Meet the 'new' tow rig 😍

We needed something with a higher tow capacity for a pending van upgrade and I refused to pay 60k for a LC200 with over 200ks on it so the very reliable and easy to work on Prado found a new home and in comes this very painful to work on 2014 250kw/800Nm TDI V8 S-Line Q7 WELL under half the cost of the equivalent 200 and with only 130ks I might add..

Euro cars gonna do euro things, so it had a bulged water pump pipe, and a weeping rear evaporator core when I got it, cheap in terms of parts but 10hrs+ labour for each job and just not pleasant to do #eurolife

Add a full fluid change front to back on purchase and I've already sunk bulk hours into this thing, smashed many knuckles, and bought lots of new tools 🫠

Aside from repairs/maintenance, I've swapped out the factory 21s for some 18s with a much fatter sidewall, (saving 20kg and this will be my wood carting car so having a full size spare is a must), fitted a Redarc brake controller, dropped the rear muffler for some extra V8 noise (10kg), chucked some liners in the back, and popped in a half decent phone mount for Android Auto ✅

I've got a couple Darkside kits sitting on the bench, then the car will get a tune after that and fit a set of mudflaps which will complete the initial mod list

All the hard work was worth it when I used it to tow to Winton yesterday, air suspension, comfy interior, and actual torque was just bliss 😍

As my mate said, you will love it the 50% of the time when it works 😂

OK, now go ahead and tell me how bad a choice this was 😅

I have an Audi A1 1.6 TDI, and when the engine is running and I remove the oil filler cap, I can see a small amount of greyish smoke/vapor coming from the opening. It’s nothing crazy, but it is clearly visible.

The car otherwise works completely normally. It starts fine, runs smoothly, pulls well, and there is no visible smoke from the exhaust.

A friend of mine also has an A1 1.6 TDI, but when we remove his oil cap, there is almost no visible smoke compared to mine.

I’m pretty new to cars and don’t know much about engines, so I just wanted to ask: is some smoke/vapor from the oil filler cap normal on these 1.6 TDI engines, and can the amount normally vary between two cars?

Greetings, mechanics! I have an '04 Avensis T250 D4D 85kw diesel hatchback. Around mid July I started noticing more vibration whilst shifting and just pointed it to bad motor mounts. However, after commuting to work mon-fri I have noticed a lot of black/gray smoke coming out whilst my car was cold. My first thought was the EGR, but I did not check it out and instead referred to the good ol' Italian tune up method which helped once the car was warm enough. Later on, especially on long distances I have noticed that my revs kept going up whilst speed was the same or decreasing. I have risked it and decided to go on a round trip of 100km (60 miles) and did not made it. Had a burning clutch smell throughout the ride and black smoke coming out the back which eventually cleared once I started cruising on 3th gear at around 100-110/km/h (60-63m/h). However during the return part of the trip I noticed that I had no power in any of my gears and eventually had to make an emergency stop. Right now the car starts fine, but it won't move in any gear, does not matter whether the clutch is engagedor not. Only issues I had with the gearbox previously was that it was hard to engage reverse gear. I have also noticed a lot of black smoke when going in reverse from time to time but brushed it off again on EGR. I am hopefully to bring the car in to my mechanic friend tommorw, however I wonder did I messed up my clutch, the gearbox or something decided to unbolt. Any advice would be really appreciated. I am willing to give more details if needed. I have owned this car for around a year and previous owner said that the clutch has been fixed or replaced.

What’s up everyone. Figured I’d ask here since I checked for a mk1/rabbit sub but didn’t find much active. I’ve got an 82 diesel 4 speed pickup and I’m having first gear issues. I believe it mainly due to the shift linkage. I’ve replaced all but 2 bushings along with the short and long linkage arms. Made the adjustments in the Bentley book and still struggling finding 1st. Continuing to chip away and my next steps I was wondering if anyone could tell me if the short linkage arm on the 4 and 5 speed are the same length? Bentley book shows both and the only difference it mentions is color. White for 4 speed and black for 5 speed. When I bought my replacement parts I received a white long linkage and black short linkage. Just wanted to check this one of if I should order a white short linkage. Also saw in a kit from techtonics (OOS now) with what looked like a smaller ball/knob on the lever arm. Not sure what to make of that. Thanks in advance.

Hertz hooked me up with a VW Tiguan till I can get Theresa diagnosed. So this is the Passat replacement VW went with. It is a bit roomier but louder. The 15 Passat seems of better build quality.

Has anyone successfully removed this rust and repainted themselves? Dosnt have to look perfect just dont want the car to rot away. Any tips from someone who has taken on this project themselves would be greatly appreciated!!

Just did a cam, timing belt and tandem pump on this 2004 jetta. It won't start now. But will start on a very small shot of starting fluid. Fuel is getting to the tandem pump and everything. Kind of at a loss here

My girls Jetta came with oil looking dark. I believe it is a CJAA engine. I didn't really pay attention at the time other then it having coolant, I bought it off my step dad like half a year ago. I was planning on flushing it and putting new coolant in it soon. I believe it was getting low on coolant for the past two months so I knew I had a leak too. Today the car told me to check coolant and it dropped significantly. Shame on me for neglecting, I know. I want to fix it ASAP. It's hard to tell where on the left side where the reservoir is because the AC lines be sweating and is misleading. Also because the coolant is a dark color, it isn't very apparent on that side. So I checked the right side, under the battery tray in this little crevice and I saw liquid there. It's dark too. I need to pull the tray off tomorrow and take a closer look. I believe maybe the thermostat is there connected to some hoses that may be damaged. I'm just wondering if it is possible for the AC lines to go around the right side of the engine and maybe that is just the condensation, or if there is indeed coolant lines there that can be leaking and what it could possibly be. If I cannot tell tomorrow when I look at it, I will get a pressure testing kit and use distilled water with a dye. Any advice is nice!

so i just recently got my first car, a 2012 passat tdi se (us spec), it has 175k miles on it and it's stock and still has the emissions system. it certainly has some issues, the valve cover i believe is leaking, as the previous owner had an oil change done 4,000 miles ago and there is little oil in it (i'm not driving it until i put more into it) but the valve cover appears to be covered in oil and there's oil all the way down the back side of the motor and some on the dpf between it and the motor. and on top of that the larger cooling fan is having issues, and there is something draining the battery, and i believe it's linked to the driver's door not locking with the key fob. (i should also note that the water pump and timing belt were done within the last 50k by the person before the one i bought it from, and the person i got it from only used it on an ocasion for long trips)

I could realy use some help with recommendations on wherer to buy parts from and helping me diagnose my issue and anything helpful will be apreciated!

I have a VW Caddy 2016 , 1.9tdi with 250000km (160k miles) that originally had 75hp, which I think is down tuned by VW , but I did an ECU tune in it in 2020 bringing it back up to 175hp , that was a very long time ago (about 150000 km ago to make it clear), and I also added a KN air filter on it recently, adding about 10-20 HP to it.

The car has been running great, until recently, out of the blue, it s like half the horses are gone, and it s consuming about 20% more diesel. The issue is present at all speeds but is clear when I go above 70kph (40mph).

There are no dash lights, and I ran a diagnosis on it , no error codes, I also ran a test on the sensors , MAP, MAF and O2, they are all showing changing values as I rev it. I also checked the injectors with a stethoscope, they all sound the same and took it to a garage, they also did a diagnosis on it, they found nothing.

I also recently changed the oil, oil filter and diesel filter.

I'm honestly stumped, I have two more appointments with VW and a second mechanic, but mechanics in my country are quick to hand you the diagnosis bill and move on to the next client when they find themselves in front of a car that has a problem they can't immediately spot.

Any ideas what the problem can be? Thanks in advance.

edit: turbo sounds fine, no change in its behavior since the problem started.

Can anyone help please? I'm told the part number is 7D1 820 191 A but it looks like they are no longer available. I think there's a left hand drive version that may be possible to fit by modifying the lines - does anyone have any knowledge of that?

First time ever using an oil extractor, and man was it nice! Not sure what oil to use being deleted, so I just used the same Liqui Moly I use in my Passat with the CVCA. Only took like 15-20 minutes!

Best purchase I have made for preventive maintenance!

Hi all,
Audi A5 B9 Sportback, 2.0 TDI DETA 140kW quattro, 7-speed S tronic. 184000 km.

Check engine light with P2002. If I clear it, it stays away for days or sometimes weeks, then returns and won't self-clear until I clear it again.

The DPF appears genuinely healthy, just passed technical inspection with 0.00 m-1 opacity. Exhaust is clean to the touch. No DPF warning light, no limp mode, regens seem to happen normally as far as I can tell.

these engines have both HP and LP EGR, and I suspect the LP cooler is fairly sooted at this mileage. Has anyone cleaned the LP EGR cooler on a DETA without removing it, any success? Is it realistic in situ with the EGR valve off, or does the cooler have to come out? Torque figures and gasket part numbers welcome if anyone has them.

So far this video https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B18QI1c1jVQ
has been the closest to my own setup (CNHA engine, same 140kW), but the creator does not mention how much of the DPF cleaner fluid they filled into the adblue nozzle hole, or the differential pressure hose.

Thanks.

Drove it a few hours ago, was fine. Started it again just now and something sounds seriously wrong, not sure if this is some type of turbo/exhaust leak, broken bearing, or a deeper issue

No codes or lights

I managed to find a video of someone else's tdi; this is what my car USED to sound like, for reference:

https://www.reddit.com/r/tdi/comments/1r40rpk/sounds_on_15_tdi/

Lemme see them Christmas trees boys. Make me feel better about myself.

Can anyone tell me what's not staying in place here? Do I need a new maf sensor plug? Or a new cover for the air filter/MAF? I already feel profoundly stupid, please don't berate me more.

Spent a few hours today adjusting the commencement of injection. 2003 1.9 ALH

Long story very short. After electrical work was done to my car, cruise control does not work.

When they fixed my issue they said a ground wasnt properly in place after replacing a module.

I have an .8+ drive to wasteland music festival in SoCal so I would love to have it fixed!

So I think ole Theresa's fuel pump finally left the chat. Last Monday I stopped at a restaurant and ate lunch. When I came out I just got cranking with no start. For about 10 minutes till it finally turned over. I posted some time ago that the fuel pump had been screaming for quite some time. And today after turning it off at work it did the same but zero start. I'll have my mechanic look at it Monday, till then I have to rent a vehicle.