VW Camper replacement engine fiasco

Wulfrune_1

Hello there,

A friend of mine bought a VW camper van a few years back and on November 23 had to buy a new engine (Yes, new, not a reconditioned one).  The engine was supplied to him by a company and my friend had the engine fitted by a 3rd party VW Camper specialist and for a brief while, all was good.

About a week ago, he was on the motorway when he noticed blue smoke coming out the back of his van, his speed started to die and he pulled onto the hard shoulder where the van gave up and he had to be towed off the motorway.

My friend contacted the vendor of the new engine, and given the fact that the engine was only 6 months old with 2000 miles, he expected them to be understanding and helpful, but they were neither.  They absolved themselves of any responsibility for the engine blowing up without even looking at the engine, instead directing my friend back to the engine installers.

So far my friend is £6000 down on the deal with no one wanting to accept responsibility.

Would anyone here be so kind as to give us some ideas as to what he can do, please?

Many thanks

Wulfrune

Ms_Chocaholic

Is this 23 November 2023 or November 2023.  If the former he is within 6 months (just).

Has he had a garage look at the engine to confirm the fault?

Tucosalamanca

You haven't mentioned the age/model of camper and the exact engine fitted.
There are huge variations in quality and price, to an extent this depends on model.
£6,000 sounds very, very cheap for a 'new' engine.

Last time I checked, a new crated engine for my camper was almost £9,000 (before fitting).
Recon engines available £2,000 - £5,000 upwards.

I suspect there's not not much your friend can do.
Installer will blame the supplier and the supplier will blame the installer.

As they say, always get the same firm to supply and fit.

Has your friend posted on one of the many VW camper forums?
They will be much better placed to answer questions and give real life experiences...