pmbarclay

Thanks for additional technical information. I got nowhere when I approached Skoda UK. I did get an instant response when I used my Twitter account to post my complaint but doubt that this will get much further. I suppose another option would be to get another Skoda garage to look at the problem, to provide an independent opinion that Skoda UK might trust and act upon. There is a new garage near where I work in Isleworth that might be worth approaching.

Exactly. If this was a common problem, perhaps due to heat damage if the wiring loom is placed a little too close to the turbocharger, it should have been apparent long before now, given that VW have sold around 11 million EA 189 engines since 2008! I guess some problems are inevitable when dealing with such complex technology. To misquote Winston Churchill," Volkswagen is the worst manufacturer of turbo diesel engines, except for all the others".

Thanks for the replies. In terms of vehicle diagnostics, the local garage admitted that there was no fault from the Airbag Control Unit when the car was originally brought to them and it left them with no faults on diagnostics on October 3rd. Their explanation is that repairing the wiring to the Turbo Boost Sensor has revealed an underlying fault to similarly damaged wiring to the Airbag control unit. I put all of this to Honest John by email. He has never heard of a similar problem despite providing motoring advice for 30+ years. He recommended that I contact an independent airbag specialist, http://airbagman.co.uk and hope they can repair it at a lower cost than the Skoda Dealers. I'll keep the forum informed about the car's progress. It is a pity as, apart needing from a new EGR valve a couple of years ago, the car has proved to be pretty reliable and is spacious, quick and economical.

Very grateful for your experience and expertise as I am not sure whether the Skoda dealer is at fault or whether it is just one of the problems to be expected with an older Skoda Superb. I purchased my Skoda Superb 2.0 CRDi Elegance from new in November 2011. It has covered 95,000 miles and has always been serviced by a Skoda Dealer in accordance with the variable service intervals. It has proved to be reliable but did have an EGR valve failure a couple of years ago. My car has the EA189 engine and had a software upgrade applied last year. In July, I received a letter from Skoda informing me that Skoda UK would apply a goodwill warranty in the case of engine breakdown in the next 2 years. On September 23rd, whilst I was returning from an emergency call as a Consultant Anaesthetist, the car developed an Engine Fault, displayed a flashing glow plug light on the dashboard and went into limp home mode, with revs limited to 3,000 rpm. I took the car to Skoda Ruislip the next day, who diagnosed and fixed the Turbo Boost Sensor. They confirmed that this would be covered by the extended warranty. It took until October 2nd for the Turbo Boost Sensor to arrive and the car was returned to me on October 3rd, with all faults apparently fixed. I drove the car the 3 miles to home and all was fine, with no warning lights displayed. The following morning, I drove the car to work on October 4th but the engine fault recurred after about 5 miles when the engine reached full operating temperature with flashing glow plug and Engine Fault Workshop displayed in the matrix display. I returned to car to Skoda Ruislip and persuaded Skoda UK to provide with a loan car whilst mine was being repaired. On October 11th, Skoda Ruislip telephoned me to let me know that they had found a wiring problem with the Turbo Boost sensor and had repaired this. However, once this was repaired, they had found an additional problem with the wiring to the Airbag Control Unit, which would need to be replaced at a cost of £600 for the part and 4.5 hours labour, totally over £1000. They said that the wiring for both Turbo Boost Sensor and Airbag Control Unit ran close together in the same wiring loom. I asked whether the wiring for the Airbag Control Unit could have been damaged by repairing the wiring to the Turbo Boost Sensor as this seemed to me the most logical explanation, as the car didn’t have a problem with its Airbag Control Unit until after they had repaired the wiring. However, the garage remained adamant that the primary problem was faulty wiring to both the Turbo Boost Sensor and Airbag Control Unit. They also felt that the failed Turbo Boost Sensor was not covered by goodwill in the extended engine warranty. I desperately needed to have my car back as I have a run of on call duties at the Hospital and need to have a car to drive back and forth. The airbag warning light comes on when I start the ignition but otherwise the car seems to run o.k. I then escalated this to Skoda UK customer care. They took until 16th October to get back to me but stated that they can only go by what the garage has told them, who denied all liability for damaging the airbag control unit. To quote Christine Keeler, “they would say that, wouldn’t they”. I would therefore be extremely grateful for your advice. Have you heard of similar situations in VAG cars. Is the main problem likely to be due to wiring failure in the loom or damage to the wiring by the garage? Clearly, I need to get the airbags repaired ASAP, particularly as the MOT is due at the end of November. I hope that an independent Airbag specialist or perhaps an auto electrician can repair the wiring to the Airbag Control Unit without having to replace a unit that was apparently working fine just a few weeks ago. At the very least, even if the Airbag Control Unit does require replacement, their hourly rate should be less than a main dealer. Any recommendations about independent Skoda specialists and airbag specialists welcome. I live in Pinner and work in Twickenham so anyone in North West London would be ideal.

Many thanks for all of your help. I managed to get it looked at by Willis Skoda this afternoon. It turned out to the the EGR - apparently it was the second one they had seen in the past few weeks. The other Skoda owner ignored the warning for a few weeks and then needed to have both EGR and his Diesel Particulate Filter replaced! They decided that it was inadvisable to drive my car in case the same happened to mine. So, I am now in their loan car and my Superb is awaiting its repair on Monday, once all of the parts have arrived. The staff at Willis were very helpful and even offered me a Celebration chocolate just before they told me the likely cost of repair. I'll let you know how much it all costs once I get the final bill but it should keep the reception well stocked in miniature chocolates for some time to come. I know this is bolting the stable door after the horse has bolted but is it worth buying an extended warranty for my car? Is it now entering the danger zone when expensive repairs are likely to be required as it heads towards its 5th birthday later this year? All being well, I do plan to keep it for another 2 or 3 years as it is otherwise as new. I have had a Warranty Direct policy on a VW Touran in the past, which only partially covered some of the repairs that the car required for component failures when it reached a similar age.

My Skoda Superb has driven 90,000 faultless miles since I bought it in December 2011. Tonight, about 3 miles into my journey home, the glow plug light illuminated and the central display showed the words Engine Fault: Workshop! The car went into a limp home mode and could just about reach 30 mph. I drove it for another 4 miles, then pulled into a service station. I stopped the ignition for a few moment, restarted it and the car drove completely normally for the rest of my 4 mile journey home. Ideally, I would pop it into my Skoda dealer tomorrow morning to have the fault codes checked out. Annoyingly, the Skoda dealer in Isleworth less than a mile from where I work closed last year, which means that my nearest Skoda dealer is over 6 miles from work. As a Consultant Anaesthetist, I can't work from home as I am busy in the operating theatre on Thursday, Friday and Saturday. Has anyone had any experience of this fault? I just hope the car keeps going until Monday which is realistically the earliest I can get it to the dealer, without affecting my patient's operations.