I will not touch anything without watching a CZcamsr do it first. Laugh if you want to, but watching over someone's shoulder that is tearing apart the same s*** you're about to encounter is incredibly helpful and reassuring with a tremendous confidence boost if you've never done it before.
My issue with videos though is they never seem to have any problems when working on their own cars, meanwhile I'll go and begin, only to run in to some problems.
99% of used cars won’t have one. Not that half the info you actually need to properly service the vehicle yourself isn’t in it. Otherwise it would actually be a 1000 page book for ford 1 engine on 1 car on 1 trim package ALONE. Is a few hundred pages worth of info. Now they have to print based off the vin? Not off the car pshh that’s just more money for them to spend. That’s less profit man. They can’t have that.. unpopular opinion. Workshop manuals should be a google search away If you can’t keep customers because they like your car over another and need to keep secrets keeping the industry from innovation you shouldn’t be a company. Yet a good example of this real world. the big three bought out all the smaller brands shelved their good products or raped them to make their own product look better…..Chevy Pontiac ford mercury etc etc “We’re losing out on potential profit let’s buy them out and shelve what they sell10 years later the company’ dissolved entirely.
And actually if that were how it was any one could service any vehicle. Door rates would plummet too so the customers benefit all around where now they get fucked all around lol
Poor man, feel sorry for the owner. Sometimes it's easy to make mistake. I work a lot on my car or family and neighbors etc. don't have a workshop it's more like weekend, driveway, hobby stuff. One time, while resolving some electrical issues, I connected battery terminals wrong way, don't ask me how. Thought that the ecu was definitely cooked, dashboard went black, nothing on it. After surviving minor heart attack, reconnected battery and luckily everything came back.
yes, but thanks to Charles, he got a smokin' deal (no pun intended), saved a lot of money, and taught everyone who watched a lesson; again, all thanks to Charles @HumbleMechanic ... Both he and DAP do so much for the VAG community, most of it goes unnoticed. 🏁
@@gutrali measure what exactly? I don’t measure what comes out because some may have leaked out or burnt off, etc. I measure/guestimate what I put in, not what comes out.
@@deevizm8035 You would know how much is supposed to go in by reading up on it beforehand and then measuring the correct amount to put in before you pour it.
Had a buddy change the engine oil in his 5 speed escort. He mentioned it only took 2.5 quarts. We were at work and I wasn't paying that much attention when he told me. 5 or 6 weeks later he tells me his clutch went out and locked up the front wheels. Had it towed to a shop and had the clutch replaced. A few months later he brought it over to change the oil at my house. He climbs under and goes to work. I peak under and see red oil draining into the pan. It all finally made sense. I'm amazed that a new clutch was all it took to get it back on the road. I think that was the last time he ever attempted to change his own oil again.
I had a similar issue with a new guy when I for a short time worked at a quick lube shop. The guy in the pit slapped my leg and asked me to show him which plug to pull for the oil. I went down and showed him the oil pan and how to definitely tell which was which. I moved on to another customer and thought nothing of it. 🤦♂️ Dude drained the transmission and the idiot working top bay didn’t even check the dipstick after giving the engine a double load of oil. Needless to say the customer returned more pissed off than a Keebler elf demoted to a fudge packer demanding a new transmission.
As a European it is insane to me that in America apparently 100% unskilled and untrained people are allowed to work in workshops and ruin customer cars.
@alouisschafer7212 They are supposed to be trained by the company for basic lube services but the companies always try and save the most money. So, they often neglect traininf
@@col.cottonhill6655... depends on the oil you choose as the "flushing qt". I think 1 could find an equivalent "cheap" oil, like quaker state (Shell's bottom tier oil) or similar that is the same grade and spec of the pricier main/primary oil that will live in the car for the entire OCI. Some could see it as wasteful, but that "flushing qt" is providing a service and it CAN be recycled, like the rest of the oil you drain. I use 3x-5qt oil jugs as my recycling containers because they are easy to fill, carry, and the auto store "limits" me to 3 gal per recycle trip....just like the dinosaurs in Jurassic Park, you'll find a way 🦕🏁
Bothers me to no end all the people on forums and Facebook groups who want to repair things themselves but at the same time don't want to get the service manual and get VCDS or OBDeleven (or whatever other VAG scan tool).
I'm a mechanic so this might come off as kinda arrogant. But when he went to go fill the haldex and it was full already you think you would have noticed. Also I imagine the haldex does not take that much fluid so you would think man wonder why so much stinky gear lube is coming out of my haldex.
Nothing smells like gear oil ! My favourite oil is Wynne's bearing when rebuilding, that stuff may as well be the scent of Jennifer Lawrence, spanner guys eh 😁
This is one of the reasons I got a truck with solid axils, they’re simple to work on and you can’t make easy mistakes like this that will destroy stuff.
Personally this is actually good news, shows how well built / strong it is - zero oil and it lasted 9k miles ! Wow that’s impressive it’s like a Honda made V-Tec diff 😂
When I was working on my Honda Ridgeline I meant to drain some transmission fluid if you had accidentally overfilled it when topping it off, I pulled the drain plug in the bottom of the transmission and it as it turns out I actually pulled the drain plug for the transfer case.. I trip to the store for some gear oil later and I was able to fix it and ended up with new transfer case fluid. Lessons were learned that day, definitely be absolutely certain you have the right drain plug because they put those things right next to each other not too many vehicles in places where they should not be
Honestly good for the dude for working on his own stuff. It can be extremely rewarding or extremely humbling, and both are great learning experiences. I hope this doesn't turn him away from doing stuff in the future, just keep on keeping on brother
That's because they screwed up enough times in the past to know they need to verify the correct procedure 3-4x before even touching the screwdriver/wrench for the job they're about to do.
Toyota used to have separate trans and diff cavities in their automatics (much like VW 01Ms) and many shops on install would forget to fill the diff side of the automatic transaxle.
You got me sweating a bit, man. I just replaced my clutch for the first time, but on a Focus ST. Alsi did a balance shaft delete while i was at it. I didn't need to see this 2 weeks after i finished.😅
Don't worry, you didn't forget to put back the drain plug. Put everything you pull out, including all the bolts in containers and that way you are sure you put everything back.
The problem lies in what the Haldex mechanism is. It's not a differential but sits in front of the rear differential. It controls the torque split from front to rear axles. Every drain plug I've seen under an axle shaft is always part of the differential...honestly not sure how someone can really mess that up.
That’s incredibly impressive he made it 9,000 miles without any fluid in that diff, I guess those most be some pretty good parts lol! I doubt many other vehicles could have made it that long.
I actually did this when doing my first Haldex service, mk3 TTS owner. Luckily I noticed the haldex was full when I went to fill it and had diff fluid that fit the weight on hand at the shop I was doing it at. So I just ended up exchanging both 😂
VW Mechanic here. If you love your car pull out the haldex pump and clean the filter for the pump. They cause problems down the road. Greetings from germany ❤
I remember the Toyota Camry had an issue like this. I don’t remember exactly how it worked but it had two different drain plugs one trans & for the one for the diff. The differential had its own separate fill plug that was up against the front subframe. The transmission would fill through the dipstick. Often people forgot to fill the differential.
😮😮😮... If there only was a Special, Magic, and FREE place where you can go and ask ABOUT ANY question you have or want and get all the info you need...???... Hmmm, Somebody should invent summin ' like that...😮😮
I would not say "in his defense," because there are multiple issues here. Many people have mentioned to start filling fluid with the drain plug out. I myself do that every time on a diff or haldex just to flush out whatever is left at the bottom, if there is any sort of metal. What most people are leaving out is what the Haldex actually is, which is the mechanism for controlling the torque split between the front and rear axles. It sits between the driveshaft and the rear differential. Removing a drain plug right under an axle is almost always a differential (might be some cases where it isn't but i doubt it). That's just negligence at that point, not taking the time to educate yourself if you're going to do it yourself. As with anything DIY, if you dont know what to do or aren't 100% sure or conpentent in yourself, DON'T GUESS. CZcams is a fabulous resource when it comes to vehicle maintenance and a lot of general maintenance items are covered on almost every consumer car, exceptions being low production vehicles like supercars and high end luxury cars.
I watched the whole vid on YT last night. How did this person not realize the mistake when they put more fluid in the Haldex? Like i dont know how much goes in either, but i would know how much is supposed to go back in the diff b4 i started. Either the Haldex is now 99% fluid, or so much spiled out of the fill that alarm bells should've gone off.
A lot of newer cars you can find a basic repair manual online from the nhtsa and never have this problem. I replaced mk6 2.5 engine just with that at home
@@steeleluedtke398 Yes I was just being silly :) I agree though - most of the good information is available online for free. That said, I’ve been known to wing it on “easy jobs”, and I’ve gotta be honest I might have been deceived by that weird drain plug.
To be fair though, didn't even cross my mind there'd be 2 different chambers with 2 different liquids and sometimes you find maintenance instructions for 1000 different cars but NOT for your specific car for some weird reason. I don't think it's too much asked that car manufacturers would include the maintenance manual with the owners manual 😅 would help DIY'ers just the same as the shops to have something in the car to check stuff like this from.
Yea when I was unsure then I started filling and watched the drain when the oil was coming through the drain plug I confirmed its the filling plug , the manufacturers should mentioned on it.
Good, bad, or otherwise. I don't know how, but I've gained the habit of leaving off the drain plug out when I go to fill a gear box or engine. I think to flush out any potential contaminants left in the bottom. Once it's coming out clean, I put the plug back in, and fill to the fill plug/recommend amount. But it also happens to prevent this specific situation from happening to me.
Land Rover of Raleigh used the wrong diff fluid in my LR4 with locking rear differential even after I told them to make sure they used the correct fluid. Thankfully as soon as the rear differential started to lock up it was making a noise and I had them tow it back to the shop where they confirmed wrong fluid had been used. They filled it and drained it twice with the correct fluid and it was fine afterwards. Another 75,000 miles and I never had an issue. It can happen even to the “professionals” when they’re sloppy.
Any time I do work on my car I go to CZcams and watch 4 different videos and read a hundred comments from people who can articulate well. By the time I do it I’m fully confident I’m good.
I'm a plumber and not a car mechanic. I did the Gen. 5 Haldex oil change + filter cleaning myself after watching multiple videos on the topic. It's not that hard if you know what to look for. Just do your research first.
Unbelievable it made it that far. Also, I don't understand why manufacturers put drain plugs for two different fluids so close together. I see it very often in the auto parts I work at. People come in needing CVT fluid because they accidentally drained that when trying to do an oil change
I’m sure more than a few dealer techs and independents have done this more than once to customer cars by accident. Just more work for them in the end given possible long failure interval.
It is WAY too common on the Golf 4motion Sportwagens and Alltracks. Many of them grenaded the rear differential or Haldex after the fluid change was done at the dealer.
One of the Xpress guys at my dealer did this. He did realize something was wrong and we fixed it before the car left. Quite terrifying when in the moment
I know this is off topic but the rear lights are off the entry level golf 7.5 in my country insane how it's installed on the "R" trim level in the US. The actual R rear lights are waaaaay cooler in my country. But i guess it's just how it is in America. Keep up the vids 🤍
That's... not actually the worst user-service-mistake I've seen. I've never touched one of those and I sure wouldn't have thought there would be two different oil reservoirs to deal with in there. Curious. Proves yet again that a good workshop manual pays for itself very quickly!
Now I understand why some Haldex cases don't have any drain plugs in them. Case-in-point; the Haldex in my Ford Five Hundred. That's two less points of failure...and self-inflicted abuse. Egads that diff looked horrendous!
Haldex is VW specific, your 500 does not have a haldex. I've worked for both Ford and VW, Ford has no such mechanism (to my knowledge) to control torque split between front and rear differentials.
i always look things up if i haven’t done them on a specific car before, say just trying to do a rear diff service, 99% of the time it just confirms i should do it as i already know how to, but occasionally i’ll find something weird like that and it’ll save me
Just had a 996 Porsche 911 come in. 6th gear popping out while driving. Oil was changed right before sale 900 miles ago. They pulled engine and transmission plugs, only filled the engine. 300mL in the trans out of 3L
Making this kind if mistake and not seeing several red flags that would have been present to tell him he did something wrong makes me wonder why people like that do their own repairs. I mean if you can only afford to drive a hoopty I get it, but not that car. This is the definition of knowing just enough to be dangerous.
Guilty! At 17 or so I changed the oil in my sister's car for a few bucks. . . After I (unknowingly) drained the transmission, the dip stick still showed full. 🤷♂️ Needless to say, I did not get paid. Sorry sis. I love and miss you, and I promise I never made that mistake again.
I have a TDI GOLF and wasn’t aware they made a 4 wheel drive version. I’m sure this R owner was sick to his stomach when he realized what they did to their car.
Volkswagen awd isnt connected through screws or metals .. it connects like a transmission thorque converter and connect through liquid that’s why there wasn’t major damage
Did the oil change on my wife's 2018 gmc canyon 2.8l... I reach underneath for what was "clearly" the oil drain plug.... it was the closed transmission drain... the oil drain was in this stupid angled position above the front axle
I had a DIY rear passenger drum brake failure. I opened it up later and all the pieces fell out. Also, something shot through the drum, I replaced the drum too.
Flatmate wanted to change his oil in his 2.2 L Toyota Camry and drained the automatic transmission fluid instead and then added 5 L of motor oil to the motor so now it had no transmission fluid and 10 L of oil in it and he didn't know so he drove it to work the next day and amazingly he's only complaint was a lot of smoke coming out of the exhaust because World got all the way through to his muffler and was dripping out the back and everywhere else around the motor seals and is transmission wasn't shifting very well. He realised what he had done and drained 5 L of oil out and filled up the transmission and everything was fine. Similar to this situation the transmission sump and engine sump are up the front of the car and look similar and as he'd never done anything like this before he didn't know any different.. he was very lucky he drives a Toyota
Ya manuals for repair or a subscription service basic tier is best for diy. Sometimes a real mechanic is best when your not sure. Brave man for attempting work on a newer German car.
Having just performed my first ever diff fluid change on my Subaru, hearing that this guy's car ran 9,000 miles before imploding has me shaken. The Subie has a similarly confusing front diff arrangement, so I spent a lot of time in preparation to make sure I got it right. And a few hundred miles later, I was feeling pretty confident that all went well... But did it actually? I guess I'll just have to live in fear and doubt for the next 8,500 miles or so to find out 😅
We just had this happen to a Subaru that our in-laws gave us. They took it in for service and they drained the front diff and never refilled it and it toasted the transmission $12,000 later it’s repaired.
It lasted for 9000 miles with no fluid. That's incredible.
List of fluid in that dudes brain
Technically it was already coated since it had oil in it but still impressive
I was omw to say the same thing😅
Right and it’s a R so you know he wasn’t sunset cruising
Vw
I will not touch anything without watching a CZcamsr do it first. Laugh if you want to, but watching over someone's shoulder that is tearing apart the same s*** you're about to encounter is incredibly helpful and reassuring with a tremendous confidence boost if you've never done it before.
As a mechanic, this is what i will do if i know i have 0 clue what im doing and i cant find ANY info
be cautious of youtube, as a mechanic i see stuff that is wrong often
100 percent agree with you. I might have missed a step or two or not remembered what torq bit size I needed.🤓
My issue with videos though is they never seem to have any problems when working on their own cars, meanwhile I'll go and begin, only to run in to some problems.
Workshop manuals and CZcams. If in doubt, consult a expert.
If only there was a manual….
Dude
LOL - you beat me to it! Upvote for you!
99% of used cars won’t have one. Not that half the info you actually need to properly service the vehicle yourself isn’t in it. Otherwise it would actually be a 1000 page book for ford 1 engine on 1 car on 1 trim package ALONE. Is a few hundred pages worth of info. Now they have to print based off the vin? Not off the car pshh that’s just more money for them to spend. That’s less profit man. They can’t have that.. unpopular opinion. Workshop manuals should be a google search away If you can’t keep customers because they like your car over another and need to keep secrets keeping the industry from innovation you shouldn’t be a company. Yet a good example of this real world. the big three bought out all the smaller brands shelved their good products or raped them to make their own product look better…..Chevy Pontiac ford mercury etc etc “We’re losing out on potential profit let’s buy them out and shelve what they sell10 years later the company’ dissolved entirely.
And actually if that were how it was any one could service any vehicle. Door rates would plummet too so the customers benefit all around where now they get fucked all around lol
Oh wait, there is 😮
Poor man, feel sorry for the owner. Sometimes it's easy to make mistake. I work a lot on my car or family and neighbors etc. don't have a workshop it's more like weekend, driveway, hobby stuff. One time, while resolving some electrical issues, I connected battery terminals wrong way, don't ask me how. Thought that the ecu was definitely cooked, dashboard went black, nothing on it. After surviving minor heart attack, reconnected battery and luckily everything came back.
You can thank protection diodes for saving you from that mistake.
Good to know 👌
Did the same on my wife's Honda, thanked my lucky stars for the protection fuse that vehicle had!
I did that once on my Mazda 3. Car cranked but wouldn't start. Tested the battery expecting it to be fine, but it tested as dead as a rock lol.😊
yes, but thanks to Charles, he got a smokin' deal (no pun intended), saved a lot of money, and taught everyone who watched a lesson; again, all thanks to Charles @HumbleMechanic ... Both he and DAP do so much for the VAG community, most of it goes unnoticed. 🏁
But wasn’t he confused when the haldex was still full after draining??
Maybe it’s not one of those ones that you fill up to the filling inlet.
@@deevizm8035Then you would be measuring the amount of fluid before you pour it in, no?
@@gutrali measure what exactly? I don’t measure what comes out because some may have leaked out or burnt off, etc. I measure/guestimate what I put in, not what comes out.
I usually look at how much it takes so I know how much to buy.
@@deevizm8035 You would know how much is supposed to go in by reading up on it beforehand and then measuring the correct amount to put in before you pour it.
Had a buddy change the engine oil in his 5 speed escort. He mentioned it only took 2.5 quarts. We were at work and I wasn't paying that much attention when he told me. 5 or 6 weeks later he tells me his clutch went out and locked up the front wheels. Had it towed to a shop and had the clutch replaced. A few months later he brought it over to change the oil at my house. He climbs under and goes to work. I peak under and see red oil draining into the pan. It all finally made sense. I'm amazed that a new clutch was all it took to get it back on the road. I think that was the last time he ever attempted to change his own oil again.
I had a similar issue with a new guy when I for a short time worked at a quick lube shop. The guy in the pit slapped my leg and asked me to show him which plug to pull for the oil. I went down and showed him the oil pan and how to definitely tell which was which. I moved on to another customer and thought nothing of it. 🤦♂️ Dude drained the transmission and the idiot working top bay didn’t even check the dipstick after giving the engine a double load of oil. Needless to say the customer returned more pissed off than a Keebler elf demoted to a fudge packer demanding a new transmission.
As a European it is insane to me that in America apparently 100% unskilled and untrained people are allowed to work in workshops and ruin customer cars.
@@alouisschafer7212yep. They'll hire anyone nowadays
Life is hard, it’s even harder when you are fcking ignorant
@alouisschafer7212 They are supposed to be trained by the company for basic lube services but the companies always try and save the most money. So, they often neglect traininf
Don't close the drain yet so you know you got the right fill plug
Right. Even with an oil change I drop an extra quart through to catch anything amd see that it flows out easily. Same applies to this
@@jamesolelo4406 look at mr moneybags over here quart of oil is not cheap lol
@@col.cottonhill6655 neither was my bill for repairing cars where that was the solution
@@jamesolelo4406 also good for flushing any metal particles and last bit of old oil out of the casing.
@@col.cottonhill6655... depends on the oil you choose as the "flushing qt". I think 1 could find an equivalent "cheap" oil, like quaker state (Shell's bottom tier oil) or similar that is the same grade and spec of the pricier main/primary oil that will live in the car for the entire OCI. Some could see it as wasteful, but that "flushing qt" is providing a service and it CAN be recycled, like the rest of the oil you drain. I use 3x-5qt oil jugs as my recycling containers because they are easy to fill, carry, and the auto store "limits" me to 3 gal per recycle trip....just like the dinosaurs in Jurassic Park, you'll find a way 🦕🏁
If you work on your own car invest in a factory manual!!! They are not expensive! I have been saying that for years
yep you could sell this advice for a million dollars hahaha
Absolutely
You can't even guess anymore on modern cars, trying to change out transmission fluid almost always requires some complex drain & fill procedure.
Agree. Hell even I refer to the manual all the time
Bothers me to no end all the people on forums and Facebook groups who want to repair things themselves but at the same time don't want to get the service manual and get VCDS or OBDeleven (or whatever other VAG scan tool).
I'm a mechanic so this might come off as kinda arrogant. But when he went to go fill the haldex and it was full already you think you would have noticed. Also I imagine the haldex does not take that much fluid so you would think man wonder why so much stinky gear lube is coming out of my haldex.
I’m not a mechanic and I thought the same thing unfortunately common sense can’t be taught.
Nothing smells like gear oil ! My favourite oil is Wynne's bearing when rebuilding, that stuff may as well be the scent of Jennifer Lawrence, spanner guys eh 😁
If I recall it only takes about a quart of coupling fluid, give or take
Just common sense that if you’ve just drained a whole bunch of fluid, a similar amount should go back in.
Arent these normally filled till they run out the fill hole? I was wondering the same thing.
This is one of the reasons I got a truck with solid axils, they’re simple to work on and you can’t make easy mistakes like this that will destroy stuff.
I done this when I was an apprentice in VW around 16 Years ago. VW released a Tpi about it not long after. Easily done
Personally this is actually good news, shows how well built / strong it is - zero oil and it lasted 9k miles ! Wow that’s impressive it’s like a Honda made V-Tec diff 😂
Well, it blew up after 9k miles, but the gears and bearings were toasted long before that.
When I was working on my Honda Ridgeline I meant to drain some transmission fluid if you had accidentally overfilled it when topping it off, I pulled the drain plug in the bottom of the transmission and it as it turns out I actually pulled the drain plug for the transfer case.. I trip to the store for some gear oil later and I was able to fix it and ended up with new transfer case fluid. Lessons were learned that day, definitely be absolutely certain you have the right drain plug because they put those things right next to each other not too many vehicles in places where they should not be
Honestly good for the dude for working on his own stuff. It can be extremely rewarding or extremely humbling, and both are great learning experiences. I hope this doesn't turn him away from doing stuff in the future, just keep on keeping on brother
I don’t think it will.
It's needles to say....... Every good home mechanic that I know takes their time with their stuff and does it RIGHT ... !
That's because they screwed up enough times in the past to know they need to verify the correct procedure 3-4x before even touching the screwdriver/wrench for the job they're about to do.
I always use the workshop manual when working on procedures such as this! Haynes!
I've got a Haynes manual coming in the mail for this reason
Wish i had the humble mechanic as my car guy. The dude kicks ass🤘
THANK YOU
Toyota used to have separate trans and diff cavities in their automatics (much like VW 01Ms) and many shops on install would forget to fill the diff side of the automatic transaxle.
You got me sweating a bit, man. I just replaced my clutch for the first time, but on a Focus ST. Alsi did a balance shaft delete while i was at it. I didn't need to see this 2 weeks after i finished.😅
Don't worry, you didn't forget to put back the drain plug. Put everything you pull out, including all the bolts in containers and that way you are sure you put everything back.
My Father in law put LDS fluid in the water reservoir, thinking he was filling the eletromechanical suspension fluid in his Citroën C5. Dayum!
I just googled this, and it's an incredibly easy thing to get right.
The problem lies in what the Haldex mechanism is. It's not a differential but sits in front of the rear differential. It controls the torque split from front to rear axles. Every drain plug I've seen under an axle shaft is always part of the differential...honestly not sure how someone can really mess that up.
Apparently for this customer, it was just a little bit easier to get it catastrophically wrong.
As the VW mechanic noted, it is easy to do. The manufacturer should not make so many things look like drain plugs.
You have 2 drain plugs and 2 fill plugs for 2 different oils. Drain plug for diff oil is easily recognisable and just above it is fill plug.
My favorite customers work on their own cars, too. 😊
If you buy a vw and want to do your own maintenance always always buy the Bentley book for it !!! They are expensive but clearly worth every penny .
My LTDs diff has two bolts on the diff, one with F on the top for filling, one with D on it for Draining.
I wish more manufacturers would take a little effort on that front. But that’s very much Not The German way. Lol
@@HumbleMechanic oh absolutely not lol they'd prefer the "try and find out" method lol
what a good guy. That is how old school business was done. Hope you get tons of customers.
That’s incredibly impressive he made it 9,000 miles without any fluid in that diff, I guess those most be some pretty good parts lol! I doubt many other vehicles could have made it that long.
I actually did this when doing my first Haldex service, mk3 TTS owner. Luckily I noticed the haldex was full when I went to fill it and had diff fluid that fit the weight on hand at the shop I was doing it at. So I just ended up exchanging both 😂
VW Mechanic here. If you love your car pull out the haldex pump and clean the filter for the pump. They cause problems down the road. Greetings from germany ❤
This is great advice!
Just saw you already did a video on that recently 😅
I like your content man
I remember the Toyota Camry had an issue like this. I don’t remember exactly how it worked but it had two different drain plugs one trans & for the one for the diff. The differential had its own separate fill plug that was up against the front subframe. The transmission would fill through the dipstick. Often people forgot to fill the differential.
😮😮😮... If there only was a Special, Magic, and FREE place where you can go and ask ABOUT ANY question you have or want and get all the info you need...???... Hmmm, Somebody should invent summin ' like that...😮😮
I would not say "in his defense," because there are multiple issues here. Many people have mentioned to start filling fluid with the drain plug out. I myself do that every time on a diff or haldex just to flush out whatever is left at the bottom, if there is any sort of metal.
What most people are leaving out is what the Haldex actually is, which is the mechanism for controlling the torque split between the front and rear axles. It sits between the driveshaft and the rear differential. Removing a drain plug right under an axle is almost always a differential (might be some cases where it isn't but i doubt it). That's just negligence at that point, not taking the time to educate yourself if you're going to do it yourself.
As with anything DIY, if you dont know what to do or aren't 100% sure or conpentent in yourself, DON'T GUESS. CZcams is a fabulous resource when it comes to vehicle maintenance and a lot of general maintenance items are covered on almost every consumer car, exceptions being low production vehicles like supercars and high end luxury cars.
If only there was like a thing the manufacturer made that told you these things.
If only people who got no idea about what they are doing stopped doing services themselves
I watched the whole vid on YT last night. How did this person not realize the mistake when they put more fluid in the Haldex? Like i dont know how much goes in either, but i would know how much is supposed to go back in the diff b4 i started. Either the Haldex is now 99% fluid, or so much spiled out of the fill that alarm bells should've gone off.
Yes, if you fill something and it's full but you thought you just emptied it...
I did the same thing by draining the diff instead of haldex. Thankfully i realized my mistake and was able to fill everything with the correct fluid
A lot of newer cars you can find a basic repair manual online from the nhtsa and never have this problem. I replaced mk6 2.5 engine just with that at home
"just with that" -- I'm imagining you carefully folding the pages of the manual into 10mm and 12mm sockets 🤣
@@truthsmiles Well you need tools but if you want the torque specs and want to do the job right having a repair manual is essential
@@steeleluedtke398 Yes I was just being silly :) I agree though - most of the good information is available online for free.
That said, I’ve been known to wing it on “easy jobs”, and I’ve gotta be honest I might have been deceived by that weird drain plug.
Wow, I cannot believe it lasted 9k! That's another reason why the Golf is the ONLY VW I'd ever consider buying
Thanks to you guy that’s why I watch your videos just to make sure. Thanks pal
working on your own german car.... God speed sir.
To be fair though, didn't even cross my mind there'd be 2 different chambers with 2 different liquids and sometimes you find maintenance instructions for 1000 different cars but NOT for your specific car for some weird reason. I don't think it's too much asked that car manufacturers would include the maintenance manual with the owners manual 😅 would help DIY'ers just the same as the shops to have something in the car to check stuff like this from.
Yea when I was unsure then I started filling and watched the drain when the oil was coming through the drain plug I confirmed its the filling plug , the manufacturers should mentioned on it.
Good, bad, or otherwise. I don't know how, but I've gained the habit of leaving off the drain plug out when I go to fill a gear box or engine. I think to flush out any potential contaminants left in the bottom. Once it's coming out clean, I put the plug back in, and fill to the fill plug/recommend amount. But it also happens to prevent this specific situation from happening to me.
Land Rover of Raleigh used the wrong diff fluid in my LR4 with locking rear differential even after I told them to make sure they used the correct fluid. Thankfully as soon as the rear differential started to lock up it was making a noise and I had them tow it back to the shop where they confirmed wrong fluid had been used. They filled it and drained it twice with the correct fluid and it was fine afterwards. Another 75,000 miles and I never had an issue. It can happen even to the “professionals” when they’re sloppy.
Thats why i always try to watch a few diy videos online before i do something like that just to be safe, even if i have done it before.
Any time I do work on my car I go to CZcams and watch 4 different videos and read a hundred comments from people who can articulate well. By the time I do it I’m fully confident I’m good.
That's a forgiveable mistake. I know that could have happened to me
Ahh the golf. Looks so fancy nowadays but still a gold amazes by how far you can ride it without oil. A great little machine.
randomly stumbled upon the video and first thing i was thinking was "linus does car videos now?"
🤣
That dude didn't know what he was doing 😂😂
I'm a plumber and not a car mechanic. I did the Gen. 5 Haldex oil change + filter cleaning myself after watching multiple videos on the topic. It's not that hard if you know what to look for. Just do your research first.
Unbelievable it made it that far. Also, I don't understand why manufacturers put drain plugs for two different fluids so close together. I see it very often in the auto parts I work at. People come in needing CVT fluid because they accidentally drained that when trying to do an oil change
I’m sure more than a few dealer techs and independents have done this more than once to customer cars by accident. Just more work for them in the end given possible long failure interval.
It is WAY too common on the Golf 4motion Sportwagens and Alltracks. Many of them grenaded the rear differential or Haldex after the fluid change was done at the dealer.
One of the Xpress guys at my dealer did this. He did realize something was wrong and we fixed it before the car left. Quite terrifying when in the moment
I know this is off topic but the rear lights are off the entry level golf 7.5 in my country insane how it's installed on the "R" trim level in the US. The actual R rear lights are waaaaay cooler in my country. But i guess it's just how it is in America. Keep up the vids 🤍
That's... not actually the worst user-service-mistake I've seen. I've never touched one of those and I sure wouldn't have thought there would be two different oil reservoirs to deal with in there. Curious.
Proves yet again that a good workshop manual pays for itself very quickly!
Now I understand why some Haldex cases don't have any drain plugs in them. Case-in-point; the Haldex in my Ford Five Hundred. That's two less points of failure...and self-inflicted abuse. Egads that diff looked horrendous!
Haldex is VW specific, your 500 does not have a haldex. I've worked for both Ford and VW, Ford has no such mechanism (to my knowledge) to control torque split between front and rear differentials.
@@TheProgGuy - guess I should grind off the Haldex Made in Sweden casting on my case then. Thanks for the update.
I'm very impressed especially since it's VW that it lasted 9k no fluid
If I'm doing work on my VW I hope it's air cooled or like a mk1. You serve our brave man specializing in any German vehicle
i always look things up if i haven’t done them on a specific car before, say just trying to do a rear diff service, 99% of the time it just confirms i should do it as i already know how to, but occasionally i’ll find something weird like that and it’ll save me
It did NOT last 9000 miles. He complained of noise at 9000. Damage occurred long before.
Love DIY guys learning lessons the hard way.
I think they put drain & fill plugs like that, so if you are a DIY person, you can easily mess it up and then have to take it to the shop
"I'll give you a discount but you're going on blast"
HAHA Idont think I really put him on blast.
Just had a 996 Porsche 911 come in. 6th gear popping out while driving. Oil was changed right before sale 900 miles ago. They pulled engine and transmission plugs, only filled the engine. 300mL in the trans out of 3L
This is why you should always check with Charles before doing your own maintenance!
FACTS! LOL
I'm very impressed that the diff landed that long.
It’s been about 10 years since I watched your content… looking wise
You'd think that one would question the fact that much less fluid went into refilling than was drained.
I love cars but i leave the work for my expensive daily to the experts for a reason. Safety and reliability on the road is paramount, ego aside.
9k dry... thats fuckin impressive. Give that man a discount for being honest
This is why you watch the youtube video on how to do it, before, during, and after.
Just to make sure.
Making this kind if mistake and not seeing several red flags that would have been present to tell him he did something wrong makes me wonder why people like that do their own repairs. I mean if you can only afford to drive a hoopty I get it, but not that car.
This is the definition of knowing just enough to be dangerous.
Guilty! At 17 or so I changed the oil in my sister's car for a few bucks. . . After I (unknowingly) drained the transmission, the dip stick still showed full. 🤷♂️ Needless to say, I did not get paid. Sorry sis. I love and miss you, and I promise I never made that mistake again.
Sold my VW after I found it was all proprietary and no service manuals. But to be fair I never had an issue with the car after 7 years.
I have a TDI GOLF and wasn’t aware they made a 4 wheel drive version. I’m sure this R owner was sick to his stomach when he realized what they did to their car.
I only do the simple things, I’ve got a good trustworthy mechanic who does the real stuff. It’s worked that way since cars got stupidly complicated!
I get a noisy rear end after spicy nachos.
Volkswagen awd isnt connected through screws or metals .. it connects like a transmission thorque converter and connect through liquid that’s why there wasn’t major damage
And the lesson is: always make sure you are playing in the right hole.
Noisy rear end!! I can relate to that. 😂
If the oil doesn't even touch the dipstick that means you put too much.
Careful on any car.
You could have prevented that if he took it over to his local shop and ask them to double-check his work?
VW owner here, there’s no need to change the Haldex at 9k. 30-40k is typical.
Car had 50k on it. He drove for 9k miles with no fluid in the diff
Did the oil change on my wife's 2018 gmc canyon 2.8l... I reach underneath for what was "clearly" the oil drain plug.... it was the closed transmission drain... the oil drain was in this stupid angled position above the front axle
I had a DIY rear passenger drum brake failure. I opened it up later and all the pieces fell out. Also, something shot through the drum, I replaced the drum too.
Honestly besides a few bearings it doesn't look all that bad
Poor guy. Probably fixed it himself because he couldn't afford for you to do it. Expensive lesson.
Ok I’m not even mad at this guy 😂
You would think when they filled it back up it didn't take much to top it off. What a goof.
Honestly 9000 miles with no fluid is impressive
Flatmate wanted to change his oil in his 2.2 L Toyota Camry and drained the automatic transmission fluid instead and then added 5 L of motor oil to the motor so now it had no transmission fluid and 10 L of oil in it and he didn't know so he drove it to work the next day and amazingly he's only complaint was a lot of smoke coming out of the exhaust because World got all the way through to his muffler and was dripping out the back and everywhere else around the motor seals and is transmission wasn't shifting very well. He realised what he had done and drained 5 L of oil out and filled up the transmission and everything was fine. Similar to this situation the transmission sump and engine sump are up the front of the car and look similar and as he'd never done anything like this before he didn't know any different.. he was very lucky he drives a Toyota
i have to be honest, i made this mistake 7 years ago. Drained the wrong fluid
9000 miles without any oil in it that's pretty badass
I learned a while ago when I work on my car myself I need to be prepared for "easy" jobs to take all day or longer.
The only mistake was buying a vw 😂 fyi I love the old vw bettles those things are crazy reliable 😀
Ya manuals for repair or a subscription service basic tier is best for diy. Sometimes a real mechanic is best when your not sure. Brave man for attempting work on a newer German car.
The one day passes are cheap. And you can download everything
Having just performed my first ever diff fluid change on my Subaru, hearing that this guy's car ran 9,000 miles before imploding has me shaken. The Subie has a similarly confusing front diff arrangement, so I spent a lot of time in preparation to make sure I got it right. And a few hundred miles later, I was feeling pretty confident that all went well... But did it actually? I guess I'll just have to live in fear and doubt for the next 8,500 miles or so to find out 😅
I love the “I don’t need to pay a shop because I read on the internet “ experts. I work on Ducati. I see this a lot
We just had this happen to a Subaru that our in-laws gave us. They took it in for service and they drained the front diff and never refilled it and it toasted the transmission $12,000 later it’s repaired.