Hi all

This is my first post on the forums, hope someone can help.

About 6 months back we purchased a second hand Superb Classic 100 with 120k on the clock with 1 years second hand car warranty. About 2 months back the car started coughing (misfiring) when driving, didn't think too much off it as it stopped after the engine had warmed up. Then when driving to work I lost most of the power in the engine and the engine felt like it was going to shake it self from its mountings, I limped to work trying not to take the revs to high as the higher they went the more sharking and vibrating happened. The next time it started it was fine, took it to the skoda garage and they couldn't fine anything wrong (there was no engine man light or anything)....Anyway 3 days ago it did it again this time with engine man light so took it down to them and after they got the computer readout they say it is the wiring loom in the cylinder head which is for the fuel injection which gets brittle etc.. over time. Anyway long story short is that they don't think its going to be covered by the second hand warranty and that it is prob gonna be 9-10 hours work for about £900-£1000!

Anyone have any experience of this problem?? should we argue to get it covered under warranty as we only paid £6k for the car in the first place.

Thanks in advance.

well, to me warranty is warranty. This is not a classic wear and tear item like brake pads and tyres. A wiring loom shouldn't just "break", and if they do have a habit of doing so, it should be a known fault, and something covered by the warranty. Wiring shouldn't just "go brittle" in my opinion, especially on a relatively modern motor.

Not sure on this one as there are numerous factors to be considered.

How old is the vehicle?

Was it purchased from a Skoda dealer?

Was this the dealer who diagnosed the fault and provided the estimate?

Who supplied the Warrany?

What does the Warranty cover? (There's almost certainly going to be parts not covered. Suggest you go through the paperwork line by line))

Is 'wear and tear' covered in the Warranty?

I've suggested in another post that a call to ConsumerDirect (08454 04 05 06) would be worthwhile if you have any queries on the legal front.

I would have a good read at the paperwork before doing anything. If the worst comes to the worst and you bought the car from the Skoda dealer then you might get a discount for 'goodwill'.

Best of luck

Hi thanks for the replies.

The car is an late 04 model. It had 1 previous owner who used it for an airport taix it then went to this dealer to be sold again to us we purchased and we brought it. So it has a full service history etc.. with them, and they did the diag on the car.

The warranty is provided by Lumley Auto and it is a basic level of cover for 1 year and it states it only covers what is listed and this is not listed! it may have been covered if we had the comprehensive cover which mentions fuel system stuff..

Our issue is (as said by devonutopia) that this is not a classic wear and tear item so surely this should have been check before it was sold to us as this part has decade over time and not suddenly just gone?

We are waiting for a response from the garage so we will wait and see but if it is not covered I feel we have grounds to argue the case with them..thanks for the phone number westerdam2 that may come in handy

It's on an 04 plate! :eek: Less than 4 years old and a brittle wiring loom? Hmmm - Perhaps they could argue if it was on a T plate or something, on an 04? I think not. My wiring loom is in very good condition, and that's all from an 04 car. Something has gone wrong here which can not put be put down to just "brittle"ness.

Broken PD wiring harnesses is a very well known problem - VAG were too mean to use PTFE wire and proper military style connectors to cope with the heat and oil - the whole lot is inside the cylinder head.

The vehicle is not fit for purpose with open-circuit injectors. Google for this problem (B5.5 Passat PD is a good start) and refer the matter to Trading Standards if they won't budge.

Use your Googled data to show that this is (another) well known VAG weakness and not a result of mis-service or abuse.

The garage quotation for cost is stupid - any Independent will do this for far less money - diesel specialists have seen loads of these and the loom slides out in-situ as an assembly.

rotodiesel.

thanks, yeh after some more searching and a visit to the vwaudi forum yes this is indeed quite a common problem and as you say if the wiring used is not fit for the conditions for which it is going to be used i.e. in the cylinder with oil and heat then as you say it's not fit for purpose so under those terms it would have to be fixed at little or no cost to the customer I would think.

Thanks, will update the post with an update when I have more dialogue with the garage hopefuly tommorow.

Is this the wiring on the black plastic strip, with 4 connectors that plugs into each injector, and the harness plugs into it on the side of the engine? I think I have a spare one if that's the case? This one is out of a vRS PD130, so compatability might be dubious?

That's the one.

rotodiesel.

Well, it's available cheap if needed.

Waranties cover against defects in materials and workmanship. Your used car warranty company will try to step out of it as it is not on their list. Your point about testing it before sale is tenuous as the car was likely to have been fault code read at the preparation stage and if it was running perfectly they have no reason to physically check the loom.

One major thing in your favour is that the car has a full Skoda service history, you want to use this with Skoda customer services so that you can get a good will contribution from Skoda. Point out to them that the materials used in the loom or the loom itself are not upto a standard where they can cope with their operating environment - this isn't the first time - Octavia brake servo hoses used to crack and leak at the pipe joins due to the plastic going brittle - and they did a safety recall for these. Also mention that you have done your homework and that this failure is not unheard of with this type of engine, and of course query the repair price with them.

Forget any possibility of Skoda "goodwill" - there isn't any. The Internet is littered with reports of lousy service from VAG who duck out of any moral responsibility for the uncorrected design faults they have left in their vehicles (and perpetrated, re-badged as "Skoda").

I'm afraid I find the notion of VAG admitting to design faults absolutely fanciful - "What Passat rainwater ingress?".

It's an old car, buy a cheap replacement loom and get it fitted by an independent who has done a few and who is honest. It's a couple of hours' work.

rotodiesel.

ok thanks again for all the replies. I have spoken to the warranty company they said not covered infact they don't cover any wiring on the car in any off the warranties offered. My dad is a retired mechanic so has some friends that still work in the trade including VAG mechs. so it might be an option that I get it fitted idependetly so hang on to that part devonutopia i might be in touch. I would like to see what the garage can do and I will explore ALL of their good will if they have any to try and get a good result if not I take my business else were (with the help of this forum)

Devonutopia do you know what you want for your spare loom?

Cheers