2005 VW Polo 1.2 - Misfiring regularly

[essexbrummie]

Hi all,

 

Sorry to bother you with this but my car is experiencing similar things. I bought a VW Polo in 2005, a 1.2.The car was brand new.I have had it serviced with VW regularly aswell as having anything that needed fixing fixed by them at ridiculous prices. Until my most recent service, the reason being that I now have a son and have to prioritise my cash.

 

The car started to misfire on idle. I had the machine plugged in at Kwik fit who told me it was a misfire cylinder 2 and to replace the coil packs.Did this, still happened. Then I got a friend to test the plugs and the injectors, still it misfired on idle.

So I gave up hope of cutting costs on this problem and went to VW. paid £52 for them to tell me they couldn't diagnose, but would if it happened again for free.

 

The car is getting worse by the day,misfiring on every journey and yes it has been on the motorway a few times (which appears to make things worse when I slow down).

So I took it bck to VW today for my free diagnosis. They told me that they did a compression test, there is low compression on cylinder 2. They 'think' it needs a new cylinder head at the cost of £1400 to me.

 

I was so devastated and in shock that I walked out of there and drove home...without questioning why a 6/7 yr old car with 52,000 miles on the clock would require work that cost the same as a new engine.

The car has no warranty left but if anyone could help me it would be very much appreciated. I want to complain to VW as I feel like I've been completely ripped off but I don't know where to start.

 

Thanks

Rachael

Edited March 1, 2012 by Conniff

[essexbrummie]

I have the details for the man I bought the car from, should I complain to him or the VW garage that have diagnosed it?

[robbie21mcn]

speak to consumer direct. they were extremely helpful with our case. you will probably find that volkswagen will give you the parts free as a goodwill but wont pay for the labour. so you may need to fight with the garage you got it from to cover the labour cost. truth is this is VW's fault. they produced rotten faulty engines but are not willing to correct their wrong doings. i have a copy of the independent report for our car if you need a copy. it proves that our car was not only faulty but mentions there are load of these polo's with these faulty valves inside their engines ticking away waiting to fail!!!

[essexbrummie]

Thank you so much for replying, will pm you if I need the report

[essexbrummie]

Hi

My plan was to email the salesman I got the car from but he doesn't wok for VW anymore. I have the number for VW customer care but have heard bad things about the

. Plus I'm likely to bottle it on the phone, would rather email/send a letter but can't find any details!

[essexbrummie]

speak to consumer direct. they were extremely helpful with our case. you will probably find that volkswagen will give you the parts free as a goodwill but wont pay for the labour. so you may need to fight with the garage you got it from to cover the labour cost. truth is this is VW's fault. they produced rotten faulty engines but are not willing to correct their wrong

doings. i have a copy of the independent report for our car if you

need a copy. it proves that our car was not only faulty but mentions there are load of these polo's with these faulty valves inside their engines ticking away waiting to fail!!!

 

 

 

 

VW have said that they only give goodwill to cars under 5 years old

Edited June 19, 2012 by MARTIN3030

[citizenB]

Posts moved from main thread : - HERE

[Damson]

speak to consumer direct. they were extremely helpful with our case. you will probably find that volkswagen will give you the parts free as a goodwill but wont pay for the labour. so you may need to fight with the garage you got it from to cover the labour cost. truth is this is VW's fault. they produced rotten faulty engines but are not willing to correct their wrong doings. i have a copy of the independent report for our car if you need a copy. it proves that our car was not only faulty but mentions there are load of these polo's with these faulty valves inside their engines ticking away waiting to fail!!!

 

thanks for the advice about consumer direct. I will try them too. Is there any chance you would be able to pm you're report?

[essexbrummie]

VW customer services have been useless. They now want me to have my car diagnosed a third time. The service manager at my local VW has offered me 40% off labour so the total cost would be £1359. I was quoted £1400 (with no discount) in March. VW customer care said it's because the prices have gone up!!!!

[essexbrummie]

I am getting more and more annoyed with VW customer care. I cannot send PMs as I have not made enough posts. If anybody can help please post on this thread. If you can't help but your car is having the same problem then please email me your details edited

as I don't plan to let VW get away with this!!

Edited July 15, 2012 by MARTIN3030

[MARTIN3030]

Email details edited,as its against site rules.

[heliosuk]

You need to e mail the CEO, Martin Winterkorn, of VW in Wolfsburg, Germany. This triggers a response after a few days and is then referred back to VAG UK. The people you are dealing with at present are not VW but another company. In your e mail you should mention the fault only and not any legal action as they will close all avenues down.

 

In your e mail you should mention that it is a fundamental engineering design fault. Do not expect a full settlement but 75% of the cost via VW is the minimum you should accept. This will probably equate to you covering the labour. Do not accept a repair as it will not work. I've had a 100% succes rate with the cases I have taken on via CAG. Step outside of this and you will end up with nought.

[essexbrummie]

Thank you I'll let you know what happens

[Guest]

good stuff there heliosuk.

they did a compression test which showed a problem, which it prob is valve? but in general, one way to diy double check there is to swap over a coil and see if the fault still lies with the same cylinder and there is not a wiring problem? this would require though a bit of help and a diy vag diagnostic re the fault code. could your friend do that?

Edited July 18, 2012 by Ford

[essexbrummie]

I sent the email and got a response the next day saying that it would be passed to the UK and that I should hear from them soon. They even said sorry for the problems I've been having- better customer service than the customer care line! I've had a phonecall from the executive office today asking what I want. I said that I want more of a contribution from VW so that they keep me as a customer. The woman asked if this is my first VW so I don't know if she thinks I'm in the Market to buy more??anyway she is going to 'look into it' and call me back. Fingers crossed

[heliosuk]

This is the standard response/procedure. At least you are now dealing with VW and not an outsourced call centre. Next step will be requiring confirmation of diagnosis from VW dealership which you should already have by the looks of it. You seem to be dealing with this sensibly but do not go for 100%. Settle on a replacement head and associated parts but offer a percentage toward labour and cover service items such as A/freeze etc. Once you get this confirmed go quickly to garage with the oil required as they will stich you up on this. Dealer oil prices are some 500% more than what you can buy for at a UNI PART centre (previously Part Co) and they sell to public as well. All the stuff they sell is usually OEM just re-packaged.Not as cheap as the Blue and yellow logo company rapidly expanding or the original red and white logo one but the parts are quantifiable as being good unlike the others.

[essexbrummie]

They have said all they can do is increase my goodwill to 50% off labour because of the age of the car and because one of my services was 4 months late?!I sad even though this is a known fault that VW won't acknowledge? She said it is not a known fault.

[essexbrummie]

The car is in the garage, they have taken it apart and said it has a cracked valve. They are still 'recommending' that the cylinder head is replaced. Is this right?one of my friends has said that only the valve should be replaced.

[heliosuk]

Sorry, your friend is wrong here. The issue with these heads is the VALVE SEAT cracking. It's a design fault. The VW fix is to send the head off to be machined and have inserts fitted. What is not generally known is that thereis only 4 thou to play with. Generally to get rid of the crack you would have to machine more than 4 thou.

 

It is possible to do it but the machine shop has to be good and so does the head,th chances of which are minimal.

 

The ONLY good,real and permanent fix for this issue is the latest head with the latest valves. END OF.

 

If you don't do this it will come back again and whilst not be a betting person I'm willing to bet my house that by having it repaired it will not work. The dimensions for a start just don't stack up.

 

NEW HEAD AND VALVES or nothing else!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[essexbrummie]

Ok thank you

[shiv21]

Is there any update on the issue as Iam having similar problems?

 

How did you email VW in germany? Where did you find the email address of Martin Winterkorn?

 

Also did you have to pay for the initial diagnosis?

[essexbrummie]

Think I googled the email, that only got me around another £90 off. Think I paid £1200 in the end. They wouldn't budge because of the age of my car and said that one of my services was late?!. They just con u really by saying you can have 50% off labour but the total cost was only £200 less than my first quote as the 'prices went up'.