Mk6 Golf and EGR valve issues

Philippa68

I am yet another victim of the EGR valve issue!

I purchased my 2010 VW Golf 1.6 TDi in December 2015 & have had intermittent performance issues with it ever since. I took it back to the car dealer I bought it from (not a VW dealer) who fobbed me off after he had taken the car for a drive & said there was no issue.

Having driven for over 30 years I knew there was an issue as the car wasn't running smoothly, sometimes didn't idle well, felt like it was 'missing' at times and subsequently started stalling. This morning I got in it to drive to work & it wouldn't go anywhere - the engine turned over but just wouldn't stay running. The AA were called &, after having to upgrade my membership to include 'home start', an EGR valve fault was diagnosed. At no point since buying the car have any warning lights come on.

The car was initially taken to VW but after a heated discussion with the dealer I purchased it from he has agreed to collect the car from VW (who haven't undertaken any work on it) & fix the problem free of charge as a gesture of goodwill as the warranty only ran out 5 days ago. It remains to be seen whether the EGR valve is replaced or merely cleaned & how the car performs once I have it back, but having read the accounts on this forum I fully expect the issue to re-occur at some point in the future.

cbcov1984

cbcov1984 wrote: »

Hi all,

The wife's 59 plate Mk6 VW Golf 1.6TDI has recently developed the following issues;

- fluctuating revs whilst at idle
- lack of reviving / power when trying to accelerate
- engine cutting out almost immediately after starting
- engine going into limp mode with flashing coil light

The car itself works intermittently although since it developed these problems last week we have chosen not to use it. I booked it into my local VW dealer who had a waiting time of over a week before they could look at it. They ran their diagnostics yesterday and reported back with a faulty EGR valve / cooler that will need replacing. The cost they quoted for this was £1,248.80 (inc VAT).

I said this was extortionate and that they surely must be able to come down on price. After facing a lot of resistance they came down to £950 (inc VAT) after applying a discount to labour and parts. I told them this offer was still unacceptable and I am glad I did having read through this forum.

I am going to try the customer care line tomorrow to see if they can assist. I have had the car from new and it has been serviced at the service intervals by a VW dealer, in fact it was only serviced 2 weeks ago at a cost of nearly £300. I feel like I am being held to ransom!

I shall let you know how I get on in the hope to help others who may have this problem in the future.

Hi all, just an update on the above. I spoke to VW directly and explained the issue and that I wasn't happy etc and that it appears to be a common problem etc and they assigned me a "case manager" who said they would review the issue and get back to me. At this point I would point out that it is important not to confuse the VW dealer, which in my case was Listers, with VW itself, they are two separate entities.

Anyway, after waiting a few days VW rang me back and told me they had spoken to Listers about the issue and that VW would offer 50% goodwill on the repair that was quoted (£950) by Listers, thus reducing my bill to £475. Although I am still not happy at having to pay it (who would be), it is a vast improvement on the near £1,300 originally quoted so I accepted it and have had the vehicle repaired.

My advice to anyone who has the same issue is to speak to VW directly but only after you have negotiated Listers down as much as you can as this is the bill that VW will offer the goodwill on. Having a service history will help but when on the phone to VW give it the old disappointed line, i.e. "I bought a VW because I thought I was buying quality and I feel completely let down". Also point to the fact that is a known problem and that it is not a serviceable part and that you shouldn't have to pay £500 labor to have a part replaced that shouldn't have developed a fault in the first place.

Anyway, I wish anyone with the same problem the best of luck in getting it resolved.

Markn

Hi,

I have the same problem with my 60 plate Passat 1.6TDI. EML light on constantly, although it seemed to be driving fine.

I have had it diagnosed\repaired at an Independent VW\Audi garage at the cost of £670.

Does anybody think it is worth me contacting VW customer services as I have already had the work done and at an independent garage? If so any suggestions of what I can say to help my case?

Thanks
Mark

jeallen01

Daily Telegraph of Sat 26th March 2016, CARS supplement, Honest John section:

There is a statement from HJ or one of the other main contributors that VW is now supplying replacement EGRs for the affected engines FREE OF CHARGE, but the dealers are then charging "horrible prices" to fit them!

Anyone yet come across this when talking to their dealers?

If not then it should be worth trying!

Dib

First of all, thanks to the OP for starting this mammoth thread of VW owners' tales of woe with their EGR.

My story is much like the rest, my 1.6 TDI BMT SE 61 plate Golf suddenly lost power and the glow plug warning light came on. Got home, left it a few minutes, turned the engine over and it was fine - for a bit...Went to my local independent garage for diagnostics (no local VW dealership) and it came up with the now infamous fault. I googled it and found that my car was one of many to suffer this issue. So, I contacted VW Customer Care who weren't interested unless a VW garage had done the diagnostics. Once it happened again, I contacted the VW garage from whom I had bought the car, and which had serviced it in accordance with VW guidelines. I got it booked in, and made it known that I knew this was a well known issue. The dealer contacted VW UK and they agreed to fund the replacement part but not the labour. After some 'discussion' with the dealer, they agreed to meet 30% of the labour costs as goodwill so I had to pay out £350 in total to get my car fixed.

Upon getting my car back, I wrote to the Chief Executive of VW UK telling him that as this is such a well known fault, I shouldn't have to pay anything for labour. I also pointed out that there it was a potentially life threatening issue with this fault and that the part should not fail in the lifetime of the car. I got a call from VW 'Customer Care(less)' whose response was basically that it is tough - VW UK have 'generously' paid for the part, my car is outside warranty, (true) and it is not considered a safety issue (which I strongly disagree with) for a recall to be made. They point blank refused any further gesture of goodwill. So, my first VW is likely to be my last with this attitude (of course, my car is also caught up in the Emissions saga). I am now going to contact the BBC Watchdog programme because the more VW owners that become aware of the issue, the better. I do wonder what would have happened if I hadn't said that I knew about this fault when taking it in. Hopefully others might also express their displeasure to VW directly and that more pressure will be put on VW to finally do the decent thing - but I won't hold my breath.

BeenThroughItAll

Dib wrote: »

First of all, thanks to the OP for starting this mammoth thread of VW owners' tales of woe with their EGR.

My story is much like the rest, my 1.6 TDI BMT SE 61 plate Golf suddenly lost power and the glow plug warning light came on. Got home, left it a few minutes, turned the engine over and it was fine - for a bit...Went to my local independent garage for diagnostics (no local VW dealership) and it came up with the now infamous fault. I googled it and found that my car was one of many to suffer this issue. So, I contacted VW Customer Care who weren't interested unless a VW garage had done the diagnostics. Once it happened again, I contacted the VW garage from whom I had bought the car, and which had serviced it in accordance with VW guidelines. I got it booked in, and made it known that I knew this was a well known issue. The dealer contacted VW UK and they agreed to fund the replacement part but not the labour. After some 'discussion' with the dealer, they agreed to meet 30% of the labour costs as goodwill so I had to pay out £350 in total to get my car fixed.

Upon getting my car back, I wrote to the Chief Executive of VW UK telling him that as this is such a well known fault, I shouldn't have to pay anything for labour. I also pointed out that there it was a potentially life threatening issue with this fault and that the part should not fail in the lifetime of the car. I got a call from VW 'Customer Care(less)' whose response was basically that it is tough - VW UK have 'generously' paid for the part, my car is outside warranty, (true) and it is not considered a safety issue (which I strongly disagree with) for a recall to be made. They point blank refused any further gesture of goodwill. So, my first VW is likely to be my last with this attitude (of course, my car is also caught up in the Emissions saga). I am now going to contact the BBC Watchdog programme because the more VW owners that become aware of the issue, the better. I do wonder what would have happened if I hadn't said that I knew about this fault when taking it in. Hopefully others might also express their displeasure to VW directly and that more pressure will be put on VW to finally do the decent thing - but I won't hold my breath.

What's that then?

Dib

BeenThroughItAll wrote: »

What's that then?

Suddenly loosing power with no warning! Such as when pulling out of junctions, or when travelling at national speed limit, perhaps in an outside lane.

BeenThroughItAll

Dib wrote: »

Suddenly loosing power with no warning! Such as when pulling out of junctions, or when travelling at national speed limit, perhaps in an outside lane.

Mm. OK then. Right.

gultekin

cbcov1984 wrote: »

Hi all, just an update on the above. I spoke to VW directly and explained the issue and that I wasn't happy etc and that it appears to be a common problem etc and they assigned me a "case manager" who said they would review the issue and get back to me. At this point I would point out that it is important not to confuse the VW dealer, which in my case was Listers, with VW itself, they are two separate entities.

Anyway, after waiting a few days VW rang me back and told me they had spoken to Listers about the issue and that VW would offer 50% goodwill on the repair that was quoted (£950) by Listers, thus reducing my bill to £475. Although I am still not happy at having to pay it (who would be), it is a vast improvement on the near £1,300 originally quoted so I accepted it and have had the vehicle repaired.

My advice to anyone who has the same issue is to speak to VW directly but only after you have negotiated Listers down as much as you can as this is the bill that VW will offer the goodwill on. Having a service history will help but when on the phone to VW give it the old disappointed line, i.e. "I bought a VW because I thought I was buying quality and I feel completely let down". Also point to the fact that is a known problem and that it is not a serviceable part and that you shouldn't have to pay £500 labor to have a part replaced that shouldn't have developed a fault in the first place.

Anyway, I wish anyone with the same problem the best of luck in getting it resolved.

Hi cbcov1984 and all,

I have had the same issues as your's and many others' posting here on this topic. The problem was diagnosed as the EGR valve failure by the authorized VW service. Mine was a 2011 Golf 6 1.6 TDI bought as new from the same dealer which performed the diagnosis. After the end of standard warranty of 2 year given by VW in Turkey, I started to bring the car to an indie mechanic for regular maintenance. The car worked fine for the last 5 years and a month (for about 66000 miles) before the flashing coil light appeared 2 weeks ago and the car went into the limp mode. When I contacted with the customer care in Turkey and stated all the arguments made in previous posts (that the part is not serviceable, many people having same issue, the technology used for the part was upgraded in MK7, there are many instances that VW accepted to cover %100 for parts and %50 for labour etc.), customer care refused to show any goodwill. Their primary reasoning was that the car was out of warranty for over more than 1 years and subsidiary was that the car has no service history in VW records after warranty period. I had no chance but to pay the whole amount (which is about 547 pounds) and replace the part since the car started to go into limp mode in each drive attempt. Now I would like to sue them and ask for reimbursement for the amount covering %100 of parts and %50 of labour. For this purpose, I need to collect evidence to support my case that this is a common issue for diesel VW cars produced between 2009-2012, that goodwill offers were made by VW for the same issue somewhere around the world and that goodwill offers shall also be valid for cars which are out of warranty regarding that the part is not serviceable (which means it is designed for the lifetime of the car). As far as I understood from your statement, your car was also out of warranty period, am I right? I would appreciate any help providing evidence/information about those EGR valve issues in the court. Thanks.

Dib

As far as I understood from your statement, your car was also out of warranty period, am I right? I would appreciate any help providing evidence/information about those EGR valve issues in the court. Thanks.[/QUOTE]


Hi. Yes, my car was out of warranty but I had always had it serviced by VW and I believe this bears a lot of weight when trying to negotiate.
I wish you the best of luck.