my lovely 10 year old passat has engine trouble i think 216k m ; keep or scrap?

aah

hello all

question in the title really

I love the ole car to bits it has seen me through such a lot, mum's illness and her passing, 3 jobs, both kids learning to drive, 4 family hols to france, 5 years of commuting 400 miles rt to work each week (altho latterly did use train).

and now it seems its dying out. it can't get up hill in higher than 3rd. and the scrappage scheme is about.. i cant afford a new passat but i dont really want to get rid of this one. also have heard new vw not as good as old...

what do you think, might there be a reason (timing belt? clutch - its still on the original one? ) for this loss of power.

Or should i be heartless (yes i know it hasnt got a heart) and just trade it in for something modern efficient and soulless??

your advice will be most appreciated...

goldspanners

at that age and mileage it really owes you nothing i guess,but i can see the snetiment here and why you dont want to get rid of it.
why not take it into a garage and see what they think the cause is of this loss of power.
thats a good mileage to get out of the original clutch and isnt any shame to it if it has gone. if its as simple as the clutch then i would be replacing it.

hewhoisnotintheknow

dont replace it with a newer VW you will be very dissapointed!

harveybobbles

replace the air flow meter and you'll keep ot for another 216,000...!!

cyclonebri1

harveybobbles wrote: »

replace the air flow meter and you'll keep ot for another 216,000...!!

Just take it in and get a compression test done. This is cheap, maybe an hours labour, and gives a fair indication as to the overall wear state of the engine. A decent garage will be able to interpret this, but generally all cylinders should be within 10% balance of each other. When new I would guess at about 180 to 190 PSI. Below 100 is rebuild time. 160ish at that mileage would be very good.

Wet and dry tests can be done to help pinpoint where any issue lies, but as before if they want to charge you for more than 1 hr then try somewhere else.;)

Pew_Pew_Pew_Lasers!

It could be a range of issues from intake to exhaust, but I very much doubt the engine is on its way out.

maninthestreet

You haven't said exactly how steep the hills are that you can't get up in 4th gear or higher. Even my 4 year old car with only 21,000 miles on the clock would probably struggle to get up a 1:10 hill in 4th gear if I was doing 30mph in 4th gear as I approached it. If the problem is wear in the clucth, it will manifest itself as an increase in engine revs with no apparent increase in the speed of the car.

blued

I think this is impossible to diagnose without more information. At 216k it is just run in! My fathers 1995 A6 TDI is approaching 250k. I can tell you it is not your timing belt. Are there any other symptoms? Hard to start? Hesitation? Anything else at all that has changed?

10yrs is not old for these cars!

pault123

Is it diesel or petrol?

Does the car seem to lose power after you've gone over a certain amount of revs?

Is everything else on the car in good nick, bodywork suspension aircon etc?

aah

Suspension (no aircon) is in good nick, bodywork is ok, everything else fine.

I will take it in and get the tests done. Thank you all for giving me confidence.

cyclonebri1

blued wrote: »

I think this is impossible to diagnose without more information. At 216k it is just run in! My fathers 1995 A6 TDI is approaching 250k. I can tell you it is not your timing belt. Are there any other symptoms? Hard to start? Hesitation? Anything else at all that has changed?

10yrs is not old for these cars!

The diagnosis is the compression test. If all is fine then worth spending more.;)