£1300 on a new crank after it leaks oil... what?

[TriGGER]

People of the forum I'm looking for some advice from you.

Few of you may know that I last year bought a Scirocco, 2.0TDi it's my pride and joy I tell you. I travel around 500 miles a week, mainly motorway mileage, I have never really rev'd the shit out of it. Hardly go above the 4.000 rpm marker.

So anyway since I've had it, It's been in the garage for a few teething problems which I understand may/possibly come about as you change cars. Having a warranty gives you a peace of mind. So anyway issues have included faulty air conditioning (fitting of a faulting unit once after replacement immediately), faulty headlight unit and turbo boost sensor. Anyway I always go to VW to get it serviced, every 10,000 miles and make ensure it is in top nick to the best of my knowledge.

My car was approaching the 65,000 mile mark at the start of this year, so I decided to get my service done and at the same time had the cambelt changed. I was advised to have it changed at 70,000 so I thought lets just get it done early and it'll be good for the car. Along with this they advised me to have a crank seal change due to an oil leak, it was a few quid so I told them to change it for sure. Now this was slightly strange as before they had told me when it went in for its MOT in at the end of November it was leaking some oil and they had tightened a screw to stop it.

So anyway recently as I've been driving to work and it's been quite wet on the ground, I've noticed some strange stream of coloring on the floor next to my car, I didn't think to myself it was any oil. I did however take some pictures just in case it happened again then i know for sure it's coming from my car. Recently I had to take the company pool car home whilst leaving my car at work on a slight hill and in a secure car park, in the morning not only myself but most of my colleagues noticed something leaking from my car and I mean loads of it, there were traces of a stream down the slant. Definitely an oil leak coming from my car, booked it in but they couldn't see it until in about four or five days time.

I always keep a spare litre bottle of oil in my car due to the long miles I do, I never want to be in a position where my engine leaks oil and I haven't any to replace it, I know how serious it is to drive without the correct oil levels. I drove it to work knowing I should be okay as long as my oil levels are right. The day I had to drop it off I was going to work and I was probably only 4 - 5 miles away from work and my low level oil warning light came on, so I knew thank god I got enough oil, just get to work, during my break I'll check the levels and I'll fill it up, the oil level was below the minimum marker so I dumped the whole litre bottle in and I got to about half way and I decided to get another two just in case. Anyway I wanted to get the oil level all the way to the top, so I put in half of the bottle, checked the dipstick, and had room for another half, I dumped in the whole thing, check again and boy it looked like i shot the mark. I know I'm going on abit now so I'm going to shoot on abit. I called the RAC, he checked the levels and he said it was bang on the max marker, I have nothing to worry about. We also checked where the leak was coming from, and it was the crank seal again, took pictures of it too. Also noticed the acoustic sump barrier was zip tied onto the bottom of it, I wasn't happy about that - least of my problems I think.

That night I dropped it off and left it with security when it was closed as I always have done. Its been there ever since and I haven't brought it back as of this post. I told VW about it in the morning about the RAC coming down and we found the leak at the crank seal. During the day she rang me back and told me that they can't replace it until they get the part in to fix it so I'll have to wait another 5 days as it would have to be booked in again. Well I left the car there and another 5 days later they rang me up again and told me well they installed the seal, but there is still a leak in the car. The CRANKSHAFT isn't sitting on the crank seal properly, so they need to replace the crank itself. Yes, a full engine rebuild will be needed for that, new bearings, new bolts the lot - well I hope new bearings and bolts anyway. I'm annoyed but glad they rang me and told me its no problem , they've just got to get it authorized from VW and its 99.99999% sure that it'll be approved and but it'll have to be booked in again for it to be worked on.

So the next day I'm told that it won't be done under warranty. Now my warranty expired on the 11 December 2012, and I bought the extended warranty on the 7th January. I had the service and the original crank seal replaced on the 11th. However my warranty doesn't come into effect until after 30 days of payment, I'M PISSED but they have a recording, I've requested this.

One of my concerns is, that even if it was or wasn't under warranty, they should have checked the seal wasn't leaking again after the first time they fixed this. Has this originated from the screw that has been tightened, which was in November? Is the screw normally what secures the crank seal? I've been quoted £1300 for a new crank discounted from £2500 as I'm a good customer. I'm pissed what are your guys thoughts on this if you've had it in you to read all of that above?

[phil4]

You'd have to read the small print of the extended warranty to find out what your entitled to.

If that doesn't go your way, your next possible option is to demonstrate negligence during previous fixes.

Unfortunately if all were right in the world, you'd be covered since a) you'd paid for a warranty and b) you'd not misused or abused the car nor caused the damage.

If you read the T&Cs and they are in the right you may just be better off taking the goodwill offer.

Good luck!

Phil

[TriGGER]

I have no problem paying for something that actually was caused during the period of when I wasn't covered under warranty. But the way I see it is that a mechanic any good mechanic should have noticed this problem earlier as tightening a screw in my eyes has just had a knock on effect to other areas of the car. It pains me to have to go through this as my experience with my local VW is pretty good and im just annoyed they have partially let me down too. I'm going to be writing to all of the people who should be involved in this.