Thread: Towing with a VW Amarok

Here is the one Amarok on the back of an Isuzu being delivered to VW in Kenya

Here's a portion in English:

"It was a long way back. On the way, we had some technical problems with one of the vehicles, to put it mildly. The belt that drives most of the pulleys in the engine was torn to shreds. Some of the pieces went into the cam belt. The vehicle came to an immediate stop. We opened what we could. We had assistance from a few bush mechanics – guys who are famous for fixing everything almost everywhere. No success was achieved this time. It seemed as though the problem was a little bigger than just replacing the belt and resetting the timing.
I phoned Bohdan de Wet in South Africa. He is Mr. Fixit for Volkswagen SA. He said he would fly up immediately to attend to the problem.
When Volkswagen made the offer to supply vehicles for this year’s expedition, it came with an additional offer: If you run into technical problems, we’ll send Bohdan to fix them.
The Amarok is a new vehicle. Thorough testing may have resolved most issues regarding reliability, but there is the odd chance that something unforeseen may happen, especially as we had fitted some aftermarket equipment, such as bull bars and suspension. This may have an unforeseen effect on the performance and reliability of the vehicle.
Bohdan asked us to get the vehicle to Nanyuki. This was a major undertaking. We managed, with the assistance of a Kenya Wildlife truck and its driver, who was prepared to drive for 30 hours non-stop.
We left Sibilio National Park just after one in the afternoon. At first it was a desert track, similar to those in Damaraland. By sunset we were approaching North Horr. The locals advised us not to proceed. No vehicles had reached this town in the past few days because of the torrential rain in the desert. We turned down their advice and pushed on.
The Track4Africa tracks were good. But roads and tracks change in the desert because of seasonal conditions. At times we found ourselves on totally different tracks to those on the GPS. We crossed dry sections of higher ground. Then, every so often, it was down to a “dry” riverbed. These riverbeds had become stretches of mud. We had to tackle the terrain with a fair amount of momentum, in low range.
Do I have any doubts about the 4×4 ability of the Amarok? Not after that journey through the desert, one night in November, 2011. These vehicles were developed to tackle serious terrain.
We arrived in Nanyuki at the same time as Bohdan flew in from SA with a new head for the two-litre engine. He had his suspicions about what had gone wrong.
Bohdan examined the problem. Further investigation will probably prove his theory, but at this stage it looks as though the problem originated with the bull bar, which has fins that might have directed dust and small pebbles onto the belt. This caused the belt to eventually tear, and pieces of the belt went into the cambelt. This had a major effect on the engine itself – the valves were burnt.
Bohdan had brought a complete new head for the engine. Within a day he had everything replaced, and we could continue our journey.
These are the kind of problems we believe are being sorted by VW as part of their learning curve in this demanding market. Perhaps a small adjustment to the ARB bull bar is all that is needed. Or a minor adjustment to the cambelt cover design.
In any case, to rectify the problem so that it doesn’t happen again seems a small matter in the overall scheme of things, but it had a major effect on us. We were fortunate to have Volkswagen Commercial Vehicles standing up to their promise to assist us with anything, anywhere in Africa.
So, sure, there may be a few issues relating to specific applications — reliability, for one. But with Volkswagen, one believes they will be addressed."


Please bear in mind that this is written by one of the adventurers, and he has a vested interest in not upsetting sponsors, so I think he couldn't say what he REALLY thought............

Originally Posted by jakeslouw

Here's a portion in English:

"It was a long way back. On the way, we had some technical problems with one of the vehicles, to put it mildly. The belt that drives most of the pulleys in the engine was torn to shreds. Some of the pieces went into the cam belt. The vehicle came to an immediate stop. We opened what we could. We had assistance from a few bush mechanics – guys who are famous for fixing everything almost everywhere. No success was achieved this time. It seemed as though the problem was a little bigger than just replacing the belt and resetting the timing.
I phoned Bohdan de Wet in South Africa. He is Mr. Fixit for Volkswagen SA. He said he would fly up immediately to attend to the problem.
When Volkswagen made the offer to supply vehicles for this year’s expedition, it came with an additional offer: If you run into technical problems, we’ll send Bohdan to fix them.
The Amarok is a new vehicle. Thorough testing may have resolved most issues regarding reliability, but there is the odd chance that something unforeseen may happen, especially as we had fitted some aftermarket equipment, such as bull bars and suspension. This may have an unforeseen effect on the performance and reliability of the vehicle.
Bohdan asked us to get the vehicle to Nanyuki. This was a major undertaking. We managed, with the assistance of a Kenya Wildlife truck and its driver, who was prepared to drive for 30 hours non-stop.
We left Sibilio National Park just after one in the afternoon. At first it was a desert track, similar to those in Damaraland. By sunset we were approaching North Horr. The locals advised us not to proceed. No vehicles had reached this town in the past few days because of the torrential rain in the desert. We turned down their advice and pushed on.
The Track4Africa tracks were good. But roads and tracks change in the desert because of seasonal conditions. At times we found ourselves on totally different tracks to those on the GPS. We crossed dry sections of higher ground. Then, every so often, it was down to a “dry” riverbed. These riverbeds had become stretches of mud. We had to tackle the terrain with a fair amount of momentum, in low range.
Do I have any doubts about the 4×4 ability of the Amarok? Not after that journey through the desert, one night in November, 2011. These vehicles were developed to tackle serious terrain.
We arrived in Nanyuki at the same time as Bohdan flew in from SA with a new head for the two-litre engine. He had his suspicions about what had gone wrong.
Bohdan examined the problem. Further investigation will probably prove his theory, but at this stage it looks as though the problem originated with the bull bar, which has fins that might have directed dust and small pebbles onto the belt. This caused the belt to eventually tear, and pieces of the belt went into the cambelt. This had a major effect on the engine itself – the valves were burnt.
Bohdan had brought a complete new head for the engine. Within a day he had everything replaced, and we could continue our journey.
These are the kind of problems we believe are being sorted by VW as part of their learning curve in this demanding market. Perhaps a small adjustment to the ARB bull bar is all that is needed. Or a minor adjustment to the cambelt cover design.
In any case, to rectify the problem so that it doesn’t happen again seems a small matter in the overall scheme of things, but it had a major effect on us. We were fortunate to have Volkswagen Commercial Vehicles standing up to their promise to assist us with anything, anywhere in Africa.
So, sure, there may be a few issues relating to specific applications — reliability, for one. But with Volkswagen, one believes they will be addressed."


Please bear in mind that this is written by one of the adventurers, and he has a vested interest in not upsetting sponsors, so I think he couldn't say what he REALLY thought............

Did I just read the same article?....doesn't sound like an across the board 'dismal failure' of the Amarok.

I wouldn't know if they are bad, good or indifferent but it sounds like ONE vehicle had a failure that may have been caused by an add on that wasn't right or needed tweeked. Putting somthing on a car that may have fed foreign objects into the engine bay .... that wouldn't normally get there is a bit unfair. Of course....the article doesn't actually say what caused the failure does it?

Sounds like there were other vehicles that kept going and impressed.

My two bobs worth.

I'm afraid that I will remain a slow moving, gearchanging Luddite til my dying days. Any engine with belt driven camshaft and inclined valves would be a liability in long distance extreme offroad conditions, from a 'get you home' survival perspective.
the LR 200/300TDI's broke cam belts and bent stuff too, but the stronger vertical valves generally meant that it was the pushrods that bent and could be easily straightened in the bush.
Bill.

Vw make nice vehicles for under warranty ownership. The amorok would be a very nice tow weapon during that time. If trading up to new every 2.9 years was your bag as a tradie for tax reasons it would be great.

Cheers

Originally Posted by ozscott

Vw make nice vehicles for under warranty ownership. The amorok would be a very nice tow weapon during that time. If trading up to new every 2.9 years was your bag as a tradie for tax reasons it would be great.

Cheers

I agree, from a 2nd or 3rd owners viewpoint, they may not be so attractive.
In the days of Series LandRovers it was advisable to keep $1000 in the bank account, set aside to cover unexpected worse case scenarios such as broken gearboxes etc . With modern multivalve,belt driven overhead cam, multi turbo, unit injector type engines that can't really be tinkered with away from a well equipped workshop, the worse case scenarios my mind can conjure up would scare me off taking these vehicles on remote offroad expeditions, never mind the multiple thousands $ cost of righting anything that went wrong, providing you could get the vehicle back to civilisation.
Bill.

Pictures of the belt failure aftermath can be found on this old thread.
http://www.aulro.com/afvb/general-ch...gh-amarok.html

Anyways it looks like they have sorted it out now and will replace the suspect cover depending on the VIN.
AusAmarok - Amarok Club Australia - Australian & International Amarok Forum - Timing cover, superseeded part


Even the A380 had teething problems

Originally Posted by Celtoid

Is an underpowered engine any more likely to survive any better....? Isn't being underpowered a criticism of some LR engines? And other brands I might add.

In fact...being flogged by people who lease or use company vehicles and may not give a damn can kill just about anything....

Time will tell I guess.

Less stressed engines are more likely to last longer, and as for the merc taxis they are all old school mechanical injected (at least the taxis i used in Egypt/ Israel were ) and larger capacity more suited to their use.
Sure the landy engines are not known for longevity but then the maintenance costs are lower than these CRD diesels .
We have a couple of 1920's dodge 4cyl engines that are 4ltr capacity low compression and even after sitting on a farm for 70 years fire up and ran with no more than fuel and a fresh battery.