Molgrips car #4 – A New Hope

I found a place who listened to my story and promised to have an intelligent look at the car and talk to me in detail about what we’ve both found out, rather than just lob parts at it and charge me. Currently sitting in their waiting room.

The ECU expert (I dunno if I need quotes on that or not) has not yet looked at it but apparently someone has read the codes and already told me I need a new DSG clutch and a new EGR valve.. Grr.. not looking hopeful…

Place your bets folks!

Is this the same car? Fair play, I’d have set fire to it long ago. Why not chop it in for something less problematic?

What car is it? if its a renault just scrap it!

Why not chop it in for something less problematic?

😀

If you need a second opinion I have a very good vw/ german marques specialist in Cwmcarn I can give you details of.

(answering you mail re. bushes too 😉 )

The problem isn’t with the car, it’s with the idiot mechanic who messed it up.

Loco – that could be useful, this is a complicated ECU issue so if he’s clever and well equipped I’m interested.

no the problems with you …..mechanic doesnt own the cart , you have to live with it.

good luck.

The problem is with what the original mechanic did, to be more specific 🙂 Good luck – thanks I’m definitely going to need it by the look of things…

Have you persued the idiot mechanic yet??

Nah not yet.. took me a while to pluck up the balls, but I thought I’d wait to see what happened today too, give me a bit more ammo.

molgrips, you have taken far too long to take the original “mechanic” to task over this.
Didnt the original problem start Dec last year?

I’ve also got a mate who specialises in auto electrics. Bristol based.

Yeah more or less.

New mechanic is going to try re-flashing the gearbox software.. good…

What was the car, Molgrips? I currently have one with a DSG. (mine being the DSG7 with a dry clutch)

Rachel

Mine’s a 2006 Passat TDI with the 6 speed wet clutch version.

Molgrips, have you thought of buying a fault code reader?
I bought one for about £10 off ebay – with a little internet searching, diagnosed a coolant sensor on the Skoda and a faulty EGR valve on the Fiat – managed to change that myself, parts cost £60ish.

If you know what the previous mechanic did (which by the sounds of it you do) why dont tell the guys at the new garage what he did?, it would mean that they could go straight to the problem?. Ultimately that would save you time and thus money although personally i’d get shut and save the hassle.

I’m sure that was part of the conversation.

Any mechanic would actually take the time to investigate for themselves though because you just can’t trust what others have done.

this is a complicated ECU issue

=

Run away, run away fast!

I have VCDS, it tells me what’s wrong (with one part of it at least) but doesn’t allow me to fix it. These guys have Autologic which allows software flashing so that might fix it.

If you know what the previous mechanic did (which by the sounds of it you do) why dont tell the guys at the new garage what he did?

I did, part of the reason I’ve come here (A1 Diagnostics of Cardiff) is that they were prepared to supply an electronics specialist who’d talk to me, he understood what I’d said, agreed with my ideas and said he’d keep me informed as he worked – and he has so far.

Run away, run away fast!

Ok, who wants to buy a car with an ECU problem? Anyone? No-one?

Ok then.

Whereabouts are you Molgrips ?

Can put you in touch with 2 or 3 very good people with the correct VAG dealer software, my Next door but 1 neighbour does a lot of VAG Diagnostics for the local garages.
Another independent with 2 ex VAG Main dealer Senior Techs who are very good too.

And a couple of others locally (East Anglia)

I’m in Cardiff, but if this keeps up I will happily drive to East Anglia to get it sorted!

Ok, who wants to buy a car with an ECU problem? Anyone? No-one?

I sold my wifes Micra with an ecu so knackered it wouldn’t even start. I only got £300 less for it than Ford would have given me in PX for it running.

Right but how much would I have to spend on a new car whose history I didn’t know? 2, 3, 4k? If this repair comes in under that I’m laughing aren’t I?

Who is that then LoCo??? Bijou deal with Citroen and Peugeot and are excellent, not cheap but their workshop was cleaner than my house 😳

Well that depends on how much your car is worth in perfect working order.

I dunno, 2006 Passat 2.0 TDI SE auto 90k miles.

EGR valve isn’t that big a deal, surely?

New clutch, bit more of a mouthful to swallow, though.

So what exactly did the idiot first mechanic do to the car, how has it ended up needing a reflash of gearbox software?

About £3800 if its in good nick.

http://www4.autotrader.co.uk/classified/advert/201307298057764/sort/default/usedcars/maximum-mileage/up_to_100000_miles/engine-size-cars/2l_to_2-5l/maximum-age/up_to_7_years_old/price-to/7000/model/passat/make/volkswagen/onesearchad/used/onesearchad/nearlynew/onesearchad/new/page/1/keywords/se/postcode/de127ds/radius/100?logcode=p

The thing is with cars that start to go wrong its not just the money that is the problem its the inconvenience. I would rather pay £250 a month for a new car safe in the knowledge of how much it will cost me every month and that if it does go wrong it is most likely a warranty job. I hate the thought of my car keeping on going wrong when I need to be at work and having to take days off to get it sorted.

EGR easy to sort – just make a blanking plate with an old coke can and blank it off (between the valve and the plenum).

Clear all the s**t out of the plenum and you’re good to go – plus you’ll get better response and better mpg. It may throw up an internal error but it shouldn’t cause any dash warnings.

Has it been the faulty DSG that’s been limiting your overtaking performance Molegrips 😉

The thing is with cars that start to go wrong its not just the money that is the problem its the inconvenience. I would rather pay £250 a month for a new car safe in the knowledge of how much it will cost me every month and that if it does go wrong it is most likely a warranty job. I hate the thought of my car keeping on going wrong when I need to be at work and having to take days off to get it sorted.

On the other hand (my car’s about the same age) I’d rather not think that it was losing £250 a month in depreciation just sat on the driveway, and that breakdowns are statisticaly unlikely (in our house we’ve had our current cars for 5 and 3 years, with one malfunctioning sensor costing £150 in ~90,000miles).

Has it been the faulty DSG that’s been limiting your overtaking performance Molegrips

Yep, it’s the fact the box won’t change that means I’m able to jump up the queue!

Back to seriousness, if the blokes still looking at it, you’ve already got a £250 bill coming! I’d crash it on the way home if I were you…

EGR easy to sort – just make a blanking plate with an old coke can and blank it off (between the valve and the plenum).

coke can! wtf I wouldn’t want metal shards flying into the turbo. as the can disintegrates.
3mm steel plate minimum

tinas, I prefer to think of it as using value instead of loosing value. I can sleep better at night thinking about spending money to keep having a reliable newish car than I can worrying if it will break down leaving me with a big bill.

I have had my Focus from new and only the coil pack and the battery have ever caused a problem. It was 6 years old at the weekend and ticked over 100000 miles at the same time. I am concerned that the clutch or something else major will die soon and as such I am on the hunt for a new car.

The car isn’t ‘keeping going wrong’. An idiotic mechanic told me I needed a new ECU when I didn’t, new ECU is either faulty or the wrong hardware version, not sure which.

Nothing wrong with the EGR valve, the problem is either wiring, hardware version, or a hardware fault.

Gearbox problem is either some kind of restricted mode caused by the EGR problem or it’s something going on with the oil or the clutch plates. I haven’t checked the oil yet.

Cost me £156 to have an electronics expert (who was pretty decent actually) agree with me, and update the gearbox and engine software.

Aaah, so does it all work properly now then?

Nope. No-one can figure out what’s wrong with it. Not me, not the ecu guy, not the guy on the VAG tech support line.

Bargain at £156 then!

I live for molgrips car threads….