The never-ending repair

OscarG

Our diesel car started complaining about an emissions fault in early November 2023, and we booked it for repairs with the manufacturer's official dealership. The car's 5 years old and it's got 55k miles on it. We've taken good care of it, full service schedule, etc.

Emissions faults are particularly nasty, because the car displays a countdown (between 100-400 miles), after which it's programmed to refuse to start.

On 13 Nov, the dealership reset the computer, told us it was fixed now, and charged us £358. A few weeks later, the same fault came back.

On 7 Dec, the dealership installed a new NOx sensor, told us it was fixed now, and charged us £505. A few weeks later, the same fault came back.

On 29 Feb, the dealership cleaned the injector and reset the computer, told us it was fixed now, and charged us £180. A few weeks later, the same fault came back.

On 18 Mar, the dealership installed a new injector, told us it was fixed now, and charged us £300. 2 days later, the same fault came back.

It's now booked to go in again on 27 March.

I'm no car expert, but this doesn't feel normal. It doesn't feel reasonable to me that a car needs a £400 repair on a monthly basis - nevermind the cost of taxis and fuel and courtesy cars and time out of my day, etc. taking it for repairs so many times.

I've tried to repeatedly tell the garage my displeasure, but I only get wishy-washy explanations and chuckling "c'est la vie"s back. Last time, being a dealership, they tried to sell us a new car as a permanent solution.

I just want this car fixed... "permanently" is probably the wrong word, but certainly in such a way that it sticks for longer than a fortnight.

What can I do?

facade

You can't force them to fix it if they haven't got a clue what is wrong! They are simply firing the parts cannon at it (at your expense) until they eventually hit the problem.

You'd be better off taking it to someone who actually knows what they are doing.

Try posting on the forum for your make & model of car, and having a look at youtube channels like O'Rileys Autos who continually fix massively expensive un-diagnosable emissions & dpf faults (according to dealers) because they know what actually goes wrong.

You'd think there was some come-back against garages that just load up the parts cannon and start firing, but there isn't.

Tucosalamanca

Typical of modern diesel cars. These pages and almost every other forum have similar tales.

With the bests intentions, even skilled mechanics struggle to get it fixed first time....

There's not much you can do. Continue to throw money at it or swap to a petrol or electric vehicle.

FWIW, I'm running ten diesel vehicles (vans and cars), in the last year I've spend over £15,000 on repairs.
Most are less than seven years old, with the most reliable being the oldest (2008 & 2014).

I routinely carry an OBD scanner with me to reset the never ending cycle of warning lights - it is what it is...

CliveOfIndia

This may not be relevant to your particular car, but my son recently had exactly the same thing with his car.  Turned out the Adblue injector pump was kaput, and it had exactly the symptoms you describe - a countdown in miles which would immobilise the engine when it reached zero.

Our friendly local mechanic sourced and fitted a second-hand part for the princely sum of £80 (apparently a new part would have been £400).

He did mention that, if he couldn't find a second-hand part, he knew someone who could reprogram the computer to make it think it didn't need the Adblue, which may be another avenue to explore?

I realise (I think?) that not all diesels use Adblue, but just thought it may be useful to mention if it's any help to you.

Tucosalamanca

CliveOfIndia said:

He did mention that, if he couldn't find a second-hand part, he knew someone who could reprogram the computer to make it think it didn't need the Adblue, which may be another avenue to explore?

Illegal to do in the UK, same as dpf delete, or egr blanking.

All would have benefits to the driver, tampering with factory fit emissions equipment can lead to heavy fines, so can't be recommended...

OscarG

Thanks for the replies, everyone!

facade said:

You can't force them to fix it if they haven't got a clue what is wrong! They are simply firing the parts cannon at it (at your expense) until they eventually hit the problem.

You'd think there was some come-back against garages that just load up the parts cannon and start firing, but there isn't.

I've been reading what Citizens Advice has to say - could I not argue that with five goes at fixing the same issue, it might be likely that the work wasn't done with 'reasonable skill and care'? Again, I'm no motorhead, but just resetting the computer and hoping for the best doesn't seem particularly skilful or caring to me (in terms of fixing the problem, rather than just fitting a part).

Thanks for suggesting O'Rileys Autos, I've checked them out, and seems like exactly the sort of man I need!

CliveOfIndia said:

He did mention that, if he couldn't find a second-hand part, he knew someone who could reprogram the computer to make it think it didn't need the Adblue, which may be another avenue to explore?

Yeah, the chap at our local non-affiliated garage also wink-winked about being able to disable the AdBlue system entirely, but I'm not sure we're comfortable with that, personally. Aside from it being illegal, I have a feeling that it might cause other issues down the line...

facade

OscarG said:

Thanks for the replies, everyone!

facade said:

You can't force them to fix it if they haven't got a clue what is wrong! They are simply firing the parts cannon at it (at your expense) until they eventually hit the problem.

You'd think there was some come-back against garages that just load up the parts cannon and start firing, but there isn't.

I've been reading what Citizens Advice has to say - could I not argue that with five goes at fixing the same issue, it might be likely that the work wasn't done with 'reasonable skill and care'? Again, I'm no motorhead, but just resetting the computer and hoping for the best doesn't seem particularly skilful or caring to me (in terms of fixing the problem, rather than just fitting a part).

Thanks for suggesting O'Rileys Autos, I've checked them out, and seems like exactly the sort of man I need!

CliveOfIndia said:

He did mention that, if he couldn't find a second-hand part, he knew someone who could reprogram the computer to make it think it didn't need the Adblue, which may be another avenue to explore?

Yeah, the chap at our local non-affiliated garage also wink-winked about being able to disable the AdBlue system entirely, but I'm not sure we're comfortable with that, personally. Aside from it being illegal, I have a feeling that it might cause other issues down the line...

I suspect the dealer will say that all those parts were necessary as they were worn out/ out of specification and were causing Problems, it is just Unfortunate that you are experiencing a succession of similar looking Problems....

That youtuber was just an example that there are plenty of knowledgeable independents about (and a possibility that you might find they had fixed a vehicle with a similar problem to yours and could get an idea of what is actually your problem), rather than a suggestion to use them for the work.

I recall one video where a van had a long list of error codes indicating thousands of pounds worth of engine work needed according to the main dealer, and it was all caused by a faulty external temperature sensor in a cheap aftermarket door mirror!

Bigwheels1111

Had a NOx code a few times on my Peugeot 5008 1.6 bluehdi.
Wiped it via a basic obd2 reader.
Then got an emissions fault on the head unit.
Peugeot dealer narrowed it down to Adblue tank, known fault.
Replaced under warranty.

What make of car do you have. 

Can you roll under the car to look at the Adblue injector, it’s in the exhaust like a spark plug.
Near the front, it will look like it has white furry coating or like a battery terminal with white ish rust.
That is if it’s leaking.

OscarG

Bigwheels1111 said:

Had a NOx code a few times on my Peugeot 5008 1.6 bluehdi.
Wiped it via a basic obd2 reader.
Then got an emissions fault on the head unit.
Peugeot dealer narrowed it down to Adblue tank, known fault.
Replaced under warranty.

What make of car do you have. 

A Peugeot 3008 here 😅

I think the dealership did mention that the next step would probably be replacing the AdBlue tank, which is a £1,000 for the part. Our car isn't under warranty anymore (though I guess soon enough our car of Theseus will have enough new parts with individual warranties that it'll be a distinction without a difference), but the dealer did say there would be a 75% manufacturer contribution for the part - though no idea why that'd be the case.

The AdBlue injector is what they've just replaced this past Tuesday.

In January when we got the fault again, we added an anti-crystallisation additive to the AdBlue tank, and asked the local garage to just clear the error with their scanner. That lasted 3 weeks, and then we resumed taking it back to the dealership.

Bigwheels1111

OscarG said:

Bigwheels1111 said:

Had a NOx code a few times on my Peugeot 5008 1.6 bluehdi.
Wiped it via a basic obd2 reader.
Then got an emissions fault on the head unit.
Peugeot dealer narrowed it down to Adblue tank, known fault.
Replaced under warranty.

What make of car do you have. 

A Peugeot 3008 here 😅

I think the dealership did mention that the next step would probably be replacing the AdBlue tank, which is a £1,000 for the part. Our car isn't under warranty anymore (though I guess soon enough our car of Theseus will have enough new parts with individual warranties that it'll be a distinction without a difference), but the dealer did say there would be a 75% manufacturer contribution for the part - though no idea why that'd be the case.

The AdBlue injector is what they've just replaced this past Tuesday.

In January when we got the fault again, we added an anti-crystallisation additive to the AdBlue tank, and asked the local garage to just clear the error with their scanner. That lasted 3 weeks, and then we resumed taking it back to the dealership.

Though it was a Peugeot.
There is a known fault on the adblue tanks. Hence discount.
I used Yeomans Peugeot Littlehampton.
They were fantastic, booked me in for scan & look over on ramp.
Hour later confirmed it was the tank.
Booked me in a day after the tank arrived.
That went a bit wrong as Peugeot’s network went down so could not reprogram.
Went back 3 days later, did the repair and all has been fine.
That was August 23.
Out of 5 Peugeot dealers I’ve used it the only one I feel knows what they were doing.
It was a 130 miles round trip from my home.
Well worth it.
Don’t get stitched up on the part price, Peugeot wanted £1400 for the tank.
I found mine here. Look at price.
Look your tank up.