You don't need to be an 'investor' to invest in Singletrack: 6 days left: 95% of target - Find out more
Take a test drive (with your wife) before splurging this time?
😳 not sure they’d let that happen on a test drive!!
Have you considered a YouTube channel? Test drives, fault finding, home repairing. So much content!
(Half tongue in cheek, half tongue out of cheek 😛 )
Holy Moly, it doesn’t matter what you like if mrsgrips has effective veto.
No, because we both need to like it. She won't always hate anything I like...??
surely the towing of a caravan is the main thing?
Not really, it has to be a decent car and also be able to tow because it isn't always towing. Such cars exist, so there's no need to waste fuel with an SUV.
Boom
[img] 
[/img]
You'll never sell it now - it is complete 🙃
I did wrestle with this for a while... do I return these genuine original Mercedes-Benz sunglasses holders (two was maybe extravagant), or do I fit them knowing it won't increase the resale price?
Mrs Grips has said she's not really all that bothered about it so I can keep it if I want. She did drive for the first time the other day and she didn't come back raving, but then it's only 5 miles. She did mash one of the wheels against a kerb though whilst I was watching....
Between now and when the lease is up on the Hyundai, and we may only need one car, the payments will be about four and a half grand, less the two (or so) I'll get from the Passat, means it'll cost 2.5-3k, assuming I can clear the loan by selling it. That could be the price for peace of mind.
Is that the faint sound of a worn bearing in the Passat gearbox or am I imagining it..?
Is that the faint sound of a worn bearing in the Passat gearbox or am I imagining it..?
Definitely an issue for the next owner to worry about. Get some subframe bolts in it, then step away from the socket set!
Mrs Grips has said she’s not really all that bothered about it so I can keep it if I want.
sunglasses holders and an unofficial acceptance from MrsMols....
it's staying!
Oh no she's curbed it! That would make me sad/mad in equal parts... 😔
Mrs Grips has said she’s not really all that bothered about it so I can keep it if I want.
Translated: she hates the damn thing
mash one of the wheels against a kerb
that's the excuse to try a set of smaller wheels.
Marvin must be a keeper after all the effort putting the sunglasses holder in!
Definitely an issue for the next owner to worry about. Get some subframe bolts in it, then step away from the socket set!
Bolts on order. Can't do it this weekend as I have a riding date planned. I think I may have figured out where I went wrong - there are two different lengths of bolt, and I might've put the shorter one where the longer one should've gone. If so, there might be enough thread left to make it work. Otherwise I'll need helicoil.
Fixed the handbrake though. Despite trying to different switches I had in the garage, it was in fact just the handbrake switch. £6.99 knockoff part from eBay, done.
that’s the excuse to try a set of smaller wheels.
They'll have to come from Germany. I can get some nice 5 spoke staggered wheels for about 500 € or AMG 5 spoke ones for 700 €. Apparently Mercedes fans are really into the AMG thing so having non-AMG wheels might put a prospective buyer off. So if I got the non AMG ones I might have to hold onto the original wheels for re-sale; however if I got the AMG ones I could perhaps sell the old wheels on. But if I am going to get non-AMG wheels I'd rather have non-staggered so I could get less sporty tyres, but these are pretty hard to find.
The wheels in this vid are the cheapest at about £380 for a set, available in non-staggered which means I can get much cheaper tyres. Probably the best option tbh.
Do it, you know if makes sense
Check engine light just came on.
😬
Check engine mounts light?
You’ve got a VW. You should be used to that.
Mines been on for 2 years now 😃
It's in limp mode innit.
I suspect sabotage.
Check engine light just came on.
History repeats itself first as farce then as tragedy!
Occams razer would state that you probably disturbed something doing the work you did
To paraphrase Baudelaire,
“The greatest trick German car makers ever pulled was convincing the world they were reliable”
Occams razer would state that you probably disturbed something doing the work you did
You're very much onto something. Limp mode happens when the car receives conflicting sensor information about the amount of air and/or fuel that's going in, so it reduces the power dramatically to make sure it's not overboosting and destroying the engine. In turbo diesels probably the most common cause is the turbo vanes coking up which means they don't move to where the computer wants them to. Probably the second most common cause is a leak in the air intake system usually because a hose has split or even popped off. When I did the engine mounts I was working around the air intake system.
I managed to read the codes with VCDS in generic OBDII mode and there was one code - "Leak in air intake system". So it's 95% certain that I've dislodged a hose as TJ says or possibly even forgotten to put it back on after moving it to access some bolts.
“The greatest trick German car makers ever pulled was convincing the world they were reliable”
They were reliable for a good period. The thing is that they've made a few key blunders, and they (like everyone else) have been cramming more and more stuff in the cars. They sell a lot of diesels of course, and there was a period where emissions regs have tightened and forced the use of technology that was fundamentally vulnerable. This affected German cars more cos they sold more diesels. That model of Passat, from one factory for about 9 months had a badly designed small part on the oil pump. A fairly small blunder in the grand scheme of things but it resulted in nearly every affected car failing spectacularly after about 50k miles and destroying its engine. Clearly bad press. But there are many other good engineering features that you never hear about. For example, some manufacturers used dual mass flywheels with little coil springs in as dampers. When these fail, the bits of spring can really mangle things up and even damage the bell housing. The flywheel I took off the Passat had leaf springs inside the flywheel so when they weakened they just stopped holding the two parts together. The result was a rattle on idle and a slight lack of damping under hard load, but no catastrophic failure. So despite all the issues I've had I would buy another VW.
The Merc, it has some pretty solid build features but those engine mounts looked a bit feeble for 500Nm of torque. That said, they didn't actually fail. And there are some fairly flimsy clips in the engine bay too, the engine cover and air intake rattle a bit.
No hoses were obviously unclipped, so I jiggled them about a bit and made sure they were seated. Cleared the code, went to drop my daughter's cooking stuff off at school, and it hasn't come back despite booting it about a bit.
Weird. But as long as it behaves.
ah you've got a mystery 'occasional EML' on a modern diesel. zero chance of diagnosing that, just leave a portable code reader in the glovebox to clear it.
mine throws a 'sensor voltage low' once a month..
molgrips - Amazon has a selection of cheap but effective code readers for about twenty quid. Might just be a glowplug or something.
@molgrips on the V6 the engine intake, AFM housing, breathe system etc have a number of Orange Seals which do break down and dont like being removed and refitted, they are all cheap to replace. Yours will obviously be a different shape being a 250 (IIRC?) but I imagine they use the same materials, I bet one might be dislodged or nicked. Cheap to replace.
The Passat dual mass flywheel thing is a funny one.
You read on so many forums about people moaning about them from all manufacturers, 'why would they do this, the aftermarket solid flyhweel I got from ali-express is so much better' etc.
The Manufacturers could quite easily build a car that would last 200k miles and never break down.
Nobody owuld buy it though.
Just as no-body would have bought a 35k Passat brand new with a Solid flyhweel that meant its 2.0 tdi transferred all its vibration through to the cabin and driveline from new. etc etc....
Oh and yes, get a code reader. Every private car owner should have one.
Avoid the very cheapest models, and useful to get one that will read ABS and SRS systems.
Oh and yes, get a code reader. Every private car owner should have one.
Any recommendations?
Avoid the very cheapest models, and useful to get one that will read ABS and SRS systems.
That's usually a long way past cheap, or was when I last checked.
Mine was under £100 and does the above, it was too far back in my Amazon purchases to find I'M afraid. Definitely sub £100.
@mogrim - I have a 2012 C250 cgi (petrol) and have this reader:
Helped me diagnose a sticky throttle body which I removed, cleaned and lubed and solved my warning light and limp mode. Well worth £92.
Thanks for the suggestions!
Definitely a valve actuator - possibly...
Of course this happened the day before I had 4hr round trip to a meeting coupled with the purchase off Gumtree of new 18 inch wheels. I've had to reset the code (with VDCS in generic mode) four times and its associated not with full throttle acceleration but holding higher throttle up those hills on the A34 at 70 or more. The code has now changed to boost being outside control range which points at turbo sticky vanes or leaking vacuum hoses. The latter being an internet favourite.
@snotrag thanks for the tip. The air system shouldn't be hard or expensive to fix, fingers crossed 🙂
Doesn't it have a warranty? <sigh> 🙄
I just remembered on the way home, yes it has the warranty!
Warranty doesn't cover problems caused by coking, but I don't think it's that.
Warranty doesn’t cover problems caused by coking, but I don’t want it be that.
FTFY. You hope it will be a seal , O ring , spring clip or pipe failure ,possibly on the turbo actuator side . It may well be sticky vanes which apparently can be cured with Mr Muscle oven cleaner squirted up the hot side
I don't think it's vanes because it's had lots of long trips including towing a caravan round Wales, so I reckon that's a good history. Plus I can move the vanes with my fingers and they feel very smooth, unlike others I've felt, so I do think it's unlikely. Not impossible of course.
I did Mr Muscle in the Passat. Bit of a bastard on this twin turbo job though.
I've had to MrMuscle my Golf TDI - you can feel it stutter on long full boost full engine load pulls then it goes into limp mode.
Just came here to say I'm impressed/staggered to see this thread has almost 1000 posts about one car.
Well done/Hard luck.
Any update?
Vac leaks can be shite to find
Just came here to say I’m impressed/staggered to see this thread has almost 1000 posts about one car.
Are we there yet?
Are we there yet?
I had a look. I found out which covers to pull off and cos it's longitudinally mounted it looks like the vacuum pump and all the vacuum gubbins is under a cover on the front, which is handy. However I've got no idea which tubes and little plastic valvey things do what. It's a twin turbo, apparently, but I can only see one of them but a few pipes and whatnot that make it look like the other is buried almost in the head. But I cannot see its actuator. On the one I could see, I tested its tube and diaphragm with a syringe and it held a vacuum. I did find a bit of tube where the cover had rubbed through the protective sheath, and I was sure that was it for a minute but it too was airtight.
I drove it a bit now and it was fine - it seems to happen when it gets properly hot after about 20-30 mins. Someone else had the same symptoms and it was indeed a split vacuum hose. I'm about to call the warranty place now and see what they say.
EDIT I found a picture, I think if I take the air box off I might be able to see it all.
Good Luck Mols, an easy Friday night job. 🙂
Get a mitty vac
That mitty vac looks useful, I was using a big syringe for the same purpose - a bit cheaper 🙂
Good news folks, grab some popcorn, there's more bullshit on the way.
I went through the warranty booking process.
The nearest approved garage is a back-street place way past the other side of Cardiff (Llantristant), which is far enough away that I can't drop it off and come back, I'd need to sit there possibly all day, and drive over in a car that might even stop working, which is a bit shit since there are hundreds of Garages all over Cardiff.
There's a list of things that are covered in the policy, and a list of things that aren't (which is extensive) and a whole load of things that aren't mentioned at all. Nothing to do with air intake or boost system. There's only a note to say that coked up turbo vanes aren't covered. So I rang the warranty underwriters and they said that the 'Gold' policy only covers the listed things.
So, if I take a whole day out and pay possibly £60-120 for a garage to diagnose it, then I think it's quite likely that they won't pay up. Even though it's really a legit and fairly common fault in cars generally. What utter bollocks.
Now I can't exactly remember the sales process that involved this policy, and I can't remember if I was given the entire list of stuff that's covered and not covered, but could I reasonably be expected to scrutinise this to that level of detail when buying it? I'm trying to work out if I have grounds to complain that I've been mis-sold.
We now have a further 920 posts to look forward to based on what is/isn't covered by the warranty.
The nearest approved garage is a back-street place way past the other side of Cardiff (Llantristant)
There's a small but good mountain bike trail just outside there in, I think, Smilog Woods. Probably wouldn't keep you entertained for a whole day tho.
Llantrisant to anywhere in Cardiff is an easy ride so there's one silver lining,(Presuming you can fit your bike in that Behemoth).I hope they find the problem for you.
Eyes down for 'Warranty Bingooooooooo!' 🤪
Remind me never to buy a Merc. Sounds a nightmare
I wrote warranty books in a previous life
I also administrated tcw for a while.
In my opinion you ain't gonna get much out
unless his bike is in for warranty work as well..
There are a lot of stories about inlet manifold problems on the internet, a fair few instances of a snapped inlet manifold bolt eventually letting a leak out. This could explain why it seems to happen when warm but not cold. I'd expect to see some oily cruddy buildup at the leaking part if that were the case.
On the other hand, when I was driving it, it mostly perfomed normally under light throttle until I tried accelerating up a hill for a certain amount of time, and then suddenly the car felt underpowered for a second then the light came on and limp mode. That's consistent with the turbo actuators not operating properly either because of coking up or a leaking vacuum system.
The other thing to consider is that this happened fairly quickly. It was fine on the last long trip three weekends ago.
This long thread reminds me why I stopped buying Mercedes. They’re just like any other ICE but with distinctive branding.
There is certainly something compelling about this car though. The driving position, the visibility is well thought out, the feel of the controls is great, the seats, the range of adjustability. The ergonomic design is superb. And in this particular car the handling is fantastic whilst still being comfortable.
But yeah it's no more reliable than anything else, possibly less. I think major mechanicals are decent on this one, but it's little things that might let it down. That's said, it's a later iteration of the engine and gearbox, for example the timing chain issues were on earlier versions of this engine.
Well I had a look. I found the big turbo actuator, and it moves freely so it's not coked up. However when moving it there was a hissing, so the pressure I created by pushing it was leaking out somewhere. But this is no guarantee of an external leak, it could have just been the way the valves sit when the engine is off or something along those lines. But the small turbo actuator doesn't make that sound, so it's a possibility. But I couldn't pull the end of the hose off to test it - it goes into a bank of valves on the left of the engine right up against the side wall and it's impossible. In fact I can't imagine how you'd get it out without removing the engine or at least most of the peripheral gubbins on that side. And there is a fearsome amount of gubbins. Some I recognise, some I don't, but it's rammed in there like one of those filled space artworks.
I did see oil on the intercooler pipe where it goes into what must be the swirl flap or the flap that shuts off the air intake when you stop the engine, but that's just as inaccessible. You can clearly see all the bolts from underneath, but for some annoying reason they're screwed in from the top.
So stuff it, I'm not doing that crap any more. I'm ringing the garage on Monday.
£600+ bill coming up...
removing the engine
Yeah!
I’m not doing that crap any more. I’m ringing the garage on Monday.
Boo!
So stuff it, I’m not doing that crap any more. I’m ringing the garage on Monday.
'Hello, Moly here. How do I get to the gubbins up agin the sidewall to sort hissing/huffing/puffing/engine light?' 😜
For those of you still interested: there's a split intercooler hose - yay, easy fix; but also what looks like a crack in the hard pipe that goes into the inlet flap body under the manifold. Not an expensive thing to replace but it's buried under a shitload of gubbins and is hard to get to.
The garage is booked up until after Christmas, and it could be expensive in labour, so I think it's going to end falling to me.
so I think it’s going to end falling to me.
Fantastic news. A Christmas special!
It will be fine Mols.
Do you have an address where I can post this Lucky White Heather down to before you start?
woohoo...Let me get snacks before you start, OK?
Do you want me to livestream it?
...it could be expensive in labour...
So not covered by the warrantee then? If that's the case, can't you get another garage to do it earlier?
The warranty mentions "inlet manifold" but that's the only thing listed in the entire intake system.
Well if it cheers you up I got rinsed for £1100 yesterday replacing a stolen catalytic converter and associated damage.
Oof, just to pick up a 60 plate Aygo as a run about for my daughter £2k - passed all it's MOT's in it's life, only failed for worn pads and a bulb many years ago. 97k miles.
Can you glue/araldite the plastic pipe (assuming you can find the damage).
Nah, a reasonable chance at a fix would require removing the pipe, and if I do that I might as well replace it. It's not clear if it's the pipe itself or the inlet flap/EGR housing. If I interpreted the endoscope pictures properly then it might just be the pipe. But the problem with having a garage do it is that they'd have to take loads of parts out just to find out what part it is.
Anyone know who makes OEM Merc turbo hoses? Or what's a good aftermarket brand?
Be lucky to get an aftermarket pipe like that.
Tried the usual like samco?
Autodoc has Gates branded pipes, I've heard of them, guessing their rep is ok. That's for the soft pipe. The hard pipe I haven't even seen on autodoc in 3 pages of results.
There's every chance it's not a common failure part and I cracked it doing the previous job..!
I was just going to mention Autodoc.
Gates is OEM for hoses/belts etc. The hardline will be Merc dealer, or epoxy repair!
Can you live stream it Xmas day? Better than Queens speech!
>>>Can you live stream it Xmas day? Better than Queens speech!<<<
If posts are timed properly ,this could be like, the most awzum Advent thread..Eva 🙂
What’s the WBAC value of it now you’ve had it a few months? I would consider getting rid if it’s favourable, it depends how much you value your time and any associated stress.
Sod TOTW, this is TOTY! (1 closer to the 1,000)
On the first day of strip down, Molly took from his Merc
An inlet manifold....