Stuart's Volkswagen Golf Mk 5/V Forum

Hi Stuart,

I never did update you on the MK V which I still have, having just passed its MOT, I guess the problems I have had are not too bad considering it is 14 years old, these included...

ABS pump failed (like a few things I missed the gratis fix as the time had just run out.......... but of course you never hear of these things)
Window winder cable broke (partly my fault as window frozen up but broke where water sits in the mechanism)
Boot catch failed
BIG BANG when cam belt came off, this is a longer story
• Car serviced by main dealer for EVERY SINGLE SERVICE (it was my company car)
• Once I left work and had bought it for one major service got a card saying have your water pump etc. included for a few pence more (this was VW direct dealer didn't know about the offer but did the work at the price quoted by VW)
• A few weeks later 1/4 mile from home car just stopped
• At dealer service guy asked the question with a smile on his face............ answer was YOU changed the cam belt last Sept (Ohhhh ! )
• Free car for a week whilst they fixed it for free, but had to wait a year for the paperwork (asked for it to know what they did, like major rebuild)
• (Took a LOT of searching but found that the bolt holding a sprocket on was wrong spec and just snapped = valves hit head etc.)
• THREE MONTHS LATER SLIGHT HESITATION FROM ENGINE {LIKE PETROL misfire BUT IT'S A DIESEL} followed a few seconds later by engine just stopped.
• Cost me £1000 ish and when I got the broken parts back found a little roller from a bearing had stuck in the oil pump = the hesitation)
• Could never prove it but seems like when fixing the head they dropped the little roller bearing bit into the sump and eventually it found its way into the pump. Can send you photos !
Tailgate cables, thanks for the reference! that black plastic inside cover over the tailgate is held on so well it could support the weight of the car!
Rear supports for suspension failed MOT a couple of years ago, but never mentioned on previous MOT so suddenly it was badly corroded ??

That's all I can remember but will look through the bills.

As new there was an amazing similarity of problems found by Jeremy Clarkson when he reviewed a Polo.
• Within a few months three different bulbs had failed, brake lights, interior etc.
• Headlights which auto adjust when you start the car were too high and everyone flashing their lights at me yet the main dealer said the adjustment was correct. In the end got the dealer to lower the lights a little as unlike the MK IV there isn't any manual adjustment (which was really good)
• Can't remember the other problems as a while ago but there must have been four or five almost identical problems.
Interesting "fault" I have now (Sept 2020) according to the MOT guy. Headlight washers failed but MOT ok as car 2006 and new regulation is 2008 onward. :-)

Checking (as I remember seeing the headlight washer spray through the wet windscreen when wash/wiping it) engine running and headlights on headlight spray lasts only ten seconds at most so lights and bonnet wet.

Repeated and headlight wash maybe even shorter, difficult to see through the wet windscreen............ must get my {non-driving wife} to operate the screen washer whilst I watch.

As obviously not the fuse or a relay unless it drops out after a few seconds then some odd problem OR the lights wash does not last long by design? I know that after five screen wash operations regardless of headlights on, that the headlight washers operate........... did confuse me for a while though.

Most YouTube on washers is lacking in help and even the manual I got with the car is hopeless as does not have many of the cars features included except for an addendum, even fuse diagrams are wrong/don't include some of the things fitted.......... like the headlight washers.

I could just pull things apart, quite happy to do this but need to start with some idea of what I'm looking for, like "this is a know pump/relay problem)

Regards and take care in these uncertain times.

Eric...

Hi Eric,

Thanks for letting me know how you are getting on with your Golf Mk5. Sounds like it’s been keeping you busy. Glad to hear you found some of the articles on my website useful.

My Mk5 didn’t have headlight washers but my Mk7 does. For info, on my Mk7 they always operate the first time you operate the windscreen washer if the headlights are on. (Not sure if the engine needs to be running and/or the car in motion.) Like you said, to save washer fluid, I think if you use them a second, third, etc time during the same run cycle I think the headlight washers only operate every 5th cycle. Never tested this though. Also, on the Mk7, operating the windscreen washer for whatever period always appears to trigger the same headlight washer sequence which appears to be: approx. 1 second wait, 2 squirts, approx. 2 seconds wait, another 2 squirts. Not sure if this repeats if you continue to operate the windscreen washer. No doubt a control module is involved somewhere rather than the headlight washer being hard-wired.

Hope that helps. Let me know if you need any further info,
Stuart