Skoda garage refusing to accept fault

Hoopy91

I took my car in for a service and MOT a few weeks ago. It passed everything no problems. As I was leaving the garage a warning light came on EPC and on the dash it said max rev limit 4000. The car lost a lot of power, struggled to get above 50mph and struggles going up hills whenever this warning light comes on. I phoned the Skoda garage and they told me to bring it in to check but we're adamant it was nothing. To do with the service. Took the car in at first available appointment which was a week after the service. The light comes on randomly and annoyingly I got to the garage without the light coming on. They looked at it for around 30/40mins and found an historic error code which they said they cleared and the car should be good. Drove it home and the light came on right as I got in the driveway. Phoned them back they told me to bring it back in again this was going to be another week of our car randomly losing power whenever this warning light came on. Took it in today light came on and I actually kept the engine running while I spoke to the service desk so knew the warning light was on. They kept it a full day to run diagnostics and emailed me to say they had fixed the problem and everything was ok. I drove 2mins away from the garage and the light came back on. 

So drove back to the garage unfortunately it was a different person I spoke to but he couldn't get the car booked in until the 18th November- almost a month away- couldn't offer a courtesy car, couldn't tell me if it's actually safe to keep driving my car, reiterated this was nothing to do with the service and MOT even though the car was fine before and passes MOT, then told me they would be charging me £144 for investigation this time as today was free as a courtesy since it happened after a service. 

At no point was I told any of my trips to the garage were courtesy all I've been told is it's not the service but I'm not sure how they can say that when they can't figure out what the issue is. 

Anyway is there anything I can do to make sure they don't charge me the £144 and actually fix the issue. I can't believe it's not something during the service it's far too much of a coincidence. 

Keep_pedalling

Coincidences happen, and a EPC warning can have a number of causes such as

• The Mass Air Flow Sensor
• The Brake Light Switch
• The Throttle System
• The Steering Control Unit
• Engine sensors like the Crank Position Sensor, Engine Speed Sensor, and more
• The Traction Control System

Not sure if a service would effect any of those things.

paul_c123

They've knocked and damaged a wire or connector.

They can't find it.

MattMattMattUK

Buy an OBDII adapter and plug it into your car, drive around leave the app on your phone monitoring, see what error codes it gives you. You can get a good one for less than fifty pounds from Amazon, delivered next day and you will be further ahead in a day that you will with them trying to find an intermittent fault.

m0bov

Try another dealer, they don't sound competent. 

Frozen_up_north

Our Seat Ibiza had all manner of frightening warning lights appear on the dashboard, all at once. Spoke with our local garage (not a Seat dealer), they said it was likely to be a sensor as it can have a knock on effect showing up as weird faults. It turned out to be a wheel ABS sensor, easy and quick fix.

We avoid the Seat main dealer as much as possible as they are far worse at everything compared to a local garage (yes no kidding, they are hopeless).

Mildly_Miffed

MattMattMattUK said:

Buy an OBDII adapter and plug it into your car, drive around leave the app on your phone monitoring, see what error codes it gives you. You can get a good one for less than fifty pounds from Amazon, delivered next day and you will be further ahead in a day that you will with them trying to find an intermittent fault.

EOBD is the European diagnostic standard, OBDII is the US standard.

You can get a bluetooth adaptor for less than a fiver, and a free smartphone app - I use Scanmaster on Android.
https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/277453957830

Without reading fault codes, everything is guesswork.

If the car needs an MOT, it's out of manufacturer warranty - so unless there's a manufacturer-backed warranty that requires dealer servicing, don't take it to a main dealer. Something as utterly generic as a Skoda can be properly maintained by any competent garage, FAR cheaper than franchise dealer labour rates and parts prices. There will also be fixes available that a dealer can't do - they're restricted to ONLY using manufacturer-supplied parts, and that may involve replacing an expensive component rather than actually mending it.

£144 is one hour's labour. One hour is not unreasonable as a minimum charge for getting the car into a service bay, doing the diagnostics, doing the paperwork. What is unreasonable is a labour rate that high, but that's franchise dealers for you.

daveyjp

Mildly_Miffed said:

MattMattMattUK said:

Buy an OBDII adapter and plug it into your car, drive around leave the app on your phone monitoring, see what error codes it gives you. You can get a good one for less than fifty pounds from Amazon, delivered next day and you will be further ahead in a day that you will with them trying to find an intermittent fault.

EOBD is the European diagnostic standard, OBDII is the US standard.

You can get a bluetooth adaptor for less than a fiver, and a free smartphone app - I use Scanmaster on Android.
https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/277453957830

Without reading fault codes, everything is guesswork.

If the car needs an MOT, it's out of manufacturer warranty - so unless there's a manufacturer-backed warranty that requires dealer servicing, don't take it to a main dealer. Something as utterly generic as a Skoda can be properly maintained by any competent garage, FAR cheaper than franchise dealer labour rates and parts prices. There will also be fixes available that a dealer can't do - they're restricted to ONLY using manufacturer-supplied parts, and that may involve replacing an expensive component rather than actually mending it.

£144 is one hour's labour. One hour is not unreasonable as a minimum charge for getting the car into a service bay, doing the diagnostics, doing the paperwork. What is unreasonable is a labour rate that high, but that's franchise dealers for you.

Some finance agreements, especially PCPs from main dealers, require all servicing and maintenance to be carried out by main dealers.

MattMattMattUK

Mildly_Miffed said:

MattMattMattUK said:

Buy an OBDII adapter and plug it into your car, drive around leave the app on your phone monitoring, see what error codes it gives you. You can get a good one for less than fifty pounds from Amazon, delivered next day and you will be further ahead in a day that you will with them trying to find an intermittent fault.

EOBD is the European diagnostic standard, OBDII is the US standard.

You can get a bluetooth adaptor for less than a fiver, and a free smartphone app - I use Scanmaster on Android.
https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/277453957830

Without reading fault codes, everything is guesswork.

Reading fault codes is what I was suggesting. I bought one myself in 2018, it has been very useful not just for me but for others, I can read fault codes, reset them etc. and it is really good. I paid a bit more than that. Mine is ThinkCar, they do not sell the one I have any more but I paid about £40, well worth the money. 

facade

Fault code readers are useful and cheap. I use the Car scanner app on android, with a bluetooth dongle, and it works very well. (so well that I actually paid for it  )

The ones to avoid (unless you are a driveway trader) are the TopDon range, pushed by influencers on Youtube.

Nothing wrong with the devices, and they work well, but they are subscription based, and you are only buying the first year in the price. So if you want a tool to use once to save on a diagnostic fee, and then put in the drawer until you get a warning light in the future they aren't suitable. 

Goudy

As it's had a service, it could be related to the oil pressure switch.

There are certain VAG engines that are prone to this sort of behaviour when the oil pressure sensor starts reporting low pressure.
This seems to happen after oil and filter changes.

First things is to actually check the oil level and make sure it's correct, then the oil pressure sensor and actual oil pressure needs checking.