B4:TOTALLY BIZZARE PROBLEM, NEED HELP!!! WIFE HAS HAD ENOUGH WITH MY CAR!

[riddei]

Well,I got the car back yesterday, after about 3 weeks went bye

. They kept giving me stories as to why the part wasn't coming in. I finally had a real melt down, and the part was in the next day. This was Morong "Falmouth".

Thanks for the offer mickkirk! Hope to see you on the roads as well.

The lead mechanic looked at the repair and said that the retaining nut on the number 3 injector was loose, he felt that is why it broke in the first place, and rebroke. Who knows

.

The car is now running well. I cleaned the heck out of the engine compartment (power washed). I am going to loosen all the injector lines and tighten them back up.

I'll see...

Keeping my fingers crossed. And am very happy to be driving my car again. The loaner was a POS, with summer tires

.

 

[tomo366]

Fingers crossed!
I have a nice Passat FS if you are interested!

 

[riddei]

Well, it happened again.

I am very depressed. I am changing all the lines out with the one's Tomo sold me. I'm afraid if this persist's any longer... I'm finished with this car.

This is very sad, and I have lost faith in my Passat's reliability. I can't keep blowing fuel injector lines.

.

This time the number one fuel line broke on the opposite side, nearest the fuel pump.

 

[dieseldorf]

Originally posted by riddei:
Well, it happened again.

I am very depressed. I'm afraid if this persist's any longer... I'm finished with this car.

This is very sad, and I have lost faith in my Passat's reliability.

<font size="2" face="Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif">

 

[TDIMeister]

Ian, maybe you already had this addressed and I didn't wade through all the posts to look for it: Did you relieve the stress on the lines by loosening and retorquing each one from both ends, and making sure the lines align perfectly with no applied force?

It does sound very bizzare that you'd go though what, 2 or 3 lines in short order? Is there any relative movement between the pump and the rest of the engine? Is there unusual vibration?

The fact that not necessarily the same lines go south suggests to me that for whatever reason, all the lines originally on the engine had weakened to the point of being marginal. Did you replace all the lines at once, or one at a time?

 

[RabbitGTI]

Man that is strange. Now I'm getting paranoid about the lines on my Passat. Anyone else had the lines break? Here's an idea. Have a set of braided stainless lines made to replace the solid lines. Any raceshop that does aeroquip work should be able to do it for a few bucks each. Does anyone know the thread size/pitch of the ends? If so I'll check with a local shop.

 

[Dubbs]

I've been following this thread from the get-go and it sure is strange that your blowing lines all of a sudden. Something must be moving the lines and weakening them. I would guess vibration/movement of some sort. I remember that on my 1.6 the injector lines had a bracket holding them all together but I just checked my car and all they have are little rubber isolation"bumpers".
Have you noticed and performance issues? It would be interesting to hook up a vag-com to your machine to see if your timing has changed. If the bottom bolt on the pump was loose would that cause enough flex in the lines to damage them? if you could have someone rev the car while you put your hands on the lines to notice any movement or vibration.

 

[Boundless]

Ian,

Check that you have all pump mounting bolts in place and all of them are tight.

 

[riddei]

Thanks all for your suggestions. I will be looking into this more shortly (this weekend). I'll have my wife rev the engine, and I will hold onto the lines and see if I can feel the torque on them. I'll also be checking the mounting bolts. I'm assuming that once all the lines are changed, that they will be de-stressed.

On a good note, I just ordered the universal emergency braided line from (here) emergency line

They were very helpful on the phone! They said that they would check the line with a TDI injection pump to make sure it would fit, before sending. They also said they had VW injector's on hand that they sell. The guy on the phone (I didn't catch his name), also was going to check with one of his vendor's who has around 100 fleet TDI's

(an alarm company) and see if they have heard of this problem. And that he would call me back.

This company was very customer service oriented and friendly... Check them out!

 

[riddei]

Well,

I am both happy, and mad, to report that I think the problem has been tracked down. On the opposite side of the injection pump from the three bolts that hold the thing to the bracket. I believe that there should be a single adjustable bolt. This bolt is MISSING!

I asked the dealership to look into the injection pump mounts both previous times that the thing was there. I specifically asked them to look into this area. So much for troubleshooting

abilities.

I'm fairly sure that this spot should be mounted tightly to the engine.

 

[dieseldorf]

riddei, if they have never adjusted the timing on a TDI, they probably wouldn't know how to inspect those bolts.

On the flip side, I would take this as good news. Hopefully you aren't cursing at the poor car any longer.

It also means you are going to need to reset the timing or at least verify it's close to where is should be.

Good luck. Maybe you can cross paths with someone at Solar Mkt on Saturday and have them take a quik measurement for you.

 

[riddei]

Dorf,

That's a great idea. Will you be making the Saturday run to the Market? If the dealership can get that bolt by tomorrow, I should be back on the road.

Of course it's not in stock, and they say that they're overnighting it. Hope that doesen't take 3.5 weeks to arive

.

 

[dieseldorf]

Originally posted by riddei:
Dorf,

Will you be making the Saturday run to the Market?

<font size="2" face="Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif">Nah, I kinda lost my thirst for the BD after reviewing the fuel test results.

Good luck with the car. Sorry it took so long to get it sorted out.

 

[Oo-v-oO]

I should hope that the dealer is going to give you that bolt, gratis. I would also push for another fuel line to replace the last one that broke. Might even want to ask for a whole set, since they have all seen the same amount of stress. And to think that you even told them to check the bolts....
I am familiar with the bolt to which you are referring. The first time I went to adjust the timing on my A3 Jetta, I couldn't get the pump to move no matter how hard I tried. DD suggested I loosen ALL of the bolts, and it moved around just fine after that.....

That sucker is hidden if you aren't looking for it!

-Lee

 

[Boundless]

Ian,

Check all of the pump bracketry and fasteners.

When you first reported this problem, I thought fatigue, and then of course - vibration. But how the heck could the pump vibrate relative to the engine to stress the lines I thought... the pump is securely bolted down. Or supposedly.

Well, well, well..... All that vibration could have loosened other bolts and fasters. Also, the other fuel lines have been excessively fatigued..... watch them or replace them.

 

[riddei]

FYI...

I caught the name of "Brian from Midwest Fuel Injection" when he did indeed call me back after talking to his vendor. He gave me some hints that have already been covered here.

I purchased the emergency line, and will keep it on hand. Hopefully, I will never need it

.

-Ian

 

[riddei]

Well believe it or not there's more...

I went to pick up my ride last Friday. The hoser's handed me a bill for the bolt, and 1.5 hours of labor

. (To say the least I'm not happy at that point). I have a nice discussion with the service rep, and tell him that he has to do better for me, after all, this has been going on since THANKSGIVING WEEKEND!

Get this... he starts typing on his calculator, and tells me that his mechanic is into the car for over 3.5 hours, and the mechanic is frustrated with my car, and hopes to not see it again for this issue.

So, I tell him that his mechanic can't be half as frustrated as I am for breaking down multiple times (for the same thing) and having to come back over, and over.

With that he tells me that he doesen't know when the bolt fell off (huh???). I know when the bolt fell off... BEFORE THE FIRST TIME, Thanksgiving weekend.

He tells me that he can't do any better with the bill. So I said "fine I am not satisfied with the work, but want my car back" (I was going to write a letter to the owner as soon as I got home).

So I get in my car... take off up the road... and the car can't get out of it's own way. The car was a real dog. The timing was obviously off (way off). So I turn around not 30 seconds up the road and go back inside, and say "my car isn't right". So he has his mechanic drive the car and he comes back and tells me there "doesen't seem to be anything wrong".

At which point, I start to point out the strut tie bar, Bilstein suspension, Mintex Redbox brakepads, short-shifter, and tell them I have a Wett chip. I told them that I was a TDI enthusiast, and asked the mechanic if there was anything "enthusiastic" in the way the car excellerated? To which point the mechanic (in front of the service rep) tell's me "I don't know what these TDI's are supposed to feel like, I never see them".

The service rep, was obviously embarrased. He asked if I wanted the car back. I said I wanted the car in proper running fashion. I also said I wanted my $$ returned, because the workmanship was sub par.

I went home and wanted to vent. I called PeterV, who immediately told me he would come over with his VagCom (after visiting Solar Market). I didn't ask, he just offered.

So I went back this AM, and told them that I wanted my car back. That we would be checking their work anyway, so they shouldn't do anything else to my car.

The service rep was very appologetic and gave me my car gratis (finally).

Peter is supposed to be here by 2pm. I've said it before, but thank god for the people on this site. I would have gotten rid of my car a long time ago if the dealerships were my only resource.

I will be changing out the other 2 injector lines with the one's I got from Tomo. Hopefully that will be sufficient.

[ January 13, 2003, 13:16: Message edited by: riddei ]

 

[Dubbs]

Ian
So sorry for your dealer woes. Man this really gets my goat. You take your car to get service and have vw mechanics to do the work and they have no idea what is going on.

1.5 hours to replace a bolt. What a disgrace! and to try to make you pay for it when it was their fault to begin with.
Yeah the timing is probably way off. I just hope they didn't screw with anything else (like get some dirt into those injector lines)

Let us know if you get the power back.
Dan

 

[riddei]

PeterV comes through!!!

We hooked up the VagCom. There were two fuel related codes (fuel cut off something or other). Cleared the codes...

Timing was in the top half of the graph, IQ was OK.

Took the car for a drive... And guess what it ran as normal.

The mechanic never bothered to clear the codes from the blown injector line. We didn't even have to get dirty. The lines and pump seem to be attached, and sturdy.

Hopefully this will be put to rest now.

All I can say is thank you PeterV! He drove 2 hours to help a fellow TDIClub member. Thanks for listening to my tale, and for the advice.

UGH.

 

[car54]

just read thru the whole thread, what a bunch of BS. Some dealers will just hire anybody..

I can only wonder how many other people have problems similar to yours, but dont know of tdiclub or other sources of help. Sad to see VW doesnt maintain high quality service departments.

 

[riddei]

Matt,

Couldn't agree more. On a positive note, the car ran strong coming to work this morning. In fact a red B4 Passat passed me on the Maine Turnpike this morning, and we cranked along at 90 for a few miles.

It is sure nice to have the Passat back!!! The loaner would have felt like a death trap at those speeds.

Thanks again all (especially PeterV).

 

[Boundless]

Ian,

Don't forget your wife. In order for us to get away with playing cars, we really need permission from our wives.

So, if this recent event frustrated your wife, as the thread title says, you gotta make it up to her. Flowers, dinner, back rub, foot rub, what ever it takes man!!!! It's the price we have to pay if we want to continue to play.

 

[PeterV]

The best part is WE did not get dirty. I like these kinds of fixes. Other than the fumes eminating from the just washed engine all the IQ and Timing numbers were where they were supposed to be. There was such a look of relief on Ian's face when all the codes were cleared and we went for a test drive and the Passat of old was back. We made a decision to leave the injectors alone so Ian can re-baseline the economy and performance. When he feels comfortable we will try some .205's.

 

[riddei]

When he feels comfortable we will try some .205's.

<font size="2" face="Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif">YEAH BABY, YEAH

 

[tomo366]

Ian,
That is really great! PeterV is definately the best and I consider him and great friend!
I am glad your Passat is back to itself!
I am wrestling with should I sell mine or not!
I am not driving her enough and she is pissed at me!