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V10-downunder

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Discussion starter · #1 ·
Hi All,

Had my vehicle services 10 days ago, all was well, sort of, However....

After warming up the Egg in the garage and I back out, I get a horific Sulphur smell, it lasts for a minute or so and after driving forward it disappears. This appears to be happening on a regular basis when reversing. Has anyone ever had their catalytic converters replaced at 100,000Km?

Second issue

For the first time today I had a Insufficient coolant alarm, wow never seen that one before. Checked fluid, perfect. Has anyone experienced this before :confused:

Can not beleive this, just after changing my service provider and 2 weeks before the trip north.

The only good luck I have had so far is getting hold of 4 new GY 255/55 R19 MTR's. Ready to go north with 5 new MTR's, bring it on.

Still waiting for my TPMS sensors from Nancy (USA), still not here after waiting 3.5 weeks.

Murphy's law.

Regards



Gerald:anger:
 
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#2 ·
Did Nancy send it FedEx or snail mail?
If it is snail mail, it is on schedule :rolleyes:
If it was sent FedEx, then it is time to start the investigation as it should have been there a loooong time ago.

I get the Sulphur smell after I kick it really hard, then pull over to the side, step out, and briefly smell the exhaust. I'm assuming that it is normal.....but I won't insist that it is. I'm curious if it will go away once I get around to getting rid of the secondary cats and substituting with resonators(BTW people from California and other states have claimed you still pass emissions with them off).

When you smell yours while backing out(reversing), do you smell this inside the vehicle? If so, when you put the lever into reverse, isn't your ventilation system reverting to "air recycle mode?" I believe that when you first start your Egg, and put it into reverse, it should automatically go into recycle mode, to keep the fumes from entering the vehicle. Ditto for anytime that you squirt windshield washer fluid onto the windshield.



 
#4 · (Edited)
V10-downunder said:
For the first time today I had a Insufficient coolant alarm, wow never seen that one before. Checked fluid, perfect. Has anyone experienced this before :confused:
Click to expand...
Have a good look at the condition of the coolant. Make sure there's no oil in it. There was a TSB on the R5 for a faulty oil cooler that would rupture and let oil into the coolant system. This happened to me a couple of years ago. The coolant level was fine but the oil in the system triggered the low coolant level alarm. Dealer replaced the cooler with a newer spec one and flushed the coolant system. Been 100% fine since.

I've never heard of a V10 with this issue, but there are some common parts between the V10 and R5, so it's worth checking out.

What's the weather like there now? Could the sulphur smell not maybe come from your aux diesel heater? I think it kicks in at temps below 4°C. The exhaust sits right under your front passenger (LH) door.
 
#6 ·
i have just crossed 90k on mine and no such issues Gerald, the exhaust smell, when outside, has been the same since I bought it two years ago.
Low coolant indication, perhaps a sticky sensor??
Good to know you got the MTR's! especially considering they arent available anymore...
 
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#7 ·
The sulphur smell is bacteria in the acon pipes - I got the same thing after being in Queensland for a while.

Take it to the dealer and they will do an ozone treatment on the system 120 bucks or something like that - problem smell will be gone

They just pump ozone air through teh system for a few hours to kill the bugs

SteveL
 
#8 ·
Gerald,
My advice is as bad as Andrei's, as our experience is both with R5s - but then we all know that the V10 is just two R5s stuck together with 100mph tape!

Low coolant in an R5 would also be typically a busted seal on the water pump, and due to the design the coolant went straight into the sump! So, just in case - what does your dipstick say??
cheers,
..Neil
 
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#10 ·
SteveL has a point. One thing I do know is common on the TDI vans is if the aircon is not used a while and then select 'ON', there is a wiff of odour in the cabin till it purges the pipes. Both my vans have cabin filters and the Treg has a carbon activated pollen filter. I always cycle my aircons weekly in winter to get the pong out of them. You have had the pollen filter changed recently? Another possibility is your battery (you got 2x ??) may be gassing (sulphuric acid) if they are old. May be worth an inspection?
 
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#11 ·
I had the smell in the cabin and it was pretty strong when you first turned on the aircon. It got "less" over time but I could always just get a wiff of the rotten egg smell for hours.

I took it down to mcarrolls in Sydney and they told me immediatly what the problem was. They certianly gave the impression that is was a bacteria in the aircon pipes and was not an uncommon problem.

Pretty certain they said that in humid climates its worse as the cold aircon pipes cause condensation - so some moisture sits there and over time gets 'bugs"

I Think they changed the filter (will dig out the bill) and did the ozone treatment to kill the bugs - certianly have not had the small back since this treatment in september last year.

SteveL
 
Discussion starter · #12 ·
Hi All,

Thanks for the feedback. I will try to respond to everyone's input:-

These are the winter months, so A/C is off, I am aware of the regular A/C smell and that's quite destinctive.

This is a Sulpher like smell, and Diesel does contain levels of Sulpher.

One interesting comment was about reverse when in reverse to system turns to recycle, I must read about this feature, maybe this as been reset after my resent service, and this is where it started, after my service.

As for Water Coolant alarm, it did it for 3 days in a row. Today's temp was 6 degrees and it did not flag a fault. Oil level, water level are checked twice a week, and have never experienced a change in either.

I hope to inspect the Coolant level sensor and liquid quality this weekend and get the the bottom of it, otherwise the Egg runs as perfect as always.

Ah, Neil, there's my problem, I used 100km/h tape. Seriously, I will take a closer look at the feedback. Dip stick always the same, I have never had to add a single drop, oil quality has been the same from day dot.

It's rather strange how this has all come about after the 105,000km service.

Thanks for the quality of feedback.

Regards


Gerald
 
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#13 ·
Just wait till the rear RH wheel falls off at 106,000 klms! :)
 
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#14 ·
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#15 ·
OILSLURPER said:
Just wait till the rear RH wheel falls off at 106,000 klms! :)
Click to expand...
slurper, I assume you're kiddin :)....but seriously, VW (and Audi) has got the torque settings for wheel bolts at 160Nm, so I can't see bolts working their way loose. Thinking cap on, yep, the wheel brace is 200mm long that makes it the full weight of an 80kg bloke (completely off the ground) to get sufficient torque to undo the bolts if the workshops stick to the specification. Virtually impossible without a long torque bar, as I found out recently on our Q7 (where some of the bolts were well over 180Nm, one at close to 200Nm). Hate to think how hard it would be, on the side of a road, not level ground, cars passing by, and 2.5tons of car on a rickety jack.

I would encourage everyone to read the manual and be prepared, I now carry a pipe inorder to get extra leverage.
 
#16 ·
sulphur smell culprit

I was getting a bad sulphur smell when i came to a stop, then it would go away. I check all the usual suspects, coolant leak in heater, battery, etc. The crazy thing is it turned out to be the washer fluid reservoir. I have no idea what funked it out, have only ever used vw fluids in this truck. In the end had to replace the entire canister as flushing it didnt work. Quite expensive, but the smell is 100% gone. Hope this helps for anyone else experiencing this problem.
 
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