Scum in coolant reservoir

[Spinifex]

At least head gasket failures in VAG stuff are pretty rare these days.

That is definitely a comforting thought!

OK - spoke to the mechanic today at some length. He was awesome and explained everything clearly, and not once did I feel he was bull****ting me, which put my mind at ease.

It appears the oil cooler has developed a leak - they think that once it's removed and inspected, it will be something simple like a baffle plate internally has come loose/not been welded in place properly, which has caused it to break loose and allow the mixing of fluids.

They've got about 99% of the parts coming from Sydney warehouse (should have arrived today) and there's just one little valve or something that wasn't available, so it's been ordered from Germany.

But on checking their stock control system, it appears a couple are already on their way and are already in Singapore, so hopefully they will arrive in Sydney in the next few days, then overnight bag to Brisbane again to finish it off.

They're basically replacing everything coolant related - radiator, oil cooler, all hoses, thermostat and water pump even!
I can't complain too much about that, as it seems pretty comprehensive.
The only thing they're not replacing is the heater core, which is inside the cabin and would require removing the dash, which I'm glad they're not doing. A thorough flush through with whatever solvent they use should get rid of any gunk....

So hopefully only another 4 or 5 days to get it all back and running again.

They're also going to drain/replace the engine oil & filter - they've taken some samples for testing, to see if it's contaminated at all, but visual inspection appears to be clean new oil in very good condition.

So, just a waiting game for the next few days to see what comes about once it's all finished.

I must say - while this is frustrating, and a lot of my friends/family are giving me the typical "you bought a lemon" crap, I've hopefully just been unlucky and got that one bad apple from the tree. The car has performed brilliantly and I've loved every moment in it, in the 2 short weeks I've owned it before pulling it off the road.

Looking forward to getting it back though..... a Kia Cerato just doesn't cut it!!! (the hire car Skoda have paid for, while mine is out of action - another thing I can't complain about)

[99Reza]

That's good news!

Sounds like the service centre does a good job communicating the problem and the solution.

Don't be disheartened by other people's comment, it's a seriously good car.

[Umai Naa!!]

Good to hear they're being nice and thorough with it.

I wouldn't rush them too much to get it back.

Parts are around 7 working days from Singapore.

[woofy]

It sounds like the dealer is sorting it pretty rapidly, I've had simpler things take longer and others here have been given all kinds of runaround so its rare.

[ScotRok]

Looks like you've got a good dealer there.

[woofy]

And speaking of dealers as Venoms post, my dealer of 8yrs that I have bought two RS from and spend 1000s with servicing have randomly been sold in the midst of redoing the whole site. I was one of the first to buy there and their first RS, the building was still being put together when I drove mine out.....can't say Zagames brought anything good to them though, the previous owners were better.

[Spinifex]

OK - further update regarding the car.

Firstly - I have NOTHING bad to say about the service agent/dealership. They've been nothing but helpful all through this, and the holdups seem to have been with Skoda Australia identifying & authorising the repair, and now waiting for parts from overseas.



BUT - I have a gripe with Skoda...... I've had possession of the car for a total of 19 days since I bought it. Then it got towed to the repairer and it's been there for 16 days. The parts are still several days away, then another day or so for the repair to be finished then another day for it to be returned to me. So it will be OUT of my possession for longer than I've had it.



NOW: While I fully understand Skoda is a relatively new brand in Australia, with not many dealerships, I find it astounding that in a warranty case such as this (less than 1500km on the vehicle), they would not approve a warranty repair by allowing the service guy to order the required IDENTICAL parts from the VW warehouse, and the parts HAD to be ordered as genuine Skoda part numbers, from Skoda factory overseas.



In this electronic age - whereas the Mark 3 has electronic logbooks - I'm really p*ssed that they couldn't just use an identical part with a VW part number, and simply write it into the logbook as to what has been done. Surely some creative accounting in honouring a warranty claim on a part number that doesn't exist (probably a total of $20 for a radiator hose) because it's VW, instead of forking-out several hundred $ of hire-car fees and heartache..... would have been more beneficial to the company, and to myself.



So now we wait for Australian customs to clear the container of parts, then deliver to Sydney warehouse and unpack and check into the system, then pick the urgent order and airbag it overnight to Brisbane, then another day to fit, flush, fill and test the system, finish the warranty paperwork, road test, and then another day for me to arrange getting over there to pick up the car and return the hire-car.



Frustrating...... not a good sign for customer service or lateral thinking, considering it's part of perhaps the largest automotive group currently in existence worldwide.



Needless to say - I'm desperately missing my new car!

[Umai Naa!!]

They're all the same parts, they use the same warehouses and everything. Only Skoda-specific parts on it would be exterior and interior parts. Mechanically, they're pretty much a Golf GTI. I suspect that this may be a very isolated failure, hence the lack of parts availability.

It's up to your dealership to push the warranty claim through with Skoda/VW Aust.

[Spinifex]

The offending parts they're waiting on are apparently the radiator hoses.

Unsure if these are identical, in all fairness, but I suspect they would be, as Umai Naa!! and everyone knows, the car is basically a Golf GTI in a bigger bodyshell.

Apparently everything else was available in Sydney warehouse & had arrived next-day after ordering.
But the damned hoses are holding things up.

[Jondalar]

Sorry to hear about this Spinifex, very frustrating for you.

[AdamD]

NOW: While I fully understand Skoda is a relatively new brand in Australia, with not many dealerships, I find it astounding that in a warranty case such as this (less than 1500km on the vehicle), they would not approve a warranty repair by allowing the service guy to order the required IDENTICAL parts from the VW warehouse, and the parts HAD to be ordered as genuine Skoda part numbers, from Skoda factory overseas.

I suppose that's the core issue - because the part numbers are different (even if the parts themselves are identical), processes - and very likely the electronic systems that support them - simply won't allow alternative parts to be substituted as part of a warranty claim. As far as the systems are concerned, the parts may be completely unrelated - the Skoda system may not even be the same one as used for VW.

I sympathise with your predicament, but in the legal minefield of warranty repair land I can see how this is unavoidable - unless the dealer themselves were able to order the VW part(s) independently to fit to your car, and then keep the Skoda parts in stock when they finally arrive (which would be a waste of their money and space no doubt).

[woofy]

Skoda are very particular back at Skoda HQ, when they first setup the dealer I use here 8yrs ago, they had to authorisation for how the workshop was setup and the paperwork was more thorough for Skoda compared to the Audis they also sold and serviced there. Which is a good thing really. So I can imagine this is what is going on here as well. Which makes it frustrating, but it means they have complete accountability of every part used.

[Umai Naa!!]

VW, Audi, and Skoda use the same backhouse software for parts and warranty, as it's all linked back to HQ in Europe.

As VW and Skoda are under same umbrella here in Australia, their processes for claims are the same.

What we must take into consideration, is that not everything happens instantly, or that the car is actually being worked on the whole time it's in the shop. The workshop may be only able to afford a few hours at a time per day to work on it, due to other ongoing work. It also takes time to go back and forth with technical support, supplying evidence of the fault and symptoms. If it then requires approval from the warranty department at the Sydney HQ, that again can take time to finalise, especially if they need a total costing of parts and estimated labour, before approving. Even the parts ordering aspect is time consuming, each individual item needs to be selected in the catalog (even finding one part, can take a while!), and then transferred over to whatever dealer software interface is used, and then transferred again, one part at a time onto the ordering system. Then logisitics comes into play; are the parts available, and where from?

This whole job, from the technician's perspective, might only take maybe 8 hours tops (for example!), to diagnose, clean, repair, and write up, but it's everything else that makes it drag on into days and weeks. Every aspect of it will be prioritised according to everything else going on at the time. It sucks that you've not been able to enjoy your car as you should, but this is one of those jobs that will take a bit of time to sort out, and most importantly, the dealer needs to ensure that it's done right first time around.

[Spinifex]

All understood and I agree that processes need to be followed.

BUT - it also comes down to a case of customer service. I have no issue with spending a few days diagnosing the problem and getting approval.... but having to wait 2 weeks for a rubber hose to arrive from overseas is a massive cause of frustration.

In my line of work (not a car dealership or mechanic workshop, admittedly) if we make a mistake, or have to fix a problem, we'll think outside the box and provide a workaround for the customer to either help them finish their job, or keep them happy.
We remain fully accountable, as we document all the evidence and processes we've performed in order to provide the workaround solution.
It's really not that hard to do - despite those pesky Germans being very anal about doing things according to a list and not deviating in the slightest.

[Umai Naa!!]

If there's no hose in the country, they really don't have a whole lot of choice. Yourself and the dealership are now at the mercy of their logistics system.