Excuse for not covering on a vehicle warranty

colino

You don't "need" to do anything other than go back to the garage that is making up this guff and talk to the Dealer Principal. Unless they gave you a suitability questionnaire before deigning to take your cash they are just at it. Perhaps they would like to swap you into something you find mutually agreeable, otherwise they fix it as required or you involve the national press.

WTFH

It's fairly clear there's some knowledgeable replies on here form diesel owners, and there are other replies too.

I would also throw into the ring that you should change your oil every year. It doesn't matter if he service interval is every 15,000 miles (or more) or it says every 2 years. Diesels like to have clean oil in them. Mine has a 2 year/ 21,000 mile service interval. I change the oil every 10,000, which is roughly 8 months.

I know you say it's not due a service until November, but how about getting it serviced now and seeing if that sorts out the problem.

gilbert_and_sullivan

Diesels by design don't need to be run for X minimum miles per year, the problems have only arisen because some half baked exhaust cleaning system has been fitted, in the years before that well designed Diesels would happily do anything you asked of them till the car fell apart...so long as you treated them to good oil and filters regularly and clean fuel.

I suspect the oil is degrading because excess fuel is being added to the cycle in order to try and burn off the DPF, and as happened with many Mazda 6's the fuel is finding its way into the sump and diluting the engine oil, this can lead to engine failure and has.

Its worth keeping a careful eye on the oil level to see if its increasing, if it is then you have a problem.

As above, as annual oil change is a good policy whatever your mileage.

On a personal note, i have not the slightest interest in these modern Diesels and thats after nearly, wrong, over 30 years running proper Diesels without any of this rubbish.

They have gone from simple tough reliable engines to fragile complicated things likely to throw a flounce unless you drive them regularly and frequently for a long time, and treat them to Gucci oil @ £70 to £100 per sumpful at the rip off main dealer....same oil half price or less from a good factor.

How ridiculous that someone should buy a car for its perceived and advertised fuel economy, then have to take it for a weekly long drive..*.to nowhere*...in order for the thing to clean itself out, the whole concept is a poor lucrative joke and the motorist has fell for it.

You can't even guarantee that the clean up is going to happen when you drive to nowhere nor does the car in most cases tell you its happening, so you can still end up stopping the engine before the cycle is complete.

iolanthe07

Excellent post, G & S.

As it seems the OP is planning on keeping the car long-term the better option would be to have the DPF removed once any issues begin. This would be a cheaper option than having to do unnecessary miles.

Is it legal to tamper with the DPF?

gilbert_and_sullivan

iolanthe07 wrote: »

Is it legal to tamper with the DPF?

I don't think so but its possible that future more stringent MOT tests could include this.

Most people who do this seem to keep the original DPF casing in situ so it all looks kosher, however If the gubbins is removed i'd be very inclined to inform my insurer.
Not beyond the realms of fantasy that following a serious accident a sharp eyed insurance engineer spots something he doesn't like and has the DPF cut open...discovering er nothing, and that could possibly be regarded as a performance enhancing modification.

Could find oneself up a creek without a paddle.

SLITHER99

If I may, Ford Direct would not honour a warranty on a workmate's Focus for this reason. He had done 900 odd miles in it in the 10 months he owned it when the DPF failed.

It took an awful lot of wrangling but sadly he got nowhere.

Who knows. Maybe your legal mind is better than his and you're confident you will fare better. My thoughts are that you won't.

He spent the money, got it repaired and now he's in a petrol-engined Astra.


While I think of it, another girl here just treated herself to a 1 year old diesel golf. She lives a 2 minute drive away. Despite all the advice in the world, she wouldn't have petrol simply due to the "fuel economy" and how much she's going to save. Sadly, time will tell her she should have listened, but what can you do... Some people won't be told so why would a car salesperson jeopardize their commission by delivering the news that such extreme fuel economy comes at a potential price? I'm not surprised they keep their mouths shut and sell an extra warranty as a "pass the buck" tool.

SLITHER99

As another aside, I'm a previous Mondeo Mk3 owner. They are utter scrap. And all the "known issues" that came up on the Mk3 are suddenly reappearing on the Mk4.

Please don't take my word for it, go google it. There are a few Ford forums with the issues very explicitly put. Of course Ford do not admit to "known issues" but if you own one long enough, you'll sure know about them.

I'd part ex it now for something petrol and not Mondeo shaped.

fred7777

I have been running diesels for about 10 years averaging around 8K annually with no problems.

However the first was a Peugeot 406 which didn't have a dpf and the current 307 has a special fluid in a tank which it uses to clear the dpf. I also do a journey of at least 30 miles almost every week and the oil is changed every year.

So from in my experience certain diesels are fine for low mileage.

In this case the OP is being told a load of rubbish to try to avoid a warranty claim. There is no reason why it would have to do more than 2k miles because it's a 2.2.

An oil light generally comes on due to low oil, doing low mileage doesn't necessarily mean high oil use.

I would get it serviced now and go back to Bristol street if any faults are found in the service.

fivetide

gilbert_and_sullivan wrote: »

Diesels by design don't need to be run for X minimum miles per year, the problems have only arisen because some half baked exhaust cleaning system has been fitted, in the years before that well designed Diesels would happily do anything you asked of them till the car fell apart...so long as you treated them to good oil and filters regularly and clean fuel..

The issue with DPFs is when you let politicians make the rules for manufacturers. It's all about emissions rules etc and they enforce these rules without speaking to the companies spending billions on design.

Regarding clean fuel though, the best thing about old diesels is that they didn't really care what went in there. Brother in law has an old golf that is run on used chip fat. Never had an issue with it. Agricultural as you like but it has been a reliable commuter car for three years.

OddballJamie

fred7777 wrote: »

I have been running diesels for about 10 years averaging around 8K annually with no problems.

However the first was a Peugeot 406 which didn't have a dpf and the current 307 has a special fluid in a tank which it uses to clear the dpf. I also do a journey of at least 30 miles almost every week and the oil is changed every year.

So from in my experience certain diesels are fine for low mileage.

In this case the OP is being told a load of rubbish to try to avoid a warranty claim. There is no reason why it would have to do more than 2k miles because it's a 2.2.

An oil light generally comes on due to low oil, doing low mileage doesn't necessarily mean high oil use.

I would get it serviced now and go back to Bristol street if any faults are found in the service.

Which engine do you have in the 307 and what year is it? I had the 2004 2.0 136 and had nothing but trouble when my mileage dropped from high to low.