A hot seat in hell!

[Racemag]

There should be a special hot seat in hell reserved for the engineer that signed off on the VW T4 engine bay. I have never encountered so many sharp corners and hard to access nuts and bolts in any car!

[Transporter]

I have never encountered so many sharp corners and hard to access nuts and bolts in any car!

Then try to work on Alfas.

[Racemag]

you need a second elbow on each arm?

[Syncrotek]

There should be a special hot seat in hell reserved for the engineer that signed off on the VW T4 engine bay. I have never encountered so many sharp corners and hard to access nuts and bolts in any car!

or were they just practicing and getting warmed up for the T5 2.5 ?

[Sunny43.5]

Sorry to say I agree 110% some of the things I see in VW's and yes they are by far the worse for some unbelievable ideas . If you own a VW Golf 7 Never remove the grab handles in the roof lining it 's more fun to flog your self with a cat o nine tails . I cannot understand why one model VW has simple screws to hold the same thing to the body and in another a ridiculous system of suicidal clips which defy removal and require brand new expensive parts just to refit them . Yes I know that at the assembly line a clipped in part would be quicker but some poor sod will eventually have to work on it .

[Racemag]

Did anyone ever have to refit the short crank bolts...460nm! 460! who the hell has a torque wrench that goes that high. Hell 160Nm + 180 deg required a 2m extension!

[Umai Naa!!]

Did you replace the crank bolt?

They're single-use, you know

[Sunny43.5]

Shhh now you tell him .

[Racemag]

yep sure did, though getting the old one off was hell ona stick!
I used a gates belt off ebay and bolt from VW. Belt is very noisy, just hope it's not the water pump as I replaced that 10,000km ago.
I did discover that the engine had a incorrect thermostat fitted which may have contributed to the problems.

[Umai Naa!!]

Perhaps its been over-tensioned?

[Racemag]

Installed dry.

[wai]

Unfortunately, modern cars are designed for manufacture and not servicing.

You have to look at how it is put together and not how it will be serviced or maintained.

On the Drive It! program, they were talking to someone from VW when the cost of servicing was being discussed because of almost having to take the drive out to do something simple. The answer came back along the lines of "The cost of making/assembling the car is borne by us. The cost of maintaining and servicing the car is borne by the owner"!

My old Torana allowed me to climb into the engine bay if I needed to, and there was still room to spare!

That's the way it is unfortunately.

[Transporter]

There you have it, and I always thought that simple and easy is what we know and difficult is what we don't know.

On a happier note, the cars cost much less today than 10-20 years ago despite the cost of the minerals, energy and labor skyrocketed, so don't blame the car manufacturers that they finding the way to keep the cost of the car down by making the manufacturing process easier for them.

The servicing of the modern cars is easier and faster than the cars made 20 years ago, at least for those with the knowhow and the proper tools. But, I can understand the frustration if someone was used to the engine bays from the 60' and 70'.

The topic is about T4 vans and I don't recall any brand van (commercial vehicle) that would be easy to work on.
You just can't compare them to the cars made many years ago.

[Sunny43.5]

Well spoken and explained transporter , having had 3 T4 's I found after the first one I worked on [my son's ] once you get into the thing it just takes a lot of swearing and contorting of your body and arms and then you have it . And the reason modern cars are easier to service is that they do not repair things any more , the old days if a bearing in a alternator or something similar was a problem the "mechanic" note I use that word correctly would actually dismantle and fix it with a $20 part . Today a "Technician "works on your car he probably has a degree in computer technology and can diagnose a fault with the aid of a laptop or a workshop diagnostic gizmo . If the $20 bearing is at fault they will probably just replace the whole component as its easier , and sigh yes its us poor sods who cop the bill {yes been there done that} But I will not open up that can of worms I am over it as VW finally after two years restored my faith .

[Racemag]

I like my T4 DOKA for what it is. I really needs another 30kw for modern traffic, but it does OK. Parts prices are variable, but just not that easy to get in a pinch and the dealers are not always willing to help.