I have a 2012 Touareg TDI with 33,000 miles. I haveused up the free oil change and mantenance from the dealer and would like to have my local mechanic service it for me now. i have been with him for twenty yeas and trust him. This is the first deisel I have owned and I am wondering what kind of things to watch out for with this engine. The dealer never tells me what they are doing and I want to make sure the local guy is covering everything necessary to properly maintain it. i am very pleased that in this first year there have been no problems with it at all.
Further, I am wondering what additives besides the AdBlue I shoud be using.
Simply follow the maintenance schedule and make sure the correct oil is being used. I wouldn’t be using any non-factory specified additives.
Don’t get the maintenance schedule from your dealer, use the one from your owners manual and make sure your mechanic follows it and documents the work on your bill.
The dealership has been selling me a maintenancee package of oil treatment. What treatment should I use?
“The dealer never tells me what they are doing …”
If it says “30,000 mile service” for instance, look in your VW maintenance booklet for a translation.
Just use oil that exactly meets the specified VAG standard. The dealer is just making money off those unneeded additives.
Use synthetic oil that meets VW specs
Change trans fluid and filter at the specified intervals, using ONLY what’s called for in the book.
NO TRANS FLUSH
I recommend a brake fluid flush every 2 years
I recommend tire rotations every oil change (if front and rear are same size)
NO MORE OIL ADDITIVES
Change coolant according to the book, USE ONLY VW APPROVED COOLANT
Change diff/transfer fluid as per book. USE ONLY VW APPROVED FLUID
In addition to what has been said, I would say look on car specific forums for info on what is needed and some tips, along with common problem areas in your car. This would prepare you and would know what to look out for.
My 2012 Touareg TDI now has 45K miles that has been completely trouble free and gets 30 MPG. A couple months ago every now and then on a cold start in the morning the engine would shake for maybe three or four seconds. After that it would start fine every time that day and did not do it every day.
Last week I got a notification of a recall on the main computer so when I took it in I mentioned the problem and the dealer said they would check it out.
When I got it back the next day they said they could not replicate the problem, there were no codes and they thought the computer upgrade had fixed it, RIGHT. It did not have the problem for the next two days and then it happened again. I took it back and told them not to return it until it was fixed. They told me the VW engineer was coming so he would check it out. They called after a couple days to say they had witnessed the problem but their were no codes (just like the last time) but the engineer had given them some tests to do. It’s been a week now and today they called to say the tests revealed the fuel was too thin. The only recommendation they have is to use only Exxon, Shell or BP fuel. I have been using fuel from Royal Farms which is one of the names they had mentioned for good fuel when I first had asked. What goes? I hear all the time on the radio about truckers concerns for fuel in their diesel rigs but does that go for the Touareg as well?
What should I do and how serious is this?
You’ll want to find one of the tdi forums, like at vwvortex. See if others are having the problem.
Do the experiment. Try the other brands of fuel suggested by the VW dealership, and see if changing to one of them helps. If so, you are in like Flynn. Mark it up to one of the many peculiarities involved with choosing a diesel engine for a passenger car.
Agree with the others. From my 500K diesel experience, you need to use exactly the correct oil and frequent changes. Check your manual but the only time you use a mix of #1 is in the winter to avoid gelling. Others will disagree but I found the extra cost of the engine plus the extra maintenance and repair, was not balanced out by the additional mileage. You should pretty much expect trouble free driving for the first 100K and both my Pontiac and Acura are at the 30 mpg slot with V6s that’ll snap your neck back.
@Bing 30MPG in a vehicle like the Toureag is nothing short of impressive especially with 400+ lb-ft of torque on hand.