A couple of people asked recently why I seemed to have gone quiet lately. Well, I haven't actually gone quiet, I've just had a catalogue of issues with my T6 recently, which sadly still aren't quite resolved.
This all started with a cracked exhaust manifold, which we removed and went to order a new one, only to be told that you cannot actually buy a T6 exhaust manifold, unless you purchase the whole turbo (or 2 turbos in my case, because it's bi-turbo) to top the eye watering price of a new pair of turbo's, VW couldn't give me an actual delivery date and quoted 6-12 weeks, which obviously didn't work for me because the van is in daily use for my business. So, we brass welded the manifold in the hope it would seal the crack and flex with the heat of the manifold.
Yes, the weld worked, but it didn't fix the issue, because we still had fumes in the cab and Black smoke upon revving from the manifold area (more cracks)
Anyway, we decided that we didn't want to loose the van for two more days whilst we took the turbo off again, and just put up with the unfiltered fumes, mitigating by using the internal recirculating button to block air from entering the cab. Job done for now.
This all seemed to work for a short time and I could get on with work, but several weeks later on a very hot day, I noticed a weird noise on the way home from a job in Norfolk. This noise then developed into the van not feeling right. It seemed to lack power on initial pull off, which only got worse, the closer we got to home, until 'boom' a pop, followed by a loud knocking noise, shortly followed by a plume of Blue smoke and then the engine management light, then stop. Yep, a blown turbo.
Long story short, we got the van towed to my garage and got the new turbos and yesterday we fitted the new turbos in the hope that this was all the answers to the T6 prayers, but alas, not so.
This is where the fun has started and pretty much where we are now. Firstly, the van started fine, no smoke and no lights on the dash, but we noted that nothing was exiting the exhaust, and by nothing, I mean zilch. No smoke or even air. Quickly switched off, we determined the DPF was blocked solid, so removal and a dash across Leicester to a very helpful company that specialises in DPF cleaning. After a quick test, they confirmed it was blocked solid and put this down to the turbo throwing oil through the exhaust, thus blocking the DPF. After a couple of hours, they managed to unblock it and a quick test confirmed all ok. Back on the van it went, and again it started, but this time we have exhaust gasses exiting the exhaust. However, it still seems like it's blocked somewhere. There's an obvious hissing from the exhaust as if it's struggling to get the gasses out fast enough and we have an engine light on, indicating it's not happy. My tech road tested it and he said it's not right, and that's pretty much where we left it. Him annoyed it's still on a ramp and me pretty deflated.
This all started with a cracked exhaust manifold, which we removed and went to order a new one, only to be told that you cannot actually buy a T6 exhaust manifold, unless you purchase the whole turbo (or 2 turbos in my case, because it's bi-turbo) to top the eye watering price of a new pair of turbo's, VW couldn't give me an actual delivery date and quoted 6-12 weeks, which obviously didn't work for me because the van is in daily use for my business. So, we brass welded the manifold in the hope it would seal the crack and flex with the heat of the manifold.
Yes, the weld worked, but it didn't fix the issue, because we still had fumes in the cab and Black smoke upon revving from the manifold area (more cracks)
Anyway, we decided that we didn't want to loose the van for two more days whilst we took the turbo off again, and just put up with the unfiltered fumes, mitigating by using the internal recirculating button to block air from entering the cab. Job done for now.
This all seemed to work for a short time and I could get on with work, but several weeks later on a very hot day, I noticed a weird noise on the way home from a job in Norfolk. This noise then developed into the van not feeling right. It seemed to lack power on initial pull off, which only got worse, the closer we got to home, until 'boom' a pop, followed by a loud knocking noise, shortly followed by a plume of Blue smoke and then the engine management light, then stop. Yep, a blown turbo.
Long story short, we got the van towed to my garage and got the new turbos and yesterday we fitted the new turbos in the hope that this was all the answers to the T6 prayers, but alas, not so.
This is where the fun has started and pretty much where we are now. Firstly, the van started fine, no smoke and no lights on the dash, but we noted that nothing was exiting the exhaust, and by nothing, I mean zilch. No smoke or even air. Quickly switched off, we determined the DPF was blocked solid, so removal and a dash across Leicester to a very helpful company that specialises in DPF cleaning. After a quick test, they confirmed it was blocked solid and put this down to the turbo throwing oil through the exhaust, thus blocking the DPF. After a couple of hours, they managed to unblock it and a quick test confirmed all ok. Back on the van it went, and again it started, but this time we have exhaust gasses exiting the exhaust. However, it still seems like it's blocked somewhere. There's an obvious hissing from the exhaust as if it's struggling to get the gasses out fast enough and we have an engine light on, indicating it's not happy. My tech road tested it and he said it's not right, and that's pretty much where we left it. Him annoyed it's still on a ramp and me pretty deflated.
