VW dispute - faulty parts, bullied by VW staff, disabled father stranded, £1,400 bill

Lucky_Duck_2

I would first like to stipulate that I am a very reasonable person

Often when I hear this the very opposite proves to be the case

jlemaitre

photome wrote: »

it was quite clear to me who GP was

Care to share, As i've come back to see what else has been said and I still cant think who GP is?

EdGasketTheSecond

The 'service rep' at the Van centre. It is quite clear to anyone who is bothered to read the post.

sheramber

jlemaitre wrote: »

Care to share, As i've come back to see what else has been said and I still cant think who GP is?

A person with the initials GP.

Aylesbury_Duck

This is how I read it:

Original oil cooler failed after 9 years and 71k miles. Cost £1,126 to replace.
Two years later, oil levels a concern, garage quotes £571+VAT for another new oil cooler, the previous one having only lasted 2 years and 23k miles. OP is offered 10% discount.
Goes to van centre. £571+VAT was parts only, another £400+ required for labour. OP not happy.
Van centre speculates that an inherent problem with oil pressure could have caused the oil cooler failure. OP asks why this was not considered two years ago because it may have stopped the second oil cooler failing.
OP goes to CAB who advise to allow the dealer to rectify the problem. Dealer (GP from van centre) gives an estimate of £1,721. OP contacts customer service who offer no more than a 20% discount.
Van centre quotes £1400+ which includes the 20% discount but which is more than the original £1,100 the OP was quoted.
OP wants advice. Believes the van centre should have identified the root cause when the first oil cooler failed, or deliberately took money to change it knowing the problem might reoccur. Also not happy that the prices have been fluctuating.

jlemaitre

sheramber wrote: »

A person with the initials GP.

Thanks for clearing that up.

System

OP:

It is quite reasonable for a fault to develop in the 2 years since the first oil cooler was fitted that could cause the second one to fail. It is quite possible for that cause not to have been present at all when the first cooler was replaced. An engine can go from completely serviceable to it dropping to bits in a hell of a lot less than 23,000 miles.

Best of luck in proving that there was a fault present in 2015 that caused a failure 2 years and 23,000 miles later in 2017 which is what you'll have to do in order to win a case. I don't think you'll find a single person who can say with 100% certainty that there was.

You say:

Become suspicious that there could be a problem due to lower than expected MPG.

Later, when car has rested for several hours, oil now halfway up the dipstick. Something weird appears to be going on – it has plenty of oil now but didn’t earlier. Book vehicle in with VW for a check-up.

That one can be easily answered and isn't actually weird but is a fairly common symptom of a specific fault that can occur on any engine. There could be a fault with the fuel injector system such as a worn or stuck open injector so it is dumping too much diesel into the engine or continuing to leak fuel into the engine after it has been turned off until the pressure drops in the fuel rail and the diesel is getting past the piston rings and mixing with the oil. This would both lower the MPG and increase the level of oil on the dipstick as it would now be not only the oil in the sump but also the quantity of diesel mixed in with it that leaked past the piston rings.

It gets better, well not for you. If the amount of diesel that ended up in the engine oil got past a certain point so the total level on the dipstick was above the maximum mark then it is quite possible it could result in a significant increase in oil pressure that could cause the oil cooler to fail. That could be done by as little as a litre of fuel being added to whatever oil was already in the sump, something that would be quite possible on a long road trip.

GP claims that there could be an additional fault with the car resulting in high oil pressure, which in turn may have caused the fault with the oil cooler.

And given your comments about the low MPG and the oil level actually going up, I'd say they were absolutely spot on.

The problem you have in making a claim about the new oil cooler is that you have an entirely unrelated fault to the 2015 repair, faulty injectors, that could have quite easily have caused the failure of the replacement oil cooler. You would have no right to redress if this is the situation and it is just one of those unfortunate things.

TheMoonandBack

OP, I too got bored reading it, but from what I could work out Tarambor has given you the best possible answer.
At the end of the day you have an 11 year old vehicle with 94000 miles on the clock. It is one of those things running vehicles. It has developed a fault which is damaging the oil cooler, after 2 years/23000 miles...so I don’t think you can claim for a faulty oil cooler.
Annoying, expensive, but that’s VW’s for you.

forgotmyname

Poor MPG maybe the lack of oil they knew it was low before starting the journey and didnt think of sorting it until the lovely no oil pressure warning light came on.

Ectophile

The simple answer is to top it up with oil, take it to a friendly local independent garage, and ask them to find out where the oil is disappearing to.