for it.
