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Late model T5 problems still exist?

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tarka View Drop Down
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote tarka Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 01 Nov 09 at 02:02
Well, mines an 04 174 and has been bloody great, as was the 102 T4. Although the T4 was better build quality. The only problem i had was the slave cylinder going. Carrs quoted me £60 for the part, £850 fitted!!!!! Whos bloody bright idea was it to put it in with the fookin clutch?            TW A TS!! 
But seriously, i love my T5 and to be totally honest, whats the alternative? My neighbour has a transit. OK, cheap spares, but labour is labour wherever you go and as you can see from above, it aint cheap!! His transit has been in for repair EVERY month for 18 months now!!!!!!! Mine hasnt been in once! And the transit isnt even a pleasure to drive.
You can be lucky, you can be unlucky, thats life, but i would count on a VW for the better odds every time :)
2004 SWB 174bhp Raven Blue Kombi
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote energysolutions Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 01 Nov 09 at 11:47
Originally posted by tarka tarka wrote:

Well, mines an 04 174 and has been bloody great, as was the 102 T4. Although the T4 was better build quality. The only problem i had was the slave cylinder going. Carrs quoted me £60 for the part, £850 fitted!!!!! Whos bloody bright idea was it to put it in with the fookin clutch?            TW A TS!! 
But seriously, i love my T5 and to be totally honest, whats the alternative? My neighbour has a transit. OK, cheap spares, but labour is labour wherever you go and as you can see from above, it aint cheap!! His transit has been in for repair EVERY month for 18 months now!!!!!!! Mine hasnt been in once! And the transit isnt even a pleasure to drive.
You can be lucky, you can be unlucky, thats life, but i would count on a VW for the better odds every time :)
 
Some good points there - like you say, what are the alternatives?
 
Every van/vehicle has their own set of faults (T5 included) but at least when they are going the T5 is a great van to drive
 
Transits in my locality seem prone to rust, spotted a fresh looking one the other days with several good sized blotches around it, not as bad as Vitos but poor none the less.
 
!!Never Eat Yellow Snow!!
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote gason Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 01 Dec 09 at 22:08
you cannot beat the drive and the reliability of vw in my opinion
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote al-n-ing Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 06 Dec 09 at 11:38

Well I have read this thred through about 4 times!!

And each time I seem to come to the same conclusion; the best T5 is the 1.9/102 – comments please?

You see for the first time in my life, I have enough money in my hot sticky little hands to be able to buy a NEW motor (recently sold both T4 & T5 campers). I was going for the 2.5/130 but now I think I’ll stick with 1.9; best price I have found (in last 2 weeks) is £16000 inc. (unregistered) & that’s for 1.9/102 LWB with air con, electric pack, glassed tail gate & in blue, so should be good for another camper conversion (already have most of interior inc the blue worktop).

Any body know of one cheaper?  If so where? please tell me before I go spend too much

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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote kawolsky Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 06 Dec 09 at 16:40
thats a girls van. get a 174!  [ducks for cover]!
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote al-n-ing Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 06 Dec 09 at 19:46

the problem with the 174 is.... most of em break down, or could it be they get thrashed to death?

Nar I think its due to VW trying to get too much out of the engine; same reason I would not buy the new 2lt with twin turbo. Sorry, just don’t think it’s the right way to go. If you want more gee gee’s then quite simply put a bigger engine in…. I wonder if I could fit a Peugeot 2.8td in to a T5?

And before you ask; yes I do think Peugeot diesels are the best, just not keen on the rest of it (that’s why I have a Picasso 2lt Hdi & not the 1.6 producing more bhp).

 

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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote Ex-car bloke Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 06 Dec 09 at 21:35
Originally posted by al-n-ing al-n-ing wrote:

the problem with the 174 is.... most of em break down
 
Yeah, that's an accurate, substantiated statement, you really don't want to get a 174, they're terrible, always breaking down, bloody awful vans......LOL
ECB           2006 SWB 174 window van
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote Mervyn Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 10 Dec 09 at 12:25

Hi,

I live in South Africa and drive a T5 TDi 4 motion.  The family has had huge amounts of fun in it - it has taken across the length and breadth of Southern Africa.  However at 95 000kms it developed a problem. Some grit and got into the oil and jammed one of the timing cogs (there are about 8 of these cogs all interlocking).  All I needed to repair it was a bush and VW refused to supply me one. The answer was that they do not fix, only replace the TDi engines.   A local workshop has managed to manufacture a part but it takes 10 longer than it would have had the part been available. I thought the policy of not providing vehicle spares very disappointing.

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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote spikesa Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 26 Dec 09 at 09:40
yes the problems do still exist. my 06 128KW 4mo is back in its second home, Weiss VW in Amanzimtoti South Africa. Worst part its in there over the xmas weekend. Wrecked my plans to take my kids water skiing this weekend. No bus no ski. I use the van as a general commute, tow a caravan maybe twice a year, a boat 5 times a year and dont really load it heavily using it to transport my offroad bike or trials bike most weekends. The van has done 156000kms now so when the service manager suggested that maybe the clutch failure was due to abuse I wanted to deck him. Because of the numeraous threads about DMF and clutches etc I have taken a lot of care when driving this van, mostly short shifting, waiting for it to warm up properly but most importantly not stomping on the gas as the van has so much torque you would expect it to rip the clutch apart. To add insult to injury the dealer told me there were no spare parts in Durban so I ran around and delivered a new release bearing, LUK clutch kit and DMF before 9am the next morning but alas they did not have enough time to get the van back to me for the start of the weekend although they had a full day and a half in which to do the job (too much other work).
Since I bought the van it has had a new turbo, new aircon compressor, new water pump and oil cooler, new exhaust manifold and the leaking rear windows which are still unresolved. 
So thats it, between myself and the insurers the van has cost about R80000 to fix in 155kkms which I think is unacceptably high not to mention that it has let me down once to many times now. I cannot believe that VW can allow such poorly engineered components to sully the name of what is otherwise a great van, if you look at it, its the components that are failing not the actual VW engineered parts. But surely its VW's job to ensure that the components they use measure up to provide a reliable package. So now the big question, what to replace it with. In the light of aforementioned problems I expect that the new 2L will be even mores stressed than the 2,5 so I am thinking 3L Vito. Anyone know of a good MB forum where I can have a look at the issues surrounding the Vito.
Lastly I also own 6 x 1.9 TDI caddies and they also have clutch and turbo problems, funny enough when compared with our Nissan NP 200s which we also use they are less reliable and way more expensive to run overall.
I have not been happy with the response I have had from VW regarding the unreliability of the T5 and Caddy's so time to move on.         
T5 transporter 128kw
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote kawolsky Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 26 Dec 09 at 09:48
Originally posted by spikesa spikesa wrote:

yes the problems do still exist. my 06 128KW 4mo is back in its second home, Weiss VW in Amanzimtoti South Africa. Worst part its in there over the xmas weekend. Wrecked my plans to take my kids water skiing this weekend. No bus no ski. I use the van as a general commute, tow a caravan maybe twice a year, a boat 5 times a year and dont really load it heavily using it to transport my offroad bike or trials bike most weekends. The van has done 156000kms now so when the service manager suggested that maybe the clutch failure was due to abuse I wanted to deck him. Because of the numeraous threads about DMF and clutches etc I have taken a lot of care when driving this van, mostly short shifting, waiting for it to warm up properly but most importantly not stomping on the gas as the van has so much torque you would expect it to rip the clutch apart. To add insult to injury the dealer told me there were no spare parts in Durban so I ran around and delivered a new release bearing, LUK clutch kit and DMF before 9am the next morning but alas they did not have enough time to get the van back to me for the start of the weekend although they had a full day and a half in which to do the job (too much other work).
Since I bought the van it has had a new turbo, new aircon compressor, new water pump and oil cooler, new exhaust manifold and the leaking rear windows which are still unresolved. 
So thats it, between myself and the insurers the van has cost about R80000 to fix in 155kkms which I think is unacceptably high not to mention that it has let me down once to many times now. I cannot believe that VW can allow such poorly engineered components to sully the name of what is otherwise a great van, if you look at it, its the components that are failing not the actual VW engineered parts. But surely its VW's job to ensure that the components they use measure up to provide a reliable package. So now the big question, what to replace it with. In the light of aforementioned problems I expect that the new 2L will be even mores stressed than the 2,5 so I am thinking 3L Vito. Anyone know of a good MB forum where I can have a look at the issues surrounding the Vito.
Lastly I also own 6 x 1.9 TDI caddies and they also have clutch and turbo problems, funny enough when compared with our Nissan NP 200s which we also use they are less reliable and way more expensive to run overall.
I have not been happy with the response I have had from VW regarding the unreliability of the T5 and Caddy's so time to move on.         
You SURE it's not your driving?
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote Studioman Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 26 Dec 09 at 12:30
we sold our remaining 5 pot T5's because they were in the garage way too often, and in real driving conditions with different drivers they were just too uneconomical. they were fun but they were just too much hassle for us as business users
on the other hand we have found our remaining mid-spec 104 T5 to be very reliable with no serious issues and fuel economy actually increasing now at approx 38mpg overall
as you all know i await the face-lift economy engines with great interest
 
Smile
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote spikesa Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 29 Dec 09 at 05:45
I am pretty sure its not my driving. As I have been around and under cars and motorbikes for many years I pretty much understand the mechanics of cars and clutches.
I recently had to get a friend to drive my van to Lesotho while I went the long way round on my adventure bike and he got a big lecture before he left about jack rabbit starts and shortshifting etc.
 
I will post a pic of the clutch plate later. The agent suggested not replacing the DMF as it was in perfect condition. I thought otherwise and replaced the whole clutch. The cost of the dmf and clutch and pressure plate kit was R 9000 from LUK but via another VW dealer, the release bearing was another R1200. If I had bought the parts from Weiss the cost would have been R 16500 and then labour another R 3800 so its quite a costly affair.
 
Looking at the clutch plate, there is virtually no wear on the friction material but the innner spring steel plates that connect the centre to the outer are ripped to pieces. The last car clutch I looked at had springs which cushion the inner to outer. I am going to send the pics to LUK anyway.
 
Drove the V6 Vito yesterday, goes very well, a little toomuch body roll in corners, no VAT back from the taxman though and not suitable for loading bikes really as we dont get the panel van version in SA but definitely worth a look. 
I will wait until the new T5 gets here in Feb,probably buy one but with a full maintenance plan      
T5 transporter 128kw
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote spikesa Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 14 Jan 10 at 17:14

OK so I got the T5 back from its second home with 2 dented sills under the front doors, due to them using the wrong hoist apparently, but they deny all responsibility, amazing as it has happened before. So I load up the van and hit the road from Durban to Cape Town, 1700kms, a 2 day affair. Get to Cape Town all is well except the power steering pump growl, within a day of arriving in Cape Town the brand new clutch starts slipping as the van goes over 2500rpm. I take the van into a commercial dealer where I have to throw a few toys because they only look at it the next day and only after VWSA get involved. Today I get a call, come in and have a look. The spigot shaft oil seal had leaked and was spewing oil onto the clutch. Add to this that the left inside CV boot had torn apart spewing grease all over the place. But now it appears that I have a mechanic who knows what he is doing. He has ordered all the parts and tells me that its not the PS pump but just the top front shock/strut rubbers that are worn, change them and the growl will go away. My usual dealer was about to change the PS pump?? Well once it is all back together I suppose we will have to fight about the bill. Brand new clutch in the dumpster, all because of a seal costing R15. By the way, I looked at the removed seal, cannot see any reason why it leaked, still looked new, no sign of damage, also checked that there was not excessive end float on the spigot shaft. Labour to remove the box/clutch is 6.2 hrs.

Just hope it gets me back to Durban on Saturday. 

Really worried about the reliability of the new T5.  2 turbos, 2 litre engine, more stressed, mechanics who know nothing about the van, dealers who try but fail, VW who dont give a shit, time to change, but to what? R 400K van, 157000kms add R80K for problems, expensive van!! 

     

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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote triple Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 26 Jan 10 at 21:06
My mate has got a 2008 174 with 20k miles, he's had it from new and it just had to have a new turbo and driveshaft fitted under warranty.
I would,nt say he drives like madman but he dos,nt pootle about either, its odd how some vans give problems and some are fine even though they are exactly the same. 

Tornado red celtic mapped lwb 174 AXE.
2014 bmw s1000r.
ktm 350 freeride
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote energysolutions Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 08 Feb 10 at 22:57
It seems a very common problem for late model T5 is a joint under/around the drivers seat area getting wet and corroding, this usually results in the central locking going haywire and other crazy electrical faults 
 
 
 
 
 
 
!!Never Eat Yellow Snow!!
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote spats Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 05 Mar 10 at 12:32
i think as everyone drives differently and carries different loads you just cant say which is more likely to have issues.
 
ive seen a 100k 53 plate van with a shattered turbo, which blew into the head causing valve damage and piston slap. but when they started to take the engnie apart they found the bottom shells were blue from lack of oil too! but still had the orginal DMF!
 
then ive seen a similar aged 174 with 180k on the clock and its been reliable as you like, even still out pulls a new 180bit too!
 
the only vans that arent vw with anywhere near those miles just isnt worth looking at imoa, yet the transporters just keep going! shame about the DMF though, maybe switching to solids would be better in the long run!
If it moves and its not meant to use gaffer tape. If it doesnt move but it is supposed to, use WD40. mechanics 101!
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote Pax Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 18 Mar 10 at 17:41

i would like to add to all this by saying i had a 05 plate t5 t30 130 from new and had the famous knocking sound worked on twice ,,, since i have had another t30 130 on a 55 (06) year and after a month of having it i had a new bottom enging fitted (nice) drove it for 30k and no probs thereafter ,,,,but now i have a 174 sportline kombi ive just clocked 7k and i have noticed the knocking sound coming from the stearing area again ,,,nice will have to put it in soon i recon....but engine wise noprobs,,, i hope allthough i am a little heavy footed,,,,

59plate black 174 sportline kombi, remaped to 215bhp caravelle headlights and eyebrows,,, mean mutha fukka...widely known as lynford
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote tarcwyn Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 30 Mar 10 at 11:39

alrite?do you have a 1.9 tdi 85 bh t5? because im looking at one which has done 42,000 and i was just wondering if you had any problems with it?

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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote kurylie Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 09 May 10 at 13:19
Be very careful when buying a T5 transporter as there are problems with gear box ,aircon and power steering, gearbox's will last only up to 180k then if you cant find someone to rebuild gearbox , will cost you 15k plus to get new one , still costs around 8k to rebuild , but once rebuilt you can repair cheaper next time , in australia they are rebuilding the 6 speed auto gear box at least 3 per week , but vw wont admit that there is a problem .aircon to repair will cost aprox 3.4k ,power steering i have still not repared , prob cost near 1k to fix , in last 5 months the vehicle has cost me $13,000 .00 australian dollars van has travelled 190k , so `really think twice before buying t5 transporter , i have tried to trade in and this vehiv=cle is only 2004 made , they have offered me $8000.00 australian , bought 2 years ago for 28,000.00 , just shows what they are worth .
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote archebald23 Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 27 May 10 at 03:37
pity cause i saw a t5 last weekend and im really eyeing on it. do these t5s have different versions? perhaps the latter versions have betters built. anyway, how was the luk?, never tried one.


Edited by archebald23 - 01 Jun 10 at 03:11
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