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8ender posted:From my research before buying, everything on the A3 is easier and it's the least lovely Audi to work with. Every other model is a pile of VAG fuckery.  B2/B3 is better and easier. No, I'm not biased because I own them
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Jan 11, 2015 19:52
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BIG HORNY COW posted:A few years ago I helped a friend with an 04 Malibu try to check the level on his ATF, only to find there's no way to do so. Apparently GM felt that making sure you have enough transmission fluid wasn't a job you should be concerning yourself with. It's somewhat frustrating when conventional car wisdom fails so spectacularly. You can, just without a dipstick. You have to have the vehicle level and running, open a full drain hole on the side of the transmission, then add via the vent opening until it weeps. I have an 05 Malibu and the FSM, this is what it states to do. I'm actually able to get away doing this with it on a concrete floor without a lift. I'd much prefer a dipstick though.
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Jan 11, 2015 20:35
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90% of modern cars don't have dipsticks, filling through the vent/a hole in the side is routine. Some cars you fill through the drain hole. The inside of the pan has a tube that sticks up around the hole to the correct level. You fill them until fluid starts coming back out at you. This is cheaper to build because you have one hole instead of two and no holes need to be machined in the trans body itself.
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Jan 11, 2015 22:11
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Uthor posted:I got a letter from VW extending the length of the warranty on the center brake light. Why? Because the light is in the spoiler and the only way to change it is to cut the spoiler off the car, fix the light, glue it back to the car, and repaint. I thought the saddle on my bf's bicycle was going to be the most German thing I came across today, but here we are. "Why make it simple when complicated will do?" indeed.
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Jan 11, 2015 22:14
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Slavvy posted:90% of modern cars don't have dipsticks, filling through the vent/a hole in the side is routine. My partners VZ (and you know how much that thing annoys me in every GM conceivable way), does have a dipstick for the trans. Also easy for you to say while working in a shop with a hoist etc, but drat annoying for us work from home, uneven lovely driveways or complete lack thereof of flat stable ground. E: I've got an edge I can drive to for engine oil changes/draining, and even trans fluid draining, but no access for trans fluid filling while still being on level ground. I guess GM wins that round. Fo3 fucked around with this message at 23:20 on Jan 11, 2015 |
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Jan 11, 2015 23:13
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All of what you say is true but frankly no one involved in the construction or design of a modern vehicle gives a continental flying gently caress through a rolling donut about people doing poo poo in their driveway. "Lifetime sealed" was a crock of poo poo in the late 80's when German brands started doing it; ford is just behind.
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Jan 12, 2015 00:06
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Yeah no manufacturer cares, that's why I hate most of them. To be honest professional mechanics must hate most of the poo poo they pull too, so it's not just about the home mechanic, especially in the US where they seem to be almost subcontractors and get paid per job based on manufacturer's "book time". e: It's all about "packaging", fit and trim while it works and saving $1 per car to them. Fo3 fucked around with this message at 00:35 on Jan 12, 2015 |
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Jan 12, 2015 00:31
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Thats why I decided to go back to college. Cars have become such a loving shitshow and the dude at the bottom of the food chain gets poo poo on all the loving time.
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Jan 12, 2015 00:34
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I thought about being a mechanic when I was 17, went into HVAC instead. Still a dumb move, plumbers and electricians earn the most, small domestic HVAC is being killed due to environmental laws and cost - cheaper to pay an electrician and a labourer to fit new ones these days, plus electricians easily being dual trade and doing my job (but things not going vice versa of course). But still, HVAC paid more than being a mechanic so it was good while it lasted. That said, mechanics are paid hourly here by the shop they work for, earn less than any other trade, but a regular paycheck for showing up each day at least. The system it seems they have over there in the US? Scary and just plain wrong. Cars are getting more complicated, time to pay enough to keep/attract intelligent people IMO. Fo3 fucked around with this message at 00:46 on Jan 12, 2015 |
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Jan 12, 2015 00:40
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Mister Kingdom posted:What the hell would that cost? I didn't have to on an old girlfriend's 07, ymmv, its still a ridiculous pain in the rear end that could only come from shoving the MkIV jetta into a smaller body.
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Jan 12, 2015 01:31
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It's great because in the other thread posters are falling over themselves with explanations of how automakers will go bankrupt if they let you order a manual transmission with a sunroof but not HIDs or whatever the gently caress because ~oh god my automated production line just in time inventory efficiency~. Meanwhile VW comes up with with an entirely new engine configuration/block design casting completely out of thin air and puts it into production for one low volume trim level of one car line that mostly competed with other products under their own corporate umbrella anyway. So you can have a Passat which is part of a trim level comprising <1% of all Passats of that generation which now can't get a new engine block unless they pull a Veyron off the line and saw the engine block in half. EDIT: I mean look at this poo poo  It was a lot of effort but hey now you can get a Passat with about as much power as an LT1 Firebird. Throatwarbler fucked around with this message at 02:01 on Jan 12, 2015 |
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Jan 12, 2015 01:57
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Throatwarbler posted:It was a lot of effort but hey now you can get a Passat with about as much power as an LT1 Firebird. The 3.6 V6 from the next shape has about the same amount of power and is probably far less retarded to own.
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Jan 12, 2015 02:24
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dissss posted:The 3.6 V6 from the next shape has about the same amount of power and is probably far less retarded to own. It was a VR6, so somewhat. Serious chat I think the current iteration of the VR6 is pretty good though.
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Jan 12, 2015 03:05
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Fo3 posted:I thought about being a mechanic when I was 17, went into HVAC instead. Still a dumb move, plumbers and electricians earn the most, small domestic HVAC is being killed due to environmental laws and cost - cheaper to pay an electrician and a labourer to fit new ones these days, plus electricians easily being dual trade and doing my job (but things not going vice versa of course). But still, HVAC paid more than being a mechanic so it was good while it lasted. That said, mechanics are paid hourly here by the shop they work for, earn less than any other trade, but a regular paycheck for showing up each day at least. The system it seems they have over there in the US? Scary and just plain wrong. Cars are getting more complicated, time to pay enough to keep/attract intelligent people IMO. cursedshitbox posted:Thats why I decided to go back to college. Cars have become such a loving shitshow and the dude at the bottom of the food chain gets poo poo on all the loving time. Yeah this stuff is just  material for me. I am sick of this bullshit and don't want to be in the motor industry anymore. I want to design sewing machines or raise llamas or some poo poo; basically anything other than being paid gently caress all to do a job that is both physically and mentally pulverizing.Throatwarbler posted:It was a VR6, so somewhat. You only think this because it's current and the full scope of it's terribleness hasn't yet been revealed by the fickle fingers of time.
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Jan 12, 2015 03:10
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nm posted:It will be german, but it will be called EFB-62, and will be neon green. Also, if it mixes with DOT-5 it will solidify and if it mixes with DOT 3/5.1, it will eat holes in the master cylinder! I don't know if you're joking or not but making it neon green to differentiate it from the others would be fine by me. And if you mix dot3 and dot5 or vise versa, you already get brake system death and win the chance to replace everything in it except the metal lines (and flush those well with solvent) so I dunno if what you described is really all that different  Seriously though, my sister literally bought a 2011 2.5L auto jetta two days ago - those are allegedly the reliable ones. Yesterday I get this text message... quote:We drove the car an hour and twenty minutes from the dealership to a friends house in alton, NH. When we went to start the car the alternator light, the EPC light, and the catalytic converter light all came on and it won't start. So.... We have to have it towed back to the dealership tomorrow morning. We are not sure if they are required to give us a rental car or not and are unfortunately looking for a ride from Manchester to Salem tomorrow morningish. This is totally rediculous, there goes "reliable". You have leave to tell me "I told you so". :/ Yeah, gently caress VW.
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Jan 12, 2015 03:31
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Slavvy posted:Yeah this stuff is just After I left the shop, that was pretty much it for me. I just loving can't go work for someone else as a tech anymore. I only dealt with 10-15 different cars, instead of 50 loving thousand, all with hidden gently caress yous and gently caress offs and suck my dick motherfucker hahaha hope you die before finishing that heatercore. Rather unfortunately I may go back to it part time post moving to sf though. kastein posted:And if you mix dot3 and dot5 or vise versa, you already get brake system death and win the chance to replace everything in it except the metal lines (and flush those well with solvent) so I dunno if what you described is really all that different
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Jan 12, 2015 06:16
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cursedshitbox posted:After I left the shop, that was pretty much it for me. I just loving can't go work for someone else as a tech anymore. I only dealt with 10-15 different cars, instead of 50 loving thousand, all with hidden gently caress yous and gently caress offs and suck my dick motherfucker hahaha hope you die before finishing that heatercore. Because my work now does import compliance I get to see about a hundred new cars per week. 95% are imported from Japan, usually around 6-7 years old, about 80% japanese brands and the rest German (very few are stupid enough to import french or italian cars). JDM models are different in minor but absolutely infuriating ways compared to NZ/AU models. Also, they're filled with hidden (extremely lovely) repairs because nobody fixes anything properly in Japan. Also, they're all completely hosed mechanically because nobody in Japan services their car ever. Also, they have to pass an extremely strict safety inspection that involves taking apart 80% of the interior and all of the underbody cosmetics + brakes. I have to achieve this by a combination of busting my balls and busting the balls of untrained minimum wage monkeys who are expected to take apart entire interiors without breaking/scratching anything. Currently I'd say it's about 1 in every 4 cars I have to rehabilitate after they've been 'completed'. On top of all this the dealerships that import the cars often don't have their own workshop so if something has a lit CEL/airbag/abs/window not working/whatever they want me to somehow roll the diagnosis time into their overall fee "because you're taking it apart anyway!". Over it.
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Jan 12, 2015 06:29
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 gently caress that noise! Most people here are lovely about maintenance in the states where inspections aren't required, but thats a whole nother' level of hell. I can pretty much only stand wrenching on bikes as a professional these days. My back is too trashed to continue jerking engines/trannies for overhauls.
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Jan 12, 2015 06:38
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Slavvy posted:Because my work now does import compliance I get to see about a hundred new cars per week. 95% are imported from Japan, usually around 6-7 years old, about 80% japanese brands and the rest German (very few are stupid enough to import french or italian cars). Why bother fixing or servicing when owning a car more than five to seven years old in Japan is so loving expensive, you might as well just buy another one.
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Jan 12, 2015 06:40
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cursedshitbox posted:My back is too trashed to continue jerking engines/trannies for overhauls. ..but enough about your social life. 
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Jan 12, 2015 06:40
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cursedshitbox posted:I can pretty much only stand wrenching on bikes as a professional these days. My back is too trashed to continue jerking engines/trannies for overhauls. Wrenching on bikes is so civilized compared to cars. Setup a stool next to your bike, drink a beer, use a little hand impact to get a cover off, drink more beer until its fixed. I wish my bike required more maintenance but its a 70's UJM.
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Jan 12, 2015 06:41
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8ender posted:Wrenching on bikes is so civilized compared to cars. Setup a stool next to your bike, drink a beer, use a little hand impact to get a cover off, drink more beer until its fixed. I wish my bike required more maintenance but its a 70's UJM. gently caress yes. I want to switch to bikes but I'm a little bit scared that it'll just ruin bikes for me the way working on cars ruined cars. I really, really, really like bikes and working on bikes and I don't want to lose that.
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Jan 12, 2015 06:51
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Its fun in a way actually. theres so many different machines, and the owners do so many different things with em. also: Theres working on a bike on the ground, and working on a bike on a stand. btw. BMW shaft drives are worthy of this thread, holy poo poo are they a bitch to replace the clutch.
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Jan 12, 2015 07:17
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Slavvy posted:gently caress yes. I want to switch to bikes but I'm a little bit scared that it'll just ruin bikes for me the way working on cars ruined cars. I really, really, really like bikes and working on bikes and I don't want to lose that. Let me weigh in on this - The first year or so, you will be elated to wrench and ride every kind of bike you will hate every motorcycle you come into contact with for threeish years after. People like to ride in the nice weather, guess when you will be working and not riding. If you can get past the first few years, you will like bikes / riding again. Having said that, you will make virtually no money working as a tech in a shop. Flat rate is where it's going for most bike shops. 0.6 of an hour to do a rear tire on a GL1500, from rolling on the bench to rolling off, gently caress that. 1.6 to do a complete service, including valve inspect and adjust on a CBR250, probably not going to happen. Raise the shop rate, customers get pissed off, so you drop the billed out time for the customer and gently caress the tech. Sometimes it works out alright  Work on your own bikes, and your friend's bikes for cash. Buy poo poo bikes, fix and flip them. DefaultPeanut fucked around with this message at 08:22 on Jan 12, 2015 |
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Jan 12, 2015 08:15
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The mechanics I know who are happy (except for a couple who own successful shops) long term seem to all work for state/county government motorpools. Health insurance, 4-6 weeks vacation, almost impossible to fire, and a pension.
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Jan 12, 2015 08:17
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DefaultPeanut posted:
This. Its all the same poo poo, but sometimes its worth it.  E:  weeeee cursedshitbox fucked around with this message at 09:13 on Jan 12, 2015 |
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Jan 12, 2015 08:53
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Vanagoon posted:
Chiming in late on this: IIRC, they did it partly for packaging but mostly because it lets them get away with a much smaller rotating mass than a conventional V8 flat plane crank would allow.
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Jan 12, 2015 09:16
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What.
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kastein posted:Yeah, gently caress VW.
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Jan 12, 2015 17:54
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How the gently caress do you people have so many issues with VW components? I have three and two of them work amazingly well. The third one doesn't because I broke it.
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Jan 12, 2015 18:02
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CommieGIR posted:How the gently caress do you people have so many issues with VW components? I have three and two of them work amazingly well. The third one doesn't because I broke it. VAG went to poo poo in the mid 90s. Which most of your cars aren't from. I'm as much of a diehard VAG fan as you but anything mid 90s through late 00s was garbage. They aggressively cut costs by putting poo poo parts in their cars to grab enough money to finance the purchase of any luxury brand they could get their hands on. My Uncle has an A8 that has never worked properly and is complete garbage parts wise.
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Jan 12, 2015 18:16
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Ive had good luck with VW except for my 97 A4, what shitbox that thing was. I always though 92ish was the cutoff for good VWs though my 95 GTI VR6 was solid and reliable for the 6 years I had it, not to mention fun as hell. Ive had my Scirocco for 9 years now and have driven all over the east side of the country with no problems and it has at least billion miles on it.
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Jan 12, 2015 18:21
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1500quidporsche posted:VAG went to poo poo in the mid 90s. Which most of your cars aren't from. I'm as much of a diehard VAG fan as you but anything mid 90s through late 00s was garbage. They aggressively cut costs by putting poo poo parts in their cars to grab enough money to finance the purchase of any luxury brand they could get their hands on. My Uncle has an A8 that has never worked properly and is complete garbage parts wise. My 58 doesn't work because I pulled the fucker out of a field and have been too lazy to finish putting it back together. My 95 2.0 was a piece of poo poo but was essentially a beater already when I got it, and I beat the everloving poo poo out of it until it found its way back to the motherland (Mexico). My 2004.5 GLI was perfect other than being a magnet for stupid fuckers to ram into. My 11 has been perfect for the 3.5 years I've had it, and if the new .:R ever becomes available with a stick I'll be trading the 11 in towards that. I guess I just managed to avoid the years when VAG was poo poo 
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Jan 12, 2015 18:41
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I haven't worked on many old VAG products but from what I've seen, they're comparable to older mercedes (late 80's/early 90's BMW was by far the strongest german brand for reliability). Which is to say, crap by the standards of normal cars but acceptable by someone willing to live with it for the sake of having something less boring. All the ones I've worked on have been 2000-onwards and universally terrible. Most recent was a 2013 RS5 - still crap.veedubfreak posted:My 58 doesn't work because I pulled the fucker out of a field and have been too lazy to finish putting it back together. My 95 2.0 was a piece of poo poo but was essentially a beater already when I got it, and I beat the everloving poo poo out of it until it found its way back to the motherland (Mexico). My 2004.5 GLI was perfect other than being a magnet for stupid fuckers to ram into. My 11 has been perfect for the 3.5 years I've had it, and if the new .:R ever becomes available with a stick I'll be trading the 11 in towards that. I guess I just managed to avoid the years when VAG was poo poo They're still poo poo, you just haven't had your 11 for long enough to know about it.
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Jan 12, 2015 18:50
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Slavvy posted:They're still poo poo, you just haven't had your 11 for long enough to know about it. Refer to my last post in this thread for confirmation
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Jan 12, 2015 19:13
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VW hosed up in the 80s too. Great Moments in Crappy Engine History: Volkswagen Wasserboxer http://www.sub5zero.com/great-moments-crappy-engine-history-volkswagen-wasserboxer-w-video/ Bit of an apologist this guy, but yes, let's seal the water jacket to the cylinder head with what amounts to a giant O-ring. http://www.gowesty.com/library_article.php?id=107  Basically what they did was put watercooled heads on a type 4 engine, and extended water jackets over the cylinders.
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Jan 12, 2015 19:26
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kastein posted:Refer to my last post in this thread for confirmation What did the problem end up being? My personal guess was a bad battery assuming that when she said it won't start she meant it wouldn't crank at all.
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Jan 12, 2015 19:48
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Slavvy posted:
Though if it is a gti ans has the same wp as the 12 and the 13, I'm surprised it hasn't had a couple of those. Buddy of mine is at 4 (in under 36k mi) on his 12. The 13 is improved, it took a whole 18mo (and under 20k mi) for the first one to catistrophically fail on another friends.
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Jan 12, 2015 20:13
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1500quidporsche posted:VAG went to poo poo in the mid 90s. Which most of your cars aren't from. I'm as much of a diehard VAG fan as you but anything mid 90s through late 00s was garbage. They aggressively cut costs by putting poo poo parts in their cars to grab enough money to finance the purchase of any luxury brand they could get their hands on. My Uncle has an A8 that has never worked properly and is complete garbage parts wise.  Yeah, you did hit that on the head.
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Jan 12, 2015 20:42
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Shifty Pony posted:What did the problem end up being? My personal guess was a bad battery assuming that when she said it won't start she meant it wouldn't crank at all. Unsure, there were a number of warning lights on and it rode the wrecker back to the dealer. I don't have many details.
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Jan 12, 2015 20:45
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Holy gently caress, I am never buying a VAG anything.
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