Vibration after jet wash?

This applies to all cars, not only VW.

Does it feel like your car is vibrating when you drive at speed?

Did this start happening after you power wash / jet washed the car?

This happened to me too. The problem is caused by either one of two things, both of which unbalance the wheel rim(s) – you need to check the front wheels first: The first one is most likely.

1. you have dislodged a load of mud / gunk from the wheelwell and it has gone into the back of the wheel rim where it has solidified. This is more likely with alloy wheels since they are usually  deep and flat on the inside rim. To check for this, remove a front wheel (front causes vibration more than rear when out of balance). After the wheel is off, turn it so you can inspect the inside of the rim. Scrape the inside of the rim with a coin etc. If there is more then 1mm thickness of dust/mud caked on, scrape it off. You need to check around the entire rim since it may be only in one spot. Clean the entire rim.  Check at least the front two wheels.
2. alternately, you may have knocked a lead wheel weight off; on alloy wheels these are simply lead tape which is glued inside the wheel rim . It is possible to blast it off if you are over zealous with the jet wash. Look too see if there is a cleaner area similar to the shape of the other weights. If this is the case you will need to have the wheel re-balanced at a workshop (unless you find the weight on the ground, in which case, stick it back with glue).

Please feedback if this helps you.

 

 

T5 wipers not working?

So the wipers are fucked on your T5? maybe not…

Pop the bonnet and let it slam shut. VW made a clever interlock to stop you losing your fingers if the bonnet is up, key turned on and wipers turned on intermittent.

Too bad it works if the bonnet is not all the way up; in fact it works if it is not up at all and only the feckin latch is popped….

Too bad as well its not even mentioned in the user manual.

glad to help!

Now do you believe VW suck?

Hmm, odometer on my passat says 4.2 litres / 100km, but I’m not getting that good. Also the driveway stinks like exhaust fumes after parking the car.

Maybe VW lied about the fuel economy? Oh, yes they did.

Ah well, I’m sure it was just an accident.

Getting headaches driving your T5? It’s exhaust fumes.

Until mid-2006, the  VW Transporter T5 with with 2.5  litre engine had a well known design fault with its exhaust manifold. The manifold is not made from cast iron, instead VW use a thin, sheet steel, alloy. The welds at the points where it attaches to the block freqently fail and exhaust leaks into the cab.

Sometimes only one weld fails, sometimes all the welds fail. Depending on how bad the leaks are you might not actually smell the fumes but just be getting headaches and coughing a lot. If you smell exhaust fumes when driving, you almost definitely have this problem.

This problem is expensive and time consuming to repair. VW will not pay for any of it. After 2006 VW switched to a cast manifold which has no welds to crack.

2.5 TDI waterpump seal failure

Buying a used T5? Check for black oil in power steering resevior first and save yourself a lot of hassle.

The power steering pump connects directly to the engine. It is sealed against engine oil ingress with an O ring seal. This seal fails and oil contaminates the steering fluid requiring an expensive pump replacement. If the steering rack is badly contaminated it needs to be replaced too.

I visited the VW dealer and asked them to repair it. The mechanic said I’m not sure what you mean, show me the problem. As soon as I opened the bonnet and started to open the power steering resevoir to show him the black oil,  he said – oh yes, this is a well known problem.

The seal should never fail. It is not a moving part subject to wear and tear. It fails because it is a bad design. VW are well aware of the problem but refused to repair it. Instead they let customers pay for their mistakes.

After over 30 years of owning VW’s,  I’m sorry to have to say, my next vehicle will not be a VW.