Vauxhall Mokka Turbo Failure just out of warranty

Mattshakes

Hi all,
I have a 65 plate Vauxhall Mokka 1.6 diesel. I have owned this car from new on the Vauxhall PCP scheme.
It has 35000 miles on the clock, is not driven hard and has been serviced and in the three years I have owned it has had two oil and filter changes.
The turbo recently started making a whining noise, then two days ago it gave up. The engine light came on and the car went into limp mode. I took it straight to a Vauxhall dealership who after charging me £72 to plug it into their diagnostic machine have now been told it is a complete turbo failure and this will cost me over £1000.
The warranty on the car unfortunately ran out in October 2018, so only just over two months ago.
I have looked on the internet and the reasonable expectation for a life span of a turbo is nominally 100,000 miles.
I tried phoning the dealership who said they could not help with any form of contribution and passed me onto Vauxhall Customer Care where I then lodged my complaint.
They assured me that they would investigate and then get back in touch within 24hrs.
They failed to call me back so I again rang them, only to be told that they could not answer any queries and that they should call me back before 1730hrs. they did not.
I work full-time, need the car for work and also have a young family.
I notice from reading these threads that somebody else had more or less the exact same problem but with a Nissan. It seems eventually Nissan covered all costs to keep the customer happy.
Has anyone else had a similar problem with a Vauxhall?
Does a 3 year old car with only 35k on the clock sound reasonable for the turbo to fail completely?
Is this nominal wear and tear for the vehicle? I do not believe so. I would also argue that with only 35k, this is not a reasonable expectation for a lifespan of the turbo.
Any advice please!!!!??

daveyjp

The turbo on my wife's last car managed 15,000 miles before expiring. Thankfully covered under warranty.

Your low mileage may well have killed it. Diesels like to be run often and for a long time, the more miles the better. 1,000 miles a month probably isn't enough.

They do not appreciate short trips where they never warm through, the oil galleries get blocked, starves the turbo of oil and it fails.

If your car has a full Vauxhall service history press for a contribution.

motorguy

daveyjp wrote: »

The turbo on my wife's last car managed 15,000 miles before expiring. Thankfully covered under warranty.

Your low mileage may well have killed it. Diesels like to be run often and for a long time, the more miles the better. 1,000 miles a month probably isn't enough.

They do not appreciate short trips where they never warm through, the oil galleries get blocked, starves the turbo of oil and it fails.

If your car has a full Vauxhall service history press for a contribution.

Sorry but no, no no.

Firstly 35K in three years is close to average miles, not low miles.

Secondly theres nothing specific in a turbo on a diesel that should make it fail at low miles anyway.

Thirdly, Oil galleries should not block at that miles with regular servicing which the car has had.

motorguy

Mattshakes wrote: »

Hi all,
I have a 65 plate Vauxhall Mokka 1.6 diesel. I have owned this car from new on the Vauxhall PCP scheme.
It has 35000 miles on the clock, is not driven hard and has been serviced and in the three years I have owned it has had two oil and filter changes.
The turbo recently started making a whining noise, then two days ago it gave up. The engine light came on and the car went into limp mode. I took it straight to a Vauxhall dealership who after charging me £72 to plug it into their diagnostic machine have now been told it is a complete turbo failure and this will cost me over £1000.
The warranty on the car unfortunately ran out in October 2018, so only just over two months ago.
I have looked on the internet and the reasonable expectation for a life span of a turbo is nominally 100,000 miles.
I tried phoning the dealership who said they could not help with any form of contribution and passed me onto Vauxhall Customer Care where I then lodged my complaint.
They assured me that they would investigate and then get back in touch within 24hrs.
They failed to call me back so I again rang them, only to be told that they could not answer any queries and that they should call me back before 1730hrs. they did not.
I work full-time, need the car for work and also have a young family.
I notice from reading these threads that somebody else had more or less the exact same problem but with a Nissan. It seems eventually Nissan covered all costs to keep the customer happy.
Has anyone else had a similar problem with a Vauxhall?
Does a 3 year old car with only 35k on the clock sound reasonable for the turbo to fail completely?
Is this nominal wear and tear for the vehicle? I do not believe so. I would also argue that with only 35k, this is not a reasonable expectation for a lifespan of the turbo.
Any advice please!!!!??

Has the car a full Vauxhall history? If so, i'd expect Vauxhall to be contributing heavily.

It would be normal process for the dealer not to offer a contribution at this stage, but you may be able to squeeze them for a good will gesture.

Keep phoning, dont let Vauxhall UK off the hook.

Also ring and ask to speak to the General Manager in your local dealers - explain whats happening and ask can he assist in any way.

Mattshakes

Thanks buddy, I'll keep the pressure on them.

Willberry

It may well come down to whether or not you had the car serviced by a Vauxhall dealer and at the correct service intervals. I have a Nissan Qashqai 65 plate. Warranty expired on 31 Dec 2018. On 4 January I contacted my local Nissan dealer as there was a grinding noise coming from steering. I took car to dealer on 15 January. Was told needed to replace rubber cover on top struts (whatever that means) and that they had contacted Nissan on my behalf who agreed to pay for 50% of parts required amounting to approx £25 contribution by Nissan. Dealer wanted about £400 from for labour costs. I contacted Nissan customer services and supplied full details. Received phone call at 9am following day from Nissan telling me they will cover full cost of parts and labour because car was purchased from Nissan dealer and all servicing was carried out by them as well. Excellent result and one of the reasons why I always have a car under warranty serviced by a main dealer for that franchise. Hope you have as much success with Vauxhall as I had with Nissan.

Mr.Generous

I wonder if the right oil was used, oil sludging up kills the turbo, usually lack of oil changes, but as you had a couple maybe wrong oil used? The other thing is the DPF procedure, when trying to regen the filter diesel is injected on the exhaust stroke - and can get into the oil.

If A lot of short journeys are being made and the car is regularly trying to regenerate the dpf the oil level can become too high and the oil actually contaminated with diesel.

AdrianC

Mattshakes wrote: »

I have owned this car from new on the Vauxhall PCP scheme.

You don't own it, then. Vauxhall's finance house do. You might own it at the end of the PCP, if you decide to pay the balloon payment, but I guess the chance of that is currently zero.



This might work in your favour - it may be worth investigating how much it'll cost to throw the non-working car back at them, relative to paying to fix it.

DDave21

Hi Mattshakes,

Could I ask what the outcome of this was? Did Vauxhall offer to contribute? Exactly the same thing has just happened to me -
65 plate, 1.6 diesel, 35,000 miles. Turbo collapsed, New turbo and intercooler required.
Also the gearbox centre seal is leaking and needs to be removed and repaired.
Quoted £3,500 for the work!

NitinParmar

Out of interest why did they tell you a new intercooler is required for a turbo failure?

System

NitinParmar wrote: »

Out of interest why did they tell you a new intercooler is required for a turbo failure?

Often it is because it ends up full of oil and it is much easier to replace than try to clean it out and whilst it still has oil in it that will be getting sucked into the engine which can result in damaged CAT/DPF filter and blue exhaust smoke depending on severity.