So she's in with the Stealer...

[Teutonic_Tamer]

With regards to the rear brake light mine doesn't seem to have any water in it but half the LED's are shot.  Quoted £400 to have it replaced (inc new spoiler and spraying) from a VW bodyshop.

Bit late now, but check the angle of your rear squirter - I'm gobsmacked to still see Mk5 Golfs with the rear squirter aiming at the 12'o'clock position - ie straight up, directly at the high level brake light.  The official ElsaWin workshop manual clearly states the squirter should be aimed at the 2o'clock position - at an angle which clears the brake light.

[Teutonic_Tamer]

Probably getting F**ked as per usual, its in at Drift Bridge in Surrey, they do a reasonable job, i'd probably use the local independant but i need to use main dealers whilst its on Finance still,

Oh well 

Really?  I doubt it...maybe serviced in line with the OEM schedule but if you are able to have it serviced outwith the dealer network and keep the warranty on a new car I don't see why you HAVE to use the dealers for the finance either?

This specific case has nothing to do with the warranty.  If the car is on finance, and the finance company states that it must only be serviced at a VW garage, then you have to bite the bullet.  Because the car is on finance, it is the finance company who are the legal owner of the car, and they can makey any (reasonable) demands they see fit.  But if you owned the car outright (ie without any finance), then you, the owner can choose where to get it serviced.

[Teutonic_Tamer]

My mistake... :embarassed: Scanning through VW ElsaWin, for the GTI, the roof spolier needs to to be cut off before being able to access the brake light.
Have pdfs if anyone is interested.

Yup, and they are also available as free downloads in my sticky thread in the maintenance section - handily titled "Free Golf V workshop manuals"   

[Teutonic_Tamer]

Just picked the GTi up, bill was just a little less than i expected with £949 the final result 

Yikes - still a lot of money to me!  Those prices are in Audi RS territory!

Everything seems ok, i was hoping the spark plug and cambelt change might 100% cure a minor lumpy idle i noticed but doesnt seem to have 100% stopped it, still its so slight i'll probably survive.

What fuel do you use?  And did they replace the air filter and fuel filters?

My only slight concern is that i asked them to make it time and distance and accordingly they used non long life 'Synta Gold' oil, for some reason i had it in my head that they used long life on all services now, any experineces of this oil? 

Yikes again - and serious YIKES.  Your stealer have completely FAILED to comply with Volkswagen UK and Volkswagen AG.  They both clearly state that from the start of 2009, ALL modern VAG cars, even when on T&D servicing - MUST still use the LongLife 3 oils.  I suggest you make a formal complaint, and get them to change the oil and filter again (at their cost) and fill it with the correct LL3 oil.

For the record, Synta Gold is an OBSOLETE oil, and is NOT specifed (therefore not developed) for FSI engines.

In line with this when i check the service interval by holding down the mile reset and turning the ignition it strangely still says service now but the service team did take it back round to the garage and have them re-check and they assure me it is set to T&D, with today at 0 days 0miles,

That is still wrong.  If it had been correctly coded for T&D, it should immediately display (when doing a 'manual' call up of the Service Interval Display) of 365 days, and 9,700 miles - and these readings are instantaneous.  It is only the LongLife regime which gets a series of dashes in the SID immediately after a service - simply down to the fact that the SID computer needs to re-calculate all the revised parameters.

Look in the maintenance + info child section of this forum, and find the thread (by "The Doc") on how to manually reset your SID.

I guess that's less important now its on a time and distance as i'm sure i can work out 1 year/10k miles without too much trouble.

Agreed, but it would actually be nice if the thick mechs at the stealers could actually do their jobs correctly - afterall, it isn't as though you didn't have the job done on the cheap! 

[rskardon]

Thanks TT, comprehensive as usual,

Fuel wise i use 99 Tesco or Shell V-power depending on which i am near, i did have the air filter replaced but not the fuel filter, should it be replaced by default as part of the service?

With regards to the Oil used do you know where i could find the new protocol laid out, i can imagine if i go to them saying that the oil should always be longlife without some kind of proof they will no doubt fob me off. would you compalin to the dealer or VW UK? Fecking annoying to have to make the effort!

I'll look for the thread on SID, can I set it to T&D or does it only work for longlife?

Cheers,

R

[rskardon]

Hmm, tried the Docs SID reset, doesnt seem to work, still says service now afterwards 

Seems my sid is screwed!

R

[Teutonic_Tamer]

Thanks TT, comprehensive as usual,

You're welcome.

Fuel wise i use 99 Tesco or Shell V-power depending on which i am near, i did have the air filter replaced but not the fuel filter, should it be replaced by default as part of the service?

The fuel filter does not have any specified replacement interval - so they didn't "miss" anything from the service schedule by not replacing it.  But wise advice is to get a petrol fuel filter replaced every 40k miles - or every 80k miles at an absolute max.

With regards to the Oil used do you know where i could find the new protocol laid out, i can imagine if i go to them saying that the oil should always be longlife without some kind of proof they will no doubt fob me off. would you compalin to the dealer or VW UK? Fecking annoying to have to make the effort!

There is some official guidelines, I got mine, quite a few months ago, from https://erWin.Volkswagen.com - it is the official site for VWAG factory info (identical to what the stealer uses), but is for the independent motor trade, and sadly, you have to pay for access, and the docs are in 'SealedMedia' meaning you can't save them.

Regarding the Synta Gold, it is only rated at VW 502.00 - which is an old skool petrol engine rating, and 502.00 does not include any FSI specific tests, nor any "High Temperature, High Sheer" (HTHS) tests, which all petrol turbo cars (irrespective of FSI or not) really do need.

Finally, ALL Quantum oils are NOT authorised for 'workshop use' - Quantum oils are only supposed to be 'sold over the counter' for independents or home users.  All VAG franchised workshops must only use either Volkswagen genuine oils, or oils agreed from an official contract supplier, such as Castrol, Shell, Fuchs, etc.

I'll look for the thread on SID, can I set it to T&D or does it only work for longlife?

If you manually reset your SID according to that thread, then it will ONLY work to T&D regimes.  The only way the SID can be set to LongLife is by hooking up either vag-com or the stealers own VAS computers.

[rskardon]

Hmmm, well it might be worth me at least sending the dealer an email/letter to have a moan, i might try ringing VW HQ too, though i have a suspicion the dealer will respond that it is standard practice on T&D,

I'm quite surprised they are using non approved oils as they generally seem to be quite good in most repsects. is the Sytha not actually a VW approved oil then? i could use that as an argument.

Worst case, in 10k/ 1 year do you think it poses a risk? She's always had longlife before, i guess i could by some longlife and either change it myself or have a cheaper specialst change it if it is likely to cause damge, there's 48k on the clock,

cheers,

R

[ub7rm]

With regards to the rear brake light mine doesn't seem to have any water in it but half the LED's are shot.  Quoted £400 to have it replaced (inc new spoiler and spraying) from a VW bodyshop.

Bit late now, but check the angle of your rear squirter - I'm gobsmacked to still see Mk5 Golfs with the rear squirter aiming at the 12'o'clock position - ie straight up, directly at the high level brake light.  The official ElsaWin workshop manual clearly states the squirter should be aimed at the 2o'clock position - at an angle which clears the brake light.

In my case I don't actualy think there is any water in there.  I'm a bit annoyed as I specifically checked for any signs of water / condensation before the warranty ran out so if there was a problem it would be sorted FOC.

The squuirter does aim straight up but the jet of water hits the screen roughly half way 3/4 of the way up so I don't see how this would fill the light anyway.  Unless they are making the lens out of some porus material 

Clearly there is an issue but I think its more likely that for those who have water in them its getting in from the top - probably the point where the cable or screws enters the fitting.

[ub7rm]

Probably getting F**ked as per usual, its in at Drift Bridge in Surrey, they do a reasonable job, i'd probably use the local independant but i need to use main dealers whilst its on Finance still,

Oh well 

Really?  I doubt it...maybe serviced in line with the OEM schedule but if you are able to have it serviced outwith the dealer network and keep the warranty on a new car I don't see why you HAVE to use the dealers for the finance either?

This specific case has nothing to do with the warranty.  If the car is on finance, and the finance company states that it must only be serviced at a VW garage, then you have to bite the bullet.  Because the car is on finance, it is the finance company who are the legal owner of the car, and they can makey any (reasonable) demands they see fit.  But if you owned the car outright (ie without any finance), then you, the owner can choose where to get it serviced.

I did read the bit where he said it was a finance issue.  My point was that if its illegal for car manufacturers to demand that their cars are serviced only by their dealers for the warranty to remain valid then the same competition laws apply to the manufacturers finance companies.  In any case I have finance through VW and although their is a requirement to service the car to the manufacturers schedule / standards it doesn't specify that it has to be VW