TheClient

Yeah I think there's a lot of contamination on the right. Try cleaning it. But there is some on the left as well. If it comes back. You'll have to go looking for the source contamination. The tanks leak in the recess where the connector plugs in. Best to remove connector when hot to check. Spray some soapy water, check for bubbling. The electrical connectors have ring seals in them. So once plugged in if you introduce pressurised water or steam, it gets pushed into the cable strands and along the cable.. the cable sheath acts as a pipe.

Yes. That's generally true also. One of the reasons why you can get a lot of water contamination in oil on short trip vehicles.

That is the lower coolant level warning although, there maybe other circumstances where it also indicates something else to do with cooling system.. My moneys on the prongs, but as mentioned, it can be a sign of something else. Coolant migration can be a a nasty problem. But less common. I caught before it happened on mine by taking the connector off the plastic tank when engine was hot and I could see a slight bubbling when sprayjng a soapy solution on the connector recess onn the tank.. The terminals where they come through the tank tend to be the weak point!!

Yes I've had the droning noise on a couple of vag cars whenever the refrigerant needs replacing, due to losses. I did wonder about the oil replacement most of the time mine did indeed show next to zero evacuated.

That is true. Not directly comparable unless you have got a poster with same engine.

Definitely sounds like tank probes. You can clean them, by either scraping or wiping clean, but need to have something to reach in tank. Easier if you remove tank and drain and then refill exp tank. There's only two pinch clamps to remove. Hoses will be hard to get off first time though. One word of warning, mine did this after mixing oil with coolant from the oil cooler. If there's brown gunge on the probes that's what your coolant problem is but the fix is a fair bit of work, probably a little more or at least same as the the thermostat housing.

Thinking back to when I did the thermostat and pump. There is enough slack in the system to push the belt off the teeth in of the pump pulley and refit without removing anything, That's what I did. So it is not strongly tensioned. But not super slack either..

Mmmm. Did you check the tensioner for how many circle detent are extended? How many? What is the timing adjustment adaption figure under engine data when car is running and fully warned up? I have posted the self learing pages on ea888 g3 before which shows you positions of sensors. Hi and lo are on filter housing. The cooling jet oil pressure sensor is somewhere different on front of block towards passenger (UK) side I think. There's a regulation valve at the bottom of lower timing cover. If you pull the connector to that, the oil pump should operate in normal pressure mode all the time. Try that maybe and clear codes and see what changes.

Not the best photo. The TCMU connector block is right in the way. But if you search some you tube videos for the change you'll see what it is like at the balance shaft end! It is captive until you release the pulley. And you need a right angle pneumatic wrench of similar I think.

No tensioner. They're a pain to change as the pulley on the balance shaft has to come off. Pretty much impossible without a good deal of disassembly. Its a toothed belt and is not highly loades. Often, they are not replaced even with the water pump due to the pita nature of it.

Last but not least, Rain and light sensor faults, cant code them out i understand, how to resole that?? Are they working as they should. Have you tried clearing the code?

Ok. That plastic quick connector fits onto the thermostatic housing. It's all tight in there but it is a quick connector. I'd probably suggest removing the two lines with spring clips. Then the old quick connector. If you've got that far, assembly is reverse of that. I suspect you may like to remove airbox, intake and upped radiator shroud, fan assembly out. But try without by all means.

What engine?

Seems pretty fair. It is a fair bit of work. That is the book time I expect.

It's very unlikely to be the waterpump on its own. What they mean is the thermal management control unit and the waterpump assembly. Ina sell them together (oem supplier) vw sell them separately. Given amount of work to get in there you wouldn't normally replace one without the other. But the TMCU is the pricey bit as well as time.

Or the oil cooler which has a coolant to oil heat exchanger.

Golf r, same engine more or less. Oil in coolant at 88k miles. Was the accessory bracket oil cooler assembly gaskets. But having replaced those, and oil in coolant gone, now I'm leaking oil around bracket ... again. Think the bracket may be out of square. The intake manifold is common. Yeah, normally the vw part is the whole assembly, but you maybe able to research parts and find a ghetto fix. As far as running, it only affects the switch between short and long runners. Difference in running would be very subtle.

Yes, true. My comments were more around warranty dealer issues. Brakes need attending to. Given a piston is seized, you may as well strip and replace pads or pads and discs assuming the piston can be freed!!

I agree with this. The 02 eml and oil leak should be resolved under warranty or consumer rights. Not consistent with implied sales terms. Durability and fitness for purpose.

Depends what the problem is, like a broken valve spring maybe doable. If its a hole in a piston problem not a repair!

Yeah the water pump bolts onto the end of the thermostat housing and is driven off a pulley off the end of the balance shaft if I'm remembering correctly. Definitely not driven off the aux belt on the other side. It kinda sits dead under the middle of intake manifold. But water pump bolts up to the nearside end. Anyway.... There's a 2 year warranty isn't there so they should. It may just be a coolant hose or spring clip this time but it all would of been removed and refitted. The thermostat is an electromechsnical device with servo actuation and electronic control. A TMCU thermal control management unit. No longer a bimetallic valve employed in this engine.

Yes, the green item and the source of all the main coolant pipes is the thermostat housing. On the quick release connectors with retaining flips, the orings are replaceable. From my recollection, almost all the connections at the thermostat end are spring clips. If it was done at a garage I'd take it in under warranty. I love doing jobs twice, but despite being pretty thorough it happens to me too. Currently thinking I may need to go bac in to remove the ancilliary bracket and oil cooler despite having replaced the two gaskets and oil cooler and torqued it to spec... It's a bit of a bugger to get to aswell... cooling fans out, main coolant pipes unplugged, charge air pipe out, alternator out, air con comp tied up out of way.... Maybe my ancilliary bracket sealing face is no longer perfectly square... as I say I love doing jobs twice!!

Yes, they only posted last Sunday, so may have not done anything yet. But hopefully may update us all when they decide on a way forward.

To bypass the selling garage you may just want to get an independent to conduct a oil usage test and get them to document. Best practice is to weigh oil in weigh oil out then use specific gravity value to get to volume but if the problems significant you should see the problem anyway, get them to comment formally on plug appearance just for some added backup too. Your garage will look to fight you likely in edit. hope you'll go away long enough until they can say all your problem now!!!