Fuel Leak!

[Eric_DK]

Hello Balazs_HU,

Given that your car is in a tight space in an underground parking area, I would not even consider doing the repair there due to safety issues.

The job should, in my opinion, be performed by a qualified mechanic (service technician) with the proper replacement parts.

The problem is widespread over VAG'S markets worldwide.

 

Best regards from Denmark,

 

Eric

[J.R.]

On 02/08/2023 at 12:35, rum4mo said:

Yes, another report getting dismissed in respect of any real need to prevent this failure actually happening, as I found when I contacted them only as a "concerned owner", the trigger point for action has not been reached - yet, so "all is good" in their world.

 

I thought that it was a reasoned and detailed response which gave a lot of information, I had read all the previous comments about loss of life, that profit is valued higher than life etc and thought aside from the understandable frustrations of owners whose vehicles had broken down nobody had reported any fires, it would seem that there have not been any and unlikely to be.

 

Edited 5 November, 2023 by J.R.

[Balazs_HU]

23 hours ago, Eric_DK said:

Hello Balazs_HU,

Given that your car is in a tight space in an underground parking area, I would not even consider doing the repair there due to safety issues.

The job should, in my opinion, be performed by a qualified mechanic (service technician) with the proper replacement parts.

The problem is widespread over VAG'S markets worldwide.

 

Best regards from Denmark,

 

Eric

I fortunately was able to take your advice, it was difficult get it on the tow car but we managed it, it is now in the hands of the mechanic whom I introduced the information from this post. I will let sou know if it was the same issue happening to my car as well.

[Balazs_HU]

Wellnat least in Hungary the fix is not that expensive. My indenendept mechanicnfixed it for around 175 quid, it was the same issue. Cheers!

[rum4mo]

On 11/11/2023 at 18:05, Balazs_HU said:

Wellnat least in Hungary the fix is not that expensive. My indenendept mechanicnfixed it for around 175 quid, it was the same issue. Cheers!

 

Yes, but still annoying to need to spend 175 quid on a factory build error that VW Group might even try to claim is "fair wear and tear" - and then there is the possible associated fire risk.

 

I was told by a Ford Kuga owner and user of that forum, that Ford retro fitted a small tray/ducting to make sure when that sort of issue occurs, the leaking petrol is channelled away from the hot surfaces!!

[J.R.]

Does that sound plausible in todays litigious vs denial of responsibility climate? Especially a retro-fit.

 

Hot surfaces will not ignite petrol, the distributor with rotor arm and points sparking away under the carburettor on a Ford Essex engine would though, the carburettor with a not so interference fit when the engine warms up brass fuel line spigot .

[rum4mo]

I just thought that it was an unusual comment as that guy is a “Ford and only Ford” person, so if anything I’d have expected him to keep that comment away from me.

”Good” on Ford for getting into this issue!

[Fc260]

Hi, I found last night that my Fabia has started to leak fuel. Was fine driving home from work but did a short trip after and could smell fuel and after some investigation I found it’s the same issue as what you guys have had with fuel leaking in the engine bay. I called Skoda assist last night and they’re getting it recovered today. It’s a 17 reg 1.2 tsi 110 Monte Carlo estate. 

[rum4mo]

I’m hoping that you will consider it “just common sense” to ask that main dealer’s workshop manager if he is considering asking Skoda UK for help to pay for this - before you formally ask Skoda UK about and that you submit a complaint on the DVSA website concerning this issue.

i’m not trying to be insulting by using that phrase BTW.

if you do all that, then I think that you will be the first owner on this forum to give Skoda a chance to give their current answer on this and pass that onto DVSA - and this forum.

[Fc260]

21 minutes ago, rum4mo said:

I’m hoping that you will consider it “just common sense” to ask that main dealer’s workshop manager if he is considering asking Skoda UK for help to pay for this - before you formally ask Skoda UK about and that you submit a complaint on the DVSA website concerning this issue.

i’m not trying to be insulting by using that phrase BTW.

if you do all that, then I think that you will be the first owner on this forum to give Skoda a chance to give their current answer on this and pass that onto DVSA - and this forum.

I have the Skoda all in service and warranty plan thing so fingers crossed they cover it under the warranty, if not then I’ll be speaking to Dealer and Skoda UK to see what can be done about it.

 

They called today to say that they’ll have a technician on it as soon as they can to diagnose. I mentioned the issues with the bolts and the service person said that they haven’t had anything come in with those breaking, but they have had a car recently with bad seals on the fuel rail. 
 

I’ll report back on here when they next call and the outcome. 

[Eric_DK]

I find it rather disconcerting that an authorized dealership can claim no knowledge of this problem. Skoda and the other VAG brands have issued solutions for the problem and explanations of why this problem occurs. They have even been able to determine when the manufacturing defects occurred and which engines that need to be fixed.

However like Uncle Scrooge they try to avoid taking full responsibilty in numerous markets.

[Ootohere]

If you are being told stuff by Service Desk Staff or even a Service Manager their name might be TOMMY.   Deaf Dumb and Blind kids. Know nothing much about anything to do with vehicles, even Skoda,s

Frightening as they are there 5 or 5 1/2 days a week telling guff to owners / customers.

 

Get them to put in writing that there are no TPI,s & their name and job.

[HyperDog]

From browsing this thread there doesn't seem to be many early Fabia MK3 effected, i.e. 2014/2015?  They on the whole seem to be the years after - would that be a fair comment?

 

Balazs_HU is a 2015 but that's an Octavia.  Is that an early or late 2015 build?

[Fc260]

I got the car back last night, all repaired by Skoda under the Skoda all in warranty I have with the car. I’m not sure how others would fair without the cover. 
 

The strange thing is that they haven’t told me what was actually wrong with the car. The service person said they’ll send me an email but nothing yet. I’d asked for a print out but they said that they can’t give me one since there was no cost. 
 

Id asked them to find why I had no warning lights on to show a fault with the fuel system but I didn’t get an answer. If I do get any info then I’ll update here. 

[rum4mo]

55 minutes ago, HyperDog said:

From browsing this thread there doesn't seem to be many early Fabia MK3 effected, i.e. 2014/2015?  They on the whole seem to be the years after - would that be a fair comment?

 

Balazs_HU is a 2015 but that's an Octavia.  Is that an early or late 2015 build?

I've guessed it was an engine build plant output from at the earliest, for 1.2TSI engines of late 2015 lasting until at the worst week 25 2017 - which was the date, apparently, that Skoda recognised it and took action on assembly line tooling issue. A VW USA and so Canada TSB covering this is dated 23 February 2021, so it did take quite a bit of time for VW Group to spread the word internally and pass out recovery/preventative instructions to USA and Canada dealerships. My wife's VW Polo, built in ZA in 22/06/15 has an engine built by Skoda  07/05/15, so a difference of 6 weeks for a car built in South Africa, for Skoda Fabia built in CZ I would have expected a short time between engine build and car build.

 

Balazs_HU's Octavia built in 2015 does seems to not quite fit in with the range of reported dates for EA211 1.2TSI though, I have not been watching any reporting of the EA211 1.4TSI engines with this issue, but logically the assembly lines would be able to build either capacity of engines but possibly dedicated to a single capacity of engine, and unless there was a serious line issue or a change in demand, I would have thought there would be lines and so assembly kits  stayed configured like that - so just maybe, different actual production periods for the start and end of 1.4TSI issues and 1.2TSI issues. That 1.4TSI just seems to be an odd one date wise, so maybe some other reason for that one having leaking fuel, I've even read, maybe in this thread, that the only failure in one case was injector seals - if so that sounds like being a different issue and the fuel rail bolts remained in place on that engine.

[rum4mo]

21 hours ago, Fc260 said:

I got the car back last night, all repaired by Skoda under the Skoda all in warranty I have with the car. I’m not sure how others would fair without the cover. 
 

The strange thing is that they haven’t told me what was actually wrong with the car. The service person said they’ll send me an email but nothing yet. I’d asked for a print out but they said that they can’t give me one since there was no cost. 
 

Id asked them to find why I had no warning lights on to show a fault with the fuel system but I didn’t get an answer. If I do get any info then I’ll update here. 

 

I've had that "all covered by warranty so no need to provide a zero cost/charge bit of paperwork" - I just advised my VW main dealership that they had carried out work on my property, so I needed a breakdown of what work was carried out, for many reasons including just in case that failure occurred again, and even when just out of warranty - and they provided it. For the first "prepaid service" I had to push for paperwork, it came automatically for the 2nd and 3rd service though, so maybe a change of plan.

[Ootohere]

Anyone at a dealership that says there is no need to give a owner a record of work or parts fitted to their car are talking rubbish as usual.

 

No Data Protection issue. 

The Cars owner / keeper / driver is responsible for it's safety and its maintenance.

 

Just speak to the Dealer Principal and ask what they think their employees are playing at and ask they for the information regarding your property.

If there are issues ask the Warranty Provider who is paying for the work to be done to itemise what was done. 

As it is it only lasts the length if the warranty unless some contribution / payment is made by you. 

 

 

Edited 18 November, 2023 by Rooted

[Fc260]

44 minutes ago, Rooted said:

Anyone at a dealership that says there is no need to give a owner a record of work or parts fitted to their car are talking rubbish as usual.

 

No Data Protection issue. 

The Cars owner / keeper / driver is responsible for it's safety and its maintenance.

 

Just speak to the Dealer Principal and ask what they think their employees are playing at and ask they for the information regarding your property.

If there are issues ask the Warranty Provider who is paying for the work to be done to itemise what was done. 

As it is it only lasts the length if the warranty unless some contribution / payment is made by you. 

 

 

I’ve emailed Johnsons who operate the dealership to ask for information on what worked was carried out.

 

I get the impression that the girl on service isn’t keen on being there as she rushes you out the door and can be a bit argumentative with you. The last time I spoke to her was when my door interior door handle snapped off and I needed to get Skoda UK involved as they were shrugging me off. Then she questioned me as to why I’d booked a courtesy car when it was a 10 minute job, when they tell me that someone will get to it when they can and don’t know how long it’ll take then I’ll book a car as I don’t fancy sitting in there for hours waiting. 
 

never had any issues with the previous chap on service, he actually tried to help and sort things out and is the main reason I bought the warranty cover. 

[Ootohere]

They do not like too helpful people with Customer Service Skills or anyone with a knowledge of cars.  A NVQ in poor communication skills is all the need.

They choose them very carefully,  selectively Deaf, dumb and blind is perfect, and with short or selective memory.  On the job training by someone clueless other than on 'upselling'.

 

 

 

[J.R.]

She is in training to be a Doctors receptionist!

[Fc260]

Just had an email back from the service manager at my local Skoda, they’ve sent me the invoice on what work was done to the car. 
 

when I collected it they wouldn’t tell me what was wrong as I’ve mentioned above and had previously said they haven’t had anything in with these bolts coming loose and only the odd car with the seals going bad. 
 

ill attach the section of the invoice I was sent to show work done but you’ll see that one of the bits of work was “ Removal of broken stud in cylinder head” and then later a repair kit so to me it would seem that the bolt did shear it’s head and others come loose. 
 

maybe this is why they didn’t I wasn’t given any info on what was done when I collected the car but who really knows. 
 

 

[Eric_DK]

FC260: Did you get some sort of discount/compensation? It is quite a lot of money to pay for a poorly assembled engine.

[HyperDog]

I think above FC260 mentions they had the work done under a warranty they had.  I think this thread mentions some costs much higher than this for the same issue so it then begs the question are they charging warranty companies a lot less then they do retail customers?

[Fc260]

28 minutes ago, Eric_DK said:

FC260: Did you get some sort of discount/compensation? It is quite a lot of money to pay for a poorly assembled engine.

The repair was at no cost me but I do have a warranty on the car so I’d say that paid for it. 

[Ootohere]

^^^ That has been the case in the past with After Market Warranties like with engines such as the 1.4 TSI Twinchargers 136 kW that VW Group never admitted to having issues, fundamental design, manufacturing, material faults.   They came to agreements with them where as customers without a warranty were screwed over. 

 

Then there were times like with Turbo,s where if actuator was required while in warranty they said it needed the whole thing as you could not get just an actuator

yet you could actually get an acuator if not covered by a warranty and pay the real cost. 

Edited 20 November, 2023 by Rooted