Saying Hi, and a problem!

[Wychward]

Hi folks!

 

Thought i'd say hello and introduce myself.  I've been the owner of a '59 Superb Elegance DSG 140 Saloon since Chistmas eve, and I must say I'm thrilled with it! (upgraded from an X-Type).  

 

I still can't get my head around the witchcraft used in park assist but it is incredibly handy, I do lots of miles, often into London so the DSG is such a bonus over the manual in the Jag.  I'd like to say thanks as the expertise available on this forum has been incredibly useful in getting my phone to work and upgrading the firmware on the Columbus to add the new 2015 maps.  So thanks!

 

Anyhoo - got a bit of an issue.  The ol' girl has starting leaking coolant; quite a lot. Basically going from max to min every 500 miles or so.  There were puddles on the drive and confirmed by driving with air-con off for a few days.  Anyway-  this co-coincided with the need for an MOT so took it down to Ridgeway in Kidlington and they confirmed that the rad is leaking.   Their inspection showed that the fan was mounted incorrectly and that the fan blades had been coming into contact with the rad and rubbing the vanes - leading to the leak.  The car has done 70,000 miles so fair enough? Hmm...

 

Here's where it gets interesting: The pack of receipts I got with the car showed that the rad was changed 30,000 miles/2 years ago by Bedford Skoda in April 2013 due to a 'leak'. My question then is this:  as Ridgeway want the best part of £500 to replace the rad, do I have any recourse to get Skoda Bedford to pay for it (or at least a goodwill sum) on the grounds that their replacement job was clearly shoddy and not up to a reasonable standard?

 

Failing that -  I'm quite handy with a spanner and rebuild Land Rovers for a hobby, so how tricky is it to replace it myself?

 

Thanks in advance folks!

 

 

[psycholist]

The radiator, intercooler and aircon radiator are all stacked in a row in the front of the car, so I'm not sure how easy it is to get one out without having to deal with the others - the aircon rad is the one you definitely don't want to disconnect - it's illegal to vent the refrigerant to the atmosphere for environmental reasons anyway and if it happens to spray out and hit you it'll freeze whatever it hits pretty much instantly.

 

I'd definitely get on to the garage and ask for good will on this - I've never heard of a fan being placed so badly it cut the radiator as it spun :(. Worst they can do is say no.

Edited 27 April, 2015 by psycholist

[JakeBlade]

I thought there was s 2-year warranty on repairs made by main dealers using official skoda parts. You may get lucky and just scrape through on that if you act quickly.

[Danny 57]

That would have been a very noisey event, so how long has the coolant been leaking?