t5 transporter

[jfoldbar]

hi all. i have a 2004 t5 transporter 2.5 tdi. thses things are so high tech compared to older cars there seems to be so many things that can go wrong. been a bit hard to start lately and using more fuel cant find anyone that can tell me why. they all say that the injectors never need changinging in these cars. i find it hard to fathom that man has been able to invent something that never ever wears out. can anyong explain to me more about the fuel/injection system on this car. im beginning to realise theres so much new technology in them now that was never in older cars.

i have an 04 t5 2.5 190k. it is a lemon. i speak to so many others with these cars who say they are great and have never had problems. last week a guy told me hes done 700k and no problems. so i wonder why i have never had a single day yet with no problems. for me they are constant.one after another after another. too many to fix. it is always serviced on time by either vw or a reputable independent so i wonder what the other guys are doing different to me that makes their car so reliable. i dont want to get rid of this car because their are great things about it too. but i just cant keep pouring money into a loosing battle. i doubt i can ever sell it though i probably have to give it away because any potential buyer will realise its riddled with problems.
what should i do. (ready to push it off cliff)

[Transporter]

I merged it for you with your already existing thread you started earlier.

---------- Post added at 07:37 AM ---------- Previous post was at 07:32 AM ----------

Here is the link to your other thread you started, so we don't go through the same topics (faults you had) again.

http://www.vwwatercooled.org.au/foru...led-60985.html

[jfoldbar]

your response implies that my query is a fault query, as they were before.hence your justification for the mix. but unlike my last posts i now have no fault query because i realise it will not be possible for me to be able to fix faults anyway and theres no point in flogging a dead horse.my query is,why did it happen(i doubt any human could answer that question its just life) what should i do about that, or what would others do in my situation.

[Transporter]

your response implies that my query is a fault query, as they were before.hence your justification for the mix. but unlike my last posts i now have no fault query because i realise it will not be possible for me to be able to fix faults anyway and theres no point in flogging a dead horse.my query is,why did it happen(i doubt any human could answer that question its just life) what should i do about that, or what would others do in my situation.

Yep, I'm sure they will give you their true opinion. How true it will depend how well they read your posts from the past.

IMO, your situation is the mix of the two elements that are not made for each other and none of them is perfect. In the matter of fact nobody is perfect. So, your T5 (mine is almost the same age as yours) is not as reliable as the Toyota Hiace or even Mazda E2000i made back in 2004. But the difference between you and many other dubbers is that we know that the T5 has its own faults (every vehicle has), but we love it for how it drives and are not worried that we had to replace the water pump before 100,000km or we had to replace the exhaust manifold cause we drive it hard at every opportunity or it simply just fails for some other reason. Well, did I forget the auto transmission is not the most reliable one (would you believe it's made by Aisin own by Toyota, yes the T5 has Toyota AT) and it can fail around 100,000km. We don't care; we just drive them and enjoy every trip. Hell mine is loaded to the max with the tools but I'd rather go in my T5 to the city then many other sedans, no van much the ride of the T5.

My last words, the reliability is greatly affected by maintenance and IMO many would eliminate a lots of problems if they halved the servicing interval and disregard the "Filled for life" recommendation in the service manual. But, it's hard today when everybody knows better than the mechanic and see the money behind everything.

My T5 is manual and I changed the oil in the gear box every 20,000km, engine oil no more than 7,500km, the coolant every 3 years (the first fill can last 4 years) and the rest of the fluids every 40,000km or 2 years. Why? Because I don’t know If I had to keep it for more than 10 years! ...and also because that how the maintenance was done when the reliability was high on every car manufacturers menu.

[jfoldbar]

"IMO, your situation is the mix of the two elements that are not made for each other".

what does that mean? what is IMO? why did you type in red, does that mean angry?

i see your point about servicing more than recommended by the manufacturer. i geuss if i could turn back time i could try that. i know my local vw certaintly would not have done that though so would have had to go elsewhere. will never know if that would have made a difference though. but its too late now and no point dwelling in the past. it wouldnt be the first time that ive learnt the hard way that the vehicle makers recommended service is wrong.

"But the difference between you and many other dubbers is that we know that the T5 has its own faults" yes that is true all cars do have their fault i acknowledge that. but are you saying that most dubbers can justify spending 5-10k per year just to keep it running? (thats not all the faults, just the ones that stop it from going completely). and can they justify being famous at vw spare parts. spending 4 months at a time in the service centre only to get it back worse than when it went there. mayby they can justify it and if so i understand why you say that maybe its just me and vw are not made for each other. if that is so then i see your point.

[Sunny43.5]

Okay time for my ten cents worth , I have in this forum voiced my opinion about todays technology sevearal times . We own two T5,s one 2.0 lt petrol 2006 and the ever popular 2.5 triptronic 2005 . I will be very truthful here ever since a VW service centre told me if our auto was faulty it could not be serviced because its "sealed " for life and that if it fails we would have to pay for a whole new transmision .
Well that was the last time we ever took our vans to VW for servicing about 4 years ago , since then I do my own oil and filter change my own brake pads and or disc rotors and any other general repairs . My work van the 2.0 litre has been to Jmac for water pump and timing belt as the time for me to do the job was not available . I find that VW,s attitude and that of other car makers as well in regards to technology is that these technical nightmares are supposed to be for our benefit and make our driving a more pleasurable experience . Now I will agree that I also love driving these vans but the costs attached to them when some thing goes wrong is what sours our experience . I have lost count of how many times the engine warning light has come on in my van for no apparent reason if every time I took it to VW to find the fault I am sure that they would lighten my wallet and not be able to source the problem , do you know why ?? Because every single time that lovely red light has come on telling me to take it to VW I have ignored the thing completly as the van is still going as it should and is not coughing or stalling so there is some technical nightmare that VW have in all this technology that even they cannot stop . I am sure that there are tens of thousands of car owners out there that have faults with other manufactureres cars and they feel the same as some of us do . It is just a shame that in this day and age that car makers keep striving to increase technology for whatever reason and do not give two hoots about the consequences of failure of the said technology .
Another example is why does the auto in the T5 have to be multi function in my time you bought either a 3 speed auto or 3 speed manual . Simple to use and simple and cheap to repair {and yes you could check and change your oils when ever} These new DSG Triptronic boxes cannot make up their minds what gear they should be in and with ours I have driven along a flat road turned a corner into another street with an uphill climb and the stupid gear box has a heart attack and decides to go into limp mode . WHAT for I ask ? what has happened to cause it to go into limp mode and what is it for ???? If I wanted a manual gear box I would have bought one but my wife drives our 2.5 van and she needs the auto so the manual part of the box is an uneccesary evil along with the sport mode . The one and about only time I used the manual drive was decending Cunninghams gap in the rain at night we were behind a slow semi trailer and instead of using the brakes I thought okay I,ll select third and just coast behind him when the road widened and it was safe to pass I pulled out and took off suddenly I remembered that I was in manual mode and quickly flicked it back to auto "Damage Done" for the next sixty kms in the dark we crawled along with next to no drive . Finally I pulled over turned the engine off and restarted Lo and Behold everthing was back to normal . Now I read the manual from front to back and did not find one single thing about resetting in this scenario . If this was supposed to prevent overrevving of the engine if held in the low gear why did it not reset itself after a set time or maybe sound an alarm more of this technology that we are saddled with these days that is just not neccesary .I wont be around to see the future but the way things are going our kids will own cars that drive for them not them driving it . Howard

[jfoldbar]

good to hear your story howard it sounds all too familiar to me. (i dont mean dsg but technology in general). i think if they are going to invent these technology cars, which i admit do have their good points, then they should make them to be able to be serviced, and more importantly, i wish to hell there was someone that knows how fix them. cause i certainly havnt been able to find anyone yet. and as you said, when we are gone our children will be driving things with even more technology. god help them.

[Sunny43.5]

Ah a supporter at last , thanks for that and yes you are right about finding someone to fix these things when they go wrong . The problem today is that manufactureres do not allow for mechanics to actually dissasemble a majority of components and just replace a simple twenty cent part that can cause a breakdown etc . In my indutry I install and repair sunroofs and with out fail there is a more and more common trend of manufactureres to no longer sell simple parts that fail they will only sell a whole unit reason ? because they DO NOT TUST or train their service personel to do a repair all they want is to sell whole components that can be fitted easily with maximum profit and little time spent . I have seen so many different makes of cars with factory fitted sunroofs fail because of a small plastic part that could be easily replaced but the makers don,t have the parts you are faced with a huge bill for a whole new sunroof and the same applies to the rest of todays cars with lots of parts made the same way so beware of the future be very afraid . Howard

[jfoldbar]

oh yeah, im a supporter all right.

a turbo guy told me last week that fiat are bringing out a car with a 100,000k service interval. you buy the car. you drive 100,000k's. you do not service the car at all in that period. once you reach 100k the engine is replaced. i dunno about others but i wouldnt want such a car if it was free. (same as vw).

[Cousin]

Sunny, I don't disagree with you regarding problems with VWs (not just Multivans) but I think we are in a transition point for automotive

The industry I work in, carpet, is in a smaller but similiar transition point

A lot of the carpet faults I go out to assess are a style of floor covering that should have been installed by a vinyl layer, instead of a traditional carpet layer, even though it is carpet that is laid on the floor. The industry is gradually figuring it out and things will get better.

With automotive, more electronics are being introduced into them, but we as consumers, and some parts of the vehicle service industry, still think mechanic.
A kid in a pair of jeans, Tee, and a laptop are probably more apt at solving more of these emerging electronic 'issues'
And more so as we swing towards electric cars

Also car makers (mostly) only make what we buy

Perhaps the population has some to answer for as well?


M

[jfoldbar]

your right cousin about being in a transition period. transition to what i dont know. only time will tell.

"Also car makers (mostly) only make what we buy"
i think its the other way around. we have no choice but to buy what they make. if they pumped out some new cars from the 80's i think they would sell like hot cakes. the thought of being able to buy a new car that can be driven along the road and can be fixed sounds satisfying to most people. unlike the rubbish their making now. cant drive it cant fix it and cant sell it. but the greenies wouldnt like that. and so here we are. i suppose the question is what do we do about it. well i know for me i have no choice but to go back to bombs. even if they dont pass rego and i gotta drive with none thats still better than new car. but each person has to work out what is best for them, and i guess most people prefer a car that spends more time at workshop than on road for the sake a few minutes "good" driving experience ( which i think is why theres so many accidents).

[Cousin]

But getting back to the kid in jeans and laptop, jfoldbar, I believe it's all about finding the right person to look after your vehicles

I had a problem with one of my T4's, petrol, many years ago

Would just die driving down the road. Pull over, turn the ignition off, back on and away we go

Went to the dealers three times, they could'nt find it

Eventually they decided on process of elimination, but at my cost

Goodbye dealers

Sourced out a very good specialist Vee Dub mechanic, soon as I told him the problem, he said probably fuel pump solenoid

He turned out to be right, replaced it for pocket money, back on the road

Been going back to him ever since, and while I am a little pi$$ed at some of the problems with Volkswagens, it mostly doesn't cost me a bomb anymore

If you're doing your own servicing, it will only get harder due to the complexity of things

That's why I feel it's much less stress to find a mechanic you feel works for you

My son works in a major car dealer service centre, and he agrees with my feelings that a lot of the mechanics at the dealers are just grease monkeys with very little thought going on between the ears, based on some of the things that used to get done to my Vee Dubs, and a lot of what he sees every day

So chase a good mechanic, solves a lot of problems


M

[jfoldbar]

that sounds easy on the outside, but here in sydney i personally know of 2 reputable independents who refuse to work on 2.5 t5's because "they have too many problems". i have tried 5 vw service centres and 4 independents and as yet cant find anyone who knows about this car. last time i checked GOD does not have a mechanical workshop.

the reason my car spends more time off the road then on is noone knows how to fix it. the reason so much money is poured into it is they have a dart board out back with various parts printed on it and whatever the dart hits thats the part they change.(far more accurate then the computer they plug in) with no regard to whether it makes sense or not.

i think if there was some law something like a "no fix no fee", then that would make them use their brain to try to work it out and there would be far less parts changed unnecessarily. but i doubt that would ever happen cause parts is how vw make their money.

so i have realised that i will never be able to get this thing fixed so unfortunately have no choice but to let it go.

[Transporter]

The Toyota has a very good reliability reputation, you can't go wrong and a lot of service centers all over the country.

[Sunny43.5]

Hey Cousin had the same issue with my first VW T4 just driving along and it would just cut out and sometiimes in the worst places . After repeated visits to VW their answer was if its not broken when they have the van on a computer diagnostic then they cannot fix it [bloody marvellous] . Then the mongel stopped in the middle of traffic quick as a flash I hit the left indicator put it in first and drove it to the footpath with the starter motor . Two minutes later it starts again , so back to VW pleading with them that this was going to get me killed if it decided to stop in the middle of and intersection or some other situation . Still no one could give an answer eventually one of the spare parts guys overheard the conversation and told me that the engine control relay $19 worth was the fault , he had sold heaps of them and my problem was solved . So it makes you wonder, this is the problem with todays technology all the repair manuals are written in a way that repairs can be made as long as the part is not broken you see the manual does not tell you how to dismantle something if it no longer works . This why we are having to replace whole units nowdays .

Transporter you are right about other makers maybe having a better reputation but I would never own a Toyota Van , bricks on wheels are not my scene . The rear end of a Hi Ace van unloaded will actually jump off the road when it goes over rough surfaces , I was following one a week ago here in Brissie the road we were on had been partially stripped of bitumen leaving small high spots every 20 metres or so . We were both travelling at the same speed and to watch the Hi Ace from behind was at first funny as each time he hit a bump the van would be 6 inches off the ground ,after a few of these jumps the van was then jerking sideways as it went in the air the guy finally decided to slow right down to a near crawl . Probably different with a load but not my cup of tea . Howard