We had an opportunity to grab a couple of days in a cabin down the south coast so we took it. Right on the beach, it was fabulous. We walked a lot and chilled out, just what we needed.
BUT, when I started the car this morning there was a little warning light on the dash, looked like a little coil. Why do these sorts of things happen when you’re a long way from home? Anyway, we had to be out of there anyway so we packed up and left, hoping the car would be OK. The Owners Manual said that it was an engine management issue and that I should contact my VW dealer immediately.
Pulling out onto the road back to the highway it became clear that, while the car was running, it wasn’t running well. Acceleration was poor, especially up hills and I deduced that the turbo was not functioning and that the engine was just running as normal, 2 Litre diesel engine.
We made it back to the main highway, about 10kms and ghosted across the highway to the servo at the intersection with the intention of calling for help. Plainly, the car could run but I wasn’t keen to try and nurse it the c.200km home in limp mode. Unfortunately, there was no phone reception there but the lovely lady at the servo let me log onto their Wi-Fi so I could make a call or two. My VW dealer in Wollongong couldn’t help and told me that, even if I COULD get the car home, they couldn’t look at it till next MONTH.
They did suggest VW Assist but they began talking hundreds of dollars for me just to JOIN and no promise that they could do any better than my dealer could.
Next I called NRMA as I AM a member there and they said someone would be along to help me in about 90 minutes.
Actually, it was considerably less than that and the very nice serviceman ran the diagnostic tool over it and told me that there was problem with the turbo system (10 points for me). He zeroed the error code and offered to travel along behind me for a few ks to be sure that the car was running OK. It barely made it back onto the highway before the error message appeared again. We repeated the process with the same result.
Jason then called a few servos in Batemans Bay to see if there was one that could at least look at the car for me. The first two calls drew a blank but the third one, to the local NRMA workshop, was successful and the mechanic said that, if we could get the car to him, he would at least have a look.
Jason drove behind us for the 15 minutes or so that it took to nurse the car to the Bay and he guided us to the workshop. He explained what was wrong and the mechanic (Ben) said he’d check it out but it would take a while as he was very busy. We understood so we walked up the street to the local take-away, had a leisurely coffee and a browse through Facebook Marketplace for another car and generally killed time.
After an hour or so we decided to go back and see if Ben had made any progress. We were pleased to see that he was working under the bonnet of the car. “We had it up on the hoist but we couldn’t see anything wrong so I decided to check under the hood again,” he said. I asked him what he’d found and he replied, “Oh, we’ve found the problem.” I was stunned and even more so when he showed me why the car had been sick.
Two of the hoses that service the turbo actuating servo had been gnawed through by rats! I couldn’t believe it but he showed me the evidence.
Apparently, rats are fairly active around the area at the moment and Ben said he’d seen this problem before. Astonishing. He was in the process of replacing the hoses with new, custom-made ones and a quick road test then proved that car was, “Running like a rocket.” as he said.
Sometimes you can just get lucky. AND, he only charged me $50 to diagnose and fix the problem. The car flew home and we got home before dark, tired but gratified that we had found a great garage and a couple of great mechanics who had got us on our way without breaking the bank.
If you’re ever in the Bay, Jason Smith Automotive is the name. They are GOOD people.
