[Vwdiesel] Age, Diesel History, and Bonus TDI Tragedy

[James Hansen]

Amen, Pat.
One of VW's biggest downfalls was in closing all the smaller dealerships in
the name of efficiency. Different reasons were used, but it amounted to new
car sales volume was too low, so out they go. The best of the service aspect
of the business was lost when this happened.  Problem now is that large
multi-brand dealership groups own and operate them all in exactly the manner
you would expect from someone that has too many irons in the fire.
I think you're right on target regarding the trades and shop competence.
Some of the European Ag dealer techs (John Deere for instance) that have
immigrated here to work posses a much greater knowledge base that the ones
trained here, and usually have a very low comeback rate.  
I hear you about oil. It's pretty easy to put words on a bottle.
I keep hassling my Shell buddy to get me some proper oil for this car, they
can't access European spec oils for some reason.  Here in Yorkton, we have
Amsoil at 13 bucks a quart, or nothing.
-james

> -----Original Message-----
> From: vwdiesel-bounces at vwfans.com [mailto:vwdiesel-bounces at vwfans.com]
> On Behalf Of Patrick Dolan
> Sent: Friday, December 11, 2009 7:18 AM
> To: William J Toensing
> Cc: vwdiesel at vwfans.com
> Subject: Re: [Vwdiesel] Age, Diesel History, and Bonus TDI Tragedy
> 
> I wish I knew the answer to dealer technical incompetence.  I came into
> this business as a mechanic many decades ago, and over the 70s went
> into management and became a dealer principal.  I had my fill of retail
> business by 1980 and moved on, but I could already see the nature of
> the business changing.  It's not just a VW thing, it is a North
> American thing.  Money has become the religion of the continent, and
> there is no honour in work.  In Germany, a person becomes a tradesman,
> and rises threough the ranks by becoming a Master tradesman who is a
> respected member of society as well as the workplace - here we
> interpret "improving" or lot with getting OUT of the trades and we
> measure that success by how much money you are making.  Why would a
> really smart mechanic or parts guy stay in the trade, make relative
> peanunts and GET NO RESPECT when he can easily go to Wall Street and
> share in $18Bn worth of bonuses at Goldman Sachs?  On top of that,
> consumerism (part of the same cree
> d of greed) has resulted in unrealistic expectations (always blame
> somone else, everyone else owes us a living).  None of this will change
> until we have a quantum shift in cultural aligment - and from the
> latest lack of change while the US economy re-structures itself to
> further rule-by-special-interest, it isn't going to happen.
> 
> I am not in the lubricants business any more, so I will qualify these
> comments with that statement first.  Be careful around Amsoil.  While
> they claim compliance to any particular standard, at least in my day,
> they refused to submit to any actual testing to qualify - relying
> instead on advertising claims.  Refer to the previous paragraph to know
> what I think about that.  I can tell you, though, that when such a
> weird and demanding spec is written, there is a good reason (note I
> said this without once attacking the incompetent engineers who would
> foist the design of PD engines on an unsuspecting public).  The wide
> variety of oils are to meet the greatly increased demands on oil
> specifications to be able to meet corporate average fuel economy,
> emissions and engine life REQUIREMENTS - for once we actually gain from
> government interventiion into our marketplace.  All of the European
> majors meet Euro specs - Agip, Repsol, BP, Shell, etc. with products in
> their market.
> 
> Sad about the probability of Toyota getting a pass while Audi was
> hammered nearly to death in the US market - for something related to
> consumer ineptitude, not design oversight.  Yes, VW used electronic
> foot feed an all TDI and FSI.  No real reason to run a cable anywhere
> because it would just be connected to the computer there anyhow.  Just
> be happy that Bill Gates doesn't sell the software in your ECU
> (although much of the programming and diagnostics DO rely on a Windows
> environment).  Other than physical damage, I have NEVER heard of an ECU
> "shutting down" in normal operation.
> 
> Electric power steering is not electronic, it is merely assissted by an
> electric power source, as is old fashioned power steering merely
> assisted by a hydraulic power source.  Difference is, the electric one
> is easier to control electronically - and is much more energy (read
> FUEL) efficient.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> ----- Original Message -----
> From: William J Toensing <toensing at wildblue.net>
> Date: Friday, December 11, 2009 5:25 am
> Subject: [Vwdiesel] Age, Diesel History, and Bonus TDI Tragedy
> 
> > This has been an interesting discussion, that of VW Dealer
> > incompetence. VW America must have forgotten what gave VW its good
> > reputation back in the 1950s & 1960s & the huge import market
> > share prior to the 1970s when the Japanese took it away, or maybe
> > that VW gave to them on a silver platter. However, there must be
> > some VW dealers with reliable service departments. Those that are
> > should be given recognition.
> > The discussion about VW dealers not using VW spec oil is very
> > interesting. I have often wondered why Amsoil makes so many
> > varieties of synthetic oils.They make a "Synthetic 5W-40 European
> > Motor Oil that meets VW specifications 502.00, 505.00, &505.01.
> > How that varies from other synthetic oils, I don't know. I wonder
> > what other oils meet these VW specs?
> > Lately, Toyota has been in the recall news for unintended
> > acceleration which they blamed on floor mats but appears to be a
> > mal-function of their "fly by wire" accelerator control. Does
> > anyone know if VW uses the same system on their new "clean diesel"
> > TDIs? This is one of the reasons why I prefer manual
> > transmissions. At least if the engine runs away you can shift into
> > neutral. Most automatics have neutral too. I wonder if you can
> > shift a Prius into neutral if this happens? In multi-million $
> > airliners & other aircraft they have many expensive backup systems
> > for the "fly by wire" controls but the only back up systems in
> > cars that I know of is the dual master cylinder brakes. I hope the
> > new electric power steering units that replace hydraulic power
> > steering still have manual connections if the electrics fail. Ever
> > have your computer freeze up? I want my car electronics in new
> > cars to be more reliable than my computer.
> > Bill Toensing
> > _______________________________________________
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> > Vwdiesel at vwfans.com
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> >
> 
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