R engine failure - not wastegate. £9k bill.

[Charlie B]

Hi Everyone. Sorry for the long text in advance.
I'm at my wits end with VW with an engine problem I'd appreciate any advice you guys can offer with dealing with VW Heritage. I bought the R model Scirocco new in April 2010 from VW Heritage in Bristol. The car was fantastic for a couple of years until it went for its 2nd service (Jan 2013) under the 3 part service plan I bought.

Shortly after this service I took the car on a motorway drive to near Birmingham and back to Bristol, during the middle of the night due to my job. On the way back I suddenly got a red dash warning saying stop immediately oil level low. Thankfully I was right by a services and managed to pull in. The car was totally empty of oil, which I couldn't understand at the time thinking it had just come from a service which included an oil change. I assumed that they had somehow not refilled the oil correctly so bought a new bottle of Castrol, refilled, the light went off so I carried on home.

By the time I got back I got another warning light as I was close to the house and saw oil splattered all over the back window, so was aware at that point it was an oil leak. After taking the car back to Heritage Bristol they informed me that the oil filter hadn't been correctly refitted after the oil change and the small gap in the join had caused this oil leak. They told me after a very short check that the car was fine to drive on. I asked if they should spend more time examining the engine, but they told me they'd plugged it in to the computer and no errors were showing. I stupidly took their word for it, but did fully cancel my service plan and received a full refund.

A year down the line, I had been noticing for a several months a rattle from the engine between 2-3k revs under load and down changes. After two test drives my new mechanic a VW specialist thought the only answer could be the waste gate rattle which many people have complained about on forums as it matched all the symptoms. Sadly the £15 clip didn't rectify the rattle, and without replacing several parts or stripping the engine my new mechanic was slightly stumped. After taking the car back to Heritage as a last resort, they told me they'd have to strip the engine to discover the problem, which turned out to be connecting rod bearing failure. From speaking to a few mechanics I know and looking online a bit, oil starvation seems to be the leading factor for this bearing failure.

VW Heritage have had the car nearly a month, they've tried to charge me £7,000 for a new engine, £800 for stripping and £800 for potentially rebuilding. After a lot of negotiations with the brand manager there, who is second from the top of chain of command they've offered a contribution of £5k leaving me with a bill of £2k(which I don't have), possibly more if labour is added. From speaking to RAC legal, and trading standards I'm aware that under the Supply of Services and Goods act of 1982 they are legally obligated to cover anything which was caused by a lack of reasonable care and skill. But still to no avail, apparently the Director of my branch who is over seeing several branches in the South has tried to squash my claim fully, and was expecting me to pay the full amount. I've given them a letter this week, based on a template from Citizens advice bureau referring to this legal act they've fallen short on.

I'm waiting for the Director to return to work to set up another meeting. Incidentally the brand manager who was hired to sort out a flailing service department is due to leave in 3 weeks to work fora rival car company as he can't take the stress any more, the Director has worked for the company for 3 weeks himself after coming over from Porsche. The servicing manager at Heritage has been there for only a month too, so everyone is either a solution or a failure, they don't seem to be fixing much ! VW UK have told me that since Heritage is a franchise, VW Uk is not liable for any contribution, even though at this stage they have contributed about half of the 5k offered....passing the buck?

I've tried to fight this to the bitter end as advised by people, but bar one more meeting they are threatening to give me the car back unfixed, cancel my courtesy car (crappy Passat with stupid auto handbrake) and are now apparently willing to go to court to fight this out legally unless I pay the remainder. Any advice or opinions would be much appreciated,
I've been a massive fan of this forum since ordering the car in 2009, like many others back then was tracking the car from Germany on the boats, it doesn't really seem worth it now.

Thanks for your time reading this.

[SMB]

Hi, firstly sorry to hear your troubles. I'm not aware of any inherent issues with the engine suffering bearing failure, and the waste gate fix I understood to be on the 200 and 210 models.

So it sounds that you may have been sending letters based on the sale of goods act which will have some relevance based on age and mileage ( you don't state mileage?). Under that they could ask for a contribution. Which appears to be what they are doing.

The next piece is the mistake with the filter, that clearly has had a much bigger impact that they initially admitted, what evidence do you have this was their mistake? Do you have anything that shows their liability?

I assume you have engaged vw customer services ? Although your contract is with the dealer, I would want vw to know the whole story , including any negligence by the dealer. The dealer would be more concerned about losing a franchise vs you as a customer.

The proof of negligence will be key as without it. They will push for a contribution .

[Charlie B]

Hi SMB
Thanks for the reply. The car was at about 45k on the service with the filter mistake. Now at 56k miles from what I remember. I do a fair bit of motorway, hence the high-ish mileage. I've requested the job sheets which they haven't given me, so need to request them again in writing. They have on their records a repair for the incorrectly fitted oil filter so that should count for something hopefully.
I've not heard of any other reports of bearing failure either, so it does add up this was caused by the oil filter leak. Where they seem to have an issue is the time between the oil filter mistake
and bringing it back to them with the rattle. My lack of confidence in the service team mainly explains the time, as I was going to a local specialist with a much better track record.
I hear what you're saying about contribution due to the mileage, I guess its proving or them accepting the oil filter leak did cause the bearing damage. My contact at VW Uk is speaking to engineers at Milton Keynes to confirm this is the cause of that problem or if anything else could have caused that. They've tried the angle of wrong oil etc. I've always used the correct Castrol as instructed.
Will push on the negligence angle. Cheers for your advice.

[chelspeed]

I can partly see their point. You started with a 45k engine. After the repair you will have a brand new 0k engine. So fair enough you should pay a bit towards it. Whether £2k is fair or not is a matter for negotiation. If you don't have £2k then it's a moot point. But they can hardly give you back a 45k engine so it's down to give and take I guess. Have you tried offering say £1k and see what they say.

[Cuprabob]

Slightly different circumstances but in the context of a 45k mile engine vs a new engine, it may be televant. In 2010, my 4yr old, 64k mile MK5 R32 started all of a sudden losing coolant. Cause was a porous block. VW replaced the engine with a brand new one without me contributing a single penny.

In your case it's the garage that incorrectly fitted the filter and subsequently told you everything was OK that's culpable.

Good luck with the fight and don't give up

[SMB]

Vw should be able to see the dealer records of service, I know other dealers can to some degree. If they can see the detail of the job sheet then that may help you. Some dealers are lazy though and partially fill the sheet as I found out when I traded my car in. They had the services down as repairs not service.
You could try a data protection act line, as legally they have to tell you what data they hold about you, and that should include your purchase or service history.

[Deft]

My view is you are not liable for a penny either way. Either there was an inherent fault and you claim under Sales of Goods act, or they stuffed it up with the servicing and they are liable that way. Court action is a hassle no doubt but shouldn't be particularly expensive.

[luc1989]

This story scares the s...t out of me because after my first service I'm not even sure that they even changed my oil or they have just topped it up well over the max.
What the hell is up with these dealers,can't even do an oil change and refit everything back together.
Best of luck with getting your car sorted.

[b0rk]

Do you have any paperwork relating to the "repair" previously instigated by the dealers to correct their poor workmanship they should have documented this but for various reasons may not have.

Considered going public to see if shaming them sorts the situation out, tweet VWUK for example or put your problem on VWUK's facebook page they are pretty hot about maintaining a good public image.

[Charlie B]

Hi Guys thanks for your replies, appreciate the support and opinions. Awating final meeting today. definitely keen to not pay, as I agree they failed to meet due care and attention, and have been embarrasingly poor as customer service. A lot of the miles are motorway, a VW should easily get over 100k without problems, my Golf Gti did. I feel a lot of the problem is servicing a German car in a shambolic UK branch..Getting the clock back to 0 is a small bonus, but woud have honestly kept the mileage and a working car instead of this whole mess, wasn't planning to sell it, might do now.Will chase that paperwork / data protection and keep fighting...