Out of warranty claim for Vauxhall Corsa camshaft

[spanner16]

Spanner,

I don't have any problem other than you trying to grasp at supposed facts and exaggerating the claim you pupport to have. When you have facts that you can substantiate then perhaps come back with them. At the moment your accusations are flimsey and based on what you have posted, frankly just hearesay.

Vx Customer Care told me that they know they have a problem with camshafts on corsas, which part of that do you want explaining, the reps name was IIRC Daniel Greer, I have his name on my notes which I can confirm if you want me to, do you have a problem with that fact?

You come back with x number of engines have been reported with this failure against x number produced then I'll advise as to how I see you should proceed.

To be honest I am not looking for advice from you, I have not asked for it, why do yoiu think that?

At this moment in time you are throwing your toys out of the pram purely because I question the validity of your claim.

"Throwing toys out of the pram" ?? I would call this conversation failry mild, is this the toughest posting exchange you have been involved in? were you around in the early newsgroup days? now that was tough

Forget what you have read in the papers, each claim is dealt with on the info supplied, and more so with the case of goodwill claims, the attitude of the claiment.

I don't expect a goodwill claim, that's not what I am here for, I expect consumer action groups to fry bigger fish than individual claims

You go into VX claiming manufacturing defects with nothing to back it up, which you don't seem to have or have done, then it's not surprising you get turned down.

Again, why would Vx admit to a problem that they don't have, I have told you who I have spoken to at Vx customer care, I have told you which dealer I have spoken to, I have copied in a court claim by Pete Kershaw (if you don't believe that then we can probably contact Pete and get the court info from him so you can verify this yourself) do you not believe the newspaper reports? do you think the hundreds of postings on the internet are made up? Do you really believe Vx would be settling these claims(albeit in a piecemeal manner) if there was nothing behind them? Boy you are a hard guy to convince, personally I don't need to be run down by a bus to know that its not a good idea.

Respectfully engage brain first rather than emotion.

Now that is a bizarre statement

[Guest VX_Max Vauxhall Company Rep]

Hello all once again!

Thank you to Helios & Brazillian for your further comments, it's always nice to have your input. Whilst it is not my place to get involved in forum discussions between posters, I am able to just offer a few further facts.

We are the Social Media Team; rather then being contactable by phone or letter, we are at the forefront of any product feedback that Vauxhall receives. Whilst we'll take all the feedback on board, numbers of posts does not nescessarily indicated a 'known issue' or material defect, and this takes extensive testing and investigation. As I know Helios who has followed us closely is aware, we are always willing to investigate parts failures or possible material defects outside of the warranty period. However, as with any vehicle warranty, you would expect terms & conditions. The same is applied to our review of out of warranty contributions and gestures of goodwill.

Caggers who have seen my posts will know that service history is a big factor upon review because it indicates how a vehicle has been maintained throughout it's life; be it with a Vauxhall Dealership or at an independant garage.

We take each failure and each case put forward to us, on an individual basis and we are fully aware that, unfortunately, we cannot meet the expectations of all of our customers. A full service history does not always indicate that we will make a financial contribution towards repairs. It is hard to generalise because it's also based on the type of failure, age of the vehicle etc.

In this case, we are looking at a 5 year old vehicle which has done 60,000 miles and has only received a routine maintenance service twice in it's lifetime. I'm in no way suggesting this is an 'old' or high mileage vehicle, but of course age and mileage is something that will be taken into consideration upon review.

We review our products constantly, past, present and future and again apologies that we haven't met your expectations on this Spanner.

Thank You All

Max

Social Media Agent, Vauxhall UK

 

[spanner16]

Hello all once again!

Thank you to Helios & Brazillian for your further comments, it's always nice to have your input. Whilst it is not my place to get involved in forum discussions between posters, I am able to just offer a few further facts.

We are the Social Media Team; rather then being contactable by phone or letter, we are at the forefront of any product feedback that Vauxhall receives. Whilst we'll take all the feedback on board, numbers of posts does not nescessarily indicated a 'known issue' or material defect, and this takes extensive testing and investigation. As I know Helios who has followed us closely is aware, we are always willing to investigate parts failures or possible material defects outside of the warranty period. However, as with any vehicle warranty, you would expect terms & conditions. The same is applied to our review of out of warranty contributions and gestures of goodwill.

Caggers who have seen my posts will know that service history is a big factor upon review because it indicates how a vehicle has been maintained throughout it's life; be it with a Vauxhall Dealership or at an independant garage.

We take each failure and each case put forward to us, on an individual basis and we are fully aware that, unfortunately, we cannot meet the expectations of all of our customers. A full service history does not always indicate that we will make a financial contribution towards repairs. It is hard to generalise because it's also based on the type of failure, age of the vehicle etc.

In this case, we are looking at a 5 year old vehicle which has done 60,000 miles and has only received a routine maintenance service twice in it's lifetime. I'm in no way suggesting this is an 'old' or high mileage vehicle, but of course age and mileage is something that will be taken into consideration upon review.

We review our products constantly, past, present and future and again apologies that we haven't met your expectations on this Spanner.

Thank You All

Max

Social Media Agent, Vauxhall UK

 

 

Hi Max, thanks for posting, as you are in the mood to talk then,can you tell us which engines are suffering from the premature camshaft failure and as to how this has been affected by servicing? I am sure the figures must be available via Customer Care, are you saying that the cam cap failure is directly attributable to the lack of servicing and that there are no recorderd example of a properly maintained vehicle having had a failure? what comment do you have on the Pete Kershaw court case? firstly is it real? secondly do Vx agree with the statement about loose cam cap bolts?

As you have brought up my daughters service history, the car has been serviced at 20,000 intervals but admittedly not annually or not recorded anyway, oil changes were carried out at 10,000 mile intervals, can you comment on how this diifference in service period would have affected the cam cap bolts coming loose? looking forward to your reply, also have you had a chance to chase up the report on the Daily Record story yet? regards

[spanner16]

Here's another snippet from the honest john website under Corsa C review, ours is a 1.2 twinport but this would indicate 1.4's are affected too

 

1.2 16v seems to suffer a lot of camshaft failures. Cause of camshaft fracture, loose Camshaft Bearing Bolts. These bolts need checking by an independent Mechanic, all bolts (There are 20) should be tightened to a minimum of 8Nm, if not they will slowly vibrate loose over the passage of time and miles and put undue stress on the rotating camshaft causing it to fracture. These bolts can be checked in about 30 mins - cost approx £40.

 

1.4 16v Twinport engines suffering same problem of camshaft bolts coming adrift as 1.2 16v Twinport engines in Corsas. Seem to have been traced to a batch from the engine plant in Spain and the engine numbers all begin with 19F*****

[Guest VX_Max Vauxhall Company Rep]

Hi Spanner

 

Any form of failure rate statistics are for internal use and research only. We cannot comment on any legal cases.

 

If you could also please direct identical questions in one particular forum and not across multiple forums.

 

We will continue to acknowledge your posts, however, as I previously advised Spanner I do not feel we can provide anymore relevant information to you at this point.

 

Thank You Again

 

Max

Social Media Agent, Vauxhall UK

Edited September 20, 2010 by VX_Max Vauxhall Company Rep

[spanner16]

Hi Spanner

 

Any form of failure rate statistics are for internal use and research only. We cannot comment on any legal cases.

 

If you could also please direct identical questions in one particular forum and not across multiple forums.

 

We will continue to acknowledge your posts, however, as I previously advised Spanner I do not feel we can provide anymore relevant information to you at this point.

 

Thank You Again

 

Max

Social Media Agen, Vauxhall UK[/Q

 

Sorry Max, no can do as I think you should come clean about the size and scale of the problem

[spanner16]

Hi Spanner

 

Any form of failure rate statistics are for internal use and research only. We cannot comment on any legal cases.

 

If you could also please direct identical questions in one particular forum and not across multiple forums.

 

We will continue to acknowledge your posts, however, as I previously advised Spanner I do not feel we can provide anymore relevant information to you at this point.

 

Thank You Again

 

Max

Social Media Agent, Vauxhall UK

 

Hi Max, can you at least confirm whether the info about the spanish engine factory is correct and that engine numbers beginning with 19F*** are the problem ones? I can start using that instead of the blanket warnings

[Guest VX_Max Vauxhall Company Rep]

Hi Spanner

 

We cannot confirm that there are any issues with the Spanish engine factory or any general statements made on other forums.

 

Thanks

 

Max

Social Media Agent, Vauxhall UK

[sailor sam]

I would just like to comment on the fact that 'we are talking about a 5 year old vehicle which has done 60,000 miles'. I have a 10 year old Fiat Punto HGT which I bought new in March 2000. It has just done 52,000 miles and had a much overdue cam belt change about 1,000 miles ago. I occasionally drive it from the South coast to the West Mids and back and it doesn't even break into a sweat. I have to admit in ony having the scheduled servicing done within it's warranty period (which was at 1 only year) and since then it has been serviced (not regularly) by a independant mechanic in addition to the odd oil change. Before anyone says 'i've been lucky', let me tell you that this isn't my first Fiat although it's the only one I have owned for longer than 2 years, and I have never had any main problems with my previous ones. I did own a Vauxhall once; a 1972 Victor which was a pile of cr*p. So are we are saying here is that some Vauxhall engine cams are only bulit to last 5 years as far as the manufacturer is concered? If Spanner is correct in his 'research', surely Vauxhall should be acknowledging that there is a problem with certain engine types rather than sweeping the problem under the carpet?

 

Please Note

 

 

The advice I offer will be based on the information given by the person needing it. All my advice is based on my experiences and knowledge gained in working in the motor and passenger transport industries in various capacities. Although my advice will always be sincere, it should be used as guidence only.

I would always urge to seek professional advice for clarification prior to taking any action.

 

Please click my reputation button at the bottom of my profile window on the left if you found my advice useful.

[spanner16]

I drive an 8yr old Omega that has done 182,000 miles and still going strong! it is a 2.2dti and I change the oil religiously, apart from wheel bearings, track rod ends and glow plugs everything else has worked fine, i have been a loyal Vauxhall customer up until this present fiasco

[Guest VX_Max Vauxhall Company Rep]

Hi Dave

 

Firstly thank you again for all your comments. I have escalated your case and all of your concerns to Vauxhall Senior Management. If you could allow us some time to further investigate, we will be able to issue a formal statement on the matter within a week.

 

 

Thank You

 

 

Max

Social Media Agent, Vauxhall UK

[spanner16]

Hi Dave

 

Firstly thank you again for all your comments. I have escalated your case and all of your concerns to Vauxhall Senior Management. If you could allow us some time to further investigate, we will be able to issue a formal statement on the matter within a week.

 

 

Thank You

 

 

Max

Social Media Agent, Vauxhall UK

 

Hi Max, I wil repeat this Facebook posting on here as some folk on might not see it, I'm a bit suspicious of you needing a week TBH, you have known about the problem from soon after the faulty batch of engines were produced in 2005, a strategic decision was made by someone at VX (who needs sacking or should resign depending on their seniority) do you and they realise how much this has cost owners??? IF you were lucky the failure might have happened within the warranty period, next would be those who only needed to change the camshaft, bottom of the pile would be people like my daughter who broke the camshaft and knackered the head and landed herself with a £2,000 bill, meanwhile Vx would be trying to wriggle out of paying and possibly might contribute as a gesture of "goodwill" (this is rich considering its a Vx fault). I see from the Emails I am getting an answer to that Vx has settled thses cases before they get to court, now I wonder why that might be?? I feel sorry for those that accepted a contribution thinking that was good of Vx, I say again, as a company you should be hanging your heads in shame

[Guest VX_Max Vauxhall Company Rep]

Again David, I'm sure you can appreciate that we want to handle all the facts so we can give you, and all Corsa owners a full detailed statement. The whole benefit of us being online is to receive more product feedback then has ever been possible in the past.

 

With your comments and some further investigation, we will be able to give a full statement on the matter within a week.

 

Thank You

 

Max

Social Media Agent, Vauxhall UK

[spanner16]

Again David, I'm sure you can appreciate that we want to handle all the facts so we can give you, and all Corsa owners a full detailed statement. The whole benefit of us being online is to receive more product feedback then has ever been possible in the past.

 

With your comments and some further investigation, we will be able to give a full statement on the matter within a week.

 

Thank You

 

Max

Social Media Agent, Vauxhall UK

 

Sorry Max, "you" and I both know what the facts are and Vauxhall have done nothing so far except fire fight in an effort to keep the costs down, not good enough I'm afraid when you caonsider how much out of pocket loyal Vx owners are, I will give you a short break though, PM me a draft statement this afternoon and I won't post anymore till after I have seen it, I thinks that's fair.

Nothing personal though, I still like you

[Guest VX_Max Vauxhall Company Rep]

I'm sure you can appreciate Dave that now I have escalated it to Senior Management, it's essentially out of my hands to comment on at this point and I can't offer you a draft statement. What I can say however is, proactive action will be taken and this is a matter we are taking very seriously.

 

In regards to your posts all I can say is we want feedback and we want comments. We are carrying out constant tests and product evaluations all the time, and customer feedback is key to all of this.

 

We have only been active online for 4 months now so we are constantly picking up new product feedback and product issues we may have so we thank you.

 

 

Max

Social Media Agent, Vauxhall UK

[spanner16]

Looking forward to the Vauxhall statement of the faulity engine issue on Corsas which has been promised by next Wednesday,

The points it should address are:-

Which engines are affected?, I know of the 1.2 and 1.4 twinports, any others??

What cars are affected Corsa, Tigra etc

What engine numbers are from the faulty batc...h (I understand they begin with 19F.... and come out of the Spanish engine factory)

What you should do if you have one of these cars (check camshaft cap bolts are tightened to 8Nm)

[spanner16]

This from Max last week

"Firstly David, again thank you for all your comments. I have escalated your case and all of your concerns to Vauxhall Senior Management. If you could allow us some time to further investigate, we will be able to issue a formal statement within a week. Thank You. Max 22 September at 11:10"

That w...eek is up tomorrow, will Vx be true to their word and fess up to the failing camshafts or will they duck they issue?? just a timely warning, your camshaft could fail at any time stranding you possibly miles from home and leading to an expensive repair bill that Vx will not pay. Who wants to volunteer to hold their breath?

[heliosuk]

So Spanner, what was the statement then? For someone so voiceiferous about the problem you have been surprisingly quiet.

[spanner16]

So Spanner, what was the statement then? For someone so voiceiferous about the problem you have been surprisingly quiet.

 

As expected Vx never did make a statement... they did however pay the repair bill in full for my daughters car and they "seem" to be paying for other similar repairs without problem. We got a new top end complete with cylinder head, the only catch (if you can call it that) was that Vx insisted that it have a 60K service at the same time, this was due anyway and cost £153, to be honest we wouldn't have normally had this done by a Vx dealer but as this resolved the issue it was worth it. I am getting a lot of enquiries by email following my campaign and am answering as accurately as I can but it would have been better if Vx had come clean about the extent of the problem.

[Guest VX_Max Vauxhall Company Rep]

Hey Dave!

 

Glad to see things have finally been resolved for you! Sorry for any misunderstanding, the statement was in regards to your case individually. I required a bit of time to escalate it through the proper channels so the most Senior Management could see the inconvenience this situation has caused you, and I can only really apologise if you feel it took a little longer then nescessary.

 

Any new information I receive, I escalate for further review and investigation.

 

Cheers for your time Dave!

 

All the best!

 

Max

Social Media Agent, Vauxhall UK

[Cornish Rose]

I am stunned, I have recently had the exact same problem! My Corsa is an 05, 40,000 miles 1.0, 5 door though, but exactly the same problem, regularly serviced, on time by the Vauxhall garage I bought it from. They say they have never seen this before and tell me that the car is basically a write off or 'uneconomical to fix' and what do I want done with it!

Needless to say a little searching online and the clear extent is obvious and threads like this shows just how common this problem is.

 

Now what do I do?

[Cornish Rose]

.

 

It cannot be argued that it is a design fault as does not affect all cars. Further it is not safety related.

 

The reality is that the longer a car has no fault then statistically it's not a manufacturing defect however this has to be balanced against information fed in and is only available from dealers.

 

 

I was wondering, most reports of this failure seem to happen on a motorway or dual carriageway at around 65-70 mph? I know mine did. How can that not be a safety issue? Pitch black, freezing and a car dying in the middle of a lane?

[Guest VX_Max Vauxhall Company Rep]

Hi Cornish Rose

 

If you could e-mail me a few more details at [email protected] I can get right on and investigate this for you; see how we can help.

 

If you could send me:

 

- Contact details

- Reg/ VIN

- Mileage

- Service History details

- Dealership who have inspected the vehicle

 

 

Thanks & speak to you soon

 

Max

Social Media Agent, Vauxhall UK

[Cornish Rose]

Hi Max,

 

Thank-you for offering to help. I finally got 100%, but what a battle.

 

Rose

[stepp]

Hi max,

 

My girlfriends corsa 1.2 sxi 55 24000 miles.

 

We bought this car thinking it would last her a good few years as she doesnt do many miles. We have it serviced every year.

 

Few days ago she drove to her mums alone on a hour drive, on the way back she was doing 60mph when the car suddenly lost power and started shaking violenty.

 

Thanks god she made it to the side of the road as the police said she is lucky to be alive with the amount of traffic on the motorway.

 

I am disgusted that a car with 24000 miles on the clock has got a completely snapped cam shaft. God knows what would of happened im just thankful my girlfriend is still here.

 

Reading that VX have known and have had reports about this fault have made me livid with anger and i will not rest untill you are bought to justice.

 

I have contacted BBCs watchdog and urge all others with the same problem to do also.

 

I have written Vx an email explaining my situation and i hope they reply, as i said i will NOT let this rest.

 

VX should of recalled these cars and fixed the problem, instead you chose to do nothing and hope it would go away.

 

I will NEVER buy another Vx again, and will urge friends and family to do the same as long as i live.

 

If you wish to contact me my email is

 

steppgreen AT lineone.net

Edited January 6, 2011 by stepp