Fuel Leak!

[PaulTheCat]

52 minutes ago, Eric_DK said:

 

Paul,

My post in this thread from October 2020 includes the technical details my Skoda authorized mechanic gave me about the problem.

Best regards from Denmark

 

Hello Erik,

 

Thanks for that - Very much appreciated.

I found that technical response from Skoda you mentioned, and I'll be sure to quote this in my letter ask for the parts to be refunded.

I've have paid more than that in labour, so feel my half of the bargain is covered!

 

Best wishes, Paul

[Eeeekkk]

3 hours ago, PaulTheCat said:

Hello,

 

Have been sifting through this thread, trying to see how many people have had exactly the same issue with a sheared bolt head on the fuel rail,

 

With a pattern forming, and all these complaints, how are Skoda UK not taking this seriously?!

Just look at the trails and puddles my Spaceback left behind, when I parked it briefly to go into the garage to do the paperwork.

(Partly obscured by my friend's Vauxhall, as he shadowed me on my tentative drive to the garage).

 

I've just posted details of my fuel rail failure under: Major Fuel Leak - Due to bolts shearing on the fuel injector rail assembly

 

I'll be citing the number of complaints on this forum in my letter to Skoda, to try and get my replacement parts refunded, at the very least.

 

I anyone has been successful in getting compensation/goodwill gesture from Skoda on this, please let me know.

 

P

Mine left a trail like that to the next village! I got my repair (done by local garage not dealer) reimbursed by Skoda. Had to write them a letter before action and then they paid up.

We were a few months out of warranty btw.

[Mattheboy]

Hi all, just for those who have this issue now, it happened to me a couple of years ago, my Skoda dealer used a "goodwill matrix" and paid 75% of my bill. My dealer is Barlow Motors Skoda, Newcastle Under Lyme.

[rum4mo]

1 hour ago, Mattheboy said:

Hi all, just for those who have this issue now, it happened to me a couple of years ago, my Skoda dealer used a "goodwill matrix" and paid 75% of my bill. My dealer is Barlow Motors Skoda, Newcastle Under Lyme.

 

Slightly better than getting nothing, but, the way I see it, after Skoda discovered their production line error, and corrected it, they did not suddenly increase the price of these cars, and when you take into account the potential danger of a fire when high pressure petrol is spraying out of the front of the engine while it is being driven, then reducing a repair bill is not what is required - but they got off with it, shame on them!

 

Edit:- in the case of the issue with the inlet camshaft variable timing pulley slackening off and maybe causing engine damage, it sounds like at least in some sales areas, recalls were issued - so was that because the potential for large warranty claims was higher than just doing the right thing.  In this case Skoda, and all of the the rest of VW Group, seem to be very relaxed about what sort of claims would make their way through to their "cash managers" even if some of these claims were lose of life and personal property - they spun the dice and took the risk, or many owners-drivers-passengers of 1.2TSI 16V engined VW Group car are at least.

Edited 14 July, 2021 by rum4mo

[djtindall]

Hi Guys,

 

Just wanted to share that the exact same issue happened to me this week, on a 66 plate Fabia 1.2 TSI - mechanic mentioned that this was the 2nd one this month for him, and the AA man mentioned its pretty common these days...

 

Has anyone got any tips for contacting Skoda for complaint?

 

Unfortunately I took it to the local garage rather than the Skoda dealer...

 

Cheers,

 

Dean

[Peskyparttimers]

Check your flexible fuel lines folks, only a few months after the injector rail "fell off" we had the stench of petrol again. A section of rubber fuel line has gone mushy and was squirting fuel all over the engine this morning. Hose has seriously deteriorated, is it modern petrol doing this? this is on a 2016 car not a 40 year old classic.

[rum4mo]

@Peskyparttimers, which section of the LP fuel line was that?

 

I noticed that my wife's August 2015 VW Polo had ended up with a section of LP petrol pipe touching/rubbing on the AC pipework, that was causing the surface to get rubbed away, so I retro fitted a suitable bridging clamp to hold that pipe away from that AC pipework.  VW Group were meant to have included that mode back in late 2014, but like many other things, it seemed that was just an idea, the reality was that once all units had passed through the factory, newer stock would get built to this new standard, ie "don't waste money, just run the existing stock out first even although it is a potential safety issue".

 

Now if that is just inferior quality pipes, then that is not good, global supplying at its best maybe leading to parts being sourced from less than trustworthy "other" countries being done so that VW Group products can be supplied into these "other" countries, ie "job/work share".

[Peskyparttimers]

It was the bit between the HP pump and the solid pipe on top of the inlet manifold so no flexing involved. It seems to have gone squashy as if something in the fuel has reacted with it.

[nta16]

On 27/07/2021 at 09:09, Peskyparttimers said:

Hose has seriously deteriorated, is it modern petrol doing this? this is on a 2016 car not a 40 year old classic.

No.  There's been ****-poor rubbish rubber in fuel hose (and classic car parts) for at least 15 years in my own personal experience, I've often wondered how long before it'd also affected modern car parts or even dealers parts, counterfeit dealer parts have happened before.

 

I'm a bit more surprised it's happened to a factory built car - although I did have it happen to me 20+ years ago but that was on a British/English made car and they'd used the wrong hose from their supplier without checking.

 

[Eeeekkk]

On 26/07/2021 at 16:15, djtindall said:

Hi Guys,

 

Just wanted to share that the exact same issue happened to me this week, on a 66 plate Fabia 1.2 TSI - mechanic mentioned that this was the 2nd one this month for him, and the AA man mentioned its pretty common these days...

 

Has anyone got any tips for contacting Skoda for complaint?

 

Unfortunately I took it to the local garage rather than the Skoda dealer...

 

Cheers,

 

Dean

I got a letter from my local garage detailing the problem. Got fobbed off by customer services so I wrote to head office titled "letter before action" and got a cheque for the full amount. And that was before all the other cases, so it looks even more like a manufacturing issue now it's happened over and over.

Edited 30 July, 2021 by Eeeekkk
Spelling

[rum4mo]

On 27/07/2021 at 12:20, Peskyparttimers said:

It was the bit between the HP pump and the solid pipe on top of the inlet manifold so no flexing involved. It seems to have gone squashy as if something in the fuel has reacted with it.

 

I've checked that pipe on my wife's July 2015 build VW Polo - I think December 2014 engine build date, and it looks okay, well as much as I can check without removing the air filter box.

[PipH]

Looking through this thread, it seems a lot of you are being fobbed off by Skoda who should be taking this dangerous fault very seriously.

 

It needs reporting to the DVSA via this link by everyone who has been affected :- Vehicle recalls and faults: Report a serious safety defect - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk)

 

Hopefully the DVSA will then force VW into a safety recall for all affected vehicles.

[rum4mo]

I agree, the trouble so far seems to be that most people just want their car fixed ASAP as they need to use it, not good for those with this issue still to happen though, at the start of this thread I as a VW Group car owner, was "spitting blood" etc due to the risk to life, but maybe my wife's car's engine was build earlier to this problem occurring during initial assemble.  In my previous posting I was wrong in saying that my wife's car's engine was built well before it, the engine was built 07-05-15 and the car was built 22-06-15.

 

Surely Skoda know during which production periods this could have happened, and so only re-call potentially affected cars - across the VW Group marques, or at least inform VW AG and let them control re-call notices.

[rum4mo]

Oh bother, another fuel leak has been reported on another forum, a VW Polo 1.2TSI - and so it goes on, so far only " 2 loose bolts" being mentioned!

[rum4mo]

And yet another, this time a 2016 SEAT Ibiza 1.2TSI - same problem,  ie fuel rail securing screw snapped off. Owner considering or asking what his options are for redress/escalating this know fault that still has not prompted any recall activity in UK.

[nta16]

On 05/08/2021 at 12:54, PipH said:

It needs reporting to the DVSA via this link by everyone who has been affected :- Vehicle recalls and faults: Report a serious safety defect - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk)

 

Hopefully the DVSA will then force VW into a safety recall for all affected vehicles.

 

Vehicle recalls and faults: Report a serious safety defect - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk)

 

[rum4mo]

@nta16, yes that was one of the suggestions that I passed on along with sending SEAT UK  a tracked letter with a title like "Letter before action", without claiming any ownership of either suggestions.

[nta16]

2 hours ago, rum4mo said:

without claiming any ownership of either suggestions

Yes but well done, you did pass the information on, and as you know my suggestion was copied (and paste(d)).

 

Part of reposting the link is for the same reason you see an advert for the same thing so often, to advertise to those who haven't seen it before and to remind and reinforce for those that have, you don't know who seen it and who's not  - unless you're Google, or China or all the others. 🙂

 

[CazzaBrank]

Just had my Seat Ibiza 2016 in the workshop for a repair on a fuel leak.

 

And what did they find? A screw was missing on the fuel rail and was leaking fuel, as others have mentioned.

 

Looks like Volkswagen should have recalled all vehicles using the 1.2 TSI engine as at some point, these vehicles will have a fuel leak with probably counts as a serious vehicle defect. 

[rum4mo]

@CazzaBrank, I hope that you are going to report this issue/failure via the link supplied above if you are in UK or your country's government department if located in another country.

 

Be sure to let us know the outcome after you formally report this please.

[rum4mo]

That is another 1.2TSI 16V engine, in a Rapid, having suffered this fuel leak caused by sheared bolt, when the owner talked to their Skoda dealer and Skoda UK, the answer was "a know fix - £600 to you!" they had just had that car in for its service at that Skoda dealer and questioned if it was a "known fix" why it was not checked on that car while it was in for this service or any of the previous ones - no more words were spoken.

 

I've suggested any/all of the previous ways of trying to get this money back, if they bother to go down that route I can't say.

 

Skoda you and only you built these engines - shame on you for not bothering to accept responsibility, bad things can happen even in modern factories, but how they are resolved is important.

[rum4mo]

Another 1.2TSI engine with this issue, a December 2016 reg'd Fabia with the 110PS version of this engine, recovery service conditions meant that it could only be taken to a local non VAG workshop, cost for repair and parts £390, that owner intends to try to get some redress for costs from Skoda as that car has had all its servicing at a Skoda workshop, but feedback suggest that VW Group are not interested in this sort of thing.

[Ootohere]

A member posted in the MK2 section in a thread there on Friday about an injection issue with a MK3.  I linked this thread but they seem not to have asked their question here. 

[rum4mo]

There was another one yesterday, a 2017 SEAT Leon 1.4TSI, AA could only move the car once and so to the local non VW Group workshop, that car is obviously out of warranty but has full SEAT dealership service history from the local but 15 miles away dealership.

 

Probably due to annoyance etc, that person walked into his SEAT dealership today to have a chat with the sales team, "we have never heard about this happening before".

 

I suggested that he saved time and further annoyance and let that non VW Group workshop complete this repair so that he can get back to using it to get to work.

 

Not good, he is going to chat to his local service department - just because, why not, spread your pain!

 

Edit:- on another VW forum, the guy that runs it is a tech in a VW Group Indie workshop, and they have not heard or seen any EA211 engined cars coming in with this issue, so it seems most owners take the only action they can to get mobile again and that is to get their car to their nearest workshop after the fuel rail bolt has snapped - and it sounds like 9.5+ times out of 10 that means a non VW Group workshop.

Edited 23 January, 2022 by rum4mo

[rum4mo]

Well that SEAT Leon 1.4TSI owner got the "we can't repair that" from the garage that the AA dropped it off at, so the nearest SEAT workshop collected it and discovered that it was "bolt 4" that had come loose and lost its head and was causing fuel to leak from injector 4 - that is the bolt nearest the HP pump, so that makes a change from the usual bolt.

 

Parts price quote was £90.38 and 2 hours labour to strip down.

 

That owner is reporting this as a safety defect on the GOV website - which ever one that is.