Cheers JV.
My last car, a Clio 1.5 dCi caused me a fair few headaches needing a replacement gearbox, starter motor and a list of other problems in the 2 years I have owned it. It was was having starting problems in October which turned out to be a relay but revealed that at least two of my glow pugs were gone and stuck in the cylinder head so the search for a new car began.
Just before Christmas I bought my first Volkswagen; it’s a 2001 (Mk 4) Golf GT TDi 130. Doing over 20K miles a year I was looking for a nippy diesel that would be fun and more reliable than my Clio. Other than the 18" alloys it came stock, the only things I could notice were a Dubmeister "Spirit of Wolfsburg" plate holder, possibly bought with the private plates that the car came with.
I booked the Golf straight in for a service the following week. Before the service came around a few faults started to appear, the boot would not close without being locked, the rear washer would not work and then two days in my clutch started slipping. I was gutted to have spent most of my expendable cash on the car and need a replacement clutch the week before Christmas. Some of the quotes I was getting were more than I could afford to pay and all the garages were closing for Christmas and New Year.
I re-insured the Clio and found a well priced replacement clutch on eBay. I still got the service done and my mechanic managed to fix the boot catch. I left the Golf at the garage for the clutch to be replaced after Newyear when the garage opened again.
2pc clutch kit from VirginAutoParts £49+P&P
Slave clylinder from AV Taylor £29.99
When the clutch came out I went down to the garage and it was apparent that the dual-mass flywheel was going to need replacing. Again more money than I had so I bought a used flywheel from eBay for £50+P&P which came with a used clutch kit.
After the long wait I got the Golf back and it seemed to be running fine. Shortly after I started getting a “STOP.. Check Coolantâ€. I checked the coolant and it was low so went down the dealership and got the coolant. Got a tyre put on the spare steel wheel in my boot while I was out.
I topped up the coolant and it seemed to run fine for a day or two. Shortly after the same message was back and the coolant had been lost. I re-insured the Clio and waited the weekend for the garage to open. This morning I’ve took the car back to the garage to fault find the leaking coolant. Before I drove the Golf to the garage I topped the coolant bottle up with water and I didn’t get any warnings all the way there.
I’ve just had a call from the garage who tell me they have had it running for the best part of 2 hours (I’ll be needing diesel then) and they can’t see it leaking anywhere. I’ve asked them to drain the coolant, refill it and put it on the rolling road. Turns out they’ve only got a break tester but I’m waiting for a further call to see what they can do.
I don't have the best luck with cars
