VW Golf Engine 'blew up' Under 50000 miles

spannerboy

hello, My daughter took her VW Golf Sport TSi 140 DSG (2007)(around 47000 miles) into a VW dealer. It had developed a fault with the mechatronic unit. A replacement was going to take around 6 weeks, but it was ok to use the car until then, despite the discomfort of the frequent juddering during gear changes.

They also commented that the timing chain was noisy and would need replacing at some time in the future, but was ok to use for now.

However after a few days the engine 'blew up' . car stopped suddenly etc. (could have been a nasty accident) and the AA was called etc.

Eventually it was returned to the VW garage and they say a nut fell off the turbo impeller and caused the failure.

She is now faced with a bill for over £8000 to replace the engine and turbos and labour etc.

Any thought or advice would be more than appreciated.

BostonB

I'm not the biggest fan of VW dealers, but those other problems don't seem to related to the turbo impeller.

Incidentally did you google the mechatronic
https://www.google.ie/search?aq=f&sugexp=chrome,mod=3&sourceid=chrome&ie=UTF-8&q=mechatronic&safe=on&safe=on#hl=en&safe=active&biw=1280&bih=856&sclient=psy-ab&q=mechatronic%20vw%20recall&oq=mechatronic%20VW&aq=1K&aqi=g1g-K1g-sK1g-K1&aql=&gs_l=serp.11.1.0j0i30j0i10i30j0i30.0.0.1.720.0.0.0.0.0.0.0.0..0.0...0.0.DpVp7Jmo2g4&pbx=1&bav=on.2,or.r_gc.r_pw.r_qf.,cf.osb&fp=add456bf4994529a&pf=p&pdl=300

Anan1

Has the car a full service history? Have VW Ireland been approached/offered any kind of goodwill?

ShadowHearth

8k £ for repairs?! You could buy another one 07 for that and have your Old car for repairs!

spannerboy

Anan1 wrote: »

Has the car a full service history? Have VW Ireland been approached/offered any kind of goodwill?

We are in England , but VW have been most unhelpful here, quoted out of warranty so hard luck, basically.

I came her as I saw someone having DSG gearbox problems and was interested how he got on.

My daughter is the 2nd owner but has the full service history from the day it was sold to the first owner. and all paperwork for all the work ever carried out on it.

thanks for your interest

spannerboy

ShadowHearth wrote: »

8k £ for repairs?! You could buy another one 07 for that and have your Old car for repairs!

Absolutely right a replacement is around £7000.

She hasn't finished paying off the loan on the car yet so no funds for a replacement.

She could try selling car as it is I suppose.

I was quite disappointed by the attitude of VW UK. So started looking around to see what other owners had experienced, which is how I visited here.

thanks for reading

anthony4335

Keep at them, as their first instinct is to say no not our problem. My brother had an issue with his volvo and its ABS/Breaking control unit , cost him 1k to replace. Volvo said tough, out of warranty. He kept at them got as much information from both UK and irish forums and websites about the problem, and he got refunded the majority of the cost.
The garage has some blame in this ,as the vibration from the engine running poorly casued the turbo to break and kill the engine.

spannerboy

anthony4335 wrote: »

Keep at them, as their first instinct is to say no not our problem. My brother had an issue with his volvo and its ABS/Breaking control unit , cost him 1k to replace. Volvo said tough, out of warranty. He kept at them got as much information from both UK and irish forums and websites about the problem, and he got refunded the majority of the cost.
The garage has some blame in this ,as the vibration from the engine running poorly casued the turbo to break and kill the engine.

Thanks anthony, I will keep at this one.

As an engineer myself, I wouldn't advise anyone to use a car that wasn't working right. A car is a lethal weapon at the best of times, without a juddering gearbox to contend with.
I find it hard to believe that this is the official Volkswagen UK advise.

Volkswagen UK have stated that the two incidents are in no way connected.

Volkswagen UK have also stated that no matter what the cause of the engine failure they would do nothing as the car is out of warranty.

The VW Dealership admits they have only surmised the reason for the engine failure.

thanks for your interest, it does help, as do all of the replies.

Yawlboy

Get on to the car magazines (AutoExpress, Autocar etc) they regularly run articles on where they have contacted manufacturers and dealers on behalf of owners. They tend to get results and the publicity helps.

C Eng

Might be worth a call to Trading Standards since you are in the UK see if they can offer any advice. Failing that BBC Watchdog.