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    Tiguan

    in Technical Help

    Posted

    Hi

    I would have thought the replacement intervals are actually recommended guidelines only. Its not as though the cambelt will snap at that mileage and type of usage should also be considered and taken into account (e.g. taxi's, etc).

    Waterpumps tend to fail due to running for a set amount of time e.g. 60000 miles but also again, whether stationary mileage (e.g. rush hour) or whether motorway driven but either way the pump has run for the same time as the belt. Bearings wear and allow excess play in the belt setup which can lead to failure (slack belt tension)

    The only other time I have know belts to fail are as a result of the water pump and /or tensioners going tight on the bearings. This has an effect on the belt if the belt runs over the pump/tensioner on the reverse side (e.g not the toothed side but the smooth side). This then leads to overheating of the belt and is noticeable by the fact that the belt has snapped and also almost petrified (hardened up) due to excess heat generated.  VW Golf TDi suffers from this if the belt tension goes slack from specified settings.

    Good luck with your case...let us know what happens

    Regards   Trevor - Admin

    • Haha 1

    Dashboard Lights Dimming

    in Volkswagen Passat Club

    Posted

    Interesting thoughts about the MOT. I guess if it's a major problem come this time then VW may be forced to come up with some sort of fix. After all they can't have all their cars failing their first MOT's due to a manufacturer fault. That would be kind of embarrassing for them! Haven't tried the erWin site though I'm afraid!

    • Sad 1

    Vw wheels HELP. ,

    in Volkswagen Polo Club

    Posted

    Hi folks I'm a new member,

    I've just traded my 2.0 tdi GT vw golf vi 2012 and took delivery of a new vw polo 1.6 tdi SEL

    I have steel wheels fitted with winter tyres 195/55/15 hankooks

    Five stud

    Will they fit my new vw polo and if yes will I need to change tyre size I currently

    Have 16" alloys on polo which came with it

     

    They may well fit (just try one for size) but may throw out your speedo!

    Dashboard Lights Dimming

    in Volkswagen Passat Club

    Posted

     

    This is a bit of a saga, I'm afraid. I hope people will bear with it.
    My car is a Passat Highline 2.0 TDI, bought in May 2013.
    It's my third Passat. I like all the new technology in the car and was really enjoying 
    driving it, but VW seem to have messed up with the auto-dimming of the instrument panel 
    lighting. Actually I hadn't even noticed this "feature" until early September when it 
    suddenly became very apparent, annoying and maybe even dangerous. I always drive with 
    the side/headlights control switch in the AUTO position so the headlights turn on if 
    ambient light level gets low. The car also has separate daytime running lights, by the 
    way. If I drive into a long stretch of road with overhanging trees casting deep shade I 
    would expect the AUTO lights function to turn on the headlights. It always used to work 
    that way on my previous Passats. What happens now is that the instrument panel lighting 
    starts to dim, going quite dark before the headlights turn on, if they actually do so, 
    which they don't always. Most worrying are the times when the dashboard lighting dims 
    all the way to off - no light on the instruments, driver cannot even read the 
    speedometer. I have had this happen for periods of twenty to thirty seconds before the 
    headlights have turned themselves on, at which point the instrument panel also gets 
    re-illuminated. I had driven the car for four months before experiencing this effect, so 
    I assumed something had gone wrong and telephoned my retailer. They said they had 
    received a number of complaints about the dimming instrument lights, and not only on 
    Passats. They have a technical note issued by VW saying this is not a fault, it's a 
    feature, do NOT attempt to fix it. This is a deliberate design intended to alert the 
    driver to low ambient light levels and prompt him/her to switch on the headlights. You 
    can imagine how I reacted. The retailer would not do anything and suggested I call VW 
    Customer Services, which I did. They were also of a mind to do nothing so I said I 
    wished to raise a formal complaint, which duly happened and I got a "case number". Back 
    to the retailer, now willing to see me and the car because they have a "case number" to 
    deal with. To support my argument that something was wrong I prepared a 6-minute DVD 
    showing the dashboard dimming effects and the inconsistency of the on/off switching by 
    the AUTO lights setting. The technician did not want to watch that, requiring an actual 
    test drive instead. OK, that's sort of understandable, I suppose. On the test drive, of 
    course, we saw the dimming effect, but never all the way to blackout. Fortunately, we 
    did see inconsistency in the switching on/off of the headlights, including times when 
    the lights were on but clearly should be off. This was enough for the retailer to agree 
    to book in the car for a proper check. It was explained to me that under the warranty 
    all they could do was run VW-specified diagnostics because they wouldn't get paid by VW 
    for anything else. Guess what, according to the VW diagnostics procedures - nothing 
    wrong. Fortunately, again, two people at the retailer's had observed the inconsistent 
    AUTO switching, so in spite of the diagnostics failure they offered to order a new 
    rain/light sensors unit for the windscreen, this being, apparently, the cheapest 
    possible component to replace, albeit, none in UK and 10 days to get one from Germany. 
    Not so fortunately, after that diagnostics work the Coming-Home feature on the lights no 
    longer works. It was fine before (and, yes, it is enabled in the MFD settings).
    In the meantime I had been wondering what was going on at VW Customer Services. I had 
    been told I would get a telephone call from the case handler. I didn't, but there was 
    eventually an email from a Customer Relations Manager, who (benefit of the doubt) may 
    have been having trouble with my ancient one-digit-short telephone number,asking me to 
    call or send email. I sent an email detailing the situation and got no response for 9 
    days, so I telephoned, left a message, missed a call-back, called again - you know how 
    it goes. This person was not really interested in my stance that it was unacceptable and 
    unbelievable that VW would build a vehicle with an AUTO lights control feature and then 
    over-ride that with an independent, unlinked feature to prompt the driver to operate the 
    lights manually. My focus was on getting VW to provide the best technical aid to the 
    retailer to sort out my problem. VW Customer Relations Manager focus was to "close the 
    case because there is no fault". However, since in addition the car now has the fault 
    that the Coming-Home function has failed, the case has been left open. I am now waiting 
    to see if, when I get the call from the retailer, they will still be on track for trying 
    to fix the original problem or will have been ordered only to fix the Coming-Home issue.
    Am I the only person who thinks VW have got the design of the lights controls 
    all messed up here and just do not want to admit it?

     

     

    Welcome to the club by the way! Sounds like VW really messed up this one! Any luck sorting it?

    • Sad 1

    additives

    in New Members Welcome Lounge

    Posted

    Hi robert1945,

     

    AdBlue is a solution which is basically added to exhaust gases to clean the gases before they enter the atmosphere. The price of AdBlue of course varies but is around half the price of diesel per litre at the pump in the UK.

    Welcome!

    in New Members Welcome Lounge

    Posted

    Hello and welcome to Volkswagen Owners Club!

    These are the forums for our new club starting in 2012. We aim to be the best resource for Volkswagens in the UK whether you are a Volkswagen owner, someone who's looking to buy a new Volkswagen or even an enthusiast who's just interested to see what Volkswagens have to offer.

    Sign up on our forums and make a topic here introducing yourself :)

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