ReneR

Ha! Got that line too when we went to have a look a good deal for the new 2.0 TDI Golf Estate the other day. I really liked it and it was a super good deal, but MrsR would not have it for exactly that reason. Checked out a similar engined pre-reg 2023 Tiguan and it took her fancy, so looks like that might be what we get in the end. Was nice to drive in the test drive and she preferred the more upright driving position and found it easy to drive too. Liked the Multipla. Sister-in-law had one in Italy and it was great fun to ride in, but not enough boot space for our needs. But it was pretty well made for a Fiat. She had some huge number of km on the clock without any major issues when she eventual decided to change car because it was becoming a hassle to find parts for it.

Will do. Initially the police suspected that too, that's why they started a crime report and asked for CCTV to be viewed, but they were told that nothing from the CCTV suggested that was the case. They were still a nit baffled though. But I think they only viewed the footage from when the alarm went off and the smoke and flames started to be visible. Maybe there was something earlier.

The only other thing I can think of is if it has something to do with the other car parked in-front and that suffered some apparently cosmetic damage. Maybe when the CCTV was looked at beyond the actual start of the incident the other car had parked around that time and bumped into mine and triggered the events that unfolded somehow, but cannot really see how.

Could be, but the initial claim handler put me through to the disputes team about it. They said it may take some time but if the dispute was successful I would get the excess back.

I was quite into it, also the Citroen Berlingo, but the rest of the family (wife and children) objected because they thought both looked too much like a van.

No not the manufacturer, but a 3rd party. But there was no other party involved in the incident as far as I am aware. The car had been parked up for a couple of days and then spontaneously combusted at 7.30am where it had been parked. I can see it would hardly be worth their while for such a small settlement, but maybe they have some idea of a specific problem from their data or something. I have no idea. I was surprised when they told me this today.

OK, they said they had launched a dispute with a 3rd party and if it was successful I would also get the excess, but as there was no 3rd party involved, I can only assume it was the manufacturer. Unless there was more in the CCTV than the police were able to see at the time of the incident and I have not heard about it.

I called about the excess and whether I was entitled to it and that is what they told me.

Interesting development with my insurance claim. Seems that my insurance company is looking to claim costs from the manufacturer and have initiated an official dispute. Wonder if their salvage contractor was able to identify the cause. Would be good to know, also in terms of warning other users of cars with potentially similar issues. If they are successful, I would also get the excess back from the insurance. Not a big deal, but would help with the unexpected expenditure resulting from the incident.

Sorry, that was a typo! 2025! You are right. They will get it with interest. My +9 years no claims has come down to 4 and looking at replacement cars, I am looking at a doubling of the £350 I was paying for the Roomster. There was a car with apparently cosmetic damage parked next to it they will also have to pay the other insurance to fix. Replacement cars I am considering at the moment are a new 2.0 TDI Golf Estate and an ex-demonstrator 2023 2.0 TDI Tiguan, both around £25k.

To wrap up the story, insurance offered me £2000 for the 2011 TDI 1.6 Roomster SE. Think it is probably fair as I have seen online prices ranging for similar spec Roomsters from £1200 to £4500, but the latter with much lower mileage and, it seems from the photos, well looked after exteriors and interiors. Considering I bought it reduced from £13.5k to £11k as it was ex-demo, I think I got good usage out of it. RIP little/big Roomy, you'll be missed....

I got an interesting reply from the owner of the Audi A6 that had a very similar fire to my Roomster. I am posting it here in case it rings any bells with anyone regarding a similar recall or to act as an alert about a possible issue lurking in VAG engines and cars for others:

Thanks for the reply. That helps me understand the situation a little more. Could some kind of rodent chew through the insulation? Or any other parts rub on it and chafe it? Father-in-law had to have his BMW rewired after rodents chewed through cables in his engine bay a couple of years ago.

Any suggestions for a similar type/spec car would obviously be very welcome too, if anyone has any ideas. Only cars that come to mind are Citoen Berlingo or C3 Picasso. Caddy is too pricey

Makes sense, but still wondering why in-car fuses would not have blown if there was a short-circuit. Even the battery had fuses on it.

This morning at 8.10am police arrive at my door to report my car, parked round the corner, on fire and asking me to attend the scene. Arrived to see our trusty beloved Roomster 1.6 TDI with flames engulfing the engine bay. Police, fire services and insurance company are completely baffled, but I found on the Audi users forum and exact same occurrence with a diesel Audi A6, also unexplained. The car was last driven Saturday 11/1/2015 evening with sub-zero temperatures here in London, after a long drive down from the North. No problems, no fault alerts, not problems with the drive or the car, all working super smoothly. The fire broke out spontaneously in the engine bay at around 7.30am when passers by called the fire service and police. Passenger cabin and fuel did not catch fire (was even able to recover belongings from the glove compartment, but the engine is entirely burned out and the front of the car is on the ground. Tires suspension all gone. Police asked for CC-TV footage and said that at around 7.15am the alarm goes off, and then shortly after there are flames and smoke. Waiting for recovery and removal now, after speaking to the insurance. Thinking that before the alarm went off, even a short-circuit would have not been possible if the electrics were off. Could the alarm have made the electrics come on and then there was a short-circuit or would the alarm go off because there was a fire? I am wondering if some animal might have eaten through wires or some water had got in somewhere and frozen and then with the thawing today triggered some electrical fault. Old car with plenty of millage (160k), so fear there will be very little from the insurance for it. Very sad to see it go....

Just had to replace an injector on my Roomster TDI 1.6. A hefty cost, but not complaining too much as I have elected to use the car till its last breath and see the extra maintenance costs as part of the price of my motoring rather than forking out on a new car. Furthermore, it has more than 120,000 miles on the clock, so has provided good service so far. The injector problem was intermittent, so engine vibration, glow plug light flashing, but after a restart it was OK and could be driven again, with vibration gone. The garage said it had not yet failed but probably would and on removal they found some sparking between the solenoid windings due to the insulation perishing. I had an injector fail outright three years ago and the car would not move and was expecting that the injector playing up would be one of the old original fits to the engine, but it turns out to be injector 3, which was the one I had changed at the official Skoda service three years ago, so I am a little puzzled why that would be? One assumption is the replacement fitted was not of a good quality, but also wondering if there might be something relating to No 3 specifically in terms of it being more exposed to the elements, or to greater heat in that part of the engine than the others? Also, as it is such a drive ending repair, is there any way to be able to check the injector health before setting off on a long trip? Both times I have had them changed they have told me that there is nothing to check until the injector fails and that they could not check the other ones for me just to make sure they are also not about to fail. Anyone have any ideas on that?

Yes, I hope so too! It's getting on now in terms of mileage (120k) and years (nearly 10) , but I like the car and its is perfect in terms of size and space for two adults and two kids plus luggage doing long trips. Struggling to find anything new that fits our needs in the same way, so have decided to hold on to it and take the hit with repairs as it gets older rather than fork out on a new car. Hope I don't regret the decision. The garage said that it should have a new lease of life now with the carbon cleaning and new air intake and sensor. Generally use the car for long trips and hardly ever in town, so hoping that will keep the exhaust control system in reasonable condition. The only previous serious issues I had were a cracked EGR cooler (fixed under guarantee) and an injector failure due to the dodgy electrical insulation issue, which I had to pay to repair. Also had to replace the alternator. Think these two areas of faults are the ones that worry me most in terms of possible recurrence with TDI engines. Its a very well thought through car with a unique design and look and I like using it, so fingers crossed that it makes it till the kids leave the nest without too many big ticket items to repair.

Pleased to report that the fault was cleared and the engine is running well. While removing the engine air intake pipe from the turbo, the pipe - which is plastic - actually broke into many pieces, so it appears it was in a bad condition despite the apparent lack of a visible hole upon initial inspection. The actual fault itself was reported as incorrect reading from the turbo air intake sensor. Engine definitely feels smoother now and car was driving well during a 70km drive in the motorway and up and down some pretty steep country lanes over the weekend, but cant say I feel a very noticeable improvement from the carbon clearing process and fuel use as per the car computer is pretty much as it was.

A delayed update on this post in case it is of use to other users, plus a possible sequel to it to run past people. The original intermittent flashing glow plug indicator and limp mode problem eventually cleared up, as suggested in the replies to my post, by one bottle of Wynn's Turbo Cleaner additive into a full tank of fuel and running of that fuel till as close to the end of the tank load as possible. Engine performance much smoother and fuel efficiency slightly better for some time after the fault alerts stopped, but the improvements gradually wore off. The problem, however did not recur. Fast forward a year to last weekend and on the way through the start-stop traffic on the A23 in South London, flashing glow plug indicator comes on again during?/after? a regen, but due to in-town driving, no perceived loss of power/limp mode. Drive home and when I restart the car to drive it to the garage, the yellow/orange Exhaust System Control light (with the shape of an engine) comes on too. My local independent VAG garage, who are generally trustworthy, found a (turbo?) boost pressure fault (can't remember the code) but then spent ages trying to find what was causing it because all seemed OK. I asked whether it might be the turbo and they said the had tested it and it was OK. Through a process of elimination they have concluded to replace the air intake pipe from the turbo and also the turbo pressure sensor, if I remember/understood well. The thinking was that the air inlet pipe might have a difficult to spot leak and the sensor was dirty so may not be working as needed. They also suggested, as on inspection the air inlet had substantial carbon deposits, to run a carbon clearing process on the engine that will remove residues all the way from the fuel intake to the tailpipe and everything in between. It seems that the fault reports have now stopped with the fix suggested. I am relieved to not have to fork out for a new turbo or EGR valve or cooler (which was what I was worrying the problem might relate to), but just wondering if anyone has any thoughts about this and if the course of action suggested sounds plausible.

Got a flashing glow plug light on the display and the car went into 'safety' mode while driving up the M1 yesterday, after the long speed-limited section to Northampton. Took it to the dealership where I was going while I did the various meetings etc, and then went back to collect. They could not find anything on the diagnostics and the light was no longer going on, so said I should be OK to get back. About 20min into the drive back, the light goes on again. I stop at the service station and have a coffee, get back to the car, and lo and behold, the light is off again. Get to Luton, and then it goes on again. Stop, turn off the engine, start again and its fine! Anyway, after a while a saw a pattern. It seems to go on when I accelerate strongly in 5th gear and there is a degree of incline in the road. If I accelerate gently, it's OK. Also accelerating in lower gears also seems to be OK. I do not want to waste hours and £s talking it to the dealership to be told they cannot find anything but having the problem recurring. Any suggestions very welcome. The car has had the emission upgrade. Have seen some posters with similar problems suggesting lose connectors, lose or cracked air pipes, sensor errors etc.