Seat Leon and Motorpoint

polgara

Hi - hope you can advise as I'm in two minds about what to do about my new car.

Purchased a 56 plate Seat Leon 1.9 Stylance TDI (10K miles on the clock) on the 2nd May - went for a trip on the 3rd and temp sensor kept going off - checked water and topped it up. Couple of hours later had to top up again, and again and again. Thought it was the radiator but couldn't see any coolant anywhere. Contacted Motorpoint who said its under warranty and book it into the dealers.

Booked it into the local Seat dealers (had to wait a week) and had the call today saying its potentially the head gasket! Its a VAG engine - thought they were bombproof!! They're stripping it down but unlikely to have the car for another week.

Seriously considering asking Motorpoint for my money back (them buy the car back) and go elsewhere! Is this possible?

My previous car was a Pug and it managed 112K with only the usual suspects needing fixing - my main buying criteria was reliablitity as I commute 500 miles a week.

ozvaldinho

It could be the head gasket...was there any oil visible around the head? It sounds like you could have a cracked cylinder head to me...you get tiny pores around the valve areas which can vent out water or steam through the exhaust, hence not being able to see any signs of a leak. It could be a biggish job with the car off the road for more than a week, depending on the garage.
The head will probably need to be sent off for pressure testing, which can often take a few days to be stripped down, sent off, tested, refitted or replaced and reassembled.
I would imagine it's a manufacturing defect rather than anything Motorpoint have done. I doubt they could have spotted this problem to be honest.
It could be down to how the car has been used and serviced. Sometimes these problems are caused by overfilling the oil in the first few months of the engine's life, which causes the cooling system to 'pressurize'. It might be worth pushing the dealer to see if they can get you a brand new engine under the warranty if the head has gone, sometimes the labour and parts can add up to more than simply dropping in a new factory engine.
Good luck!

djheath

I know this doesn't really help your problem, but:

I used to a have crappy old pug 405. Best car I ever owned. It never broke and always kept on chugging. I only got rid of it cos I wanted something that was a bit newer and more stylish, so I went with the old shape Leon. What a mistake.

Within a few months of ownership the cambelt tensioner broke and shot through the belt cover. I closed the boot one day (not very hard) and the whole rear light smashed. It leaked water through the door seals and pollen filter. The passenger electric window fell into the door frame one day. It wouldn't idle properly.

After a year and half of frustrated ownership I sold it and have bought another pug! 406 this time, which so far (touch fake walnut wood on dash), is going strong with no problems at all!

I loved the Seat, but my experience has put me off owning a VAG car ever again. Shame really, cos they are very nice cars. Plus loads of people moan about Pugs, so its kind of potato potarto!

Hope the warrnty sorts out the problems.

goldspanners

i work on a lot of vw engines,the only time we have ever had a head gasket go on one of these is if the have been run for a while without oil and coolant being checked/topped up regularly.
the other thing which i strongly suspect has happened,on the recent vw engines the coolant they use is called G12,its different from normal antifreeze.
you may find someone has incorrectly filled the coolant with normal blue antifreeze,the coolant should be a pink colour.
G12 is fairly expensive to buy at the moment as not every car uses it,but its worthwhile getting a litre of it and keeping it in the boot.
get it from GSF,they are the cheapest and its vw recommended stuff they sell.

polgara

Yep its the head gasket! Garage is submitting a report to Seat as apparently its a manufacturing defect.

Spoken to Motorpoint and lets just say I'm telling anyone who'll listen about their 'customer service' - I had to put the phone down on the manager at one point :mad: Been onto consumer direct who've said as the repair is being undertaken then I'm unlikely to get a refund. The car is out of warranty soon too!

rev_henry

I would have thought that you could either reject the car and demand a refund or get it repaired at motorpoint's expense, but not both, as you seem to be after. However, I could be wrong, just my take on this!

polgara

Nah...I just want my money back. Unfortunately the car is already being repaired (at Seat's expense) as per Motorpoint's instructions so looks like I've messed up getting the refund.

Iamthesmartestmanalive

polgara wrote: »

Yep its the head gasket! Garage is submitting a report to Seat as apparently its a manufacturing defect.

Spoken to Motorpoint and lets just say I'm telling anyone who'll listen about their 'customer service' - I had to put the phone down on the manager at one point :mad: Been onto consumer direct who've said as the repair is being undertaken then I'm unlikely to get a refund. The car is out of warranty soon too!

What exactly do you think you should get?

Your contract is with motorpoint and they have to provide a car fit for the purpose, the car is and they are undertaking the repairs or dealing with them

Cars break down, its life, unless this car was brand new your being totally unreasonable

Just ensure its well documented and the repair is properly warranted also

rev_henry

Yep, I don't really think you have any reasonable grounds for a refund now, sorry.

polgara

Well its now been 4 weeks since the car went into the garage...and the car (spit) is still with the Seat service centre! Motorpoint rep just said that they were happy with the sale (I bet they are)....and wished me many happy miles of motoring (I wish).

Now my mission is to put off as many people as possible from dealing with them :mad:

photome

polgara wrote: »

Well its now been 4 weeks since the car went into the garage...and the car (spit) is still with the Seat service centre! Motorpoint rep just said that they were happy with the sale (I bet they are)....and wished me many happy miles of motoring (I wish).

Now my mission is to put off as many people as possible from dealing with them :mad:

Why?

You bought a car with a warranty and it is being fixed at no expense to you, what have motorpoint done wrong.