She said it wouldn’t even start. So something is really fishy. Depending on why the car was taken to the dealer in the first place. Why exactly does the car not start? What happened to it. It may have to be towed somewhere else to get a clean diagnosis on it. Cars don’t just all of a sudden fall apart-usually. Reminds me of a novel I just read where the battery cable was cut causing the car to be declared junk.
I think @dilapi has to calm down, carefully make copies of all records and to check if warranty still applies.
Getting 10K miles intervals or less between oil changes would be essential.
Never give original documents to VW dealer, keep the originals.
Bring maintenance records to VW dealer and politely ask either for warranty repair or for written rejection with clear explanation of the reason, at which point to decide if it is possible to escalate to VM corporate or not.
It may be few caveats why warranty would not apply (above 10K miles per oil change, no legit records), otherwise whatever receptionist at VW dealer claims is only what she thinks warranty is, if owner has a strong case it may go even legal route, but since it is expensive and outcome is not guaranteed, it is better to escalate to VM corporate first and try resolving the issue in calm manner.
I’d agree except the fishy part is the car doesn’t start now for some reason-all of a sudden. I’d want to know why for sure and not sure you can trust the shop it is in. I’d tow it out first to another dealer or shop. I dropped a timing chain 50 miles from home and the shop claimed the engine was shot. I had it towed home and fixed it that weekend for $150. If the engine is shot, and its a leased car, that will either need an engine or to be bought out, warrants at least a second opinion to determine what for sure has gone on. I smell a rat.
The shop probably removed the valve cover for inspection, the customer can’t start the engine and drive off until the engine is reassembled.
@bing, I would agree that whole story has a strong smell of fish in this part of “engine died when at dealer”
if any other VW dealer is around, IMHO that would work better than some “other” shop, as it will be less argue with VW after that
I would definitely not try any disassembly or other thing to get to the root cause to avoid making it even messier
They said the engine is dead though and won’t even start.
“They said”, we don’t know what they said, the information provided so far isn’t clear at all.
@Nevada_545 True we don’t know what the dealer said but it seems fairly clear they want to stick her for $12,000 on a leased car.
the service shop told me that the engine has to be replaced because i didnt have the oil fitler changed when i had my oil changed he said that they did an oil change for me at 11252 miles and that i oil fitler i have in it now is the one they put in 2016 he also told me that i needed a timing change i have no idea what a timing change is but i drove my car in the service shop without a problem…i never heard of an engine for 12000 it seems to be more then the cost of the buy out for this car which is 15690 in 4 more months if i want to
They have evidence that the oil filter on the engine is the one that was installed in 2016, what is the evidence? They take pictures, did you? If your service provider did not replace the oil filter when you paid for the oil and filter change you should have a claim against them.
Rather than “timing change” perhaps they said that the timing chain and guides were worn resulting in the problems that caused you to take the vehicle in for repairs.
Why did you take the car to the shop?
i took the car to shop because sometime in the begining of dec i recieved a notice if the car gets a warning light i forgot what the 3 letters were but if it can on i shouldnt drive the car and bring it to the service shop the car drove fine but i was nervous because of their letter which i throw out because at the time i only had 4 months left and i was going to get a new leased car i have their records of them doing ce on my car on 4/2016 which i needed a tire and they say they did an oil change at 11254 mileage do the oil fitlers comewith a number on them so i can check they also said that they doubted that the service station stoped while he was doing an oil change that he went out and got a volkswagon oil fitler…the car was driveable i drove it there without a problem and now i need an engine
I think that @Nevada_545 is right and that the service writer meant that it needed a new “Timing chain” kit.
Many times the service technician will use a sharpie and mark the mileage and date on the filter.
This may be their proof that the filter was not changed.
Yosemite
and from what I recall, 2.0 TSi engine inside this Tiguan has “famous” VW design making it prone to wear chain/guides very fast if oil is not changed regularly
we still have mixed messages about oil changes, looks like between 11K and 57K it is the “area 51” on how car was maintained and by what shop
I would say, things start coming together
This is not meant to say your problem is not serious and you have a right to be upset. But your run on posts are hard to read and the facts are not clear. If you have to contact Volkswagen Corporate in writing you will need to be short and concise for them to take you serious. They will look for ways to deny putting an engine in your leased vehicle.
You should have some kind of a work order that lists why they are saying the warranty will not cover this.
You state that you plan to lease another vehicle after this is over so have all of your service done at the selling dealer on the schedule so there will be a paper trail.
Yes it is a little hard to read but what is coming throw the broken English is a rat somewhere. I really think she needs to get someone to start taking a look to make sure all the evidence is collected and not discarded. Was the filter marked-make sure it is kept for evidence. What is the exact problem with the engine? So provided the oil changes were done as she says, either the dealer or the shop providing the oil changes that didn’t change the filter is on the hook for the $12,000. Someone needs to get a handle on this and not sure if that is a lawyer or another mechanic to try and sort this out.
Other than the fact there needs to be a lot more clarification about the problem I will say this. You are incorrect in your assumption because you use synthetic oil that it’s good for 10k miles. Not so. There are factors other than miles and that includes time along with (courtesy of VW…)
Severe operating conditions
Regular short trips or stop-and-go operation in urban traffic
High percentage of cold starts
Vehicle is used in areas with winter temperatures over a long period
Regular long periods of idling (e.g. taxis)
Vehicle is often driven at full throttle with high payload or while towing a trailer
Using diesel with elevated sulphur content
Regular operation in areas with high levels of dust
*Consult with your Volkswagen Service Advisor for more details on severe conditions.
Sorry you are having this difficulty OP. It would be super-unusual for a repair or oil-change shop to only change the oil and not the filter. Suggest you go to those shops that changed your oil in the past , pay them a visit and ask what they did. Unless you told them not to change the filter, the filter was probably changed at the same time the oil was changed. Going forward suggest to not go beyond 5,000 miles intervals for the oil and filter change-outs. Your car sports both a turbo and variable valve timing, both of which are sensitive to the oil’s cleanliness & qualities… Not every gonna save enough skimping on oil & filter changes to pay for the add’l risk to the engine you incur by deferring that maintenance. While an engine is under warranty good idea to have routine maintenance done by VW, or at least purchase the supplies from a VW dealership and keep the receipts.
The timing chain looks very similar to a bicycle chain, and is what synchronizes the valve’s opening and closing to the piston movement. the timing chain & components are also very sensitive to engine oil. Another reason to not defer routine maintenance.
Having to replace an engine at 57K is a rare thing here, but maybe you just got unlucky. If you don’t have the records to prove the oil and filter was changed per the maintenance recommendations, I expect you are going to have to pay for this yourself. Note that you don’t need to have the engine replacement job done by VW if it isn’t being done under warranty, and you could use an engine from a wrecked Tiguan rather than a new engine. Both would save you $$ considerably. Best of luck.
The problem is this is a leased car so the work needs to conform to VW. The other way would be to pay off the four months left of the lease and buy it out. Fix it whatever way you want and then sell it or trade it again.
I’m still saying that if she has records that say the filter was changed, either the oil change shop or the dealer needs to be on the hook and fight it out. It might be a long hard fight though, so yeah maybe buy it, fix it, and keep it until the issue is settled in court or otherwise.
Good catch Bing . I didn’t realize it was leased. Just to make things more complicated …
i sent the records to vw but she wouldnt except them because i doesnt have my vin nmber just my name plate # and mileage and the fact that they did a oil change and fitler but volks service shop said that i never had the oil fitler because it is the one they supposely put on in 2016. which i dont understand i think there is something wrong because i called my extended warranty co and they said in 2017 they paid the shop money for a battery and yet they charged me for the battery so something isnt right here i called vw today and they said they are sticking to their decision so i will take them to court and i will buy the car from them and just fight them all the way my car drove fine to the shop and now they say it doesnt start because i need an engine for 12000 do engine cost that much
In a message dated 1/23/2019 10:08:07 PM Eastern Standard Time, cartalk@discoursemail.com writes: