Engine failure - help!

irocfan

Hammyman wrote: »

And the problem is? There isn't one.

+1 take the new engine, treat it right and enjoy

blued

vaio wrote: »

They don’t diagnose total engine failure from Germany, they diagnosed that from the diagnostic results they have the cheapest way out is a new engine rather than lots of dismantling and checking to reveal the cause of the problem with the possibility that it will still need an new engine after a mechanic has spent two or three days investigating.

And that’s if they even have mechanics that can dismantle & diagnose, most these days are parts changers rather than engineers and accordingly very few dealers have the ability (and even less, if any, have the equipment) to rebuild an engine to the tolerances and quality standards that a new factory engine is built to.

VAGs quality system will show if this is an isolated incident or a trend and the engine might well end up back with the real engineers for further investigation.

I wonder how much that costs them. I would expect each dealership to have at least one competent professional amongst all the other fitters. Too many people rely on computer diagnostics these days and some garages just go by the results without doing any further investigation.

I bought my current car with a diagnostic result of faulty turbo. It would cut out at high boost and then work again the next time you started the car. I planned to fit another turbo myself and have a cheap car. It turned out that a small stone had become lodged in the actuator preventing the arm from moving. After 20 mins of poking at it with a small screw driver it pinged out so I took it for a run and all was well. I've done over 30k since then. The previous owner was quoted well over £1000 to have it replaced by VW because their computer told them it was over boosting and a replacement was the solution.

On the plus side the owner let it go cheap, bonus for me

cyclonebri1

vaio wrote: »

They don’t diagnose total engine failure from Germany, they diagnosed that from the diagnostic results they have the cheapest way out is a new engine rather than lots of dismantling and checking to reveal the cause of the problem with the possibility that it will still need an new engine after a mechanic has spent two or three days investigating.

And that’s if they even have mechanics that can dismantle & diagnose, most these days are parts changers rather than engineers and accordingly very few dealers have the ability (and even less, if any, have the equipment) to rebuild an engine to the tolerances and quality standards that a new factory engine is built to.

VAGs quality system will show if this is an isolated incident or a trend and the engine might well end up back with the real engineers for further investigation.

My thoughts entirely and I wish I'd said that, :T:T:T:T:T:T

Pew_Pew_Pew_Lasers!

More likely the engine has a fault which is so expensive to repair that its easier for the manufacturer to replace it.

"total engine failure" to me is more indicative of phut phut phut phut chakakakakakakakaCKCKAKAKAKA..BANG. Not just a light on the dash.

Inactive

So much for VW reliability....

Lum

Swapping an engine is a much simpler job than actually taking the engine apart and fixing it. It's the kind of job that two people could do on a driveway in a day if they were well organised, whereas actually opening the thing up requires a lot more skill to get it right, especially if something like, say, a head skim is needed.

Personally I'm happier replacing engines with ones that are second hand, but unopened, than getting them repaired, and have had better results from doing so.

Given the kind of monkeys often employed at main dealers, I'd apply the same logic. Enjoy your new engine which will have zero miles on it, much better than having your old engine with 16 months of driving on it taken apart and maybe not put together correctly again.

Also get documentation as to the mileage of your car when the engine was swapped so that you can tell any buyer how many miles the engine has done.

anewman

I'd be chuffed if a dealer was going to replace an engine in my car after total failure, particularly if the replacement was new.

darich

ratedrk wrote: »

an engine warning light came on so I drove slowly back home. Next morning first thing I drove slowly to the VW garage and they said it was not safe to drive

Does the garage/dealer know you drove the car a number of miles with the engine warning light on?
Doesn't the handbook say that if the light comes on, to stop driving and have the car seen to by an expert?

If the garage don't know the above then keep quiet - if they find out then they may well use that as an excuse for not replacing your engine at their cost.

anewman

darich wrote: »

Doesn't the handbook say that if the light comes on, to stop driving and have the car seen to by an expert?

I wonder how many people actually read the handbook?

michaelvintner

You were unlucky, you got a duff engine. However if VW change the engine, give you a new one and you have had access to a decent car in the meanwhile meaning you have not been inconvienced that much I can't see the problem.

As long as the total cost to you is nothing what so ever let VW give you a new engine. Things go wrong.