Hi all,

     I am a new 2014 VRS TSI owner. My new car has 4200 miles on the clock. After a short time of owning it the Turbo disintegrated and basically ended up embedded in the catalytic converter. As you can imagine on its way through the engine its pretty much taken everything else with it. Its all covered under warranty. The car is immaculate and I haven't pushed it. the failure of the turbo is likely due to the previous owner only using it on Saturdays and never driving over 50 thus from new not warming the turbo up.

 

Skoda  have been great on the warranty side provided me with courtesy car etc. The only problem is the mechanic informed me that they will be replacing the engine under warranty with 'exchange parts'. Does anyone have much experience with this? I have obviously expressed by dissatisfaction (understatement) at this turn of events.

 

Can Skoda really be serious. The car is less than 2 years old with only 4k on the clock the engine has been destroyed by the turbo and they are going to replace it with another engine made up of used re-engineered parts from other vehicles? \This for me is not acceptable I have already written in to customer services and I am awaiting a response.

 

Has anyone any experience of part replacement through 'exchanged parts'. if so were you equally as disappointed when you found this out? Basically I will be asking for a new engine off the manufacturing line. I am not sure if that will occur though. I now these parts come with a 2 year warranty and apparently are like new but they are not new. I wouldn't mind if the car had done 15 to 20'000 miles or was 4 years old but its practically brand new. I might end up with an engine made up of component's that are older than my car.

 

Need your experience and advice.

It is normal warranty practise to use reman parts wherever possible. Your car will always have an engine in it that is older than the car. It's a fair bet the reman unit will be newer than the engine that was in there anyhow.

If fitted inside warranty those parts will be covered up to the end of your warranty period.

My advice to you is get a solicitor involved, it's very easy not to know our consumer writes. I would have thought they have to use parts in exactly the same condition or newer, i.e they would use the new parts as it would be difficult to ascertain the exact condition of a second hand part.

Not to mention the inconvenience of all this, they should have some sort of goodwill aswell. Legal advice will cost less than a hundred quid, obviously more if you decide to go down the road of legal action, but for initial advice it worth it. I have done this in the past and it's amazing what can be done.

The serviceable engine parts that are not damaged/destroyed could well be recovered and re-used. Costs are the factor, may well be economically more viable to replace the engine 'if' one is available which I doubt and I doubt they will transplant from another car. They won't give a damn you are without your car for a long period as it appears a lot of owners cars spend a lot of time in dealers being fixed whilst owners 'enjoy' driving around in a citigo whilst still paying £200 plus per month for theirs to be fettled in a garage.

Personally I would cringe in your situation. Not sure why they told you as it acheived nothing other than to p### you off. If they had just taken the car away for a week or two got it repaired you would have been none the wiser and you would be driving again.

Maybe worth getting an extended warranty if you keep the car a While?

I think given the mileage of the car you are right to expect a brand new engine from the factory.

 

How long are you intending to keep the car for?

If its only 1 or 2 years its probably not worth the effort of fighting (just trade it in before the warrenty expires).

 

An alternative would be to try to reject the car & ask for your money back, however, going down this route will also be very difficult I'm sure.

Its quite common for exchange parts to be used for certain components, as they say they are as good as new with a warranty. As long as it fixes the problem does it really matter?

 

As its a used car I'm not sure they will give you new parts unless you are willing to pay the extra, but worth a try.

 

Interesting lesson though about a low mileage turbo car. They often say the engines aren't as good as a regularly used car. Obviously the oil was so dirty it wasn't lubricating the turbo leading to the failure. Backs up the theory that even at low miles, an annual oil change is needed on a turbo engine.

If it's finance such as hp get the finance company involved as they still effectively 'own' it.

Enjoy the weeks in a citigo....:-(

I think given the mileage of the car you are right to expect a brand new engine from the factory.

How long are you intending to keep the car for?

If its only 1 or 2 years its probably not worth the effort of fighting (just trade it in before the warrenty expires).

An alternative would be to try to reject the car & ask for your money back, however, going down this route will also be very difficult I'm sure.

The difficulty I can see with rejecting is that there is no basis to reject. The car is currently broken. Skoda will fix it and return it to its fit for purpose state. Can't see the OP being able to reject on the basis that they just don't like it.

@vrsgriff I think the wording the technican used may be misleading.

 

By "exchange" parts normally this means that when the new part is supplied the old (core) will need to be returned.  This normally applies to engines, turbos etc

 

Parts removed during waranty repair are normally retained for a period of time by the dealer as the manufacturer may request that these are returned to the factory for analysis but more often than not the dealer is told to destroy these.  There is no way a manufacturer would let these go back in to circulation as they are by definintion faulty.  Returned engines will be scrapped.  They have big factories churning these things out in massive volumes to the cost price each is a fraction of the retail price - it would make no commercial sense for a manufacturer to run the huge expense of stripping down individual engines with various/different failures and attempting to build up a one-off engine - the labour cost alone would be much more than the cost of a new unit plus they run the risk that tolerances are not up-to-spec vs. a new engine and they end up with another failure which they'd have to fund.  

 

The dealer will order the parts he needs via the normal channels irrespective of whether they are for trade/ retail sale or to be fitted in the dealer workshops (warranty or otherwise) and the parts supplied will be new.  There is no option to order "used" or re-manufacturerd parts in my experience.

 

A few years back i had a catastrophic engine failure on a mk2 vrs - a replacement engine was fitted under warranty and yes, it was a new engine (build date sticker showed it was only a few months old).

 

btw - i'm ex-motor trade (management role for a dealer group in aftersales).  HTH.

By "exchange" parts normally this means that when the new part is supplied the old (core) will need to be returned.  This normally applies to engines, turbos etc

 

This isn't how "exchange parts" are described on Skoda UK's own web pages:

 

http://www.skoda.co.uk/default/aftersales/parts (and scroll right to the bottom)

 

"All you have to do is take advantage of the range of ŠKODA genuine exchange parts. The range of works-reconditioned, but the same quality as new parts, includes gear boxes; engines, engine heads; clutch plates and thrust plates; injection pumps, jets; starters; alternators; drive lines; outer joint set; brake callipers; water pumps; turbochargers; catalysers; air weight meters and other parts."

 

(my bold)

My previous car, an 06 Passat 2.0TDI had an engine fitted by vw at 86k when its oil pump failed(BKP engine woo). This was 6 months before I bought the car and one of the reasons I bought it along with the receipts for the £5800 the previous owner paid to have it done I only paid 6800! It had an exchange engine fitted which was a reconditioned one. It's pretty common practice from what I've heard from a guy at work that used to work at a vw dealership. The engine then gave me 40k worth of miles without issue before I chopped it in for my vrs however I can see with 4k on the car it can seem a bit of a shame to not have a nice new engine it will be fit for purpose

To be fair catastrophic engine failure can occur at 20 miles or 200k miles...its just plain bad luck.

IMHO Id just be happy that Skoda are fixing it at no cost....I am sure the car will be absolutely fine afterwards, still in warranty and its value in no way affected so Id just let it go and let them get on with it.

If its not right when its returned thats of course another matter but most dealers will have done a few engine replacements so I really wouldnt be overly concerned.

Talk of re-engineered parts...essentially they are 100% as new....VAG have a responsibility to recycle/reuse as appropriate so thats why they do it.

Its quite common for exchange parts to be used for certain components, as they say they are as good as new with a warranty. As long as it fixes the problem does it really matter?

 

As its a used car I'm not sure they will give you new parts unless you are willing to pay the extra, but worth a try.

 

Interesting lesson though about a low mileage turbo car. They often say the engines aren't as good as a regularly used car. Obviously the oil was so dirty it wasn't lubricating the turbo leading to the failure. Backs up the theory that even at low miles, an annual oil change is needed on a turbo engine.

Its quite common for exchange parts to be used for certain components, as they say they are as good as new with a warranty. As long as it fixes the problem does it really matter?

As its a used car I'm not sure they will give you new parts unless you are willing to pay the extra, but worth a try.

Interesting lesson though about a low mileage turbo car. They often say the engines aren't as good as a regularly used car. Obviously the oil was so dirty it wasn't lubricating the turbo leading to the failure. Backs up the theory that even at low miles, an annual oil change is needed on a turbo engine.

I doubt it was down to the oil being dirty or bad in any way. More likely a manufacturing defect to let go at that low mileage, if the previous owner had done more miles it would have just failed sooner. Short journeys don't do any engines good but thousands of cars are driven this way and last for many many miles

Thanks for the reply. 'Exchange' parts are parts of other vehicles that get re-engineered, tolerance and machined to be like new... But they are not. Apparently they have found part of the compressor side of the turbo embedded in the cat and part of that rebounded in to the engine and welded itself to one of the pistons. As this develops I am getting more of a sense of my rights.

 

Basically the car requires a new: turbo; full exhaust system including cat; engine and just about everything else in between that intercooler etc. The dealership have quoted that they will use exchange parts. I have demanded from Skoda customer services brand new parts straight off the production line. There is no way in hell I am accepting used parts - machined or not to be put back in a car that has only travelled 4200 miles. I will either receive a car back fully restored to a new condition or else I will be getting my money back.

 

Skoda customer services is surprisingly good; I will wait until Monday for a manager to deal with my request. Of course I have used every customer service buzz word in the book. I am sure you will want to know for your own assurance what occurs with this situation but I recon I have a good chance of making things happen, after all what have I got to lose as at the moment I own a shell of a vehicle!!

How long you had the car?

Financed?

I know you 'should' give the dealer every chance to repair it but I was told (by SUK) that major engine or gearbox failures typically fall into the car rejection category.

If your car is used then you would have to check this but if your purchased from a skoda dealer in good faith and with such low miles is almost 'as' new I would fight for car rejection.

If skoda respect you as a customer (though doubt they will) it's better for them and their image to not p### you about and sort you out a replacement car and take the failed one off your hands. To get you happy and back on the road again ASAP should be customer services number one priority.

Can't see use being a factor in this failure.  I've heard a few golf gti turbos died very young after remapping, but a catastrophic failure is unusual.  Were there any indications prior?

I am the second owner, bought the car on Monday at 4242 miles and 5 hours and 120 miles later this happened. The car was sold to me by Arnold Clark. I owned it 4 hours before this happened. I am in no danger of receiving a full refund + costs. However the car is high spec immaculate and low mileage and I looked for a while to find car this well looked after. turns out the previous owner has bought 5 cars over 20 years with Arnold Clark and he used this car on the weekend. apparently rarely went over 50mph. The turbo to warm up and wear in needs more than that. 

 

This is the best guess of the failure from both Arnold Clark and Skoda is that the fact the car from new was never driven fast enough to wear in the turbo. I get in and drive the car well within its limits but still faster than the previous owner. The turbo shaft broke in two. so I am in a fairly unique position. The car has done next to no mileage is practically brand new and I may walk out of this with every part replaced under warranty with totally new parts including the engine with a refreshed warranty and 2 services free fromm Skoda Progress.... I think I have them by the short and curlies...

The progress through this case will give you all some assurance in to how Skoda work as a company. what they should do is completely renew this car. If I was the original owner I would be in apposition to demand a new vehicle. I am not so will demand new parts instead.

I bought the car with cash no finance

that explanation sounds odd to me.  Turbos don't wear in.  You'll find nothing in the owners manual about driving above 50  (although there is a bit about power and rev range to use during the first 1000 miles).  Seems like a straight faulty part that they don't want to admit.  worrying

that explanation sounds odd to me. Turbos don't wear in. You'll find nothing in the owners manual about driving above 50 (although there is a bit about power and rev range to use during the first 1000 miles). Seems like a straight faulty part that they don't want to admit. worrying

The dealer who sold the car to him has (or at least did) have a bad rep

When I had an engine replaced on my fabia under warranty, The engine came bear and they moved all the parts of the old engine i.e Starter motor alternator etc.

Thanks for the reply. 'Exchange' parts are parts of other vehicles that get re-engineered, tolerance and machined to be like new... But they are not. Apparently they have found part of the compressor side of the turbo embedded in the cat and part of that rebounded in to the engine and welded itself to one of the pistons. As this develops I am getting more of a sense of my rights.

 

Basically the car requires a new: turbo; full exhaust system including cat; engine and just about everything else in between that intercooler etc. The dealership have quoted that they will use exchange parts. I have demanded from Skoda customer services brand new parts straight off the production line. There is no way in hell I am accepting used parts - machined or not to be put back in a car that has only travelled 4200 miles. I will either receive a car back fully restored to a new condition or else I will be getting my money back.

 

Skoda customer services is surprisingly good; I will wait until Monday for a manager to deal with my request. Of course I have used every customer service buzz word in the book. I am sure you will want to know for your own assurance what occurs with this situation but I recon I have a good chance of making things happen, after all what have I got to lose as at the moment I own a shell of a vehicle!!

As I said in my previous post, get legal advice, there less likely to try it on.

If you have only had it a few hours then just hand it back and ask for your money back. Arnold Shark will have to prove that the fault wasn't present when they sold you the car, which might be a tad difficult to do if the turbo imploded a few miles down the road. You do have a 30 day rejection as well don't you on Skoda Approved used vehicles?

 

And if you beleive all that bull about the previous owner from Arnold Sharks you want your head looking at. Have you received the V5 yet? I'd be ringing the previous owner .......... next they will be telling you it was a careful old lady who owned it! 5 cars over 20 years equates to a car every 4 years, so how come this one was traded in at half that (if it was traded in and it hasn't come in to their possession by a different route). 

Edited 12 March, 201610 yr by andyvee