Dirty Diesel or a Sly Dealer?

tiernanobrien

Hello,
I was driving home through Naas last week when all of a sudden the car shuddered and completely lost power and so I rolled into the hardshoulder. After a few minutes the lights went aswell. The car had been running fine upto this although I thought there was a slight rattle in the engine in the previous fortnight (i thought it was just in my head).

I got towed home and rang the garage where I bought the second hand car (02 BMW 320D) who came and collected it. Origionally they said it didnt sound good and they rang late the next day to say I have got a batch of bad diesel and the my injectors were wrecked and needed to be replaced and also that fuel had leaked into the sump so the engine would have to be taken apart. This happened because the injectors apparently let to much fuel into the engine and it wasnt burned off.

Now heres the other factors. The tank had been filled in Tesco Dundrum two weeks before and when the problem occured there was only 1/8th of the tank left.
My neighbours got diesel here around the same time and had no problems with their car.
And last but not least is the fact that this car is second hand and came with a 1 year warranty 9 months ago and so any problems with the car not caused by me are liable to the dealer.

This is why I think I'm being done over and was wonder if any of you guys could tell me what to do next as i am nearly certain I am being done over. What do you guys make of the situation?

L-M

Are they planning on charging you for it?

tiernanobrien

yeah they are alright. its looking to set me back a few grand

tossy

A few grand!!!!!!! second opinion time me thinks.

L1011

Doesn't sound like bad fuel to me, and based on the volumes of fuel Tesco sell, if they had a particularly bad batch (I'm of the opinion all the fuel my local Tesco sells is dirty piss going off the state of the station, but I've never seen it kill a car) I'm sure it'd have made the papers by this stage.

Basically, if it was bad fuel the garage would be at fault and have to cover it, so demand that the garage provide unequivocal proof that if was the fuel - if they aren't able to, demand that they cover it under the warranty as they can't prove it was anything else...

Bandara

As a forecourt operator my own experience is that the whole 'dirty diesel' thing is a bit of a myth nowdays (in anyway modern and busy sites I mean).

That Tesco is doing a minimum of about 300k litres a week I'd say, so they are getting full tanker deliveries at least every day. If they had bad fuel it would mean that the single batch of bad derv would affect upwards of 400+ cars which would have been well publicised by now.

Its quite common for the car dealers to give this excuse to their customers to try to get out of honouring a problem (I'd get it about once a month), they either say its dirty derv, or more commonly they claim that there is water in the derv. Both are easily disproved, the dirty diesel would mean that hundreds of cars would be ruined and they company would have to acknowledge the issue, also the 'witches hat' filters in the modern pumps would pretty much clean the product even it it was dirty. The water in the derv one is easily discovered by buying some fuel in a can and then pouring it into a clear bottle where you will very blatently see if any water is floating at the bottom of the bottle.

I'd be seriously going after the people who sold you the car. They are talking bullsh!t and trying to fob you off.

Bandara

tiernanobrien wrote: »

Hello,
I was driving home through Naas last week when all of a sudden the car shuddered and completely lost power and so I rolled into the hardshoulder. After a few minutes the lights went aswell. The car had been running fine upto this although I thought there was a slight rattle in the engine in the previous fortnight (i thought it was just in my head).

I'm in no way mechanical but this sounds a bit of a funny effect that 'bad diesel' can do to a car??

Seth Brundle

Ask the dealer for a few litres of the diesel for analysis (this will get them on the hop so to speak).
I would then ask for the opportunity to have an AA mechanic (or an independent mechanic) inspect the car. I would not pay a penny for this repair and would also demand a replacement car whilst yours is in the garage!
Did you get the warranty in writing?

Bandara

kbannon wrote: »

Ask the dealer for a few litres of the diesel for analysis (this will get them on the hop so to speak).
I would then ask for the opportunity to have an AA mechanic (or an independent mechanic) inspect the car. I would not pay a penny for this repair and would also demand a replacement car whilst yours is in the garage!
Did you get the warranty in writing?

good idea, there is a lab that you can send it too who analyise it for you, costs about €250

klet me know if you need their details and I'll dig it up for you. In saying that the dealer can easily just put a lump of derv residue into the sample if they want

anonymousjunkie

Don't warn the garage first that your going to have the car checked. Get onto someone like the AA and have them go with you to take a sample of diesel from the car and to take the car away and give it a second opinion.

cashmni1

anonymousjunkie wrote: »

Don't warn the garage first that your going to have the car checked. Get onto someone like the AA and have them go with you to take a sample of diesel from the car and to take the car away and give it a second opinion.

Correct, there will be a little diesel left in the tank. Get that diesel checked without warning the garage. The garage would have no reason to remove the diesel tank, unless they are covering up. Then you have them.
Job done.

SV

tiernanobrien wrote: »

yeah they are alright. its looking to set me back a few grand

and you bought the car how long ago?

tiernanobrien

thanks very much for the replies. You've confirmed what I thought already. I'll wait til i get the car back and then get the diesel tested without there knowledge but one thing is for certain they wont be getting a penny from me. They can take me to court if they want and see how far that gets them. I'll keep you all updated!
oh and just for the question i bought the car 9 months ago so there is still 3months on the warranty!

Captain Slow IRL

And if diesel is to be tested, make sure the diesel is taken out of your car - watch them take it out if need be.

Bandara

tiernanobrien wrote: »

thanks very much for the replies. You've confirmed what I thought already. I'll wait til i get the car back and then get the diesel tested without there knowledge but one thing is for certain they wont be getting a penny from me. They can take me to court if they want and see how far that gets them. I'll keep you all updated!
oh and just for the question i bought the car 9 months ago so there is still 3months on the warranty!

I seriously doubt they will release the car to you without full payment

tiernanobrien

there is a good chance they will. we're on 'friendly' terms wit hthe garage because we've bought a few cars out of there. They released previous cars before we paid and just told us to pay during the week. We'll see how it goes

Ta me anseo

Ah jaysus lads, this is ridiculous. Garages in this country are nothing but greedy robbing b*****ds.

It sounds to me like a simple alternator failure or something like that. Your lights would be COMPLETELY UNAFFECTED by bad diesel. There is no way whatsoever that diesel, good or bad, would make your lights go out. NONE. AT ALL!!!!!!

If your alternator failed the battery slowly drains and eventually I expect that the main fuel valve will close as there is no power to keep it open. Your lights would be dimming slowly all the time before they would finally fail altogether.

Now, I know little about diesels so perhaps my alternator, battery, fuel valve theory is a little flawed but I think I should have the main gist. I had a petrol car of mine lose an alternator quietly one evening and it shuddered to a halt as it couldn't maintain the spark and then the lights failed shortly afterwards.

Anyhoo, short version is: DIESEL CAN NOT POSSIBLY AFFECT YOUR LIGHTS. IF THE ENGINE STOPPED, THERE SHOULD BE ENOUGH CHARGE IN THE BATTERY FOR THE LIGHTS TO RUN FOR HOURS.

Of course, all that is assuming that you mean all the lights went out, not just the main beams?? Main beams sometimes will turn of when the engine stops depending on the model of car.

Darsad

Ok for what its worth in my opinion your looking at an expensive repair .
I would recommend that you go to a chemist and buy 2 glass graduated sampling jars ( samples in used plastic bottles can be easily discredited due to previous contents ).
Arrive and ask for the 2 bottles to be filled from either the tank or the fuel filter seal the samples with masking tape and both parties sign across the tape. If they want to pursue the bad diesel angle you can then have your sample tested there are a number of labs that can do this for you.So if you fall out you will have a very strong case with a clear test report !

Darragh29

This doesn't sound at all like "bad diesel". It sounds like someone is trying to take you for a ride OP.

My advice to you is get the car out of there and get someone else to look at it. Was there any excess smoke from the engine exhaust before or immediately after the problem occured???

marble

please let me know how you get on as i'm going through the same problem.i bought an audi a4 tdi 5 months ago and currently its in a garage in naas.the 'dealer' i bought it off told me the exact same thing..."dirty diesel".i think i've been done too.by the way...its the 4th time its happened and it would appear i have no comeback.only thing is tho..i still had lights,radio etc.its just the car shuddered to a halt and when i turn the key it starts and no matter how much i rev it,it'll just cut out.