What is life like with your car? Let us know and win £500 in John Lewis vouchers | No thanks
I'm faced with a huge bill for turbo issues with my diesel car - should it be repaired under warranty?
I have a 2015 Vauxhall Insignia. I’ve only had the car just over a year, but a couple of weeks ago it broke down with white smoke belting out the back of the exhaust. The car is now at Arnold Clark. I had my car serviced in December 2017 and it's been running fine until this has happened. I’ve been checking the oil and water every week. Arnold Clark are telling my that I have to pay £90 to have an oil and filter change done as there is far to much oil in the car - as well as damage to the turbo and pipes having to be cleaned out (costing £1180). They contacted me again to tell me the sensors have been damaged in the exhaust and need to be replaced, which now brings the total to £1400+. Now they tell me they think there’s damage in the engine and it could possibly be the pistons. Arnold Clark are now telling me that there been a build up of oil in the car that hasn’t been burnt off and I should’ve been taking it on a long road and driving it in a low gear to burn the excess oil off. I explained to them that I didn’t have any warning of this happening. I’m being put under pressure from the garage to pay this huge bill for the damage when I feel I haven’t done anything wrong, I just don't do excessive mileage.
Asked on 10 March 2018 by John Gailley
Answered by
Honest John
This is typical of the problems that occur with a diesel car fitted with a diesel particulate filter that simply isn't driven far enough for the DPF to regenerate properly, either passively or actively. The engine has filled up with post injected diesel intended to fire up and burn off soot in the DPF, but has probably been switched off before this happened. This raises the level of the sump oil in the engine to the point at which a compression ignition engine car run on its sump oil. For the type of use you put it to, you should not have bought a diesel.
Similar questions
I was sold a brand new Nissan X-Trail diesel almost two years ago. I told the dealer that we only travel around 8000 miles a year and now I'm being told the car needs £300 of work due to not being driven...
I recently bought my son a BMW 1 Series for his 18th birthday. Soon after the filter light came on. We took it to a garage to be looked at and the turbo was burnt out, so had to be replaced. We also had...
I have a Peugeot 2008 1.6-litre BlueHDI. I'm aware that travelling very short journeys is not good for diesel cars. However, occasionally it is unavoidable to undertake such journeys. Is it beneficial...
Related models
Solid all-rounder that’s good in all areas, cheap to run, excellent value as a used car and loads around, five star Euro NCAP rating.