Disaster averted .

[Sunny43.5]

Drove back from a job at Sanctury Cove on the Gold Coast today and had to negotiate a large curb while turning across a median strip , felt a large thump and kept going only to then feel groaning sensation through the steering accompanied by a loud whirring sound . Then started to smell a strange smell so pulled over to find the power steering reservoir had fallen off the mounting point ending upside down on the bottom of the engine bay with the fluid lines still attached . The mounting bolt was not even there so not sure why it came out . Luckily there was just a tiny amount of fluid still in the lines and the noise virtually stopped once I refitted it .

[Tornado T5]

Very lucky....I'm on the market for a valve body for my T5 tiptronic.. found a source in Latvia....just not sure and half the local quote, need to carry on until new 2015 Vito and T5 replacement...want to swap problems Sunny .

[Sunny43.5]

Trust me transporter you would not want the problems we had with our older T5 auto , but will admit the trusty old 2 litre manual work van is almost unstoppable . Hmmm may have to rethink that statement after it ran down the hill a month or so ago, took a Kia Rio and a power pole to stop it !! . Good luck with the valve body , what sort of price out of interest .

[Tornado T5]

Trust me transporter you would not want the problems we had with our older T5 auto , but will admit the trusty old 2 litre manual work van is almost unstoppable . Hmmm may have to rethink that statement after it ran down the hill a month or so ago, took a Kia Rio and a power pole to stop it !! . Good luck with the valve body , what sort of price out of interest .

Local VW dealer wants $2590 for 09K valve body coming from Singapore, online seller in Latvia claiming genuine brand new approx. $1200 plus freight. By the way this is the second time same problem for my van, first time dealer changed box under warranty. And imho it's all because VW didn't state oil changes in scheduled services and dealers really didn't/weren't prepped in undertaking them initially. And this time I did have regular oil changes, in fact last one again just before this drama surfaced. Unfortunately T5 was never sold in the US whereas if I was after a valve body for a Golf or Jetta I could have one for under $1000 landed, and the number of YouTube vids on how to repair them is staggering, such is the problem for these Aisin tiptronic auto's.
Sorry it's Slovakia: Audi, VW, Å koda, Seat OEM & VAG parts | oemVWshop.com | Search VAG part

[Sunny43.5]

Did you replace the filter inside when you serviced the auto ? the filter was what caused our problem it progressively became more blocked because the dealer would not open the box when they were asked to service it a few years ago {which they would not service anyway}. So it got so bad it was depriving everything from getting fluid with disastrous results .

[Tornado T5]

Sadly yes. I was also told that the solenoids build up magnetic fields which attract metal fragments and abrasion leading to wear. I guess it's all inter-related. If oil changes were scheduled from the day the van was released in 2004 with filter changes then this problem could have been averted or delayed until very high kays are racked up.

Before I go ahead and order does anyone maybe have a referral to another supplier either local or OS?

[Syncrotek]

German supplier

You could try Autoteile und Ersatzteile von Lott Autoteile GmbH, you will have to use a translator unless you can use German language,
I have purchased there, they were reliable. I don't know if they have those parts.

[Sunny43.5]

Maybe a call to Jim he is Jmac Forum supporter and all round good guy IMO he is located next door to a transmission specialists here in Brissie and between the pair of them they seem to have the Tiptronic pretty sorted .

[Tornado T5]

Thanks Sunny.