Touran 2006 2.0TDi 140PS

On an aside - any recommendations on VW specialist independents in the Hastings/Tonbridge circle (I live halfway between)?

VW T Wells are a PITA. Called 3 times - service person was busy. Promised a call back. No call back. Tried a second time. Promised a call back in "5 minutes". Tried 3rd time, half an hour later. "They've all gone home - did try to call you". Bollocks they did, had the phone next to me and unused.

As the car is out of warranty, I have no need of a main dealer, so I was wondering if an independent might be a better bet? But would have to be a specialist with VAG "issues" bullitin access and someone who knows what they're doing.

Cheers

Tim

I would spray in some easy start, just to prove it can run as a first step. if it can't run then you have something horrible failed : like a cambelt (which is due every 4 years on those)

Well you can get the VAG issues ulletin if you're an independent or even if you're doing diy, it's all on erwin. Not that most of the dealers mechanics ever read it. & vag-coms arguably better than VAGs own diagnostics.

I did get some out of newsgroup advice that if the engine fails to fire for any reason, the STOP warning comes on after a specific time. Makes sense. So may be no relation to the oil or pump.

No I haven't put petrol in it :)

I would try that if I had some Easy Start. I haven't heard any bangs, so if it were the cambelt (say) I'm hoping for no bent bits. Mind you, would have though that would fail at speed, not standing for a day.

I suppose it could be a million things. Though 1/2 a million of those it would probably work out for itself and report an ECU light on the dash - like one of the sensors going weird or no fuel pressure.

Just have to wait and hope it's nothing bankruptingly bad...

Thank you sir!

Am in the process of registering... For anyone else:

Wibble. Well, if I find anything I'll be able to surprise the dealer a bit...

Wow! Ok, I haven't registered and seen what it says, but based on the blurb/sales pitch alone, I want to buy a VAG car...

Of course, none of this guarantees that you'll be able to *fix* the bugger. Unless you like dissassembling half the car/have arms like a cartoon character (6 feet long and no bones) and/or possess 6 million "special tools". OTOH it might allow you to point a non specialist mechanic[1] in the right direction, or know when the VW dealer is talking bollocks/hasn't really got a clue[2] :)

[] As I did with my old Lanos after it did a "won't start after 2 long runs to a day". Vauxhall hadn't a clue. It was me with the circuit schematic and a hint from the error codes - which oddly enough told me more in their limited "do morse code out of the dash ECU light if you short a couple of pins in the diag socket" than Vauxhall got out of their diag machine (nothing). [2] Quite often IME.

Trouble is the Lanos was a *simple" car compared to modern BMWs/VAGs in the same way a Maxi was a simple car compared to a Lanos.

old cam belts usually fail at the first start of the day after cooling down completely, they very rarely make a sound even when all the valves bend. If the belt goes then you can usually hear that the engine sounds wrong as it turns over (spins fast and even )

you can spray in wd40 as an alternative to easy start.

Nope - sounds like a normal turnover.

Sadly none of that either... Might try to pick up some later...

Thanks for your ideas - all useful knowledge. I'll have a rummage around Erwin next and see if I can reinstall my workshop manual...

I've recently had a turbo go on a Passat and was very happy with an independent VW specialist in T Wells details here:

They were quick, thorough and reasonably priced although that was of course only my experience.

Peter.

They're really not that complicated, and in general, the reason the dealer hasn't got anything outr of the diagnostic machine is because they can't be arsed to plug it in.

Thanks for the tip Peter. A reasonable walk from High Brooms - so quite easy to get back and forth when I leave the car (I live down the line in Robertsbridge).

I shall ring them tomorrow.

Not from a schematic POV - but those engine bays doo seem to be chock-a-block with junk these days. I even had to give up with the starter motor on my old Lanos (a job I would rate normally as easy) as I could just about touch one of the bolts let along get any of my tools on it. Even the mechanic swore a lot.

Part of the problem is dealer "mechanics" are mostly just fitters these days. I got further with an independant mechanic who kept old Lanoses as runarounds and courtesty cars. He could diagnose weird faults by looking and listening.

lanos starter change is a half hour job

This is DIY - it takes 3 hours to find all the correct tools in the shed/under the stairs! ;->

Just spoke to VW and Joe. VW confirmed no recall campaigns on my car and Erwin didn't show anything either (though I did capture very useful PDF of all the major bits fitted to mine, so that was worth 4 euros.).

Can't look at ELSAwin right now as the bloody thing won't install on 64 bit XP and my laptop is short of space - need to set up a VMWARE machine for it.

Joe reckoned it wouldn't be the oil pump as it should still start, then whine loudly about there being no pressure. Also said it was unlikely to be an injector (if just one). Initial hunch - something electrical for the first bet.

Suggested I check the fuses (which I was going to do), in particular the fuel pump.

He sounded a decent chap and a proper mechanic who knew his field and he's 30% cheaper than VW (big surprise - not ;-#)

And his mate who does recovery lives near me - might get a better tow in rate.

On Fri, 04 Jun 2010 20:42:53 +0100, Tim Watts wibbled:

OK - the mystery is solved.

Joe's Garage in T Wells spent 6 hours figuring it out as the computers had no fault codes at all... (Though they said they will charge 3 hours which is pretty decent of them - full marks so far).

Throttle body failed.

I haven't seen it and not sure how it failed (will look tomorrow). Not a component I've heard of dying before. Then again, recovery bloke mentioned some of the VWs had been having water pump problems because VW decided plastic impellers were a good idea.

People have been making cars for over a century and yet they seem to be going backwards these days *sigh*.

[...]

Bit difficult to manoeuvre if they didn't. (Sorry.)

More sensibly, today's vehicles are better in pretty much every respect of those from even 20 years ago. Compared to those of the sixties, for example, they're bloody marvellous!

Chris

Oh yes, they are marvellous now, it took me all of an hour to get my viva started after it had stood for twenty years, no cost other than battery and petrol.