Hi mexglx. Beautiful Touareg project - good plan for repairs and maintenance too.
using the Advanced Search feature will help you in pinpointing issues/resolutions.

 

Look at Blauparts for the timing belt kit.

 

I love this color, this is very close to the color of my first Cayenne

 

That Touareg was for sale in Houston and I saw and texted the seller and he said it was sold and pending pick up so I guess that was you😂😂 small world.

 

That’s a coincidence. He told me he had some interested and I told him all the things that were obviously wrong. I had my wife drive it and she said hell no. The tranny was slipping and bucking. The battery was super dead so we had to jump it with two vehicles. So I originally walked away making no offer. After a day my wife asked if I could fix it and make it reliable. I said, for $1K I could update the maintenance as I listed above then see where we are. If anything ugly came up, we could sell it and break even. But if it went well, it might be great for another 100K miles so my daughter can drive it. #1 thing is making sure the timing belt gets done before I drive it anymore and I also check the cam adjustment tensioner pads. Then all the fluids. If I do those things and she drives right, then I’ll do the rear pads/rotors, front wheel bearings, stereo and interior buttons and keep her awhile. It’s got the center and rear diff locks so it could be a lot of fun off-road. No hitch though. The guy had zero records and claimed he was a Dr., needing to move and that it sat for 3 years. Who knows the true story?

 

I found maintenance records through Carfax that the timing belt was done at 82K miles. Good News. While that is good news that it was done once, it is also 13 years ago. I am still planning on doing the timing belt as soon as I can get all the parts. Even though I have almost 15K miles before I need to replace the 2nd timing belt, it's got a lot of years. I'd rather do it ASAP.

 

I probably would have walked way because of the transmission slipping and bucking. You are certainly on the right track with what you want to do first and foremost. Do the timing ASAP. Keep us updated on it.

 

I’m hoping it was from sitting for so long and having a trash battery affecting the electrical sys. After I do the transmission fluid change and drive it around a bit, I hope the tranny will adapt again and smooth out. Thanks

 

Do you have VCDS? You can reset the transmission through VCDS

 

Going to order one from Ross-Tech. Kicking myself for not keeping my old one when I sold my Passat VR6 in '15. Didn't know if I'd get a VW again.

I would not give any Touareg to any of my kids to drive

Why, too unreliable or too expensive to fix when they break it?

 

The belt is most definitely on very borrowed time!

Don't go blipping the throttle to listen to the V8!

 

You are so right. I am only turning it on to move it to the garage when the parts get in.

 

Get VCDS... you'll need it.

 

I would not give any Touareg to any of my kids to drive

 

Right headlight out. I was going to swap bulbs L toR to see is the problem was bulb but some previous tech or owner tore up the left headlight removal screw. I have grabbed it with vice grips and it won't turn before the grips slip. Soaked the horizontal shaft in PB blaster. I will try tomorrow to remove it after a good soak or I'll start cutting some access to get to the horizontal shaft directly.

 

Touaregs are crap.... actually, VWs are! Stay away!

 

You do know you are on a VW Touareg site? My BMW has a bunch of fatal flaws too, as does my Chrysler Pacifica. There is not a car immune. I like quirky cars that fill my need for self-flagellation. It's the brief moments of joy when everything works, that keep me going through the long dark days of something not working.

 

@SaVAGeSoot is being sarcastic in response to Touaregman
You said it best @Mexglx "if you know how to turn a wrench the ownership is reward." We've all had different experiences, but my 6 years has been POSITIVE and I would recommend a Touareg to anyone. Still going strong with 3 in the family, all V8 with Air. No shop or dealer has ever laid hands on them since I've had them.

Good job with the headlight 👏. Had the same experience few years back and eventually replaced the bracket itself.

 

OH I figured newbies to this forum get a little ribbing. It’s all good natured. Thanks. I appreciate all those who come before me. I hope to learn from y’all’s wisdom before my personal experience. Thanks.

 

I started the timing belt procedure on the ‘04 V8. The base timing was a bit off. I got the crank at TDC but the cams are off. It was done once before at a dealership in Colorado and they really did some bad work. It was obvious that the tech marked the cam gears which is not necessary. The crank pulley bolts were really tight and

the icing was the timing belt tensioner is so tight it’s not actually moving. I can’t compress the piston. I tried loosening the mounting bolt with a 3/8” ratchet but couldn’t budge it easily. Penetrating oil and a 1/2” breaker and the 8mm Allen bolt stripped. It’s supposed to be 20nm tight. That’s nothing. They either cross threaded it or gorilla tightened it. There is not an easy way to get it out. I am currently attempting to drill out the head with a 90 Deg drill adaptor and a 3/8 bit. I hope taking the head of the bolt off will remove all the tension on the bolt, allow me to remove tensioner and the remaining rod that is sticking out of the block.

 

She is ALIVE! Removed broken water pump bolts, finished up timing belt replacement. Welding nuts to broken bolts repeatedly until we finally got the broken bolt out.
Engine after broken w/p/ bolts removed and timing belt replacement complete. Next will be the filters and fluids. Then clean her up and tidy up interior.

 

Well done!

 

Today’s adventures included a trip to the junkyard and the need for an impact gun to remove the oil drain plug. I don’t know how the previous owner broke the lid for the air cleaner but I had to hit the junkyard for the only T1 they have and lucked out it’s a 4.2.

Previous owner just put electrical tape on it. The lid wasn’t even on right. It was pinching the filter. Then I tried to start on the fluid and filter changes and I couldn’t remove the drain plug with a normal 3/8” ratchet easily. I switched to a small electric impact. Nada. Then then pneumatic impact at 120psi. Nada. Finally a 3’ breaker bar got it. Seriously every mundane task on this T1 is major drama. Then discovered my quickjack isn’t long enough to reach the jack points. I’ll be searching the forum for best spots to put jack-stands so I can do the diffs & trans fluids. Every time I work on it it’s an adventure.

 

Finally got the Treg 1 on jackstands to work on the tranny fluid change. Then guess what, two tranny pan bolts broke. WTF!

All were coming off easy then one started to come out but never really got easier. I turned it two or three times then snap. Then another broke off a couple holes away. This thing is so frustrating. I have been DIYing for decades and I have never, NEVER, had bolts break off like this. This is the 3rd and 4th bolt to break on it. I learned my lesson and will not use an EZ-out. I will try welding nuts on to the bolts. I recommend a little impact gun on these to break them loose and avoid the possible bending that using a socket and extension can cause. Although most came out easily. If I get to a bolt that doesn't get easier after breaking it loose initially I am going to try the small electric impact first to avoid bending bolts.

 

🤣🤣I had like 3 or 4 bolts break on my form 05 and that was a nightmare. I spent hours and countless drill bits to drill them out. I eventually got it done but obviously messed up the holes. Thankfully the holes are not blocked off at the top. SoI used a longer bolts with a nut on top

 

The struggle is real. I'm not giving up though. I will get it rehabbed and hopefully do at least one trail ride with it.

 

Glad you got it fixed. I HOPE you took the time and made sure the o-ring is seated right at the filter mouth. When I did mine the first time, I had already planned to change the fluid again after 2 weeks and when I was doing it the second time, I decided to check on the o-ring and it was pinched badly and almost torn. Lord knows what kind of problems I was going to have down the road. It's to say its toooo easy to mess that up and some members on here learned that the hard way.

 

Glad you got it fixed. I HOPE you took the time and made sure the o-ring is seated right at the filter mouth. When I did mine the first time, I had already planned to change the fluid again after 2 weeks and when I was doing it the second time, I decided to check on the o-ring and it was pinched badly and almost torn.

I placed the prong on the neck of filter and it went on easily. No issues. Why did you change fluid again 2 weeks later? Just to get more fluid changed out? I got 8.5 liters in. Since the pan was off a long time while I sorted the broken bolts a lot came out.

 

Buy an early Audi V6 or V8 and you have the chance of the same poor maintenance issues as they all have the same toothed belt cam drive. I have had 2 V6 and a V8 and still have one V6 and the V8 and have been lucky not to have many of the issues you have found but have seen them many many times. Luckily the fixing is all pretty basic and now it's running it is all uphill from here.

 

The dealer trick is to ask you to come into the workshop at the end of the working day having driven the car like you stole it

Straight onto the lift and the pan removed pronto so the hot ATF can drain overnight.

 

Update for the transmission. I did all the fluids. and still the tranny would shift hard after about 10-15 minutes of driving. Flares, hard up and down shifts. barely drivable after 10 miles. I did the valve body rebuild using the Transgo kit and its a new transmission!!! Works as well as anyone could expect a 150K mile tranny to work. Huge improvement in shifting with Transgo kit.

 

TPMS system fully functional now too. After the tranny valve body rebuild was successful, I bought new Falken Wildpeak A/T Trail in the stock 255/55R18 size. I saw them on Amazon for $189 each and went to Discount Tire and they beat the price at $179, down from Discount's normal price of $240!! I also had them install their TPMS sensors. They couldn't beat the Amazon Moresensor price of $80 for 4. but they did drop their normal price of $75 each to $35 each. Unfortunately the Touareg still wasn't seeing the sensors. I have the ECS Tuning OBD2 code reader and I added the VW software. I already had it for my BMW and Chrysler minivan so don't flame me for not using Ross-Tech. I just wanted to use what I had. I could see the TPMS module but it wasn't working. I read in some posts you could remove the TPMS module, and then code it out to eliminate the fault. It worked. Then I tried to reinstall it to see if that would "wake up" and start working but it never would communicate with the sensors despite reappearing in the menu. I figured it was bad. I went to local pick and pull and took a module from a 2008 Treg and It would not even get recognized. So I went back and swapped it for another '04 Treg module and it was immediately recognized. ($21 used) I then recoded the original code Can channel 19 to 0000006. The TPMS display seemed to have a different look than before. The pressures displayed were not the actual tire pressures but the default (33F, 38R). I had much higher pressures in the tires as per the door card. As a result I had warning triangles at each wheel position. The menu had two options: "Mon Press" or "Store". I let her sit overnight, checked that the pressures manually were as the door sticker, then went into the "Tyre Press" menu clicked on "Store". A message appeared about starting the learning process and I drove to work. When I got to work, there were no more triangles, they were replaced with "OK" and the pressures were now correct. Here are obligatory pics. I know, I need to wash the wheels.

This is the original TPMS module. The second module from the junkyard that did work had the same p/n but no "H" suffix at the end. Online parts lookups show the "B" suffix as the last supersession for my model year.

Here is the module off the 2008 that wasn't recognized by my '04 Treg. Its a different p/n.

Here is the menu showing "Tyre Press". When I removed and coded the module out, this option was eliminated from the display. I could reconnect and recode and it would appear again. The module from the 2008 would never appear.

This is the working modules menu. The original module had 3 options. "Specified Press" I believe and these two. As you can see, this module doesn't have that. Just two options. I clicked on "Store" before driving to work and it started the learning process.

These are the current readings after sitting in the 90 deg sun all day.

Here are the door card specifications: 38F, 42R for 255/55R18 lightly loaded. I will double check in the AM what the cold pressures with a different air gauge and see if they agree more with the TPMS. I don't know how the system interprets the pressures on the same axle if they differ by a pound or two. I know one side has been in the sun and the other in the shade so I assume one is higher than the other. Does it average the two? Does it pick the higher or lower? I assume once one tire on and axle deviates +/- 5 psi from the stored value though, you get the warning.

 

I just brought 2006, Type 1 , V10 TDI with 95k Km on odo. Its wonderful machine. Quite happy with performance. I have just changed engine oil and mixed Polytron MTC . It became super smooth. Planning to do Servise at Vw Mumbai in the month end. Will seek your guidance if any issues ! Happy motoring !!