HOW CAN THIS BE?? EXHAUST DESIGN FLAW IN 2008 TOUAREG 2

This is what dealerships get when they skimp on knowledge & experience to save a couple of saw bucks on labor.

BTW...to the OP'r...I would have another dealership, put it up on a lift to document the damage this dealership did...(tell them you took it to mom & pop's service center (NOT the dealership). Tell them you think they may have screwed the pooch on your exhaust. Let the new dealership document the damage as if you are going to make Mom & Pop pay to fix the damage. Once you have documented proof of the damage & estimate for repair from the second dealer in hand, along with the invoice from the first STEALership....call VW Customer Care or VWoA and scream bloody murder till your exhaust is made whole again AT NO COST TO YOU!

Don't blame the manufacturer for the dealership's DUMB-ARSE mistake! Sorry you are having probs with your Treg, but sounds like your dealership may be causing you more headaches than help.

BTW... Hope you don't have to have emissions testing there. If you do, the dealership just ensured the Treg will fail its next inspection. .

Good luck!
Peace

PS...You're not in St Olaf are ya?? Even Rose wouldn't trust the mechanics there to work on her tricycle!! LOL. j/k.

Thanks for the responses folks and I did want to add a few things. The night I took the vehicle I can assure you it was hot and had been driven probably 15-20 miles before it was shut down for the night. It was much warmer than my wife's typical trips to work which are only about 5 miles or so. I do now seem to remember hearing a more pronounced "gurgling" sound coming from the tailpipes as I was clearing snow from the driveway before leaving. On the way to my work I probably got to a max of 45 mph due to city driving and glare ice ad snow packed roads. As far as my dealership I have to be honest folks I really like them and they have treated us very well. For example they just fixed a broken windshield cowling for free after finding VW would not cover under our extended warranty. They said they used some kind of "VW Bucks" which they are only alloted a certain amount for good customers. This job with labor if I remember corrrectly was around $300.00. And as far as the "holes" they drilled I'm not exactly sure where and how many were drilled because my wife picked up the vehicle and that is what was on the printed out repair slip. I would have to assume they cleared this with VW before doing and is for the function of a "weep hole" like some of you mentioned. I do love driving this thing and do take it out myself for some higher speed runs because I know my wife's trips are short, perhaps we need to do this more? We love this thing when all is right and I just got so dang p'od that morning because I just kept thinking we live in a very hostile climate 5-6 months of year and this could have been my wife alone with our children stranded somewhere in BFE...I will probably email the dealership today to get more details as to the problem and the holes they drilled.

I know I'm splitting hair but after implementing emission control systems for "off-highway" equipment (excavators and container handling equipment at ports) last few years I wouldn't call it just as "catalytic converter" as on this size TDI's there is no "thing" that would do same stuff as catalytic converter does in gasoline car.


On gasoline engines, the emission control is through the catalytic converter (the internal honeycomb is made from platinum and palladium) that creates catalyst converting the hydrocarbons into carbon dioxide and water and also converts the nitrogen oxide back into nitrogen and oxygen.


On diesel depending the continents and engine cc's, the emission control can be either just SCR (selective catalytic reduction) or combination of DPF (diesel particulate filter) and SCR.

DPF and SCR requires ULSD diesel so these doesn't work on 3rd world countries with higher sulfur content..

Anyways, the DPF honeycomb traps the larger particles and the smaller particles are conveyed to SCR honeycomb together with DEF (diesel exhaust fluid here in States) / AdBlue (in Europe) to create chemical reaction resulting nitrogen and water vapor.

At some point the DPF becomes filled with particles and engine management will inject diesel fuel either directly (injector on front of DPF) or indirectly (cylinder injector spray timing while exhaust valve is still open) to burn off the soot and then convey those particles to SCR to process them as well.

The amount of water is far less than on gasoline engine with catalytic converter so I see no reason for weep hole.

Only time I see weep hole on SCR system is with vertical exhaust pointing upwards and the weep hole is used to drain the rain water that may rain in from vertical stack to prevent that amount entering to SCR, DPF and even to turbo. On horizontal lay-out there is no need for weep hole.

As gasoline car "catalytic converter" is more known to general public, by using just catalytic converter can easily create assumption those being same with gasoline and diesel while the detail of diesel requiring DEF as an catalyst to "ignite" the chemical reaction is left out of the context...

On the on-highway and off-highway equipment industry no one uses term catalytic converter and each is called with their own names , the DPF and the SCR.

Guys I'm back to try to explain where the dealer drilled 2 holes in my 2008 (Gas V6) exhaust. There is one hole in each tailpipe just before getting to the "suitcase muffler" you have referred to. They are very small but it has now created somewhat of an aftermarket throatiness to the exhaust which I kind of like. I was shocked when I saw how much water was coming out of these holes when I first observed the Touareg running. When you look at the upward angle to this exhaust system and now seeing how much water drips from these holes I have to wonder if there has always been pooling here?? Folks I know short trips aren't the best for vehicles but we live in a hostile climate where it routinely got -20 to -35 Fahrenheit here this winter and my wife and I have relatively short trips to work. My 2004 Ford Fx4 F150 has never had this problem and nobody I have ever talked to about this has had a similar event. I just cannot believe a vehicle this expensive and "over engineered" can have this happen? That said, my wife still loves it and we may keep it for the 2013-2014 winter and see what happens but we will have a tough decision come April of 2014 because that is when our warranty is gone.