mk5 experts, advice please on these service issues

[walbjj]

a friend just did a 120k km service on their mk5 gti. paid $1300 at denlo. i told them to not go to a stealer but they needed it done asap as the dsg light was popping up intermittently and there was "loss of power" as she described it.
anyway, in the invoice they recommended 3 issues that needed addressing in the future
1- thermostat defective $501
2-front sway bar links worn $431
3 EVAP emission faults logged- cap, canister, valve $960

does anyone know what these are exactly, and what the "actual" prices should be. im assuming u can get the parts from ecstuning and have work done at an independent for considerably less.
cheers for advice

[Umai Naa!!]

Prices probably include labour.

[The One]

a friend just did a 120k km service on their mk5 gti. paid $1300 at denlo. i told them to not go to a stealer but they needed it done asap as the dsg light was popping up intermittently and there was "loss of power" as she described it.
anyway, in the invoice they recommended 3 issues that needed addressing in the future
1- thermostat defective $501
2-front sway bar links worn $431
3 EVAP emission faults logged- cap, canister, valve $960

does anyone know what these are exactly, and what the "actual" prices should be. im assuming u can get the parts from ecstuning and have work done at an independent for considerably less.
cheers for advice

Should say what car in future. Fault #3 tells me it's probably a GTI as those 3 faults are common on that engine.

1. Thermostat, they probably didn't test it, may have just noticed the vehicle took awhile to warm up and put it down to a defective thermostat, way to test them properly is to remove and put them in boiling water and see if it opens and closes.

2. Front sway bar links worn.. Kinda early on a 120,000km vehicle I guess, haven't seen many swaybar link bushes needing replacement, but for that price you're better off upgrading to a bigger/better swaybar which should include some nice poly bushes.

3. Evap Canister, N80 valve and cap? WTF is the cap? Anywho, those faults usually bring up a check engine light, no real difference in the way the car drives. Technically all you need is to replace the n80 valve but VW like to replace all 3 as it makes them more $$ and covers themselves if the N80 is not faulty (1% of the time...) Should also note there may be a software update for this, should also note that (the newer EA engine, MK6 I believe) has gotten rid of the n80 all together mainly due to it's suckiness not to mention require removal of intake manifold to replace it, so they have superseeded it to just a staight pipe and eliminated the valve. MK5 will not require removal of the intake manifold to replace, they changed the design/placement of said valve between MK5 and MK6 (bastards).

P.S: Some dealers are 'stealers' but if you find one with the right staff (I have only found 1) then you will be happy you went there. One local to me has an apprentice there (yes I said it APPRENTICE) who is passionate about VW and quite knowledgable on the VAG systems, answers all my questions throughly and safe to say does all the work on my car, I always check over what he has done, never had any issues whatsoever, charges me the time he takes to do the job.. Which is usually quite efficent so I actually funnily enough save money on labour costs going to dealer which has proven to be cheaper than any local 'specialists'. Just food for thought.

[vdubmotorworx]

never changed a thermostat on a mk5....ever. also EVAP cost sounds way over the top. think parts are about $400 and 30 mins to fit..

[walbjj]

I thought i mentioned it was a mk5 gti?
Thanks for the replies. Ill pass them on

[volksMuller]

overpriced on the EVAP for sure.

[Snail Style]

As above, only real issue is the evap canister/valves. Like Vdub said, never done a thermostat(or even had a GTi overheating) and never seen sway bar links worn out at 120k.