Potential Class Action re Thermostats/Water Pumps

[golf gti]

Have a mk 7 golf GTI, 2 years out of warranty and 55k. Thermostat housing is leaking. Tried to have dealer ask VW to do a good will repair. VW rejected it stating the age of vehicle. Tried calling VW head quarters and they told me to go back to the dealer.

Definitely will sign up to any class action law suits. I am just surprised this has not been a bigger deal as pretty much every car that has this 2.0 TSI engine is impacted.

[spacemannz]

Me too. Was just told I need a water pump. Just 24000k and 6 years old (MY18 Tiguan).
My mechanic has quoted $2000 - I feel like I’m getting rorted on that too.

[Lucas_R]

Me too. Was just told I need a water pump. Just 24000k and 6 years old (MY18 Tiguan).
My mechanic has quoted $2000 - I feel like I’m getting rorted on that too.

I paid $1k exactly 12 months ago from my independent VW specialist mechanic, so yes a quote for $2k is expensive.

[Jaffs]

Maybe a bit different for later models, but I have a current quote for a Mk 6 GTI, $1200.
Water Pump & Thermostat Assembly Replacement Labour $547.75
Water Pump Assembly $496.65
Water Pump Union $32.19
O-Ring $4.54
O-Ring x 3 $15.18
Temperature Sender $54.27
Coolant Concentrate (Violet) $55.92

[DeboDasAuto]

Guys late seeing this but my 2013 Golf Mk7 had the issue too. At the time I was told the pump had a plastic part that fails (admitting design fault but wearing no cost!) and that the replacement pumps had a metal part to resolve the failure - and all 7.5 golfs had the metal one. (This is just info from the service dude at the time). I thought it was poor at the time and felt even a 50% price cut would have been appropriate. Nope full price for you sir, and this is at the dealer where i had every service done by the book!!

Anyhow yeah happy to join the party.

21/05/2020

68392km

$1265

Water pump replace

[Andrei6182]

Has there been any progress with this? Same here VW Golf 2017, 45,000km, water pump started leaking.
Put me down for the class action as well.

[minke]

How have others going with dealer service when it comes to the leak?

My 2020 GTi coming up to its third service. Between each service I've had to top off the coolant and I mention this each time. Each time the service advisor comes back with "we cannot detect any leaks"

Again a few months ago I was below min and topped off again. Service due May.

What have others done to get it taken more seriously?

[MazlikSan]

I would to join as well. My Golf R had first coolant issue on 9th December 2022 when the warranty expired in November 😫. Now in April it happened again and mechanic told me that I may need new water pump. Apparently the leak is small. But advised to talk to VW directly and if they will dismiss the issue to come back to him. He quoted 1,400$ for the pump 😫. The car is 2017 and has 31k. I cannot believe it. I may sell it just out of the anger.

[spacemannz]

So as a bit of a happy update (for me at least). VW have just replaced my water pump and engine start/stop button under warranty. Vehicle age 5 1/2 years.

MY18 Tiguan 162TSI
24000km
Owned from new
3 year warranty
I raised a coolant level issue on the very last ‘in warranty’ service (almost 3 years to the day). Pressure tested ok, and noted on service report in case of future issue.
Logbook services with VW Alto at every recommended interval for first 3 years.
I have since had logbook services twice with a non VW mechanic.

I spoke to my local dealer (VW Alto) and they told me to bring it in for them to inspect and submit a report to VW. No promises and it would cost me an hours labour.
The dealer said that VW look at numerous factors including KM, condition, number of owners, service history and brand loyalty.

About 4 or 5 days later they came back and said VW had approved and I could bring the car in for repair in the next few days, and leave overnight.
The whole process was about 10 days from start to finish.

To Alto’s credit, they were not the selling dealership - so there was very little leverage for me to invoke any ‘goodwill’ favours with them. I was happy to pay them an hours labour to sort it and they were very helpful and communicative. This has gone a long way to restore my faith in the brand and the dealership. It is my first VW vehicle.

I hope this case helps others out there.
Good luck everyone!

[Flipper Dog]

Fantastic result, thanks for posting your experience.
I hope this is now a bench mark others can use with their dealings with VW on this problem.

[MazlikSan]

I raised the issue with VW service centre and all you got back is : there is no issue until you pass the warranty and then they are happy to change the pump for you with the same crooked original part.

Unfortunately, very sad.

[LapizBlu]

I have a Golf R 2016 and have replaced the water twice car has only done 49K previous owner had the water pump replaced under warranty,
not happy that VW know about the defective part and will not issue a recall to replace with a new model of water pump that doesnt fail.
please add me to the Class Action re Thermostats/Water Pumps

Am quickly loosing any aspiration to buying another VW because of this dihonesty from VW!!!

[Cplus]

Definitely happy to sign up to this.

2016 Mk7, have had issues since *just* after 3yrs and only 40,000km

[prn31]

I’m pretty sure I’ve started old threads on my water pump issues, but here is the full story of our Golf.

In December 2015 we purchased our (brand new) MY15 GTI Performance from a NSW regional VW dealer.

In April 2016 at 7,000km the low coolant light came on with my wife driving to Central West NSW. It was taken to the dealer that sold the car where it stayed for several days. (Luckily VW Assist clicked in and my wife was given a hire car, I think a Hyundai, which she drove to her destination and then back to Sydney.) They suspected a compression leak and undertook two leakdown tests before suspecting an air bubble in the cooling system. The Golf was trucked back to Sydney at VWs cost.

In August 2017 at the 30,000km service the water pump and thermostat assembly was changed under warranty.

In August 2018 at the 45,000km service the thermostat assembly was changed under warranty (as many here would know, VW don’t change both water pump and thermostat assembly, only the faulty part.)

In May 2018 at 56,000km the Golf spent two days at our regular Sydney dealer being checked for another water leak after the coolant light came on again.

In March 2020 (around when covid 19 started) at 70,000km the Golf was booked in after the coolant light came on again. The dealer had the car for 2 weeks while I argued with VW Australia about out-of-warranty repairs. This time the thermostat assembly was changed and I coughed up 30% of the labour cost whilst VW footed the rest.

In December 2021 after another water leak at 92K I decided not to wrestle with VW Australia again. I ordered the full OEM water pump kit from the States including a new drive belt. The thermostat part number was 06L-121-111-M (they’re now up to P) and the water pump was 06K-121-011-C. I got my independent VW mechanic to fit the parts. I was happy that a very experienced independent mechanic did the work – I was sick of the dealer mechanics and had no confidence in their workmanship.

It has been quite the journey, but we still have the Golf and it currently sits at 109K. I believe that they finally sorted the water pump issue on MY21 EA888 VAG cars and beyond. Let’s hope that I don’t have any more water pump issues. My wife loves driving the Golf but is over it, having come from owning Japanese cars.

As a comparison to the Golf, I have done 100,000km in my VW Passat R36 and replaced the water pump once at 106,000km. The cost of the water pump and expansion tank was $180 and it was probably 1-2 hours work all up to change.

[FarQ]

2018 Golf 110TSI leaking water pump replaced under goodwill. Only 38k km