HPFP on 2013 Passat

2013 Passat with 52,000 miles. Stalled on the road after a week from recent fueling of known diesel. Friend who worked for VW pulled you code said it was p0087. He reset it and tried to get it into limp mode to get it home and it wouldn’t start. Towed to local guy who called me and said take it to VW, metal shavings in the fuel. VW called me and said they did a VAS test and it failed (unhappy face). This makes the warranty voided. Called corporate and they returned my call with the same info. I am stuck with the bill now.
1. Are they supposed to send away for fuel analysis after failure of VAS testing?
2. Any ideas about going after fueling station?
3. Any ideas on goodwill from VW paying some of the bill?

TIA

I'm new to these cars. What is VAS and how would you fail?

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You'd want to get a fuel sample from that station asap. But it wouldn't necessarily be that fill-up that contaminated the fuel. Did any family or friends drive the car over the holidays? I wouldn't trust VW's cheesy analyzer gadget anyhow. How many precision scientific instruments give measurements in smiley faces or frowny faces? You ought to draw your own sample from the car too. Good luck.

And yes, they are supposed to send a sample off to a lab for analysis if the sample fails the specific gravity and VAS sniffer tests. You should insist on that lab analysis.

That’s what I thought. Crazy how they quickly jumped to saying my warranty was void. VWoA has not been helpful at all. Everyone seems clueless about a process, but maybe that’s the way there are trained to be....

Dont just have them send of a test get a sample from your tank and have it tested yourself. Trying to get the customer to pay is the default setting for any dealership, some are better than others at it. There are a couple reasons why
#1 VW has already spent enough money on the dieselgate cars, if they can get someone else to pay for it other than them they will.
#2 Dealers would prefer a customer pay over VW because they charge the customer full shop rate AND get to profit off of the parts. If VW is paying they can only charge what VW is willing to pay (lower that shop rate by a considerable margin) AND they provide the parts so the dealer cant charge markup on them.

If you can prove through your own testing that your fuel wasnt contaminated you have a case. If your fuel is contaminated, try to go after the fuel station (s) you used and good luck with their insurance. Either way you may have to foot the bill initially and hopefully get compensation on the back end. Good luck!!!

Get testing done from the fuel supplier and or a letter from them stating no other incidents due to contaminated fuel for the time frame when you fueled there. Your own independent test from your car as well as insisting VW do a legitimate test themselves. Call and talk with one of the attorneys that are/were responsible for the dieselgate fiasco and tell them your story and how VW is trying to get out of their obligation. See if you can find your own attorney. VW can refuse all they want and you will have to prove non contaminated fuel and that they are responsible under the warranty. Not like these cars didn't already have a history of this.

This is the best advice I could ask for!! I was starting waiver and then you guys have stoked the fire. The whole situation is unreal. It’s a sad situation that anyone should go through!

In the past this was kind of typical for VW "before" dieselgate happened.

Does anyone have a recommendation for who to use for sending my own fuel sample?

Blackstone Labs comes to mind, FOI Labs, ALS Fuel Testing Labs.

Good luck, keep us posted on the outcome.

Agreed with Blackstone labs

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Fuel siphoned today. They were super nice at dealership (haha). Actually informed me my fuel rail fuel failed the “sniffer” test three times. I went with FOI labs and I am getting the best test they got. For the record no metal shavings noted in fuel that I got from the tank. The diesel looked normal just eyeballing it. They did inform me to contact my insurance company. They were sure this would be covered.

I'd be curious if there were any metal shavings in the fuel filter itself.

The sniffer test is a joke; hopefully the lab results come back good, then you've got a case.

Rxh007 said:

Fuel siphoned today. They were super nice at dealership (haha). Actually informed me my fuel rail fuel failed the “sniffer” test three times. I went with FOI labs and I am getting the best test they got. For the record no metal shavings noted in fuel that I got from the tank. The diesel looked normal just eyeballing it. They did inform me to contact my insurance company. They were sure this would be covered.

Click to expand...

You should contact your insurance company anyway. With the weight of their lawyers, maybe they can get VW to budge enough to open the crack of opportunity. Make sure to contact the dieselgate settlement lawyers too.

Agreed, call your insurance agent and let them know. They may want to send an inspector to the dealership to see for themselves.

Update

I spoke to corporate and they wanted to close the case. I told them I was on my way down to get a fuel sample. It was a pain, but I successfully was able to obtain a sample. I spoke w the service manager and he told me that it failed their “sniffer” test three times and I should really contact my insurance department. I sent the sample to FOI labs and I waited. During this time the corporate representative contacted me and stated they began working on the car as the warranty department had decided to repair the fuel system under warranty. I recently had the results returned. Passed all test. No bad fuel. The car was out of my possession for greater than a month and I incurred hundreds of dollars dealing with this issue. A tow and a test should be refunded in my opinion. Any other thoughts?

Which dealership? They should be avoided. And yes, they should reimburse you for the fuel test at a minimum.

I live in Nashville. I was told that Hallmark Volkswagen in cool springs is the best in town. This is definitely a place I would be weary of. I have never been through something like this in my life.

They are only carrying out VW Headquarters instructions. I would send them a bill for anything that you are out and have documents/receipts for. Take them to small claims court if need be. Turn the story over to the dieselgate attorneys as well so there is record of VW's shenanigans. Contrary to the instructions from the court.