Hi all, Please see below my story with my VW and what you think I should do. Car is a 2011 VW TDI WAGON. 164K MILES.
02/18/2020 - The Vehicle had it's recall completed at VW Melbourne. Upon handing the Vehicle over there were ZERO Oil leaks and NO Check engine Lights, or DPF Lights on the dash. My service adviser at the time did a multi point inspection on the Vehicle and it showed ZERO Oil leaks. Upon picking up the Vehicle my service adviser noted to me that a check engine light appeared during the post period testing/drive they did which seemed to be due to the intake manifold. It was then advised to drive 500 miles and bring back the Vehicle to have this replaced under the extended warranty.
Upon arriving home the same day, I noticed a couple drips of engine oil on my drive way. I checked the engine oil level and it was fine. I thought this may just be excess from the work that was performed. I continued using the car.
02/25/2020 - Upon leaving I noticed again a couple drips of engine oil and a check engine light appeared and never went off. No engine warning lights ever came on, such as low oil or low oil pressure. I regularly kept checking the oil level. I started noticing the car would go into "limp mode" more often and the check engine light never went back off. The DPF light came on and also never went back off. At this point, I didn't use the car much as I didn't want to cause any further damage and called into VW to schedule a check. It was clear to me that the engine oil problem derived exactly after the recall was done on the Vehicle.
I called VW and there next available slot was 03/09/2020.
03/09/2020 - I came and dropped the car off telling the advisers the issues noted about and how it should be covered under the extended warranty. Plus it was also made apparent that this issue derived the same day I left after the recall. In addition, It seemed the car was not officially put into VW's warranty system at the time, but the service adviser stated this should not be a problem and so I went forward and left them the car for the day.
At around 3pm the same day I get a call from VW of Melbourne stating they can not do any work on the car due to the warranty issue they mentioned above. I explained to them the situation of the car and how I felt the problem was just getting worse, and that the drive-ability of the car was making it unsafe to use on the road. I asked about them keeping it at the dealer until the warranty was in-place as this was not a fault of the consumer. They insisted there is nothing they can do. I further told them I do not feel safe using the car and that I do not want to make whatever problem the car has worse. Even with all of this there was nothing they could do for me. I had to take time out of my work day now (again) to drive 45 minutes - 1 hour to go pick up the car that they refused to work on, due to a computer processing error on there side. They would not even pay for a rental.
03/10/2020 - 8AM - I picked up the VW from them early morning. Upon arrival, it seemed someone left something on on my VW as they needed to Jump start the Vehicle due to a dead battery. They tried there best to do this discretely but I saw them. The battery is one year old and I've not had any starting issues with the car. They then went out there way to say they did not leave anything on to drain the battery.
03/11/2020 - I called VW Customer CARE to speak to someone who could help me out with the situation which was how I ended up being forwarded on to the regional manager.
03/16/2020 - Warranty issue now entered on the system so I took the car back. Loss of power/constantly in limp mode. Pretty sure the turbo was gone as I heard occasional turbo whine. Told VW the situation and they insisted they can not cover the failed turbo because of oil starvation which was caused by the apparent oil leak. The oil leak was diagnosed and also not covered under the emissions warranty and I was charged $180 for that. Tried to fight that but they would not release the car back to me unless I paid. I escalated the case with the regional manager and "apparently" the warranty side got involved and verified the dealers side.
So long story short. I took the car in for the emissions recall, came out with oil leak, check engine light and 400 miles later a failed turbo. VW would not warranty any work whatsoever. I'm kinda fed up fighting VW plus I'm not sure what else I could do. Any advise most welcomed.
BTW the TDI didn't go through the settlement stuff because it was buddies at the time who was overseas (school). He recently sold it to me as he moved back full time. I took it in for the recall, as I saw the post-warranty period as a advantage to any potential problems down the line. Didn't think it was going to mess the car up so much. It was well taken care of prior, a lot of commuting and road trip miles.
02/18/2020 - The Vehicle had it's recall completed at VW Melbourne. Upon handing the Vehicle over there were ZERO Oil leaks and NO Check engine Lights, or DPF Lights on the dash. My service adviser at the time did a multi point inspection on the Vehicle and it showed ZERO Oil leaks. Upon picking up the Vehicle my service adviser noted to me that a check engine light appeared during the post period testing/drive they did which seemed to be due to the intake manifold. It was then advised to drive 500 miles and bring back the Vehicle to have this replaced under the extended warranty.
Upon arriving home the same day, I noticed a couple drips of engine oil on my drive way. I checked the engine oil level and it was fine. I thought this may just be excess from the work that was performed. I continued using the car.
02/25/2020 - Upon leaving I noticed again a couple drips of engine oil and a check engine light appeared and never went off. No engine warning lights ever came on, such as low oil or low oil pressure. I regularly kept checking the oil level. I started noticing the car would go into "limp mode" more often and the check engine light never went back off. The DPF light came on and also never went back off. At this point, I didn't use the car much as I didn't want to cause any further damage and called into VW to schedule a check. It was clear to me that the engine oil problem derived exactly after the recall was done on the Vehicle.
I called VW and there next available slot was 03/09/2020.
03/09/2020 - I came and dropped the car off telling the advisers the issues noted about and how it should be covered under the extended warranty. Plus it was also made apparent that this issue derived the same day I left after the recall. In addition, It seemed the car was not officially put into VW's warranty system at the time, but the service adviser stated this should not be a problem and so I went forward and left them the car for the day.
At around 3pm the same day I get a call from VW of Melbourne stating they can not do any work on the car due to the warranty issue they mentioned above. I explained to them the situation of the car and how I felt the problem was just getting worse, and that the drive-ability of the car was making it unsafe to use on the road. I asked about them keeping it at the dealer until the warranty was in-place as this was not a fault of the consumer. They insisted there is nothing they can do. I further told them I do not feel safe using the car and that I do not want to make whatever problem the car has worse. Even with all of this there was nothing they could do for me. I had to take time out of my work day now (again) to drive 45 minutes - 1 hour to go pick up the car that they refused to work on, due to a computer processing error on there side. They would not even pay for a rental.
03/10/2020 - 8AM - I picked up the VW from them early morning. Upon arrival, it seemed someone left something on on my VW as they needed to Jump start the Vehicle due to a dead battery. They tried there best to do this discretely but I saw them. The battery is one year old and I've not had any starting issues with the car. They then went out there way to say they did not leave anything on to drain the battery.
03/11/2020 - I called VW Customer CARE to speak to someone who could help me out with the situation which was how I ended up being forwarded on to the regional manager.
03/16/2020 - Warranty issue now entered on the system so I took the car back. Loss of power/constantly in limp mode. Pretty sure the turbo was gone as I heard occasional turbo whine. Told VW the situation and they insisted they can not cover the failed turbo because of oil starvation which was caused by the apparent oil leak. The oil leak was diagnosed and also not covered under the emissions warranty and I was charged $180 for that. Tried to fight that but they would not release the car back to me unless I paid. I escalated the case with the regional manager and "apparently" the warranty side got involved and verified the dealers side.
So long story short. I took the car in for the emissions recall, came out with oil leak, check engine light and 400 miles later a failed turbo. VW would not warranty any work whatsoever. I'm kinda fed up fighting VW plus I'm not sure what else I could do. Any advise most welcomed.
BTW the TDI didn't go through the settlement stuff because it was buddies at the time who was overseas (school). He recently sold it to me as he moved back full time. I took it in for the recall, as I saw the post-warranty period as a advantage to any potential problems down the line. Didn't think it was going to mess the car up so much. It was well taken care of prior, a lot of commuting and road trip miles.