Just wanted to say from down here
Proud owner of a MK7 12 seater. Bought it off Gumtree with a 'suspected blown motor' for next to nothing. There was oil in the coolant (thick sludge in the header tank, and engine bay covered in oil. The previous owners took it to a local 'mechanic', who promptly informed them it definitely needed a new engine and a quote for AUD$10K.
When I looked at the vehicle, I saw obvious signs that it had been maintained well. It has 400K km on it, pretty much all country km's. It has been regularly serviced since new, and it service books proved it. They had replaced all 4 injectors very recently. It has a new intake manifold etc. Starter motor looked about 6 months old. Complete new tailshaft front to back. Very recently replaced new brakes/discs all round etc etc. Interior/all 12 seats in excellent condition.
After lurking around here for a few hours, it became clear that it was with a high probability an oil cooler failure, so I decided to take the risk and pay AUD$1500.
Got it home, drained the coolant, flushed with Morning Bright dishwashing liquid (Pamolive just doesn't cut the mustard i'm afraid
) as best possible. Degreased the whole engine bay, inspected for any other obvious signs of failure, then changed the oil. Started first kick. Sure enough, after joining the 2 coolant hoses and bypassing the oil cooler, oil started slowly come out of the cooler, and after idling for a while, it came out quite fast. Installed a new oil cooler, did some housekeeping in the engine bay, and now purring away like a dream!
Have a few questions to it all, but will post them later once this has been moderated.
Cheers,
Tassiebloke
