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

[Joe]

Uhm... "snubbable"?  Is that Canadian for "stallable"?  

Joe
 

-----Original Message-----
From: vwdiesel-bounces at vwfans.com [mailto:vwdiesel-bounces at vwfans.com] On
Behalf Of Chris Geiser
Sent: Friday, December 11, 2009 10:12 AM
To: Patrick Dolan
Cc: William J Toensing; vwdiesel at vwfans.com
Subject: Re: [Vwdiesel] Age, Diesel History, and Bonus TDI Tragedy

Not much to add to the conversation except a comment on the drive by wire...

My wifes '09 TDI is the most "snubbable" car I've ever been in - I've been
driving stick since I was 6 and learned to drive the old Kaiser Jeep; never
owned an automatic car...  and this is the only car I've snubbed in the last
many many years, and it happens at least once just about every time I drive
it.  I attribute it to a slight delay in the processing of the accelerator
signal - it's a fraction of a second delay, but it doesn't feel like any
other vehicle I've driven - so the clutch / accelerator timing just doesn't
feel right.

I only know one other person with a late model TDI, and they say the same
thing about their car.  Any one else seeing this?  Pretty annoying...

Chris






On Fri, Dec 11, 2009 at 7:18 AM, Patrick Dolan <pmdolan at sasktel.net> wrote:

> 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
> > _______________________________________________
> > Vwdiesel mailing list
> > Vwdiesel at vwfans.com
> > http://www.audifans.com/mailman/listinfo/vwdiesel
> >
>
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