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I have a 52 plate VW polo 1.2 (3 cylinder) and it recently broke down on the motorway. I was driving then the oil light came on, then seconds later the car lost power. The AA guy told me that it was the timing chain and there was nothing else it could have been. I recently had the timing chain done at the VW garage 18 months ago (Costing £450).
I took it back to them asking they repair it under warranty. They told me they would investigate- but if this was not the problem, they wanted 2 hours labour costs. The person on the phone said it was likely that it was the timing chain, but they just needed to tell me this.
I rang the garage saying what had happened. I had to arrange for transport to get the car to them. The garage was owned by Richard Alexander as a franchise, now it has changed ownership to just VW, and they said if it was a part problem they would fix it, and if it was a Richard Alexander fault they wouldn’t.
Now VW are demanding £200 labour, saying that the fault is nothing to do with the timing chain, but a spark plug! Where do i stand? Should they have done a diagnostic test first to save the £200 labour cost? I feel as though they are trying to rip me off and they don’t want to repair a fault of their own!
Could anyone advise me on where to go from here? Help would be gratefully received
Thank you
Billy
A lot more info needed, but reading what I can of this....
What made the AA guy say timing chain?? When a timing chain goes, you will usually get either a lot of rattling/.clanking sounds building up over a period of time or you will just get a loud clunk and the engine will stop. In both cases there will be significant damage.
A spark plug would not cause this fault either. You would get a misfire and the engine may stop, but unless the sparkplug fell to pieces and bits went into the engine (never known this to happen) that wouldn't casue this either.
The symptoms you have described indicate a loss of oil. The low oil pressure light will mean one of two things usually. Low oil level or oil pump failing/failed. Assuming it was low oil or oil pump failure, the engine will no longer get sufificient lubrication and will very quickly run hot and sieze, which is what it sounds like MAY be the case.
The usual way to check for timing chain failure is for any competent mechanic to use a spaner or ratchet on the end of the crank pulley and attempt to gently turn the engine looking for ANY signs of resistance (ie valves hitting pistons etc). Now, if they had done that they would have found the crankshaft does indeed still go around and has the 'usual' feel to it of compression etc. IF that was the case, they could then move onto simple tests like compression tests etc.
I would stress that for a timing chain to fail would usually be the fault of the tensioner failing or being incorrectly fitted.
Spark plug??? I would need a lot more information than that. A spark plug failing wouldn't cause the oil light to come on, unless being a 3 cylinder engine it just didn't have enough to keep running and the engine had actually failed already.
Think back. Did the engine POSSIBLY cut out first, thyen you noticed the loss in power and the oil light? If you switch any engine off the oil light will illumiate because you no longer have oil pressure.
Did you try to restart the engine? Did it turn over but not start? Did it refuse to turn over? Did it make any horrible noises?
As for labour charges, I personally think the AA man has led you astray, but recourse from him would be difficult as it is only an opinion at roadside.
The garage could and in my opinion should have checked for symptoms as I say above, but for whatever reason didn't. Two hours labour seems reasonable for a diagnosis, but not £200! Should be more like £100 I would suggest.
However,m if you have ened up with a spark plug fault you don't have the expense of a new engine, which is one way of looking at it.
Thank you for taking your time to reply to my message.
The AA man tried to turn the car over, and it wouldn't. He said it was the only thing it could be.
When the timing chain went 18 months ago, it wouldn't turn over just the same
The oil light came on first, then the engine cut out, lost power and the car stopped.
The tensioner on this model of polo is known to be defective
When the work was done last time, the same VW garage did a diagnostic first to detect the problem, then rang me to tell me what the problem was, and then said the diagnostic would be free if they carried out the repair.
I've had nothing but problems since the work was done, when I first had the work done I managed to get half a mile down the road from the garage and the engine management light came on and then the car became rough by miss firing.
The garage now wants £200 and the car is in no better state of repair. I'm at a loose end because I feel like they are trying to rip me off.
The AA man could well be correct in his diagnosis. This engine has a chain driven overhead camshaft, the chain is tensioned by a hydraulic tensioner, which is supplied by pressurised oil from the lubrication system.
However this is the part which you don't want to hear. The oil pressure could have dropped, causing the tensioner to relax, the chain to slip and the engine to stop due to low oil level. These engines I think have a total capacity of less than 3 litres. When was the car last serviced and the oil level checked? VW deem that oil consumption of 600 miles per litre is an acceptable minimum.
All the garage will have to do is check the oil level and if it is very low come to the conclusion that the failure is down to lack of maintenance/basic checks and no liability on their part.
These engines are not unknown for this problem and as you already have found out they do suffer from failing coil packs as well.
VW garage ADVICE NEEDED PLEASE
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