Well, I now have the outcome to this thread

The damage is not claimable under warranty, which doesn't really come as any surprise to me, but hey it was worth a try.

It comes as some surprise to me that the reason given is that the block, rods and pistons are only rated to 200BHP :eek: and therefore anything over that is a beyond tolerances. I pointed out a couple of points on this, the main one being that as standard the RS appears to be coming with 185 to 195 as standard. The limit then miraculously raised to 220 when the lack of margin was pointed out

I also found that basically they had just been going through the motions of "investigating" and the decision was made either the end of last week or the begining of this that the warranty claim would be rejected. If they had said so then, I'd have had my car back on the road by now with its nice S3 engine in it, rather than having to pay for another 2 weeks worth of hire cars.

My advice to you, if its Jabbad, keep it quiet and revert it to standard if required. It'll be the original chip and will have no record of it ever being "tampered" with. Unfortunately, I was honest (its hard not to be with a car as well known as mine). Dishonest maybe, but cheaper than hire cars, new engines and labour. Got a serially modded one, be prepared for a bill at some point.

Photos of the broken bit in the next post.

Jon

Pretty ain't it?

Jon,

Shame, nice try though, hope the transplant goes well. Give me a bell if you want any help.

Des

face it you have been shafted.

con rods dont just fail like that.

the least they could do is re-imburse you for car hire. Im sure that this will push most of the modified skoda world underground and end up costing VW lots more becuase we will all be far more sneeky - assuming we havent bought other cars in droves. Sad that VWis killing Skoda.. all th edealers who cared are being bumped.. all the customers who cared are being **** on.

:(

Sorry to hear this Jon... but look on the bright side... 270+bhp Octy :shocked: :eek:

you were mentioned in a thread on cupranet recently, someone tried to diss Skodas, and they got jumped on "you should take a ride in Jons black 1.4 - its ****in quick"

jon what was your mods exactly and what bhp was engine ?

Diesel Power! - Torque of the Devil

maybee a silly question but did you ever see the original torque of the devil colin ?

Thats shouldn't be at all right! Con Rods don't just snap as yours has. There must have a been a stress fracture in there that the tuning has just accelerated the snapping process. :( As Colin has pointed out though. At least you will have a rathy tasty 270+ brake Tavia 1.4!

........I pointed out a couple of points on this, the main one being that as standard the RS appears to be coming with 185 to 195 as standard. The limit then miraculously raised to 220 when the lack of margin was pointed out.

Very sorry to hear that news, Jon. I am now even more intrigued to know what bhp the Autocar road test vRS is producing in the light of SkodaAuto UK's stance. Meanwhile it looks like I am going to have to go back to Jabba to have some bhp 'shaved off', and to have their boost controller fitted.

Very sorry to hear that news, Jon. I am now even more intrigued to know what bhp the Autocar road test vRS is producing in the light of SkodaAuto UK's stance. Meanwhile it looks like I am going to have to go back to Jabba to have some bhp 'shaved off', and to have their boost controller fitted. [img']http://briskoda.net/members/dgw/rolleyes.gif[/img]

this is probably a one in a million chance of happening thats one failure of a remapped engine in how many on here i think it's a bit early to be getting "worried" about jons unfortunate circamstances.

Very sorry to hear that news, Jon. I am now even more intrigued to know what bhp the Autocar road test vRS is producing in the light of SkodaAuto UK's stance. Meanwhile it looks like I am going to have to go back to Jabba to have some bhp 'shaved off', and to have their boost controller fitted. [img']http://briskoda.net/members/dgw/rolleyes.gif[/img]

Denis,

Let's look at this logically...

Jon's car had done a good few miles, and had more than its fair share of track use. If a standard engine had failed in this way, they'd have covered it under warranty, i'm sure of that. But because he was honest, and declared his re-map, then Skoda UK had a golden get out of jail free card, and used it to full effect.

We all know the risks when we get our cars chipped, its just bad luck that Jon got caught out. :(

Still sucks though.

PS, no need to "shave off" any BHP, just use normal unleaded

PS, no need to "shave off" any BHP, just use normal unleaded.

Thanks for that, Geoff. I had forgotten that Optimax is worth 10bhp or more (according to certain 'optimists'!). K, I take your point too.

Meanwhile I have 'shaved' my signature for the time being. But hey, what have I got to worry about anyway since I normally drive my car like a granny.

Jabba'd 2002 Octavia 4X4 turbo Estate - ≤220bhp/250lbft - Bailey DV - CCbyK

LOL

Steve

PS Boost contoller being fitted with Jabba remap.

jon what was your mods exactly and what bhp was engine ?

Mods:

Jabba remap

Dynatwist CAI

Full exhaust

Water spray

Power approx 240, torque about 250ish, so not excessive. Very similar to a certain other black RS

Now the engine isn't warrantied however.....

Sorry to hear this Jon, but like you say, pretty much what you expected. Unfair of them to dangle you while they "investigated" though....

In the pics of the face there looks to be a hard crystalline area at the small end but hard to tell. Also what looks like some overheating at the top of the big-end bearing, but that would tally with the shell you were shown, and may have happened in the last 5 minutes. Like everybody's said - a very uncharacteristic failure.

Look forward to a ride on the 'Ring in the S3 engined 1.4 sometime - does it come with a better clutch than the 180bhp variant? :p

Nick, it now has a very uprated clutch (its got 8 springs in the centre of it and its bigger) and it also now sports a lightened, balanced single mass flywheel.

Sorry to hear the outcome, unfortunately it's what you expect of corporate business's these days.

An S3 engine - Ummm! :bouncer:

I would be tempted to pursue Skoda through the small claims court on this one. If you can find a qualified mechanic who is prepared to testify that the failure was caused by a manufacturing fault, not through your 'mods', then I think you have a high chance of success. Forget the terms of the warranty, just go for the Sale of Goods act. You won't get everything back, but you should be able to claim 30-40% of the costs of the work - based on an expected lifespan for a petrol engine of 175=>200,000 miles. Also, you can claim all the other costs - i.e. hire cars, etc. I know of several cases that have been succesful, even though they looked dodgy - like a new engine for a boat following the fitment of a new fuel tank....

Trouble is, you'll end up in a fight between Skoda's experts and your own. The only way you could really prove the point is by employing an expert phorensic mettalurgist, who could use x-ray analysis to prove how the break occurred. This would probably cost as much as an S3 engine! Skoda obviously don't see the advantage of gaining goodwill by either paying up or at least contributing to the repair. Bummer, really.

Phil

Trouble is, you'll end up in a fight between Skoda's experts and your own.

Jon's experts: "Look at that, is it really supposed to snap like that under any circumstances?"

Skoda's experts: "Ah, well, yes, y'see, stress on the engine, like..."

Judiciary people:" Hmm...surely that's a bit bobbins? Pay the man."

OK, so my script-writing ability isn't great, but surely if the engine has failed in a way that an independent expert could verify was not satisfactory and due to a failure on Skoda's part, you'd have a strong case?

Failing that, consumer watchdogs, national press, etc.

Rob.

A good expert would be able to say, "it had micro-cracks from uneven cooling when it was forged" or "the break spread from a weak point caused when the rod was dropped During manufacture", or "the material on the area of the break has a crystalline structure, due to poor material specification" Believe me, thay can do that kind of analysis on failed parts -it's used a lot in the aircraft industry.

But, like I say, that kind of expert is bloody expensive!

Phil

i wonder where those of us who bought our cars from the dealer already chipped would stand in a similar situation?

when i bought this RS, they were practically falling over themselves to sell me it 'pre-chipped'. there was no mention of warranty and the like, and the cost of the remap was added to the 0% deal!!

Mods:

Jabba remap

Dynatwist CAI

Full exhaust

Water spray

Power approx 240' date=' torque about 250ish, so not excessive. Very similar to a certain other black RS

[/quote']

So you're finally coming out with the figures, Jon.

The FMIC was already there too, wasn't it?

BTW, a similarly modded RS in Holland with close to 250 hp failed as well recently... :(

This one, to be precise:

http://www.briskoda.net/forums/showthread.php?t=3067

Will investigate the circumstances for you once I've retraced the owner's e-mail address.

Finally, I'm sorry to hear about the outcome but it was to be expected, wasn't it? You'd have a point through the Sale of Goods Act - works the same here in Holland - but it's too much of a bother to most consumers. Is there some sort of consumer organisation in the UK that might willing to help on the legal front, turning your case into a trial case for other consumers?

We're not talking crown court here, just the small claims. The whole point of which is that it gives the little man (us) a chance to take on the big boys (Skoda) without needing to resort to mega-expense lawyers, expert witnesses, etc. A mechanic with knowledge of failed engines should be enough. Oh, and if he could exhibit a more typical example of a failed con rod, then I think it would be case proven.

Personally, I can't see any other way for that rod to have failed like that other than through a manufacturing fault. I think the judge would tend to agree. Also bear in mind, that small claims is a civil court. The burden of proof is considerably reduced. All you need to prove is that it is reasonably likely that what you are saying has happened. In a criminal court, you would need to prove beyond all reasonable doubt.

I think you would have a strong chance of winning. Well worth the small expense of taking the action.