VW vans known engine issue EGR cooler what to do.

Jibber123

I've just had the unfortunate news our vw t5 van needs a new engine due to catastrophic engine ware caused by the aluminium egr cooler breaking up and passing metal partials back into the engine. VW have denied any prior knowledge of the issue and are refusing to offer any discounts on the estimated £12-15k engine replacement. After doing some Internet research on this problem I have found hundreds and hundreds of people in similar situations who have either paid to get the engine replaced or sold/scraped the vehicle.  After speaking to several independent vw specialists they are dealing with numerous vehicles with this issue every week, and the numbers are growing. I've been told I won't be able to get the repair booked in until July at the earliest now, as they are so busy with these repairs. VW UK have told be to speak to my local VW commercial dealer. My local VW dealers have told me they can't do anything, as they are guided on this by VW UK. I'm getting knowwhere, and got a van worth £10000's sitting on the drive unable to be used. Where do I go now with this, the press, media?

Mildly_Miffed

CFCA BiTDi 180?

This is an issue that's been known about for a few years - there's threads going back to 2018 easily found - and could have been avoided by precautionary replacement with the updated cooler design, RevD, which seems to have been introduced in early T6 production.

Since a T5 is now at least eight years old, I suspect your chances of anything from VW are minimal, even if you have full to-the-letter main dealer service history.

RogerPensionGuy

Does the know defect just cause engine not to start?

Or does it make it stall, low power or stop whilst trying to drive it?

If defect indeed makes it unsafe to drive or can easily cause incidents or accidents or the like, tell the manufacturer you will report the unsafe known condition to the DfT Department for Transport unless they fix this condition.

See what their response is.

The DfT are very good on getting these items sorted out, unfortunately often us the case people just don't report these conditions that can cause unsafe driving conditions. 

In this particular case, was this the manufacturer who were involved in Diesel-Gate and finally admitted to this and are still paying out billions in compensation.

Tucosalamanca

I think the consensus is don't buy the 180bitdi or at the minimum, check that the egr cooler has been updated.

Across the various VW forums I've even seen owners have their oil tested for metal contamination.

I can see little point going to the press or the media as it's a widely known issue and is frequently discussed online.

I think your best bet is to join one of the many VW groups and establish the best way to proceed.
There's some good independent specialists out there who can help.
At this point approaching VW for repairs is likely to be the most expensive option for you.
Good luck with it...

RogerPensionGuy

Just for information. 

Some manufacturers just replace defective parts for the same but new defective parts. 

Reference these manufacturers who don't fix these items as they should, look on American sites as the authorities hold them better to account and they often fit modified parts to actually fix the issues instead of just replacing with same parts that often tend to fail down the road. 

fred990

What's the history? 
Full VW?
Mileage?

Darkside developments might be worth a look.