Dealer Suggestions

[blaz]

I took the Wagen into a dealer for the glow plug service, and the service manager promised to check it over as well. Afterwards, he recommended:

i) a tranny flush, claiming the fluid was dirty and frothing, like a milkshake. When I told him that another dealer had just done a flush 17,000 km (~10k miles) ago, he said they'd look at it again. Later, he said, the fluid was actually clean but frothing because it needed a top up. Which they did.

ii) that my timing belt should be replaced ASAP as it has tiny cracks at 117,000km (~73k miles).

So do I believe anything this guy says? Did he really put the car on the hoist and actually check the tranny fluid, when all he had to do was the glow plug service? Did he actually look at the timing belt?

Maybe I'm too suspicious ...

 

[leicaman]

Find an area guru for the timing belt and the balance shaft conversion... at least that is what I did. I see you live in Canada, I would seek out a dealer known for knowing TDIs. There are more trusted in that regards than down here.

 

[abctdi]

How can they see froth on our trannys?

 

[aja8888]

Frothing? How in heck did they determine that? There is no dip stick to give it a quick check. And I would seriously doubt that "frothing" has any correlation to whether or not the trans works like it should. Since there is a sump, and the fluid (hydraulic oil) is pumped around, heated up, subject to high pressure, one would expect some air entrapment in the fluid while in use.

If it really bothers you, ask the dealer to change it and warranty the trans for 24,000 miles against all failures. That should shut him up.

The belt, it's not a bad idea to change it at the recommended interval. "Tiny cracks"? I would think the belt should have some minor damage after 73K miles.

 

[blaz]

leicaman - Yes, we have a trusted mech in Toronto to do the BS and TB. But I'm waiting until we get closer to the end of our 160k km extended warranty. I was only at the dealer to do the recall. But maybe I should have the trusted mech take a look at sooner rather than later, who knows, maybe the warranty might cover it.

I was tempted to tell the dealership that if it was that bad, it should be covered under the warranty, but I was afraid that he would actually take me up on it and get warranty approval to do it. I really didn't want them working on my car ...

abc and aja - exactly ... they would have had to put the car up on the hoist, unplug the tranny fill hole and somehow check the fluid. They do this as part of some of the routine service, but it's a lot of work. I'm just not sure he really did it.

 

[Wobbly]

The dealer doing the glow plug recall recommended a $99 power steering flush. I had to initial my declination on the work order. They probably recommend this to all their customers. The fluid is supposedly nasty at 37K miles.

 

[abctdi]

Opportunist SOBs they are...

 

[DickSilver]

How about a synthestic relubrication of the semi-ellipsoidal hydraulic marzelvanes as well, while the car is in there?

Run, don't walk - away from that one!

 

[aja8888]

Let's not forget nitrogen in the tires.

Someone should start a thread listing all the *unnecessary* services the dealers try to push on unsuspecting customers. I'll bet it would be a thing of beauty!

 

[Zambee500]

proprietary synthetic windshield washer fluid?

 

[bigEZ]

well, since -- according to vw -- the transmission fluid in the b5.5's is a "lifetime" fluid with no need for change, ever, why would the dealer even be checking it? (btw, i changed mine at 50k and it was pretty solid then, very little sludge on the magnet and still pretty good looking)