[tdi sox]

Ok, so I took my 04 tdi in to the dealer to get the recall work done the glow plugs and they called me back and said that the mechanic broke off one of the glow plugs inside the engine. They said they had to drop the engine and remove the head to repair it (on their dime of coarse). Also they found out that the turbo on both sides needs to be replaced. (yeah right, it is fine) they said that they could fix it while they were in there for a discounted rate of $4500. I told him to stuff his turbo, the car was running fine when I took it in and I expected the same when I get it back and they obviously were padding it so they did not have to eat the job for free. Anyway, I am in new territory. Any advice, I am not sure I want it back after they do that kind of major work on it... or am I just being paranoid??? kaboom

 

[ENGINEer]

show up to the garage and check for lateral (back and forth, not up and down) play in the turbo. Just grab the wheel with your fingers and if it moves back and froth more than a mm, they need work, if not tell them to STFU and put your **** back together.

sorry, i hate thieves.

look for evidence of A LOT of oil. If you have to take some pictures and let us have a look.

check for up and down play as well, some will be there, but some is OK, you just dont want it to be too much.

Otherwise, i would ask for gas money to be paid while your truck is getting worked on.

 

[CustomSpooling]

I wonder would they fit a new head gasket when re-fitting the head. If it were me, I wouldn't be happy about using the same head gasket. Same goes for Head bolts it is common practice not to re-use head bolts.

 

[CustomSpooling]

show up to the garage and check for lateral (back and forth, not up and down) play in the turbo. Just grab the wheel with your fingers and if it moves back and froth more than a mm, they need work, if not tell them to STFU and put your **** back together.

sorry, i hate thieves.

look for evidence of A LOT of oil. If you have to take some pictures and let us have a look.

check for up and down play as well, some will be there, but some is OK, you just dont want it to be too much.

Otherwise, i would ask for gas money to be paid while your truck is getting worked on.

Good advice but be very gentle when checking for shaft play, quite often when yanking at it can upset it.

If it was driving fine with good power and no smoke then go with the saying "don't fix if it is not broken"

 

[tdi sox]

Thanks for the advice. I think I will show up for a surprise visit next week. I just think it a bit odd that the coincidence of BOTH turbos going out at the time and oh how convenient it is when they screwed up and are trying to recoup some of their loss on the job. Smells more than fishy especially since I can buy 2 new turbos oem for about 2400 on line and a rebuild kit would be a fraction of that. Going to opt for telling them to stuff it.

 

[noobytoogy]

You can have turbos refurbished/reconditioned for a few hundred bucks each. Have you looked into this? I'd certainly consider it whilst the engine is out.

 

[Tdiracing]

If they started the car with the tip broke off, it is what killed the turbo(s)...keep that in mind...you dont know so be careful here. Do not get cheap rebuilt turbos for you expensive engine. Get real VW turbos...trust me just had friend cheap out and they lasted 30 miles and leaking already...

Dont get taken...call your local VW rep fro your area...ask dealer for teh number or call customer care and ask how to make an appointment to meet him at the dealer with your car for evaluation. This is your right, so use it. Tell him you want to see the engine and head appart as well as turbos, this way the rep will be there as well to see...if the wheels are trashed, bet the tip when through and ate it. They try to start the cars hoping it is fine and no will notice....Jerk offs...

Good luck

 

[matthew@f]

why cant they remove the glow plug and extract via the hole? is there access this way?
you would only need a spark plug sized hole to fit firstly a camera down then a small grabber claw?

 

[blktouaregv10]

Somewhere in the service manual it says that you CANNOT REMOVE THE HEAD ONE AT A TIME. I would check into this and either let them do it and sue them or make sure they do not do it at all. You are supposed to remove both head as one using a special bolt pattern removal process just as you would when torquing down a single head. If you don't do this it says you will tweak the block (maybe because the head bolts go so deep and it's aluminum). Ask them HOW they know the turbos are bad. They are almost impossible to see or inspect with the engine in the vehicle.
I don't see this ending well. I'd call VW of A and your lawyer and keep him informed on this. Please keep us posted as well if you can. Dealers do not know how to work on Touareg V10's and most mechanics have never even seen one except for maybe an oil change (and they usually put in the wrong oil).

 

[tdi sox]

Ok thanks everyone for the advice. Here is where I am at with it. I went by the dealership today again after a few conversations with them. Turns out that after my objections and running it up the flagpole, they brought in the regional rep from vw to oversee things for 2 days. They were able to get all of the parts of the glow plug out of the engine without pulling the heads off. I looked at all the pieces they pulled and was satisfied that they got everything out. They still had to pull the engine to do it. I spoke with the technician working on the car and asked him about the turbo. I asked to look at the turbos and he said that he had not pulled them off the vehicle. I looked at the sales rep and asked him why then I was advised to replace both of them and the tech said that there was an error code on the system when he pulled the codes. So I asked, "so you don't know that they are bad, you did not inspect, only advised to replace off an error code?". The service advisor guy responded, yes. I then told him that I pulled the codes prior to taking the car in with my vagcom and there was no such code present. The check engine light was on and when I checked it it was showing glow plug malfunction and had an exhaust workshop error. The guy just looked at me like I caught him in a lie. I resisted yelling due to the fact that my engine was still out of my car and they still had work to do on it. Anyway, bottom line is they will have it back to me by Thursday and hopefully everything works out. I feel better that they did not have to pull the head to fix it but we will see how it goes...

 

[BrittBrenda]

The Dealer we take our Touareg to ....Rather for service maint on the mileage or just a oil change ...they always come up with something broken thats not underwarranty and its usally a ridiculous price to repair!

I just say oh thats ok I'll have my Mechanic take a look but thanks anyway .
If the car was running fine before you took it to them then it should still be running fine after they get through with it, if something is messed up like motor missing or your turbos are not right....just tell them to make it right...or you will sure the piss out of them.
I would....besure and have some one to go with you as a witness if you can.

Good Luck with this.