Volkswagen Reviews

This could be caused by any number of things. The engine might be struggling to run smoothly at low revs or small throttle openings, or you might have a fuel supply problem. Perhaps the engine’s idle speed is simply set too low. You might even have a broken or loose exhaust mount that is allowing the exhaust system to flail about at low revs when the engine harmonics set up the vibration to create a harmonic reaction. A broken or worn engine mount can also account for odd vibrations at different engine speeds.

But I’m also wondering if perhaps the problem is not with the engine at all, but something in the transmission. The good news is that your car used a conventional torque-converter automatic rather than the more problematic dual-clutch unit that some VWs used.

In any case, this sounds very much like a warranty problem, so take it back to the dealership and give Volkswagen a fair crack at making it right.

The reason for deleting a temperature gauge is the same as for any other time a manufacturer deletes equipment; to save money. While your Crafter doesn’t have a temperature gauge per se, it will have a warning light that will illuminate if the temperature starts to rise above normal. At which point, the onus is on you to stop and find the problem, or risk blowing the engine up. The problem with these light is that the damage is sometimes already done by the time the light flickers on, while an actual gauge might have given you more warning that there was a problem.

Car makers get away with this sort of thing these days because cooling systems are quite reliable and don’t tend to give problems. Which is absolutely no comfort to anybody who has had a catastrophic engine melt-down.

Fitting an aftermarket temperature gauge in the old days was simple because there was no computer control of the car and its driveline. You simply found a convenient, threaded spot in the cylinder head or block and screwed a temperature gauge sender into it, mounted the gauge in the cabin where you could see it easily and job done. That doesn’t apply nowadays as to mount the sender, you’d probably need to disconnect some other intrinsic sensor that the computer relies on to make the car work properly.

But there is a modern solution. You can now buy a virtual gauge cluster that plugs into the on-board diagnostics port on modern cars. From that data, the cluster can determine all sorts of things (including engine temperature) and display that info on a small screen you mount in the cabin. You’ll also be able to display a heap of other information, including transmission temperature, air-fuel ratio and plenty more.

Even though your car has no clutch pedal, its transmission is what’s called a DSG, or dual-clutch, which means it’s actually a conventional manual gearbox where a computer controls the clutch operation. That’s why it drives like an automatic yet still has a clutch assembly, part of which is the clutch pressure plate, or multiple plates in the VW’s case.

Replacing this will require the transmission to be removed, so it’s not a small or simple job. Which also means it won’t be cheap, either. The problem is that digging into a DSG transmission often reveals wear in other areas, and you might find it needs more than just a clutch late at the mileage you’ve covered.

A VW or transmission specialist should be able to do an electronic analysis of the transmission and its general health to help you make an informed decision on which way to go.