New engine

[Sunny43.5]

Thanks for that Notso I will see the exhaust shop later today .

[Transporter]

Thanks for that Notso I will see the exhaust shop later today .

How often did you change the engine oil and the oil filter?

If one spark plug failed, just 17,000km after replacing the spark plugs, was it oily full of deposit? If yes, then definitely have the compression and the cylinder leak down tests done before you replace the engine. The life of the 4 cylinder petrol engines is usually somewhere around 250,000km, though is not uncommon to get much more than that if we'll maintained.

[Sunny43.5]

Hi Transporter the lead failed not the plug considering how burnt down they were they were still dry and clean , Jimmy had done the service with new plugs and three days later I stopped at a mates place got back into the van and it was only running on 3 cylinders !! I popped into Jim's place on the way home and he told me that the new plugs would cause the lead to just fail without warning , by 5 pm I had new leads and it was fixed [bugger of a job to feed them under the intake manifold , I'll bet some German engineer laughed at that one ] It gets serviced every 15000 give or take a few thou , read here whenever I remember to book with Jim . I dropped in to a place that does mechanical and specialist exhaust work today , I did a sunroof for his daughter a couple of years ago and he did a brilliant job on my sons Astra last year . Anyway he also said that the fracture would be sucking air and screwing up the o2 readings which in turn would screw up the fuel air mix , and as has happened he said it would trigger an engine fault light . Now in hindsight that makes sense as the leaky pipe engine light and poor performance all started around the same time so that may be it !! . I noticed a sort of whistling sound some time back and never gave it much thought {stereo too loud to hear it anyway } The engine light I put down to some dud fuel as it seemed to come and go but now its a permanent decoration in the cluster . Monday will have the pipe fixed and then to Jim's for timing belt and pump and service check up , its a bit early for the belt etc but I may as well not bother with waiting until 300000 .

[Sunny43.5]

Time for some yahoo noises from this happy camper , van was at the exhaust shop today to have the crack in the exhaust welded . When they removed the cat converter the problem became very clear the crack was in the heat shield not the main pipe but on inspection we found the flexi pipe was disintegrating internally and the metallic parts had shot down into the ceramic part of the cat causing that to block and break down . So VW did not get anymore money from me for this one as the exhaust shop rang for a price on the new parts $2400 for the cat plus add the insult they wanted MY old one back or an extra $485 would be charged . So as I knew the bloke at the exhaust shop well he was able to find a second hand cat $140 plus $120 for the flexi and $50 for the EGR pipe so all up with labour job completed for $320 . Result the van has got its mumbo back again acceleration is up by approx. 10% to 15% and open highway you can feel the slight push when I stab the throttle to overtake gets from 100 kay to 120 in just a few seconds . Now just need to get Jmac to do its 300000 service and all should be well again . Whilst I have been down this road with VW and their wanting my old parts back , I believe its a rip off . I own the van and every single nut and bolt on it what right do VW have in wanting to charge $485 extra if they don't get what is legally mine , and the price quoted was for the part trade it did not included the return part price they just wanted a second bite of the cherry .

[Umai Naa!!]

They offered you an exchange part, which is cheaper.

My guess, is the outright cost of a brand new cat from VW would've been $2,885.

[Kiels3927]

Sunny, Who & where is Jmac? Uncle Google can't find them.

[Umai Naa!!]

Alba European.

[Sunny43.5]

Yes thanks Umai I should have let the guys know sooner , he is a Forum sponsor he has a shop on the southside at Slacks Creek busy boy though you need to text him as he very rarely answers his phone [always up to his armpits in work when I have stopped by ]

[Sunny43.5]

Yes thanks Umai I should have let the guys know sooner , he is a Forum sponsor he has a shop on the southside at Slacks Creek busy boy though you need to text him as he very rarely answers his phone [always up to his armpits in work when I have stopped by ] Kiels I have sent a pm for you with his contact details .

[Kiels3927]

Thanks all.

[brad]

Sunny

Couldn't your exhaust guy have fitted a brand new universal cat? Or was it in an odd position?

Or simply deleted the cat?

[Sunny43.5]

As the quote from the movie The Castle goes Tell them their Dreaming $2885 0r $2400 after exchange for a cat is almost beyond sensibility . If I spend that on my old girl in real terms it is approx. one tenth of the vans original cost almost for a metal pipe with a few precious metals inside and from what research I have done they are only worth around $200 max in the extreme . In todays terms its probably almost more than the van is worth !!

They offered you an exchange part, which is cheaper.

My guess, is the outright cost of a brand new cat from VW would've been $2,885.

[Sunny43.5]

I did put that question to him about deleting the cat but as he explained he had a duty of care to abide by , so he was able to fit a second hand one and I did not question where or how he got it $140 was a bargain .The van is running great now it is amazing how over time you don't tend to notice a drop in power until you have to almost get out and whip the horses to get up to speed .

[Seano]

I recall the VW quote on a cat for a T4 with ACV TDI engine being around $1200 exchange but the universal replacement was around $300.

There was the option of a hi flow universal cat that is normally fitted to Industrial and mining machinery (especially underground gear) that also substantially removed particulate matter and even this was cheaper than the VW part...was very tempted...