Advice for getting ECU replaced under Dieselgate Warranty?

[cactussam85]

So, my 2011 A3 recently took a sh*t on me whilst driving about a week ago and I promptly had it towed to my local trusted guru. He spent about a week chasing down the faults/codes stored in the car and eventually diagnosed it as having a bad ECU. He told me that the ECU is covered under the dieselgate warranty and, after clearing all the codes to the point the car would run, advised that I drive it until it fails again and then to take it to Audi since they wouldn't accept his diagnosis without having their techs hook their scanners into the car.

Picked up the car in the afternoon, drove home with no issues, and then couldn't get the car to start again after that (only blinking coil light and "SAFE" showing up over the odometer compared to the absolute freakout of failures the dash showed me the first time [brakes failed, TPMS failed, and multiple others]).

When talking to the service advisor and mentioning how my trusted mechanic diagnosed the ECU as bad and that it should be covered under the extended warranty, the advisor said, "Well, that really only covers the emissions system of the car..." I'm anticipating them telling me it's going to cost thousands for a new ECU as opposed to them just ponying up for a new chip, or worse, trying to get me to throw parts at the car until it's "fixed."

What should I do? I have a printout from the letter that went out to those affected, and the language regarding "the entire fuel system," and "any malfunctions detected by the OBD system other than those related to the transmission," not to mention the whole "Conflicts concerning the warranty are to be resolved in favor of the consumer."

How would you handle this?

 

[Lightflyer1]

Get it to the dealer. No one can tell you what they will say. Talk to them calmly and explain what happened. See what they say. They will always tell you you are responsible for a diagnostic fee and you might be, just depends on what they find. Until you do that you will never know. It may all just be covered too. You can discuss whether it should be covered or not once you know what they say is wrong.

 

[JM Popaleetus]

Ask them what controls the emissions system and related CEL?

The ECU.

You certainly might have a bit of a fight. But it’s in your best interests not to mention your own diagnosis. The reason it limps into the dealership should also be emission’s related.

 

[Zawurah]

VW Emissions Modification Lookup

www.vwdieselinfo.com

Parts Covered Under Extended Warranty

• The entire exhaust after treatment system, including the Selective Catalytic Reduction converter (SCR), Reducing Agent (AdBlue®) Injector, other Diesel Exhaust Fluid (DEF) system components, Diesel Particulate Filter (DPF) including Oxidation Catalytic Converter, the exhaust flap, and all sensors and actuators;
• The entire fuel system, including fuel pumps, high pressure fuel rail, fuel injectors, vibration damper, pressure control valve, and all sensors and actuators;
• The EGR system, including EGR valves, EGR cooler, EGR filter, EGR temperature sensor, all related hoses and pipes, and all sensors and actuators;
• The charge air temperature sensor and air-mass sensor;
• The turbocharger, including the turbocharger damper;
• The glow plug;
• The On-Board Diagnostic (OBD) system, any malfunctions detected by the On-Board Diagnostic (OBD) system other than those related to the transmission

 

[Steve Addy]

Never tell a dealership you've already had someone look at it, that's just giving them something they can use as a wedge to deny responsibility.

Steve

 

[Terrific-In-Tahoma]

While the addage, "Never tell a Lawyer, any bad lawyer jokes" comes to mind, you may wish to hold off spilling the beans on when it first started happening, you may wish to wait until it fills up its code tables with enough malfunction codes, until it is running quite roughly, or needs to be towed again.

Why, I say that, is because unless the mechanics can have something that is in their flow chart of things to check, prior to replacement of the ECU,(One of the last items, BTW), they would essentially be going blind, and are just throwing parts at it until one of them "fixes" your issue(s).

If the "probability" of failure experience indicates, that there were other parts failing, that caused the same or similar symptoms, where do you think VWoA would pony up the money in the repairs for?

My guess, is the dealer will start with the least expensive parts, then proceed through the chain untill, it gets to the ECU, but this might take 5 or 10 steps to get there.

YMMV.

BTW(The dealer makes premium dollars from VWoA on warranty repairs). The dealer network is designed so it will continually make a profit)

 

[BTHORE]

How many miles are on the car? Warrenty covers how many miles? Out come? thx bthor