Car had diagnostics....now told requires new engine loom @£1100!......water ingress is to blame apparently. Problem is i dont have the funds to pay such a bill....any suggestions?

Make sure Skoda UK know about this, as it seems so very unfair!

If the problem is down to bad workmanship or design, ie missing seal somewhere then you may have a good claim. I think there was another thread in the forum where a windscreen seal was missing resulting in damage but don,t know what the outcome was.

If its due to a blocked drainage channel you may have no claim.

Also get a quote of a good independant VW/SKODA garage if they can do the job , they will shave quite a bit of the main dealer estimate.

Good luck with it , I hope it all works out for you.

(I nearly suggested water ingress in your previous tread but didn,t have the courage of my convictions , not that the outcome would have been any different.

My daughters old VW Polo, dash display used to play up in extreme weather conditions,sending oil pressure alarm and all sorts. Next day it would be ok.It took a lot of courage on my part to say to her it was nothing to worry about.)

Find a good auto-electrician. VAG dealers are often too quick to recommend a new loom when it can easily be repaired. Water can only get into the wires at the connectors or joints. The connectors in the engine bay are pretty well sealed and the ECU plugs usually remain dry. My guess is that 99% of the loom is OK.

Agreed.

If it was me...

Unplug all connections. Check, clean, insulate appropriately (dielectric grease) and if the plug is shot... Replace.

Then:

Get a multimeter out - start continuity/resistance testing each wire. For wires that look suspect, then trace those back and if necessary, replace those.

At that kind of money i'd be taking a weekend off and doing it myself hahaha!

And people slag off Italian electrics....

And people slag off Italian electrics....

Think that's mainly on there Scooter's

Cars don't seem to bad now.

Sorry to hear the op tale, as has already been said, get a good Auto Electrian to have a look.

The wiring loom should last the life of the car. It certainly shouldn't fail at 6 years old.

Your car is out of warranty but I'd be arguing that this is clearly a manufacturing defect.

Ring Skoda UK customer services on 08457 745745 and ask for a gesture of goodwill in the form of a contribution to the cost of the repair.

Hi Silver1011. Already spoken to a chap called John at Skoda UK. He was most sympathetic of my situation but alas he told me that (under orders from HQ) he was unable to assist in any way as the car was A) Over 5 years old and has not got a full dealer service history. To be fair I understand that he is only reiterating what his bosses have told him to tell me but not really much help with my problem!.

Today i was considering ways in which water could "ingress" into the wiring loom.....did not have to look far to find several areas where the binding on bundles was very poorly wound leaving large gaps for water to enter a loom.....the best example is shown in this picture. A loom conduit placed right next to the washer water bottle filling point......just asking for a spillage of good old H2o to "ingress" the cars electrics!

This kind of thing really pi55es me off.

It's an obvious design fault and not one that the consumer should pay for. I would take it up with Skoda HQ, maybe get a list of other Roomster owners with the same problem, and take the case to a small claims court. Also advise Trading Standards, as the car clearly isn't fit for purpose if water is allowed to get into the electrics through no fault of the owner, but potentially costing them £1k+ on top of the hefty outlay already paid for the car. A car should stay roadworthy for more than 5 years, without forking out 4 figure sums of money.

Water ingress is the work of the devil (VAG design engineers), just look at the problems with the Passat and Superb.

Hope you get it sorted

The insulation on the wires themselves is waterproof. You need to be looking at connectors or splices to the loom. The conduit and tesa tape is to stop chafing, to keeps the wires together and in some cases, to protect from heat.

From reading your other post...

They want to replace the loom for £1100, wait 12 weeks for it to arrive and then won't guarantee that it will even fix the problem. In other words they have no idea what the problem actually is.

You can always find some corrosion in the loom if you look hard enough (green contacts on connector pins, etc). Unfortunately, this is all too often a 'go to response' for any electrical problem.

The washer pipes run in the wiring loom. Remove airbox, you will loom running up to water box operate front and back washers if you see water thats the problem. If the pipes cut so are the wires.

Well after reading the above, alarm bells started ringing in my head about possible water ingress into the loom from filling the screen wash , although I tend to be careful and use a funnel.

I did intend to tape up the end of small wiring conduit I could see under the washer bottle, after removing the battery.

My first attempt to remove the battery failed , as I couldn’t get the plastic cover off containing the fuses. I think I know how its clipped at the back and will probably get it next time.

Also like to have the air filter assembly and see for my own curiosity whets underneath.

In the interim I have cut off 3 pieces of old seating foam from an old cushion , and wedged them around the screen wash .Primitive I know but they should catch any spill before it goes anywhere serious, and its just a question of squeezing it out.

You could use pieces of a car wash sponge.

Now I have just written this I realise its just like something you would see from an old Practical Motoring of the 1940/50s where everything tended to be make do and mend.

Now where’s the starting handle?

Well finally unclipped the plastic cover from the battery today after a struggle.

There were 2 clip points at the side and one at the rear, and the one at the rear was more brute force to get loose than any thing else. Found the small conduit was still a bit tight to put electrical tape around the end , even with the battery removed. I didn’t want to pull on the wires any more than necessary as I’ve read a few times in these forums about the wiring being installed to tight.

Next time I will go a bit further and remove the air filter assembly, as sometime soon I will have to replace the brake fluid ,and I will be looking for the clutch cylinder bleed nipple which I understand lurks somewhere underneath to do a proper job.

Not so sure about my foam around the screen wash filler, as I found the piece I put in from the headlamp back to the filler cap was a bit soggy after driving through a storm, and I think I will abandon that piece.