Volkswagen Golf V - Turbo replacement?!

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Tue 9 Jun 2015 13:13
Volkswagen Golf V - Turbo replacement?! - jaffakke

I bought a second hand Golf. Experienced a whole heap of problems with it and the dealer.

Took the car to a VW main dealer to get diagnosed to prove issue with dealer - no joy with the dealer, but VW diagnosed a turbo problem.

Ended up getting VW to sort the problem (new turbo £££'s), only to get it back a week later with the same issue (black smoke and hesitation). Car went back to them and I'm told that the engine had been remapped (black smoke solved) and had a fuel supply issue (hesitation solved)..

I have my suspicions as to whether the car actually ever needed a turbo given it still had the same issue once "fixed" the first time.. They are unlikely to have my old turbo as it was replaced over 2 weeks ago now so I can't ask for it back for independent inspection - what would you do?!

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Tue 9 Jun 2015 13:30
Volkswagen Golf V - Turbo replacement?! - skidpan

You took the decision to get a VW dealer to diagnose the issue thus I suspect you will struggle to get the seller the part with any cash. That would require you to resort to small claims court and even if you won there is no garantee you would actually see any money.

As for the issues I would suspect the car had been remapped by a previous owner and this may or may not have damaged the turbo but was definitely causing the smoke and hesitation. Remaps are generally a waste of time at best, how can you realistically expect a bloke with a laptop to know better than VW with thier countless millions. By restoring the factory settings the car is running correctly.

Best put it down to experience and enjoy the car.

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Tue 9 Jun 2015 14:06
Volkswagen Golf V - Turbo replacement?! - jaffakke

Thanks for your reply. I agree there would be no recourse against the seller given my decision to take it to a main dealer.

However, VW were asked to diagnose the fault of black smoke and hesitation - which they said was down to the turbo.. Which they subsequently replaced which did not resolve the issue.

I asked at the time of diagnosis if anything else could be causing the same problems to be told absolutely not (and given their millions I believed what they said)..

This doesn't appear to be the case - the new turbo did not solve the issue, the smoke screen and hesitation were both still present. After relooking at the car they found the two further issues - should these not have been flagged up at the time of the diagnosis as possible causes and been investigated before the more costly option of a new turbo?

If the turbo had been damaged by the remapping (which I am not discounting) would it not have been prudent for VW to have flagged this at the time saying "look the damaged turbo has been changed - you still have the problem and it is down to the remapping - if that isn't reversed then this turbo will go the same way"? Instead I was told that the car will now drive like new!?

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Tue 9 Jun 2015 17:38
Volkswagen Golf V - Turbo replacement?! - TedCrilly

What would I do?

I would adopt the pragmatic approach and say to myself....oh well at least the car is sorted.

The VW dealer may have made a mistake in diagnosis they may not, but you will never be able to prove anything beyond reasonable doubt and even then you would still have to get them to admit to a shortfall on their behalf, accept liabilty and offer some sort of recompense.

Its not going to happen.

It irks but you have to forget it and move on.......or you talk to a solicitor.

Your call.

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Tue 9 Jun 2015 18:35
Volkswagen Golf V - Turbo replacement?! - Ordovices

Worth bearing in mind that you don't have to prove beyond reasonable doubt in a small claims court, judgement is on the balance of probability.

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