Attention all V6 TDI owners

[Supurbia]

Capri was an awesome car, the thing with one of these was you had to know how to drive to get the best from one, it would catch Mr Pointit and hope it stayed on the line out admittedly, I'd say in todays world it would be the ultimate drifting machine, but mind you most of the 70-80's Ford's were superb cars anyway both for fun and low cost ownership, and don't nobody hit me with the rust issue, back then everything rusted, it just showed up more in a Ford cos there were 300X as many on the road as anything else, Nissan used to be another gr8 firm, sadly now you buy a Nissan you buy a Renault and thing's aren't the same, but up to the Bluebird's demise they were good value.

[wrenko]

Capri was an awesome car,

Had a Mk1 3000GT (69 Reg). What a blast

[Taxi 219]

I had a Nissan Primera 2.0TDi 1997 and that was a real Japanese built car.Wish i never got rid of it for the Octavia but it was tired at 339000 miles and was only serviced and NEVER had anything go wrong with it.Oh well too bad now.

[Supurbia]

I see a pattern emerging here, as a cab I don't think the Skoda is that good, as an urban runabout again the larger models might not be that good, TKI's Superb has very low mileage for a 3 yr old car and this could have been a factor with it coking up and going tits up, most of the glowing reports seem to come from ppl who do good mileages and spend most of it at 70mph.

[johannapam1]

That does seem to fit the reports from the owners feedback. It probably is a unfortunate problem from TKI's point of view and i really hope Skoda make a heavy gesture of good will to him - they should!!

[Burnsey]

I see a pattern emerging here, as a cab I don't think the Skoda is that good, as an urban runabout again the larger models might not be that good, TKI's Superb has very low mileage for a 3 yr old car and this could have been a factor with it coking up and going tits up, most of the glowing reports seem to come from ppl who do good mileages and spend most of it at 70mph.

That's seems a fair observation. Perhaps as the superb is so heavy it's too much stress to be stop-start-stop-start as a taxi.

As an M-way and A road cruiser it was excellent for me. So comfy, refined and an abundance of power from the 2.5. Fairly economical with the bikes on the roof too. I mainly noticed the difference in comfort for long runs from glasgow to Newcastle, Manchester, Milton Keynes, Aberdeen and weekend runs with the bikes on the roof, over the original mk1 octy and even some ways the mk2 1.9tdi I've now got.

[Raptor]

Hi Superbia,

I had a Bluebird went through 3 generations before someone hit it and wrote it off. Rust............ did you ever come across the Vauxall Cresta 10? lucky if it lasted a year could see it changing before your eys. :eek: Fortunately I never had one but knew some poor chap who did.

Saw your comments about cheap parts on Skoda's are they not the same parts that are on the other VAG cars. I did look at a Passat parked next to me and the bits I could see looked the same.

I know my Superb is only a year old but it does feel very well put together. Apart from the minor problems I mentioned everthing seems to be working OK.

I do recall having a new short engine put on a new car 12 weeks after a bought it. Mind you it was a British Leyland:rofl:

[Supurbia]

They were all rotters in the 60's, I'm not sure the parts are all the same quality y'know, I know they look the same, but if you do a google on Samsung TFT monitors you will find one lot made by one firm for Samsung aren't as good as the ones made by another supplier, yet all end up branded as Samsung, so it could be possible that Skoda get a cheaper sourced part than say an Audi, I love this car for its space and look, but all I can see on the horizon is big bills and a dealer that won't help, add in the lack of available parts, and thats no good to me, my mate has been off the road for 10 out of the last 15 weeks due to this, 2x for gearbox and 1x for an alternator, 3 weeks to get an alternator for christ sake.

[THE KICK INSIDE]

As im being quoted....

my car does most of its millage on the motorway, I bought it at 14 moths old with 7.5k on it - its done about 14 k a year since then (commute is a rural 5 mile trip each way NOT town) other than that its 150-200 mile trips each way typically..at 70 mph....

My average overall fuel consumption is about 42mpg - so as you can see its NOT start stop! (doing a similar pattern i got 300,000 miles out of a pug 405 petrol!)

Even if it was used as a taxi i think 34k would not be a reasonable milage for engine failure (as per skodas 60k/3 year warranty which a taxi woul easily reach in 3 years!)

Also the fault was a cam failure - skoda are funding the entire new engine cost though he fitting is going to cost me £1k....

According to my trade contacts this isnt a typical v6 failure (though injectors, fuel pump collapse and turbo failure are more common)

in fairness once i got talkign to skoda uk i was wasting my time UNTIL i found a customer support person (Edward) who took ownership of the problem and within 48 hours i had the news they were funding the engine....

They cant yet tell me when the engine will be available - but the decision is only 24 hours old in fairness....

The problem i have had has NOT really been the failure butt he resonse and speed of response from the dealer/skoda we have got there (or thereabouts) in the end but its taken a LOT of calls and perservernce...

[Supurbia]

Good to see you got a result of sorts in the end mate.

[Raptor]

Well done Kick,

As I said in my previous reply on this topic, you have to be firm with the dealers, that also includes the head office of the brand. I had a similar result with Citroen when the main loom failed. Persistence and tenacity paid off.

[THE KICK INSIDE]

Indeed but the point is we shouldn't have to and had not had the mechanical knowledge i do have (plus some very good support form someone in a user forum!) together with a lot of brass neck and 'wont' power - they would quite happily have taken my trousers down and charge me £5.5-6k for a new engine.

So imagine the little old couple buying a fabia (go to any skoda dealership and they are there in droves) they would get just the same and its simply not on!

To my way of thinking 'Skoda' (VAG/Group/UK/Dealers) have a moral and LEGAL responsibility to 'do the right thing' or their customers and if they DONT then we as 'customers' have a similar responsibility to 'do the right thing' and remove our complicity by simply not buying their products....

It was noticeable once i mentioned 'trading standards' and 'not fit or purpose' how much things started speeding up! - the point is i shouldn't have HAD too!

Anyway hopefully im £1.2k poorer when i shouldn't be, but i can stand that (not happy but....) but no WAY am i keepng the superb without a extended warranty (may well not be keeping it anyway!)

[sidewaze samm]

No doubt everyone reading this thread will also have read the thread from TKI (as the old saying goes - but for God, there go I) but have you also read this old thread?

http://briskoda.net/forums/superb/superb-v6-tdi-camshaft-collapses/62149/

[cheezemonkhai]

...

I'm gonna give the gearbox about another 15k before it needs a new one, and the suspension looks like it will be costing soon, probably to repair what Skoda didn't want to, easier to blag me there's nothing wrong with it and not honour the warranty, one thing I know I have coming up is the CV gaiters, 60k and they're almost gone, last time I renewed a gaiter was on a 1985 Cavalier, never needed to replace one since, the Skoda is a cheap car made of cheap bits in a cheap factory in a cheap labour country, it's like an airfix kit in places like the radio surround, snap in snap out, na for me I've been bit once, won't happen again, if the VX's aren't up to it in future it'll be Honda or Toyota for me.

Get the gearbox oil changed at about 50k for new VAG stuff and the box should last much longer. This sealed for life thing is cr*p IMHO

[Supurbia]

Get the gearbox oil changed at about 50k for new VAG stuff and the box should last much longer. This sealed for life thing is cr*p IMHO

I think yer right, but I wouldn't trust the garage to do it tbh, I think it could be a dangerous thing unless you know someone who really knows what they are doing, and even then there are grey areas to doing box fluid.

[peter.obrien9@b]

i have owned a 2.5 tdi from 10000 miles the tiptronic has always changed abrubtly going into reverse i thought it was me,no it was not i have done 105000 miles and reverse gear pops out when you try it seems the valve pan needs replacing at a cost of £1500 00 skoda ar not interested the dealer has lost the franchise guess why, i had the car serviced at a proper garage now skoda say they will not help because i did not have it serveced at their franchised dealer they will not admit why they have lost the franchise? anyway i have found out that this is a common problem with this tiptronic gearbox so much so that the local vag parts company keeps it in stock and this is in cornwall i am going to take the dealer to court to make them pay my last two vehicle were peugeot with 200,000 miles in three years on the original clutch before nissan qx 215000 miles in three years also on the original clutch as iexplained i do not remember driving up the motorway in reverse there is a fault with this part i would like to hear from anybody with bthe same problem regards peter

[THE KICK INSIDE]

Well here i am again....

Yes thats a known problem with the tip box, well at least it is on Audi a4's a colleague of mines got one and had that happen at about 45k miles, exactly the same symptoms and problem, replaced by audi under 'goodwill'.

Still got the superb, though as I cant trust it my wife driving it as a run about, moved to Merc and bought myself a Brabus - worlds better service...(and cheaper hourly rates/parts than skoda too!)

The skoda has now packed up the passenger door lock, the dealer didn't do the power steering fluid lines up properly when they changed the engine so had to have that sorted, and the new engine has just started throwing warning lights (its less than <5000 miles old!). Now just less than 40k miles total, and just asking for ts 20k service (as they didn't reset the service indicator AGAIN when they put the new engine in) - shocking dealers, shocking car...

we will run it till it dies again then then it becomes a skip - still its got a nice heated rear screen to keep yours hands warm while you push it!

Funny though all three skoda dealers that were involved keep trying to sell me a new one - i really AM tempted to go to one of their sales nights just to have some fun!

[johannapam1]

TKI - I think you should name and shame the Dealers involved.

[THE KICK INSIDE]

latest update, new engine 6000 miles old or so --------check engine light, 'emissions workshop!' message - here we go again.....

[Supurbia]

latest update, new engine 6000 miles old or so --------check engine light, 'emissions workshop!' message - here we go again.....

If the car is running ok, it'll be a sensor, normally the coolant one and the fuel one are weak spots.

[Ferret101]

Yes thats a known problem with the tip box, well at least it is on Audi a4's a colleague of mines got one and had that happen at about 45k miles, exactly the same symptoms and problem, replaced by audi under 'goodwill'.

This is not exclusive to the VAG brand - iirc the auto boxes are built by ZF - the same brand used in BMW. Since they swapped to "sealed for life" gearboxes bmw have been having regular failures over the 60-70k mark of most of their auto cars. You'd regularly see posts pop up on the bmw forums along the lines of "Argh, gearbox failure at 7x,xxx miles!"

If the car is running ok, it'll be a sensor, normally the coolant one and the fuel one are weak spots.

Not necessarily - there's one other component that fails (after talking to the dealer) on a regular basis on the V6 TDi and it's something I've already had to repair. It's the intake manifold electronically controlled flap. Once it's thrown an error condition, it defaults into an open position so that you dont notice any difference in the running.

It's effectively a throttle plate controlled by the ECU that tunes the intake manifold for maximum efficiency. The problem comes when the packing seals in the flap shaft fail, and oily crap starts leaking into its electronics - it gets all over the nylon gears inside and the flap starts to stick. Took me two days of fiddling and cleaning the gears to get it moving smoothly again... it's a delicate job too, quite scary.

EDIT: Threw the error at approx 110k miles - still going strong

Edited 21 May, 2009 by Ferret101

[johannapam1]

latest update, new engine 6000 miles old or so --------check engine light, 'emissions workshop!' message - here we go again.....

Surely any problems will be under a warranty???

[wrenko]

27,000 miles 2 and half years old. No probs with car but lousy dealer experience. Av 34 mpg (lots of London traffic so happy). Just cruises to and from work.

[ericsuperbee]

My Superbee was a Jewsons Oxford demo - came with 10k on the clock in Oct 06. Daily commute Reading - Guildford / monthly Reading - Ipswich trips now just turned 62k. Average 35mpg commute, up to 44mpg on run. Oil / filter changed every 10k, front pads x1, rears x2. Only 1 unscheduled problem - little plastic fuel run-back filter on N/S/F of engine cracked / replaced under warranty earlier this year. Tows my 1930 Morris Minor + trailer as though neither were there. Only serious gripe is with the Tip - won't entertain 5th below 40, and with so many 40mph speed limits around it's a pain. But I still wouldn't know where to look for better value for money - maybe I'm lucky!!