Stuart Dalby - 2005 Volkswagen Golf Mk 5

Wear & Tear

Oil Consumption, 16th August 2008

Mileage		Estimated Consumption since level last at MAX	Calculated Consumption (miles/litre)
	Assume oil level initially at MAX level.
6,588	Low oil level light came on. Added 500ml	1 litre	6,588
9,254	Added 500ml after finding level was low
15,436	Low oil level light came on. Added 500ml	2 litres	7,718
17,902	First service. Assume oil level at MAX
25,295	Low oil level light came on. Added 500ml	1 litre	7,393
30,122	Added 500ml after finding oil level was low
35,900	Low oil level light came on. Added 250ml	2 litres	8,999
36,394	Second service. Assume oil level at MAX
44,402	Added 250ml after finding level was low
47,050	Low oil level light came on. Added 500ml	1.25 litres	8,525
51,600	Low oil level light came on. Added 250ml	1.75 litres	8,689
53,872	Low oil level light came on. Added 250ml	2 litres	8,739
54,725	Third service. Assume oil level at MAX
62,546	Added 500ml after finding oil level was low
67,536	Low oil level light came on. Added 500ml	1.5 litres	8,540
72,227	Low oil level light came on, added 500ml	2 litres	8,751
73,549	Fourth service. Assume oil level at MAX
78,550	Low oil level light came on, added 500ml	1 litre	5,001*
81,600	Low oil level light came on. Added 500ml	1.5 litres	5,367
83,219	Added 250ml
86,433	Low oil level light came on. Added 500ml	2.25 litres	5,726
87,015	Low oil level light came on. Added 500ml	2.75 litres	4,896
90,015	Low oil level light came on. Added 500ml	3.25 litres	5,066
91,500	Fifth service. Assume oil level at MAX
95,887	Low oil level light came on. Added 500ml	1 litre	4,387
98,843	Low oil level light came on. Added either 750ml/1litre.	1.5 litres	4,895

* Since about 77,000 miles (January 2007), the car's annual mileage has reduced from over 30,000 miles (accumulated mainly over relatively long motorway journeys) to about a third of that. This appears to have had the effect of increasing the rate of oil consumption.

This is my first car where I have had to top up the engine oil level in-between services and it came as a bit of a shock initially. However, I have since learnt that oil consumption is quite common for new diesel engines. (VW say oil usage "is to be expected and can be as much as a litre per 1000 kms!") Also, as this car is going approximately 18,000 miles between services it is perhaps understandable that some topping-up is required.

Intercooler Hose Replacement, 91,500 miles, 22nd November 2007

This was discovered during my car's fifth service. The garage informed me that the intercooler hose was badly squashed (Probably caused by my first accident). They said this would result in a reduction in engine power and also that there was a leakage of oil from it. I had not noticed any reduction in power but I had noticed recently that I had to top-up the oil more frequently than usual. Therefore I let them replace it. Added another £100 to the cost of the service.

Timing Belt Replacement, 59,000 miles, 20th March 2007

Routine maintenance. Emailed a few local VW dealers for their lowest quotes and my local York dealer offered me the best price with £250 all inclusive, including the insurance for the courtesy car. Had to be done on a weekday however as its too big a job to fit into a Saturday morning.

Key fob battery replacement, 2nd December 2006

Simple story. One cold day I went to unlock the car with the remote and nothing happened. Had to use the old key-in-the-door method. As the same keyfob had been used pretty much continuously for 2 years 5 months I figured it's battery probably needed replacing. Fortunately I found just the info I needed on the web. Click here for the link - excellent page with step by step instructions and photos.

New Lighting ECU, 59,200 miles, 22nd May 2006

A few weeks before I began noticing that the exterior light switch illumination was behaving strangely. Normally, when it is in the Auto position and the exterior lights are off, just the Auto symbol of the switch would illuminate green (to indicate that the Auto Lights system was turned on). If the exterior lights were on, the green illumation would be replaced by all positions on the light switch being illuminated red (the standard dash illumination colour). What I noticed was that after approximately 10 seconds of the exterior lights coming on, the light switch would return to just illuminating the Auto position as if the exterior lights weren't on! The switch to the left of the light switch; the headlight level adjustment and the dashboard illumination control would also loose all night-time illumination. Anyway, I left my car with my local VW dealer and they ended up having to replace the Lighting ECU in order to fix this. Everything's worked fine since.

Addition: 31st December 2006
The new Lighting ECU however did not have the same settings for the Leaving Home/Coming Home delay. I ended up buying a VAG-COM interface from Ross Tech to enable me to make this and other changes. Click here for more info.

Indicator repeater in nearside mirror, 55,000 miles, 8th April 2006

The day before my Mk V Golf was due to have it's third service I noticed the nearside indicator repeater housed in the passenger's door mirror wasn't working. I knew that the repeater was one or more LEDs rather than a normal bulb and so it wouldn't be simply a matter as replacing a bulb. Strangly, a little while after noticing this problem the indicator began working again and was still working the next day when I took the car in for its service. I mentioned it to them and sure enough, when I went to pick up my car I was told that the LED indicator assembly needed replacing. Maybe an intermittent fault code had been recorded by the car's on-board diagnostics. Anyway the assembly was replaced a week later under warranty.

First Accident, 53,900 miles, 12th March 2006

The Mk V Golf is a very safe car. The Electronic Stabalization Programme (ESP) does a lot to keep you on the road and heading in the direction of your choosing. However, it cannot do miracles and trying to turn whilst travelling a little too fast, downhill, on a snow covered road was asking a bit too much. The result, an impact at about 5-10mph into a partially submerged boulder causing damage to the lower front bumper and radiator/cooling system. Click here for more details.

Windscreen Replacement, 52,000 miles, 18th February 2006

A stone hit to the bottom right/driver's side of the windscreen resulted in a 4 inch crack starting to appear. I arranged for AutoGlass in York to replace the windscreen under my insurance. I took my car to their premises and they did a good job.

Addition: 13th March 2006

After having the windscreen replaced, the auto lights and wipers do not seem to be as sensitive as before. Also, the sensor looked different when viewed from the outside. I took the car back to AutoGlass and they detached the sensor, cleaned the windscreen and re-attached the sensor adding some silicon gel between the windscreen and sensor in an attempt to prevent any air bubbles affecting it. This seemed to help a little but I don't think the sensor is as sensitive as before.

Addition: 31st December 2006
I eventually purchased a VAG-COM interface from Ross Tech (click here for more info) to enable me to change the sensitivity of the Auto Wipers/Lights sensor and now everything is back to normal.

Inlet Manifold Flap replaced, 50,033 miles, 28th January 2006

The emissions warning light suddenly came on (didn't flash) after a short period of heavy acceleration in 2nd gear to 40mph at 48,902 miles. There didn't appear to be any change in performance. Fortunately I was only a couple of miles away from home. Once there I stopped the engine and restarted it but the warning light still remained. I checked the manual and it suggested that the car would still be safe to drive but I should get it checked out by a dealer. The next day I drove about 100 miles with the light still on. Then after being parking up for a couple of hours, the light did not return when I restarted the engine. It never returned. A couple of days later the car was checked out by the dealer and they diagnosed a faulty inlet manifold flap. This was replaced 10 days later in about 30 minutes under warranty.

Stone in brakes, 31,110 miles, 18th June 2005

Suddenly one morning I started hearing this horrible grinding noise when pulling away. It was a bit like the sound you hear when you use your brakes for the first time after the car has not been used for a few days and a little rust has formed on the brake discs. At first this is what I thought it must be but it continued long into the journey when any rust would have long since been cleared. I was really worried either my brakes were about to disintegrate or a wheel fall off so I booked the car into the VW dealer for investigation. It turned out to be a stone in the ABS system. £41 for one of the brakes to be disassembled in order to remove the stone.

New handbrake cables, 18,809 miles, 29th January 2005

When my car had its first interval service I was given a courtesy car and noticed that its handbrake felt a lot smoother than my own car's. Turned out my car needed two new handbrake cables. This work was carried out under warranty and the handbrake now feels much better.

Tandem Pump replaced, 17,902 miles, 15th January 2005

This was replaced under warranty when the car went in for its first interval service. It turned out that Volkswagen were replacing a number of cars Tandem Fuel Pump as a matter of routine following the discovery of a manufacturing defect in one of the bolts holding a cover in place. Click here for more details.

Puncture, 3,372 miles, 30th July 2004

I regularily glance at my tyres to see if they look under-inflated whenever I approach my car (something I learnt from my advanced driving course) and check them properly about once a month. This particular morning it was someone else who pointed out that my car's rear offside tyre looked a bit flat. After a look myself I wasn't convinced but it certainly felt a bit soft.
I drove (slowly) a short distance to a garage and checked the pressue. 6lbs! I couldn't believe it. As I began pumping it back up I then noticed the top of a screw sticking out of the centre of the tread. I would definately have to put the spare on. It was then that I was happy that I had familiarised myself with the tools provided with the car and also checking that I could undo the wheel bolts with the wrench provided. The end result was I had the space-saving spare wheel on in under 20 minutes!
Later the same day I got the puncture repaired and the wheel put back on the car. A few days later I adjusted the tyre's pressure and rechecked that I could still undo the wheel bolts if necessary. I couldn't. Why oh why do these tyre repair businesses insist on tightening them so much? What is the point of carrying a spare tyre if you can't get the wheel off!? Rant over.

Addition: 16,939 miles, 4th January 2005
Would you believe I had a puncture again on the same tyre! This time the only warning I had was a thudding noise getting louder and louder as I was overtaking at 70mph in lane 3 of the M1! I didn't notice any change in handling or vibration or anything.

Needless to say, by the time I pulled up on the hard shoulder, the tyre had probably been running flat at high speed for at least half a mile. I was happy just to see that the tyre was still on the wheel and the alloy wheel itself looked undamaged. Anyway, I got the space-saver spare tyre on in about 10 minutes this time. It really is easy if you know the routine.

Looking at the deflated tyre it was clear it was unrepairable. The writing on the side of the Goodyear Eagle NCT5 tyre had been rubbed away and when the tyre was removed from the wheel you could pick up handfuls of rubber from the inside. The replacement tyre cost £70.

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