T6 Caravelle - all change
Discussion
I thought I'd keep a thread to track the changes and work done to this T6 Caravelle we've just bought, as it becomes day van and load lugger. But first a but about how we got here:
For the last 4+ years our fleet has been a B8 Passat family wagon, Renault Zoe ZE50 for commuting and local pottering, and the 996 as an underused 3rd car in a familiar tale of kids clubs and activities, exacerbated by the recent addition of a puppy. I had wanted to hang onto the 996 to do a NC500 trip, but the realisation that you can hire a Caterham up there, and that I’d generally rather spend my free weekend mornings cycling than hooning made up mind that the Porsche was to go. The boring but dependable Passat was beginning to get long in the tooth at 142k miles, and the Zoe having let me down twice (and Renault unavailable to fix it for weeks each time) I decided that having a nicer everyday car instead of the Porsche and a 2 car fleet would be more manageable and more fun more of the time.
Well laden on one of many trips.
This is the only photo I have of the Zoe - the only time I public charged it.
Pre-pup I had thought that an ID7 tourer to replace the Passat, and a recent Civic Type R or Mk7.5 GTi PP would fit the bill nicely. We bought a new camping trailer earlier in the year but once loaded with all the camping gear, bikes and trailer it was a massive faff, and trailers and public chargers aren’t a good combo, so a rethink was needed.
After a difficult trip flying to Dublin with our 1 confirmed and 1 likely ADHD/ASD kids we decided that driving and having a constant base would work better for us for weekend type trips, so started researching day vans. We tend to go to the same campsite for each May half term, and there has been an immaculate T4 Caravelle on a adjacent pitch a couple of years, so my research started there.
With the Porsche sold to Australia thanks to their 25year import rules, the hunt could begin. I had £20k in my head as a budget for the van, but having seen a couple of T5s and a leggy T6 that was much more refined, realised that needed to be upped to get us into a T6 with sensible mileage. With a ULEZ only a few miles from us, and an expectation that we will do a number of continental trips where town and city emission zones are move prevalent, a T6 made lots of sense. My wife wanted one with a heated front screen as she couldn’t reach it to clear it or scrape it when frosty and it’ll be her everyday car, so we were looking for a manual Executive spec which are surprisingly rare, and most are the BiTDi which we wanted to avoid.
The shift of thinking to the van would mean my nicer daily would need to be electric, and electric and nice/fun to drive aren’t obvious bed fellows. My first thoughts had been an Ionic 5N, but with the increased budget for the van I couldn’t make the cost work. I wrestled the idea of a used Tesla Model 3 alongside something more interesting, a Caterham, MX5, or even another Fisher Fury but they’d likely get even less use than the not that impractical 996 did. I then clocked that the 2024 refresh on the single motor Polestar 2 changed it to RWD, and in long range form upped the power to near enough 300hp. I test drove one and confirmed that they steered better than expected, are nimble enough on a B-road and quiet and civilised on the motorway. So by mid-August a plan was starting to come together, and not long after that a cheap lease deal on a pre-reg 24 Polestar 2 long range single motor with Plus pack came up which I jumped at. I complete the paperwork as a personal lease, then thought I’d ask work if I could do it as a Salary Sacrifice, and UKCarLine whether I could switch it to a business/SS contract, both came back affirmative.
The deal on a personal lease was £608 on a 3+47 deal, 20k miles per year fully maintained. All told with the tax savings, BIK inc increases, insurance and electricity that shakes out at about 34p/mile which I’m happy with considering even an efficient ICE car would be doing half that just in fuel.
Infuriatingly a couple of weeks after the Porsche sold, and only a few days after confirming the go ahead for the Polestar the Zoe broke for the 2nd time, with the same STOP - Electric Motor Failure warning that I had a few months earlier. Previously the dealer couldn’t isolate the cause as there were too many error codes and none of them returned once cleared. The Polestar was for September delivery, and within a few days of doing the personal finance docs I had an email about a delivery date, so I wasn’t overly worried about the Zoe being broken.
Between other things taking the accounts departments time at work, and Arval seemingly taking longer for business enquiries than personal ones, I didn’t end up with the Polestar until mid October. In the mean time I borrowed my Dad’s R170 SLK 230K to knock around in, other than incredibly vague steering I really quite liked it.
Polestar 2 was delivered, it is a bigger car than expected and makes things pretty tight where it is parked at the top of our drive, but as per the test drive I like how it drives, its comfortable, and has far more toys than I’ve been used to recently.
I’d been looking at cars for a several months now, a Caravelle, something to lease, a stop gap, and was getting pretty fed up with, I wanted to change the fleet and be done with it for the next 4 years.
The day after the Polestar was delivered I found myself in Berkshire with work, and went to look at a 2018 Caravelle (so T6) 150TDi Executive manual that had been on the market a couple of weeks. Oddly, the dealer had it since June, I had my search limit set at £35k so they may have dropped the price significantly or it had just sat with them for months before being listed. It had obviously had new brackets/rollers on the sliding doors, and there was some surface rust where these had previously dropped and rubbed on the top of the sill below. So with a deal was done with the dealer sorting those bits of bodywork out. It doesn’t have some of the accessories/options we want, but they can be added later, but it is the model we want, with sensible mileage, so seems like it’ll be a good base.
I was away on a stag do the following weekend so hurriedly cleaned and photographed the Passat in the gloaming to get it listed on eBay before picking up the Caravelle. Phone cameras are remarkable now how they can get decent pictures in very low light conditions, but I got it listed as an auction with reserve set at the WBAC price and best offer enabled. The next few days I must have had 15 calls and messages asking for best price or making offers at 50% of what it is likely to be worth. I did take some more pictures in proper day light, she scrubs up alright given the mileage, she’s got a couple of faults but is well maintained.
The auction ended at a higher price than I expected, and I was duly messed around by the winner, fingers crossed the second chance offer comes good but as it stands the car is still with me.
In the interim I had collected the Caravelle and driving it the 100miles home, it drove very nicely and was unexpectedly efficient giving ~45mpg on an admittedly pretty slow rush hour run. Mid-journey I hit a bump and the near side mirror housing moved, got caught by the wind and few off, initially retained and flapping by the DAB aerial that I now know is in the mirror housing, before falling off to inevitably go under the wheels of something behind me. It’s obviously been held on with sticky pads, a new one from ebay painted in the correct colour is <£70 so this doesn’t fill me with confidence it has been looked after properly, despite there being a comprehensive service history. I stopped at Cobham services to sort the flapping DAB aerial, and as the front had felt a bit softer than the back did the tyre pressures which improved things.
I got back to excited kids and wife, and went out for a spin to them all to collect the Polestar from the nearby station. We got back to find the near side electric sliding door refusing to close electrically, it would to within 6” of being closed them spring open like the anti-trap function has sensed something. Lifting the door while it is closing gets it closed and a few days later it decided to work normally again.
Our kids are on the cusp of not needing car seats, they are over the 135cm requirement but the seat belt sits in a better place over their should when they are a bit higher. Putting those in later in the evening I folded one of the individual rear seats and couldn’t unfold it as the seat belt tensioner had jammed. That needed the seat to be removed from the rails and tipping it released the tensioner, during which I put a deep dash in the side of my finger.
The tyre pressure warning for the NSR went off a couple of days later, checked manually and all still as I had set them at Cobham (and I set the system at the same time). While checking the pressures I found the NSF leaking through the valve a tiny bit (but evidently not enough to get past the valve cap as the pressure was still fine).
It feels like it’s fighting us at the moment, but hopefully that is the end of the niggles as they have put a dampener on the whole thing, especially as it is by far the most expensive car I’ve ever bought. The dealer is sorting a replacement mirror cover which I will fit, but at the moment I’m reluctant to take it back to the dealer with the door issue as it’s currently working fine again. There are lots of videos on YouTube with the same symptoms that are cured by retensioning or replacing the cables. I’ve also seen a T6 forum post which says the doors are sensitive to battery condition, they each have a 40A fuse so are obviously a significant draw.
It still has the original battery on it at 6years and 65k miles, so if the problem returns I think a preventative change will be in order. I have ordered some new cables, but uncertain whether I will fit them or take it back to the dealers if the problem persists.
We’ve got a few things planned for it immediately:
For the last 4+ years our fleet has been a B8 Passat family wagon, Renault Zoe ZE50 for commuting and local pottering, and the 996 as an underused 3rd car in a familiar tale of kids clubs and activities, exacerbated by the recent addition of a puppy. I had wanted to hang onto the 996 to do a NC500 trip, but the realisation that you can hire a Caterham up there, and that I’d generally rather spend my free weekend mornings cycling than hooning made up mind that the Porsche was to go. The boring but dependable Passat was beginning to get long in the tooth at 142k miles, and the Zoe having let me down twice (and Renault unavailable to fix it for weeks each time) I decided that having a nicer everyday car instead of the Porsche and a 2 car fleet would be more manageable and more fun more of the time.
Well laden on one of many trips.
This is the only photo I have of the Zoe - the only time I public charged it.
Pre-pup I had thought that an ID7 tourer to replace the Passat, and a recent Civic Type R or Mk7.5 GTi PP would fit the bill nicely. We bought a new camping trailer earlier in the year but once loaded with all the camping gear, bikes and trailer it was a massive faff, and trailers and public chargers aren’t a good combo, so a rethink was needed.
After a difficult trip flying to Dublin with our 1 confirmed and 1 likely ADHD/ASD kids we decided that driving and having a constant base would work better for us for weekend type trips, so started researching day vans. We tend to go to the same campsite for each May half term, and there has been an immaculate T4 Caravelle on a adjacent pitch a couple of years, so my research started there.
With the Porsche sold to Australia thanks to their 25year import rules, the hunt could begin. I had £20k in my head as a budget for the van, but having seen a couple of T5s and a leggy T6 that was much more refined, realised that needed to be upped to get us into a T6 with sensible mileage. With a ULEZ only a few miles from us, and an expectation that we will do a number of continental trips where town and city emission zones are move prevalent, a T6 made lots of sense. My wife wanted one with a heated front screen as she couldn’t reach it to clear it or scrape it when frosty and it’ll be her everyday car, so we were looking for a manual Executive spec which are surprisingly rare, and most are the BiTDi which we wanted to avoid.
The shift of thinking to the van would mean my nicer daily would need to be electric, and electric and nice/fun to drive aren’t obvious bed fellows. My first thoughts had been an Ionic 5N, but with the increased budget for the van I couldn’t make the cost work. I wrestled the idea of a used Tesla Model 3 alongside something more interesting, a Caterham, MX5, or even another Fisher Fury but they’d likely get even less use than the not that impractical 996 did. I then clocked that the 2024 refresh on the single motor Polestar 2 changed it to RWD, and in long range form upped the power to near enough 300hp. I test drove one and confirmed that they steered better than expected, are nimble enough on a B-road and quiet and civilised on the motorway. So by mid-August a plan was starting to come together, and not long after that a cheap lease deal on a pre-reg 24 Polestar 2 long range single motor with Plus pack came up which I jumped at. I complete the paperwork as a personal lease, then thought I’d ask work if I could do it as a Salary Sacrifice, and UKCarLine whether I could switch it to a business/SS contract, both came back affirmative.
The deal on a personal lease was £608 on a 3+47 deal, 20k miles per year fully maintained. All told with the tax savings, BIK inc increases, insurance and electricity that shakes out at about 34p/mile which I’m happy with considering even an efficient ICE car would be doing half that just in fuel.
Infuriatingly a couple of weeks after the Porsche sold, and only a few days after confirming the go ahead for the Polestar the Zoe broke for the 2nd time, with the same STOP - Electric Motor Failure warning that I had a few months earlier. Previously the dealer couldn’t isolate the cause as there were too many error codes and none of them returned once cleared. The Polestar was for September delivery, and within a few days of doing the personal finance docs I had an email about a delivery date, so I wasn’t overly worried about the Zoe being broken.
Between other things taking the accounts departments time at work, and Arval seemingly taking longer for business enquiries than personal ones, I didn’t end up with the Polestar until mid October. In the mean time I borrowed my Dad’s R170 SLK 230K to knock around in, other than incredibly vague steering I really quite liked it.
Polestar 2 was delivered, it is a bigger car than expected and makes things pretty tight where it is parked at the top of our drive, but as per the test drive I like how it drives, its comfortable, and has far more toys than I’ve been used to recently.
I’d been looking at cars for a several months now, a Caravelle, something to lease, a stop gap, and was getting pretty fed up with, I wanted to change the fleet and be done with it for the next 4 years.
The day after the Polestar was delivered I found myself in Berkshire with work, and went to look at a 2018 Caravelle (so T6) 150TDi Executive manual that had been on the market a couple of weeks. Oddly, the dealer had it since June, I had my search limit set at £35k so they may have dropped the price significantly or it had just sat with them for months before being listed. It had obviously had new brackets/rollers on the sliding doors, and there was some surface rust where these had previously dropped and rubbed on the top of the sill below. So with a deal was done with the dealer sorting those bits of bodywork out. It doesn’t have some of the accessories/options we want, but they can be added later, but it is the model we want, with sensible mileage, so seems like it’ll be a good base.
I was away on a stag do the following weekend so hurriedly cleaned and photographed the Passat in the gloaming to get it listed on eBay before picking up the Caravelle. Phone cameras are remarkable now how they can get decent pictures in very low light conditions, but I got it listed as an auction with reserve set at the WBAC price and best offer enabled. The next few days I must have had 15 calls and messages asking for best price or making offers at 50% of what it is likely to be worth. I did take some more pictures in proper day light, she scrubs up alright given the mileage, she’s got a couple of faults but is well maintained.
The auction ended at a higher price than I expected, and I was duly messed around by the winner, fingers crossed the second chance offer comes good but as it stands the car is still with me.
In the interim I had collected the Caravelle and driving it the 100miles home, it drove very nicely and was unexpectedly efficient giving ~45mpg on an admittedly pretty slow rush hour run. Mid-journey I hit a bump and the near side mirror housing moved, got caught by the wind and few off, initially retained and flapping by the DAB aerial that I now know is in the mirror housing, before falling off to inevitably go under the wheels of something behind me. It’s obviously been held on with sticky pads, a new one from ebay painted in the correct colour is <£70 so this doesn’t fill me with confidence it has been looked after properly, despite there being a comprehensive service history. I stopped at Cobham services to sort the flapping DAB aerial, and as the front had felt a bit softer than the back did the tyre pressures which improved things.
I got back to excited kids and wife, and went out for a spin to them all to collect the Polestar from the nearby station. We got back to find the near side electric sliding door refusing to close electrically, it would to within 6” of being closed them spring open like the anti-trap function has sensed something. Lifting the door while it is closing gets it closed and a few days later it decided to work normally again.
Our kids are on the cusp of not needing car seats, they are over the 135cm requirement but the seat belt sits in a better place over their should when they are a bit higher. Putting those in later in the evening I folded one of the individual rear seats and couldn’t unfold it as the seat belt tensioner had jammed. That needed the seat to be removed from the rails and tipping it released the tensioner, during which I put a deep dash in the side of my finger.
The tyre pressure warning for the NSR went off a couple of days later, checked manually and all still as I had set them at Cobham (and I set the system at the same time). While checking the pressures I found the NSF leaking through the valve a tiny bit (but evidently not enough to get past the valve cap as the pressure was still fine).
It feels like it’s fighting us at the moment, but hopefully that is the end of the niggles as they have put a dampener on the whole thing, especially as it is by far the most expensive car I’ve ever bought. The dealer is sorting a replacement mirror cover which I will fit, but at the moment I’m reluctant to take it back to the dealer with the door issue as it’s currently working fine again. There are lots of videos on YouTube with the same symptoms that are cured by retensioning or replacing the cables. I’ve also seen a T6 forum post which says the doors are sensitive to battery condition, they each have a 40A fuse so are obviously a significant draw.
It still has the original battery on it at 6years and 65k miles, so if the problem returns I think a preventative change will be in order. I have ordered some new cables, but uncertain whether I will fit them or take it back to the dealers if the problem persists.
We’ve got a few things planned for it immediately:
- Fit the replacement mirror cover
- Change the slightly tatty rear number plate
- Add a towbar
- Add a tailgate mounted bike rack.
- Play round with the seating arrangement and work out what we’re going to do for storage/storage boxes.
I’ve had a T5/5.1/6/6.1, the T5/5.1 were definitely the more reliable and better built.
You will have EGR valve and cooler issues, it’s inevitable, the 2017/18 204 also has issues with bore score and the small turbo bearing failure, not to mention the usual dpf blockages.
Run it on premium diesel, let the regens fully complete and change the oil/filter every 12 months/8-10k miles.
My T6 204 had a Revo map, oil/filter change every 6-8 months and always good quality diesel. I sold it at 6 years old and 40k miles and had no issues at all. I also paid £49k for it, plus added a few mods like pop top and sold a few days after advertising it for £41k, great residuals.
Apart from that they are great, enjoy
Edit - just spotted it’s a 150, very few issues with that engine, far more reliable than the bi-turbo’s.
You will have EGR valve and cooler issues, it’s inevitable, the 2017/18 204 also has issues with bore score and the small turbo bearing failure, not to mention the usual dpf blockages.
Run it on premium diesel, let the regens fully complete and change the oil/filter every 12 months/8-10k miles.
My T6 204 had a Revo map, oil/filter change every 6-8 months and always good quality diesel. I sold it at 6 years old and 40k miles and had no issues at all. I also paid £49k for it, plus added a few mods like pop top and sold a few days after advertising it for £41k, great residuals.
Apart from that they are great, enjoy
Edit - just spotted it’s a 150, very few issues with that engine, far more reliable than the bi-turbo’s.
DirktheDaring said:
I’ve had a T5/5.1/6/6.1, the T5/5.1 were definitely the more reliable and better built.
You will have EGR valve and cooler issues, it’s inevitable, the 2017/18 204 also has issues with bore score and the small turbo bearing failure, not to mention the usual dpf blockages.
<Snip>
Apart from that they are great, enjoy
Edit - just spotted it’s a 150, very few issues with that engine, far more reliable than the bi-turbo’s.
Blimey, piss on his chips! You will have EGR valve and cooler issues, it’s inevitable, the 2017/18 204 also has issues with bore score and the small turbo bearing failure, not to mention the usual dpf blockages.
<Snip>
Apart from that they are great, enjoy
Edit - just spotted it’s a 150, very few issues with that engine, far more reliable than the bi-turbo’s.
Or not, are you eventually saying the 150bhp ones are fine and avoid the problems you highlight?
Those are known issues with the BiTDi engines so I ruled them out after looking at a lovely T6 204 which was the perfect spec, but it was using 0.5l of oil every 3 months/2k miles, which prompted some more research. That's well within what VW say is acceptable, but some of them use none between services, it seemed safer to stay away. Darkside state that the 180/204s rarely make their stated power anyway, and the 150 remaps to 190, so if we find it short of poke that is always an option.
I'm not expecting the 150 to be without EGR issues though. I looked at a nice 2015 T5 (so the 140 engine) which had the EGR replaced twice in 30k miles by the current owner despite being run on premium diesel. I suspect the type of journey has more impact than the fuel.
I'm not expecting the 150 to be without EGR issues though. I looked at a nice 2015 T5 (so the 140 engine) which had the EGR replaced twice in 30k miles by the current owner despite being run on premium diesel. I suspect the type of journey has more impact than the fuel.
macron said:
Blimey, piss on his chips!
Or not, are you eventually saying the 150bhp ones are fine and avoid the problems you highlight?
I’m saying exactly what the edit says - it’s a 150, they are more reliable and less complicated than the bi-turbo engines.Or not, are you eventually saying the 150bhp ones are fine and avoid the problems you highlight?
Sorry for not spotting that vital bit of info sooner, maybe another member will read it and avoid making a mistake in future.
HughG said:
Those are known issues with the BiTDi engines so I ruled them out after looking at a lovely T6 204 which was the perfect spec, but it was using 0.5l of oil every 3 months/2k miles, which prompted some more research. That's well within what VW say is acceptable, but some of them use none between services, it seemed safer to stay away. Darkside state that the 180/204s rarely make their stated power anyway, and the 150 remaps to 190, so if we find it short of poke that is always an option.
I'm not expecting the 150 to be without EGR issues though. I looked at a nice 2015 T5 (so the 140 engine) which had the EGR replaced twice in 30k miles by the current owner despite being run on premium diesel. I suspect the type of journey has more impact than the fuel.
Some will call this snake oil, but I swear by it, I use it on all of my Transporters, my wife’s Tiguan and my old Landcruiser and never had any dpf issues on the newer vehicles despite doing mostly short trips.I'm not expecting the 150 to be without EGR issues though. I looked at a nice 2015 T5 (so the 140 engine) which had the EGR replaced twice in 30k miles by the current owner despite being run on premium diesel. I suspect the type of journey has more impact than the fuel.
https://amzn.eu/d/at1XiFF
Have the cambelt and dsg been serviced? Cambelt intervals have been revised by VW but I’d still change every 4 years/40k.
I have a T5.1 Caravelle 2.0Btdi DSG Exec.
I had a 997 before and I love the Caravelle far more. It is the perfect vehicle for me. I can carry 7. I can sleep in it. It does over 40mpg. It's fun to drive and it fits in multistory carparks.
Unfortunately I hadn't read up enough to know about the crumbling EGR valve cooler issues, so I didn't replace the cooler with an update version as a precautionary measure. That was a VERY expensive mistake... £13.5k expensive to be exact for a brand new engine, turbos and all ancillaries from VW. I didn't want to go down the cheaper option of the exchange/rebuilt engine route as the worry then is that history will repeat itself.
Having bought the vehicle from a main VW dealer just over a year before and with only 70k on the clock, I assumed that they might help with it, but no. Ignored my emails and refused my calls.
I now have a VERY expensive T5.1 Caravelle but I still love it. I may consider selling next year to buy a motorhome (early retirement thing), so someone will get a monster deal on a 80k Velle with a 10k engine.
I had a 997 before and I love the Caravelle far more. It is the perfect vehicle for me. I can carry 7. I can sleep in it. It does over 40mpg. It's fun to drive and it fits in multistory carparks.
Unfortunately I hadn't read up enough to know about the crumbling EGR valve cooler issues, so I didn't replace the cooler with an update version as a precautionary measure. That was a VERY expensive mistake... £13.5k expensive to be exact for a brand new engine, turbos and all ancillaries from VW. I didn't want to go down the cheaper option of the exchange/rebuilt engine route as the worry then is that history will repeat itself.
Having bought the vehicle from a main VW dealer just over a year before and with only 70k on the clock, I assumed that they might help with it, but no. Ignored my emails and refused my calls.
I now have a VERY expensive T5.1 Caravelle but I still love it. I may consider selling next year to buy a motorhome (early retirement thing), so someone will get a monster deal on a 80k Velle with a 10k engine.
DirktheDaring said:
Some will call this snake oil, but I swear by it, I use it on all of my Transporters, my wife’s Tiguan and my old Landcruiser and never had any dpf issues on the newer vehicles despite doing mostly short trips.
https://amzn.eu/d/at1XiFF
Have the cambelt and dsg been serviced? Cambelt intervals have been revised by VW but I’d still change every 4 years/40k.
Thanks, I’ve ordered some of that, and will use it whenever we aren’t doing a long journey and going to go straight through a tank. https://amzn.eu/d/at1XiFF
Have the cambelt and dsg been serviced? Cambelt intervals have been revised by VW but I’d still change every 4 years/40k.
The cambelt interval in the book is 80k miles (no time), and I understand the interval has been revised to 140k miles. I will change it at about 80k, which will probably be next year.
Before the music stops said:
I have a T5.1 Caravelle 2.0Btdi DSG Exec.
I had a 997 before and I love the Caravelle far more. It is the perfect vehicle for me. I can carry 7. I can sleep in it. It does over 40mpg. It's fun to drive and it fits in multistory carparks.
Unfortunately I hadn't read up enough to know about the crumbling EGR valve cooler issues, so I didn't replace the cooler with an update version as a precautionary measure. That was a VERY expensive mistake... £13.5k expensive to be exact for a brand new engine, turbos and all ancillaries from VW. I didn't want to go down the cheaper option of the exchange/rebuilt engine route as the worry then is that history will repeat itself.
Having bought the vehicle from a main VW dealer just over a year before and with only 70k on the clock, I assumed that they might help with it, but no. Ignored my emails and refused my calls.
I now have a VERY expensive T5.1 Caravelle but I still love it. I may consider selling next year to buy a motorhome (early retirement thing), so someone will get a monster deal on a 80k Velle with a 10k engine.
Sorry to hear that, but glad you love it. I hope that we can get past these initial niggles and jobs with it in the same way. I had a 997 before and I love the Caravelle far more. It is the perfect vehicle for me. I can carry 7. I can sleep in it. It does over 40mpg. It's fun to drive and it fits in multistory carparks.
Unfortunately I hadn't read up enough to know about the crumbling EGR valve cooler issues, so I didn't replace the cooler with an update version as a precautionary measure. That was a VERY expensive mistake... £13.5k expensive to be exact for a brand new engine, turbos and all ancillaries from VW. I didn't want to go down the cheaper option of the exchange/rebuilt engine route as the worry then is that history will repeat itself.
Having bought the vehicle from a main VW dealer just over a year before and with only 70k on the clock, I assumed that they might help with it, but no. Ignored my emails and refused my calls.
I now have a VERY expensive T5.1 Caravelle but I still love it. I may consider selling next year to buy a motorhome (early retirement thing), so someone will get a monster deal on a 80k Velle with a 10k engine.
The bus has been doing good service as family transport, trip car, van, and airport taxi for a group of us heading off to Mallorca cycling.
I’ve got through most of my initial list, and it now sports a replacement mirror cover, new rear number plate, and Thule Wanderway tailgate mounted 4 bike rack with uprated gas struts. The latter only occasionally fitted as my wife doesn’t like parking the car with it on!
The niggles with the electric sliding doors have mostly sorted themselves after replacing the battery, and only one door occasionally doesn’t auto shut completely. We’ve had a front collision sensor error intermittently, and the front heated seats don’t work (very common on these apparently).
I have made a trolley for the rear 3seat bench to aid removal without damaging the rear bumper, and spent a lump of money with ReallyUsefulBoxes, so loading up to go away should now be quick and easy.
For the moment we have a little gas stove stored under one of the rear seats which suits us better than a multiflex board/cooker drawer combo we were considering.
I’ve fitted a towbar, ran out of time to fit the electrics and paid someone to do those, and it has hauled us and a trailer to Scotland, and back with a new toy. There’s another thread on the Alfa here.
It averaged 32mpg over 1550miles cruising at a smidge under 70 which I thought was pretty impressive as on the way back I was on the rivet in 4th up most of the hills and we were ~85% of max train weight.
I got front captains seats in before that trip as well.
I went for Kiravan’s rattle/squeak free ones, which have been true to their name. There is a tiny bit of play in the drivers seat, so I need to tighten the bolts around the pivot. They note you need to tighten these during installation, but don’t give a torque, so I went as tight as could still allowing me to rotate the swivel before the seat was attached, they obviously needed a bit more.
The swivels prevent the seat base rear covers fitting, Kiravans sell others that do fit, but I am undecided whether to spend the £70 on those, or try to fashion a storage drawer for under the seats instead.
The captains seats have been useful for work too.
I had a very minor bump between Christmas and new year when I hit the back of a car which I thought had committed to go at a junction (and I was going to follow). Maybe I should have got the front sensor sorted earlier! The car I hit just needed a new towbar, but that split the bumper, dented the crash bar and I assume deformed the aircon rad as that was also replaced. It came back from repair looking good and the front sensor working for about a week until we got the same error again so more investigation needed, it’s still intermittent for added fun fault finding.
I’d noticed an oily patch on the road where it is often parked, and it looked to be coming from around the crank pulley, so it has just been into SMG VW Commercial for an early service, cambelt, water pump, and crank shaft flange seal, which at least solves my dilemma when to change the belt.
While they were under there they spotted a leaking NSF shock, and leaking power steering pump, to change those, including the aux belt and tensioner SMG wanted £2400. I’ve ordered the bits, and pairs of front Bilstein B4 OEM shocks, top mounts, bump stops, drop links and a 5T bottle jack from Autodoc for £700.
We’re off to Cornwall for our usual May half term break camping when this should really come into it’s own, hopefully I’ll get a chance to do the front suspension, and the power steering pump before then.
The only other things we’re considering are to fit some Passat B8 front seats to give us working heaters, and better lumbar support. Having had a pair of 996 seats littering the garage for the last few years the only thing putting me off is having to store the current seats.
I’ve got through most of my initial list, and it now sports a replacement mirror cover, new rear number plate, and Thule Wanderway tailgate mounted 4 bike rack with uprated gas struts. The latter only occasionally fitted as my wife doesn’t like parking the car with it on!
The niggles with the electric sliding doors have mostly sorted themselves after replacing the battery, and only one door occasionally doesn’t auto shut completely. We’ve had a front collision sensor error intermittently, and the front heated seats don’t work (very common on these apparently).
I have made a trolley for the rear 3seat bench to aid removal without damaging the rear bumper, and spent a lump of money with ReallyUsefulBoxes, so loading up to go away should now be quick and easy.
For the moment we have a little gas stove stored under one of the rear seats which suits us better than a multiflex board/cooker drawer combo we were considering.
I’ve fitted a towbar, ran out of time to fit the electrics and paid someone to do those, and it has hauled us and a trailer to Scotland, and back with a new toy. There’s another thread on the Alfa here.
It averaged 32mpg over 1550miles cruising at a smidge under 70 which I thought was pretty impressive as on the way back I was on the rivet in 4th up most of the hills and we were ~85% of max train weight.
I got front captains seats in before that trip as well.
I went for Kiravan’s rattle/squeak free ones, which have been true to their name. There is a tiny bit of play in the drivers seat, so I need to tighten the bolts around the pivot. They note you need to tighten these during installation, but don’t give a torque, so I went as tight as could still allowing me to rotate the swivel before the seat was attached, they obviously needed a bit more.
The swivels prevent the seat base rear covers fitting, Kiravans sell others that do fit, but I am undecided whether to spend the £70 on those, or try to fashion a storage drawer for under the seats instead.
The captains seats have been useful for work too.
I had a very minor bump between Christmas and new year when I hit the back of a car which I thought had committed to go at a junction (and I was going to follow). Maybe I should have got the front sensor sorted earlier! The car I hit just needed a new towbar, but that split the bumper, dented the crash bar and I assume deformed the aircon rad as that was also replaced. It came back from repair looking good and the front sensor working for about a week until we got the same error again so more investigation needed, it’s still intermittent for added fun fault finding.
I’d noticed an oily patch on the road where it is often parked, and it looked to be coming from around the crank pulley, so it has just been into SMG VW Commercial for an early service, cambelt, water pump, and crank shaft flange seal, which at least solves my dilemma when to change the belt.
While they were under there they spotted a leaking NSF shock, and leaking power steering pump, to change those, including the aux belt and tensioner SMG wanted £2400. I’ve ordered the bits, and pairs of front Bilstein B4 OEM shocks, top mounts, bump stops, drop links and a 5T bottle jack from Autodoc for £700.
We’re off to Cornwall for our usual May half term break camping when this should really come into it’s own, hopefully I’ll get a chance to do the front suspension, and the power steering pump before then.
The only other things we’re considering are to fit some Passat B8 front seats to give us working heaters, and better lumbar support. Having had a pair of 996 seats littering the garage for the last few years the only thing putting me off is having to store the current seats.
I spent some time Saturday on the van, the plan was to do the shocks, then go onto the powersteering pump and aux belt idlers. When VW had it the other week they noted that one of the power steering pipes was wrongly located, so try and work out which, and where it should go!
This is the first real work I've done on the van and I had expected that there would be more space around stuff and therefore everything would be easier. Alas, bits of the scuttle have to come out to get to the top mounts, and the old power steering pump has to be manipulated in various ways, the AC compressor removed from its mounts so that the AC pipework can move enough for the PS pump to come out.
Anyway, I realised fairly quickly that I didnt have the right socket for the hub/driveshaft nuts which need a 30mm 12point socket, my wife was in town while the kids were at band, so she was dispatched to B&Q of all places who had one for a meer £2.49.
Meanwhile moved onto the power steering. The ancillaries are all low on the engine so this is best done from beneath, I was struggling to see and as the VW service department had said the PS pipework quote was reduced if done concurrently with the DRLs (which needed the bumper off), I decided at this point to remove the front bumper. I notice that when it went in for a new bumper recently they have also replaced the intercooler, AC rad, and headlights, none of which had any visible damage.
Aux belt off, the pulley needs to come off the front of the PS pump to get to the front mounting bolts. I've struggled removing pullies from alternators in the last so I wasn't looking forward to it, but thankfully it's 3 bolts to a flange, and a 7mm hex in the shaft to hold it, simple. The AC pump needs to be loosened on it's fixings to get to the rear PS pump bolt.
Hoses clamped, removed and the ends bagged, but how to remove it? This is the obvious gap, but it doesnt fit through.
So AC pump removed to give more slack on the pipework and it came out through here between the PS pipe and bottom rad pipework.
Back together with new aux belt, but I opted not to fit the new tensioner as it doesnt have a way of releasing the tension, just a pin holding it against the spring for now.
I forgot to get a picture of where the pipework noted by VW as being in the wrong place was, but it was within the engine bay behind the fan.
Back in the correct place, I suspect the repair company had put the bumper back on before refitting the pipe.
There is also a nest of wiring on the front bumper which doesnt look quite right. I added the top P clip here to hold that back, if anyone knows what it should look like please shout! The loose plug is where the bumper electrics plug in.
Onto the suspension, driveshaft out, strut removed from the hub fine, spring off and built onto the new shock with new top mounts, bump stops etc. At this point I noticed that the new shock has a pair of flanges to mount it to the hub instead of being recessed into it :headbang:
So that got built back onto the old shock and the bus put back together. Not leaks thankfully.
To save anyone else the same head ache "heavy duty suspension" on one of these is for T32 Transporters, Caravelles are T30.
So suspension work still to do, but otherwise successful, if somewhat frustrating.
This is the first real work I've done on the van and I had expected that there would be more space around stuff and therefore everything would be easier. Alas, bits of the scuttle have to come out to get to the top mounts, and the old power steering pump has to be manipulated in various ways, the AC compressor removed from its mounts so that the AC pipework can move enough for the PS pump to come out.
Anyway, I realised fairly quickly that I didnt have the right socket for the hub/driveshaft nuts which need a 30mm 12point socket, my wife was in town while the kids were at band, so she was dispatched to B&Q of all places who had one for a meer £2.49.
Meanwhile moved onto the power steering. The ancillaries are all low on the engine so this is best done from beneath, I was struggling to see and as the VW service department had said the PS pipework quote was reduced if done concurrently with the DRLs (which needed the bumper off), I decided at this point to remove the front bumper. I notice that when it went in for a new bumper recently they have also replaced the intercooler, AC rad, and headlights, none of which had any visible damage.
Aux belt off, the pulley needs to come off the front of the PS pump to get to the front mounting bolts. I've struggled removing pullies from alternators in the last so I wasn't looking forward to it, but thankfully it's 3 bolts to a flange, and a 7mm hex in the shaft to hold it, simple. The AC pump needs to be loosened on it's fixings to get to the rear PS pump bolt.
Hoses clamped, removed and the ends bagged, but how to remove it? This is the obvious gap, but it doesnt fit through.
So AC pump removed to give more slack on the pipework and it came out through here between the PS pipe and bottom rad pipework.
Back together with new aux belt, but I opted not to fit the new tensioner as it doesnt have a way of releasing the tension, just a pin holding it against the spring for now.
I forgot to get a picture of where the pipework noted by VW as being in the wrong place was, but it was within the engine bay behind the fan.
Back in the correct place, I suspect the repair company had put the bumper back on before refitting the pipe.
There is also a nest of wiring on the front bumper which doesnt look quite right. I added the top P clip here to hold that back, if anyone knows what it should look like please shout! The loose plug is where the bumper electrics plug in.
Onto the suspension, driveshaft out, strut removed from the hub fine, spring off and built onto the new shock with new top mounts, bump stops etc. At this point I noticed that the new shock has a pair of flanges to mount it to the hub instead of being recessed into it :headbang:
So that got built back onto the old shock and the bus put back together. Not leaks thankfully.
To save anyone else the same head ache "heavy duty suspension" on one of these is for T32 Transporters, Caravelles are T30.
So suspension work still to do, but otherwise successful, if somewhat frustrating.
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