long delay on warranty fix

[paulhouse]

Don't know how others fare with VW customer service, but:

The orange warning light which won't go off on my dashboard indicates a catalytic converter problem, according to the handbook, though the dealer said it needs a new 'secondary coolant pump'.
Problem is, the part's on back order and would take around a fortnight to arrive when the fault was diagnosed at the start of October, though the car was OK to drive.
Three weeks later and I'd heard nothing, so rang and was told the due-date had been pushed back.
I'm concerned as, if the secondary coolant pump isn't necessary, why is it fitted? Also, what if the car develops another fault which would normally trigger the same warning light? I won't be aware of it.
I raised this with VW customer service, who promised to start investigating, but only four days after my call. When I questioned that, they agreed to start investigating immediately - but still wouldn't be able to update me any more quickly! Mmmmm....
Then of course, I didn't get the call back on the day I was promised, so it was down to me to contact them again.
Over a couple of days of wrangling, I was told the parts were a couple of weeks away, then that timeline shrank to a couple of days (maybe).
I've no confidence I will get it fixed within the next couple of weeks and I'm reluctant to use the car much, regardless of VW's assurances that its OK. If it wasn't OK to use, it would be creating a major long-term loan car situation for them.
So, having sold a BMW which ran faultlessly because after 6 years I assumed it might start going wrong, I've swapped and spent a lot of money on one which has gone wrong and the manufacturer sees no urgency in fixing.
Soon, the orange light will have been glowing for half the time I've owned the car.
VW say they "hear what I'm saying" but stop short of offering any answers or accepting their customer service is not up to scratch.
Its a lovely car, but I can't have any confidence in long-term VW ownership at this stage.
Shame, really....

[true romance]

Are these problems from the dealer you had the car from?? Just take the car to another dealer to sort the problem.

[paulhouse]

Not the dealer's fault; I actually think they're very good. The problem stems from VW, which has been unable to supply the required part for my car, although they seem to have had them available when building new ones..... The dealer can't help if they can't get the parts.
VW customer service didn't seem too good, either, a reluctance to start investigating my complaint without a delay of several days, no call back at the time specified, etc; but now I've got a date for the replacement work to be done so hopefully that will be an end to the problem.

[JO1980]

ironically i too am having similar problems.

Having noticed a warm smell and excessive use of coolant i took my scirocco to the garage (cat convertor light came on also) to be told it was the DPF valve. They replaced this. Then two weeks later the radiator needed replaced as it was leaking. Now today my cat convertor light has come on yet again and the coolant has dropped in levels again. I'm loosing faith in VW's ability to troubleshoot faults that seem to be fairly common.

Just thought i'd post on here to see if you got sorted and to find out if your car uses significant amounts of coolant?

I'm loosing the will to live here...

[maisbitt]

What kind of mileages and driving styles are JO and Paulhouse using? If you are in a lot of stop-start traffic and low mileages per trip then the DPF might not be getting a chance to regenerate. This was a big issue in the early days of ownership of my MK5 170TDI Golf that was amongst the first VW models to have a DPF, until a software fix by the dealership corrected it. The DPF regenerates periodically to burn all the particulates (soot) it has collected.

The DPF can regenerate passively through normal driving if you do a lot of motorway speed mileage, or perform a forced regen by seriously upping the exhaust temperature with a modified engine combustion. During a forced regen you should notice that your idling speed is raised from about 800rpm to about 1000rpm, you'll get the strong burning smell also getting into the cabin when you're stuck in traffic whilst a forced regen is performed.

Passive regens occur with a maintained 1800-2500rpm engine speed for 10 mins or so when the car's monitoring system decided the DPF needs emptying, so a maintained 10 mins journey at motorway speeds a few times a week would normally suffice. A normal regen does not put the dashlights on.

Frequent forced regens will likely result in coolant losses as the engine is burning hotter than normal and passing a little unburnt fuel into the exhaust to raise the exhaust temp higher than normal to aid the regen. If your yellow light has come on in the dash then it would indicate that after countless regen attempts, the DPF is getting full and isn't getting the opportunity to empty itself through successful regen. This would generally indicate lots of short journeys or journeys in clogged traffic, unless there is a physical fault. I had no bother with DPF issues on my 140TDI Scirocco that I ran for 2 years, with mixed driving on a 12 mile commute to work, clocking up approx 10k miles a year, but maybe efficiency modifications in the "bluemotion" models are causing issues?