I have a 1995 VW Golf GL, automatic. BION, it has only about
30,000 miles on it. I always warm it up and I replace the oil and filter every 6 months. Every 2-3 years I do a basic tune-up because it has always run very well and I use it so little it makes no sense to change spark plugs which have 2,000 miles on them, etc.
It started running slightly unevenly about a year ago, a couple of partial tune-ups, injector washings, and other stuff mechanics do seem to have fixed it.
A month ago or so it started dying on the road. Sometimes it would start again, but then it wouldn't. So I had it towed to my garage.
The (13 year old) coil was replaced. It died after 6 months, a new one was put in ten days ago. It died within a week, a new one was put in at no charge. So far so good.
In the meantime - for about the last month or so - the car started idling rough - the needle moves between 650 and 850 - it NEVER did that before - it /used/ to /run/ a bit unevenly but the tune-ups, injector washing etc. appear to have fixed it. It rusn fine at normal driving speeds.
It also failed air check for the first time EVER - the CO emissions were too high, between 1.5 and 4.5 - depending on who messed with the distributor before. They have to be under 1 or it doesn't pass. Luckily (?) I live in a place where you can "help out" a guy and get a sticker no matter WHAT the readings are. Since I drive the car twice a week at most, I can't even feel guilty about it.
Several people told me to change the oxygen sensor.
At the end of a tiring day of messing about with all this, I was passing by a small garage and they put a scanner on it and it said 00525 - lambda sensor. So the guy said to get a new oxygen sensor.
My regular garage - who so far have been the best garage I have ever been to in my life (yes, I know...) - put /their/ scanner on it and /it/ said that the idle air control valve needed adjusting - so they adjusted it and it ran like a dream for about 30 miles. (It always runs like new after they fix something - until the next time.)
So, now it has again started to idle roughly - MUCH more so than before - the needle actually dropped down to about 400 at one time! It never goes higher than 850, and I understand "normal" is 750-800 and that's what it has always been.
The only thing that has occurred to me is that the scanner MAY have indicated IACV /and-or/ oxygen sensor as being faulty since logic would suggest (of course, logic rarely applies to car repairs) the symptoms may be similar. Not that this gets me anywhere, still, a thought.
As you can tell, I know almost nothing about cars. Is the valve faulty and should it be replaced? WHY did it work great for 30 miles and then got MUCH worse? Is there an adjustment screw and a "fix in place" screw and they forgot to tighten that 2nd screw? Or should I replace the oxygen sensor?
I believe that you are running an aftermarket ign coil. I have not seen many or any of those survive for long. I have seen them died within a week and never last past 1 year. I refuse to use them!!! I ONLY purchase them from the dealer to get their TEMIK brand.
Maybe a faulty hall sensor (inside the dis.) Also check the crankcase breather pipes. Try running without the o2 sensor see if that makes a difference.
SFC
"vampire chicken" schreef in bericht news:Xns9AAFAE3D2FBCvamchi@66.250.146.158...
This whole thing is very very sad. I hesitate to say too much, because the most obvious comment is, the people who are alleged "mechanics" are plain and simple incompetent. First off, if you have a very high CO level that indicates the car is running rich. A faulty distributor or ignition coil will not cause you to run rich. Faulty timing might if its EXTREMELY bad but thats detectable with a timing light.
I'd suspect a clogged fuel filter and/or the O2 sensor. A car with 30k miles on it shouldn't have a messed up O2 sensor though. On the other hand, driving a car 2300 miles a year is very tough on a car. Thats 44 miles per week. If you can get 400 miles on a tank, that means you are on average going at least 9 weeks between refuels. Gas does degrade, and humidity condenses in the gas tank which just sits there and nastifies your gas.
That said, if it were me, I'd positively diagnose it, and if you can't do that, take it to someone who is willing to, and not just throw parts at it, or guess about it because it will never get fixed that way, and you'll never be sure. You can positively diagnose the problem if its a faulty sensor, period.
BTW, Temic is a German company, as is Beru and Bosch, they are all completely seperate companies.
wrote in news:g24hni$d2u$ snipped-for-privacy@grapevine.wam.umd.edu:
Thank you for your empathy.
I have found this out, even though I have only owned 3 cars in my life. I once had a VOLVO dealer set the idle on a Volvo stick shift station wagon to 2000 RPM, so I had to step on the gas AND on the brake to have it idle normally! The hills and mountains were especially enjoyable!
The permissible aircheck CO level was just lowered from 2 to 1 -
6 months ago my car passed with flying colors. Now my CO emission level was between 1.5 and 4.5 (per ?) depending on the
2000/4000 RPM readings and depending on whether the "mechanics" who do these things here messed with the timing first. FWIW, it was BETTER (under '2' /both/ RPM's) /before/ they slowed it down!
Still, they ALL said I need a new 0² sensor, as the plug-in scanner whose reading I /personally/ saw did. But my mechanic said it was the coil - so I have a 3rd coil in 6 months or so. A Temic (albeit a Mexican one as I assume the others were, but no has said anything about that making them worthless) - which impressed me - I had never heard of Temic let alone that it was "the only coil to get" until Dave replied to me. OTOH, 3 Temics in 6 months is NOT so impressive. OTOH, the original lasted over
12 years but who knows what THAT was and where it was made?
I am tempted to buy a real Bosch 0² sensor but my garage says not to waste the money if the car runs OK. It will be cheaper than taking it to a dealer for a (hopefully accurate) diagnostic but at this point (see below) I am just going to wait until the next disaster strikes.
The current situation is:
It ran GREAT for the first 5 miles after they put in the 3rd coil and adjusted the AIV.
Then when I started it next day it started instantly (as it ALWAYS has) but idled even MORE roughly than before! The needle actually went down to 400 at one point! But it ran fine, although I /fully/ expected total disaster at some point.
The next day it started, idled and ran just perfectly - and I stopped and started about 4 or 5 times that day.
Yes, I read they last 60K miles.
Sometimes it's 10 miles a week, sometimes it's 80. There's nothing I can do - I am not going to drive it just for the sake of putting miles on it, right? I live in a huge city with horrible traffic. It's hell.
As I said, I always warm it up and religiously change oil/filters. It has always run perfectly well, and when I started having some problems about a year ago, another garage cleaned the injectors and a few other things. It was OK for a few weeks, than it started up again.
I was recommended /this/ garage. They tuned it up, put Bosch spark plugs in (Dave - I was wrong, Bosch, not Japanese, I checked the invoice), new dist. cap and rotor, re-cleaned the injectors, and a few other things (I am reasonably sure they checked the fuel filter, which was changed a couple of years ago anyway along with the fuel pump - original German pump was installed [then THAT garage closed down, of course].).
Anyway, after these guys did all that, it ran better than it has //EVER// run. (I have been driving it since the car was about 3 years old, for about 10 years now.)
The tank is about 15 gallons and I seem to get about 16-20 mpg. It's always been that - AFAICT because since I drive it so little I never paid much attention to the gas consumption.
It does vary, but I am sure I have gone 5-8 weeks with no refill. The gas gauge is a little "moody", and it' not worth getting into the tank to fix it. But I believe I get more like
200-250 miles per tank. I fill it up full every 100 miles or so and it usually takes 4-5 gallons to get it full. I reset the "trip meter" to judge when to fill up.
My garage told me I have to run about 150 miles on it before they can do a new accurate scanner reading. That's how I knew last week that I got about 20 mpg - I wrote down the numbers. The BAD news is that was 90% on the freeway!!!!
Well, I didn't know that, and it sounds bad, but short of stuffing a petrol-resistant rubber bag inside the tank and inflating it so the tank capacity is reduced to 5 gallons, what can I do?
*I* personally certainly can't do it. I have learned more about this car in this thread than I ever knew before.
These ARE words of wisdom and I appreciate them.
AT /this/ moment it seems fine. Maybe the super-erratic idling (which only happened once since the last service) was just the new coil/AIV adjusting themselves to their "new home" (I know, I sound like an idiot). If it screws up again, depending on what my garage says THEN, I MAY bite the bullet and take it to a VW dealer. If anyone can /positively/ diagnose it, /they/ should be able to. It will probably cost me 1/8 the current worth of the car, but that's still better than buying a new one.
Well, as I said, a garage I happened to be passing by at the end of a hellish day (and figured, what the hell, let's see what /they/ say) did a scanner reading and it indicated the 0² sensor as bad.
But MY garage said THEIR scanner indicated a faulty AIV, and that they adjusted it and also put in a new coil (another Mexican Temic) since the coil had just died at the same time, more or less. (Good thing insurance includes towing.)
Thanks, I got confused when Googling.
Thanks for your comments. I will keep you "posted".
If you're going to keep it find somebody with or buy vag-com, it lets you read all the faults yourself, it's better than generic scanners and as good if not better than the vw one on a car that age. A new O2 sensor is cheaper than a dealer scan though.
I'm assuming that the CO level you are referring to is % CO. 1% CO is very rich. 4.5% is beyond absurd and is a clear indicator something very blatant is wrong. The last emissions test I performed on my 86 Jetta was 0.00% CO. There's no reason that a properly functioning car should be above about .15%, and if you are above .5% something is most likely wrong. Your abysmal fuel economy (and yes, 20 mpg mostly highway is abysmal, it should be more like 30 mpg) is also a clear indicator you are running rich.
The idle air control valve, and the timing, and distributor, and the blah blah blah don't affect this. What can affect it? Dity fuel injectors, a clogged fuel filter, bad pressure regulator, bad mass airflow sensor (MAF), bad O2 sensor, and bad coolant temp sensors would be the most obvious causes, a bad ground could also be to blame. All of these can be checked, and relatively easily. For example. Put a pressure gauge on the fuel rail and measure fuel pressure with the pump on. It should reach whatever is specified in the manual. Turn off the pump. It should stay there. If you have a pressure gauge which can reference the intake manifold then you can try measuring with the engine running. The O2 sensor can be checked on an oscilloscope. The coolant temp sensor can be checked with a multimeter, as can the MAF most likely (if not an oscilloscope should work). The fuel filter can be just replaced since its cheap and easy enough, if you seriously suspect it (and I would if the fuel pressure is too low, especially when the engine is running).
It sounds like you've been driving around like this for a while, its likely you have destroyed the catalytic converter by doing this. Be prepared for that.
No computer can say you need a new O2 sensor. The computer can say that the output of the O2 sensor is not what it expects. It is then up to an educated person to determine why based on performing additional tests. Bad grounds, or air leaks could cause a properly functioning O2 sensor to have faulty readings as could other scenarios such as a totally busted pressure regulator that puts the pressure up so much that the computer can't adequately lean it to compensate. That last one would have a proper reading but it wouldn't be what the computer expects, and in fact its the pressure regulator that has the problem, not the O2 sensor.
As for a coil. The coil is extremely unlikely to cause a high CO reading. I'm curious how this "mechanic" diagnosed a faulty coil as being to blame for your cars problem, or how you've gone through 3 of them. To me this would be a red flag that he's replacing the wrong part. I have heard rebuilt aftermarket alternators and starters are unreliable, but I am much more suspicious of a bunch of brand new Temic coils being bad.
Thats a very very very bad idea. An oxygen sensor will probably cost $60 ($30 if you get a universal Bosch sensor). The next disaster will almost certainly be a screwed up catalytic converter if you continue to run rich, and you don't want to know how much that will cost. Knowing what is wrong with your car and fixing it is worth something in terms of piece of mind. If I had to guess, all these mechanics you have been taking it to (the one who keeps replacing your coil, the ones who are cleaning your injectors, etc, etc) are just jerking you around cause they don't know. If you don't fix it properly for real, this is going to continue forever and you may as well just get rid of the car now.
Right, so the idle stabalizer valve and the coil had nothing to do with the problem. Clearly, yet they keep screwing around with this crap. I don't know where you are, but you sound more American than British, so if we are talking a base model 95 US Jetta. I don't even know what the heck an adjustment is. I've never owned one, but I do have the service manual, I don't recall hearing of an adjustment, and all the idle stabalizer valves on A2 cars didn't have adjustments. What the heck would you adjust anyway? On the A2, sometimes you would adjust the throttle stop position to get the ECU to provide the right duty cycle to the ISV, but there was no adjustment on the valve. Yet another thing I have to wonder about.
It depends on the model year. Presumably you have a heated O2 sensor. The 60k miles thing is essentially an EPA recommendation that the vehicle manufacturers are required to parrot. If the car is otherwise operating properly, its very possible that the O2 sensor could last 150k miles. Looking at the output of the O2 sensor and coolant temp sensor would be very instructive here.
I understand. You just need to understand its hell on the car. Maybe you should consider an electric vehicle. Oh wait.. there aren't any yet. :(
Warming up a car is just a good way to waste gas. The car is adequately warmed up within 20 seconds of driving. Just don't drive it hard for the first couple minutes.
Honestly, based your usage model... There really isn't much you can do. Uh oh wait... you said petrol... Now I'm wondering if you are in the UK. Ugh... I don't know how similar the engine electronics on a UK A3 is to the US one. The A2's were probably quite different.
Well, since I have no idea what adjustment you can do to the idle stabalizer valve, I can't comment on that one, but the coil absolutely has no adjustment and I think its unlikely the engine computer would compensate one way or another based on replacing the coil.
There are people other than VW dealers who could do this, but I would strongly recommend someone who specializes in Volkswagens. Heck, at one point I knew more about my specific car than most VW trained mechanics who did nothing but VWs all day long. You might just ask if there's someone local who could take a look at it. Being a VW dealer is no guarantee of good service, sadly enough.
A scanner reading is not a positive diagnosis. Its an indicator the computer thinks something is wrong. Likelyhood is that if the computer thinks something is wrong, there is something wrong, but it may not be what it looks like.
"Duncan Wood" wrote in news:op.ub7u4tsvpmo3dt@lucy:
I looked at it, it looks good but for several reasons I will not be able to get hold of one where I am (South America, AKA "the place after which hell won't seem so bad").
The Google page also showed an OBD tool for $71, but, needless to say, it works with cars made at least a year later than mine ONLY.
Yesterday the car ran fine but it still idles roughly (although "only" with about a 100-150 RPM variation) so obviously something is still wrong.
At this point, I can get the 02 sensor for about $60 or I can go to a VW dealer ($500 ???? $2,000 ?????) or just wait until it's time to call the tow truck again.
For a variety of life situation-related reasons, getting a new car is not an option. And I will never buy a used car again after what I've been through before. I'd rather take public transit and cabs. (THIS car WAS bought new by another family member, I just was not here when it was bought, I arrived 3 years later.)
Selling it is an option. While it ran great (for about 12 years) I intended to run it until the last possible moment. This moment may have arrived, albeit in a different form than I expected.
wrote in news:g275on$873$ snipped-for-privacy@grapevine.wam.umd.edu:
I have NO idea how these air checks operate, but they seem to be lowering the permissible levels all the time. The bribes to get a sticker anyway seem to hold fairly steady.
I know.
I also realize this.
Great.
THat's one more item I have never heard about before. Good to know.
Well, once you have a bad ground - possibly intermittent - (in anything) you can pretty much just set the thing on fire, AFAIK. I'll NEVER find it.
I /really/ appreciate the instructions, but I don't have the tools and while I once replaced the master brake cylinder on my VW bug myself, that was MANY years ago. Adding windshield wiper liquid is about as much as I am capable of these days. So I am at the mercy of the "mechanics".
Great.
Hard to find anywhere.
This gets better all the time.
So am I. In all fairness, the coils were changed when the car just wouldn't start - his scanner diagnosed the AIV valve as needing adjustment and he tells me I /don't/ need an O2 sensor.
Silly me, I thought plugging a $2,000 scanner into a hidden connector on the dashboard would tell me the problem /for sure/!!! Now I see all scanners (well, two out of two anyway) tell you something different!
Well, they were made in Mexico, but no one has said anything about that. I am prepared to see if I can find a German one when this one bites it, but I may not be able to.
Sigh.
I am pretty high strung and get quite upsets when cars, computers, etc. go "bad" and I am actually surprised I haven't freaked out more about this.
IOW, the usual treatment.
I am beginning to consider it.
1995 Golf GL 1.8 "Hecho en Mexico".
I have heard my car referred to as the A3 several times, but there is no particular reason to suspect THAT part of an A2 and an A3 would be any different.
Again, sigh.
With what's left of my wits after reading today's 3 replies, I will try to mention that to whomever I end up talking to about this.
Well, this is a Mac or Windows debate AFAIAC. And it is not possible to NOT drive it hard the way traffic and driving "style" are around here.
I've warmed up my cars ever since my first VW bug and I can FEEL the difference when I don't do it.
"90% of engine damage happens in the first 10 minutes of operation. Always warm up your car regardless of what the owner's manual says. They just want you to buy a new car sooner." (Paraphrased from "How to keep your VW alive", a 70's American "alternative" manual".)
South America. I said petrol because it seems most people in these groups are British.
UK A3 is to the US one.
Or a Mexican-made one.
I agree.
Well, I /used/ to go there, and while their behavior was largely inexcusable, they always did a good job fixing things. It was the attitude, outrageous prices, and the long repair times that stopped me from going to them any more. But at the very least they should have the OBD tool that works with my model.
Well, isn't that just great.
I appreciate your comments, but if anything, I feel I am sinking into quicksand deeper and deeper.
IF you want to keep the car then you can always purchase a vag-com tool to plug into your car off of ebay item # 320259252654 which might cost you maybe $40 shipped to you in S. America. I prefer the serial type of the clones. I have heard of too many issues/problems with the USB clones.
OR you can buy the real tool from ross-tech.com, or one of his places closer to you. They are investments that will not only save you money but retain a lot of their value if you decide to sell it. It can use the latest software and can be used on different computers, unlike the clones. ;-)
I absolutely agree with you. They are hard to find. But you really have only a few choices: Learn to fix it yourself, get screwed around with, or find someone who is absolutely competent and educated. It seems like so far you've been picking option #2. I will say that I got sick of taking my car to a mechanic (particularly since I drive older cars) and felt that the only way to deal with that was to go with option #1. How you want to proceed with this is up to you, but please remember your options.
Scanners don't cost $2000. You can get a cheap OBD2 scanner (admittedly your car isn't OBD2 compliant) for $50. A VAG-COM from Uwe Ross is probably in the neighborhood of $250.
Please don't take this the wrong way. But I do not think the problem is the country of origin of your parts. I think you are going to drive yourself nuts worrying about that.
I don't believe most mechanics intentionally jerk customers around, but the fact is that sometimes you run into a situation like this where it requires real understanding of the car and the engine management system and whats going on. And many of them don't have that. So they plug in a scanner and replace whatever it says is wrong (see previous comments about scanners) or start futzing with it, and the first thing that seems to make it work they declare to be the problem. For example, lets say you have a badly functioning spark plug, and the coil has gotten a little weak over time. So they replace the coil which is still functioning within spec, and the improvement allows the plug to function now. So they declare that it was a bad coil, but then the new coil starts getting a bit old and isn't functioning quite as well, maybe some dirt got in the connections (heck maybe the new coil is still fine) but its not working again, so they again declare oh, it must be the coil and replace it. Mean while, what actually "fixed" the problem was loosening and tightening the connectors on the coil, and the actual problem was the spark plug itself, none of which got diagnosed. This happens, all too often.
I would seriously consider it, unless you are willing to go with Option 1 or Option 3.
That car doesn't exist in the US, although I think it may exist in Canada as the Golf CL. I believe the engine management may be significantly more primitive than the Motronic used in the US, but I don't know.
A3 refers to the third generation of the "A" chassis (Rabbit, Golf, Jetta, Scirocco, Corrado, Cabriolet, Eos, etc). The 93-98 Golf/Jetta/ Cabrio were A3's. The A2 was 85-92 Golf/Jetta and the Corrado was "A2+" which was an A3/A2 hybrid. Many parts are usually interchangable between models using the same chassis.
I can understand that, but like I said, I think the solution is to sit down and think about the problem as picking which of the three options I listed you wanted to pursue. If you aren't going to go with Option 1 or Option 3, I think you should get rid of the vehicle and cut your losses.
I'm not sure how this is a Mac/Windows debate, and I fail to understand what an old carbureted air cooled rear engine vehicle has to do with a modern fuel injected water coiled front engined one. Warming up a vehicle 30 years ago may have been necessary but that doesn't mean it still is.
Right, so you are relying on 30+ year old advice regarding cars that are significantly more than 30 years old. Modern oils and lubricants are also much better than those available 30 years ago.
So sad, this group used to be very robust and almost exclusively American. It would seem in recent years many fewer people are here. Maybe all the Americans went off to VWVortex or something.
Its not about where its made, its about the end-market. VW hasn't built vehicles in the US since the Westmoreland, PA plant closed in the
80s. Most Jettas sold in the US are Mexican made. I think Golfs sold in the US are typically Brasilian made, whereas Golfs sold in Europe are probably made in Europe. I know the engine management in US-market A2s was significantly different than that of European-market A2s.
I don't blame you, which is why I said, cut your losses or do it right. The EGR is yet another red herring as it has virtually nothing to do with CO. The CO is something you KNOW is wrong, so why not fix what you know is a problem and then worry about stuff you don't know since that might get fixed at the same time.
"dave AKA vwdoc1" wrote in news:1gX1k.4987$ snipped-for-privacy@nlpi070.nbdc.sbc.com:
About half of my CD orders get stolen in the mail. A tool like that has NO chance of making it. BION, even FedEx is problematic here not to mention it would roughly double the cost.
I realize those lucky enough to live in a country where packages can be left safely on people's doorsteps do not know the many realities and joys of living in the 3rd world. One of them is that everything except a few basics is 125% to 250% of its US price, not to mention you simply can NOT get a lot of stuff. I could go on and on and on...
wrote in news:g29iik$3jt$ snipped-for-privacy@grapevine.wam.umd.edu:
Top-posted intro: I really appreciate your thoughtful, time- consuming and obviously very well-intentioned reply.
As much as I hate to tell you this, I am basically a defeatist and I give up quite easily, and my nerves have been shot by an assortment of wonderful life experiences. I wouldn't have said anything /near/ this 35 years ago when I was still full of what I believe is called "youthful enthusiasm", and when everyone, including myself, had high hopes for my future, but it is the truth now. No point in pretending otherwise.
#1 is impractical since if I didn't live where I do (for NOW, and HOPEFULLY not for much longer) I would not even OWN a car. While - as a kid - I was certainly susceptible to the charms of a 60's Jaguar or the 280SL (most beautiful car ever made IMO), I have never been "into" cars.
I also get VERY upset and nervous doing /anything/ with cars (and even computers or just simple electrical things which I actually KNOW something about). Putting a new plug on an extension cord, or frying an egg, is about the only thing that does NOT freak me out. Stuff that's more complicated, let alone that I know NOTHING about, scares the hell out of me.
So, bad as the choice may be, I will /probably/ just leave things as they are - the car DOES run at this moment, just idles a little funny, I only use it to go to grocery stores and for similar essentials, and I hope to be //out of here// before long.
I /think/ I will just struggle along unless some exorbitantly expensive repair comes along. At that point I may just start taking cabs (they are one of the few things that /are/ extremely cheap here, although a Londoner certainly would not call one of them a taxi, perhaps not even a car). If I'm lucky, it may not even get to that point.
#2 is what seems to happen most of the time whether you want it to or not, no matter what country you live in.
#3 is a bit of a needle in a haystack thing, especially here, where the normal meanings of words, actions, and products are quite removed from what they are in civilization. You would not believe the things I have seen here, both car-wise and everything else. To tell you the truth, I am still ASTOUNDED that I can even get on the Internet. You should see the wiring (electrical and other) in my house.
You are absolutely correct, and what I /can/ do myself, in general, I do. But see above for where I am now with my life.
It is almost /exactly/ that - but as I replied to the other poster, it could cost me up to 5 times that with assorted duties, bribes, etc . not to mention the pleasure of spending a day or two at the "customs office" waiting in 50-person long lines and explaining what it - assuming they don't just return it, half destroyed, to the seller as "not permitted" - which HAS happened with some of the perfectly innocuous things I have ordered over the Internet.
The guy whose scanner said "00525 lambda sensor" said the scanner cost him about $2,000 and that before they used to have one which cost them $7,500. I didn't even KNOW about scanners until a couple of weeks ago.
I am reassured that so far no one has pointed the finger at the country of manufacture. And I DO realize great AND awful products can come out of ANY country.
That is an excellent explanation of what probably happens most of the time. But what is an ignorant customer to do? The modern world just wants you to buy a new car.
I could, but refuse to for a variety of what I consider valid (in my case) reasons which would take too long to go into and also get pretty damn boring.
If I /knew/ that I was going to remain here for 10 more years, I would buy a new car. (But if I knew I had to remain here for 10 more years, I would probably just kill myself right now!)
I was pleasantly surprised at the amount of helpful replies I have gotten in these groups, but if any of you read all of them as I have, you'd have noticed virtually of them differ as to the diagnostic of the problem. So I'm still entwined in the bushes, they just have even more thorny branches than before!
I guess I always thought, wow, a 95 model with 30K miles on it should run forever! Shows you how much *I* know!
I should have said "is Mac or Windows better?" debate, although I would still probably have been wrong. I have known only a few other people who warm up their cars, but they stuck to that attitude like Moslems to Mohammed.
/spreads hands/ I don't know. I know nothing about cars. I don't see it causing any harm, I drive the car so little that a few extra minutes of gasoline use doesn't bother me AFA pollution or waste, and I would /think/ cold metal with cold oil in it is quite different than warm metal with hot oil circulating in it, whether it's 1950 or 2010. I could be completely wrong, of course.
/spreads hands again/ It was the only car manual I could ever understand, and it allowed me to change the master brake cylinder by myself - something that I am still /very/ proud of having managed to do. I know synthetic oils are a VERY different animal, but I was not aware basic engine oil had changed that much.
Who knows. I think it /may/ have to with the modern American lifestyle - it is much "faster" than it was even 20 years ago, the days of cars anyone with a few wrenches could fix are long gone, and people (the ones with jobs, that is) are running around like crazy making money to buy more and more new consumer goods. I think it is quite possible there are more car enthusiasts "per capita" in the UK than the US, and that life is much more relaxed there and allows them to enjoy their hobby.
See, another perfect example of a totally different opinion. When I read about the EGR it was (needless to say) the 1st time I have ever heard of it, and I thought, HEY, maybe THAT'S IT! Now I don't even think it's worth mentioning to the mechanic! (No offense to the respondent!)
Sounds very reasonable.
As far as I can tell, this means either buy a $60 oxygen sensor (which is /possibly/ not at all what /is/ needed) or go to VW and have them scan the hell out of the car and tell me what is REALLY going on - that option /probably/ being 10 or 20 times more expensive - but as several respondents have said, even that does not guarantee a correct solution.
I see no other option, except doing nothing and making sure I have the insurance tow truck number with me at all times.
Again, thank you /very much/ for the time you took to reply. vc
Jim Behning wrote in news: snipped-for-privacy@4ax.com:
Doesn't the oil temperature gauge mean ANYTHING?
Surely you will admit that a car that has been running for 5 minutes has a warmer engine than a car which has been running for 5 seconds (the average before most people drive off, from my observations), just as *I* will readily admit that a car which has been driving on a freeway for 15 minutes has a much hotter engine than a car which has been idling for 5 minutes.
Well, that's "good to know" but you must admit, totally irrelevant here. :-)
/That's why I warm it up!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!/
I do not have water in my engine, I have oil. New oil every 6 months.
/That's why I warm it up!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!/
Huh?
Between the responses here and Googling while answering them, I have read about most of those things. But like I said in the other reply, all I feel now is that the thicket I am trapped in just got more branches.
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