Shop Shots Volume 76 Insider Pictures of Automotive Service

VW TDI Turbo Problem

Happy Wednesday everyone! We are coming off the last “unofficial” weekend of summer. Being that it is 95 today, I am not buying that 🙂 . Now is the time we need to start thinking about getting our cars ready for winter. Over the next few weeks we will be looking at all the things we can do to be ready for the cold weather and snow(yikes). But first, we have to rock some Shop Shots!

Oh, one quick thing. There was some type of update glitch with WordPress. That knocked out some of the features I have installed on the blog. It should not impact any of the content, but some of the little things I have installed may not work. Just hang in there, I am working on getting all of it fixed.

Funny things DRIVERS DOFirst up is something that I see a lot. It is also something that I like to poke fun at. This customer has their Craftsman garage door opener clipped on to the visor. No big deal right? Well it just so happens that It is clipped right next to the built in garage opener.

You might be wondering why the heck someone would do something like that. Well, the truth is, new openers can be a pain to program. I said that I poke fun at this, but I was guilty too. I owned my Passat for about 6 years before I finally programmed that dang built in opener. That was mostly me being lazy 😉

VW TDI Turbo ProblemNext up is one of those stories that comes around from time to time. First off you are looking at a big hole in the intercooler of a TDI Golf. This causes air to leak in, or leak out depending on driving situation.

This customer had the diesel fuel system replaced about 2 years ago. The car had a HPFP(High pressure fuel pump) failure. The customer called back saying that the car was acting funny again, and that it better have a warranty from the last repair. The customer was convinced that it was related to the repair we did.

When my tech pulled the car in, we could hear the boost leak. After some inspections, we found that the car had impact damage to the lower front of the car. The impact also damaged the radiator, condenser, and core support. I hate that the customer needed so much work, but I am sure glad it was not our fault.

Broken VW windowLast up is one of my LEAST favorite repairs to make, a broken window. This GTI came in with the window glass broken. Replacing the glass is not a hard job. It is the working with all the broken glass that is awful. If you have had a glass break, post which window it was in the comments.

If you have never had a broken window in a car, consider yourself lucky. Glass from the window goes EVERYWHERE! Glass in the seat track, under the carpet, in the door, under switches, and the worst jammed in the window track and seal. This car went back to clean up 3 times to get the glass out. I don’t think I have ever replaced a broken glass with out getting at least 1 cut.

That wraps up another volume of Shop Shots! Remember that just about all of these pictures come right from me. They are not searched in Google, or skimmed from another site. They are the real deal from a VW dealer tech.

9 replies
  1. Peter
    Peter says:

    That hole in the intercooler feeds the plastic oilpan debate. Granted it was due to an impact but would it have survived being another material of the metallic type? Due to weight I know that plastic is here to stay but I’m not a fan.

    Reply
    • Charles
      Charles says:

      I think I have done a hand full of glass replacements, 2 or 3 of which I broke.

      All of them were awful. 😉

      I might want to pick your brain about winter storage for muscle cars. Thoughts?

      Reply
  2. Phi Ho
    Phi Ho says:

    Just finished MDX broken window glass at right rear, got some cut…In Houston around 100 degree everyday. We wish winter come early….
    Still working for 1961 Air cool engine 1.2L. Rebulit a whole engine…hard to find parts

    Reply

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