Misdiagnosis by dealer - what next?

[kaanage]

Final result after speaking to the service manager of the 1st dealer that misdiagnosed the car (Barloworld Moorabbin) is that they say the misdiagnosis is just one of those things and it would have been corrected had I used them to fix the car. He showed no inclination to follow up on the issue of their service rep feeding me the line about the CV points being a "known weakness" for the 9n(3) Polo and expressed a little surprise when I mentioned the recommendation for aftermarket brass CV joints (he couldn't see how that could work either) but didn't go further than that.

Based on this, I would say Do not give any business to Barloworld Moorabbin VW - they do not deserve it and will not provide satisfactory service except for mundane issues.

[Ideo]

Wow. So Barloworld gives poor service in both cities...

[VW Convert]

Burwin VW diagnosed the sound as a failed front hub bearing from the nut being loose after the cup kit was fitted. Again, they wouldn't fix it under warranty but were happy to sell me the parts and only charged a small inspection fee. The bearing has been replaced and the clunk is gone, although the old bearing seems fine.

In any case, it wasn't the CV joint so I'll go back to the a$$holes that misdiagnosed my car and see what they have to say. I'll be asking if they are dishonest or merely incompetent and no, I don't expect to get my expensive misdiagnosis fee back.

Something troubles me about this thread. The car was modified, the car is used on a racetrack and from what you say, it seems the fault was difficult to diagnose as evidenced below:-

My mechanic has narrowed it down to the right (fluid dampened) engine mount - he has found a small amount of play here (appropriate, given that the noise is not major) and no other problems with the car at all.

Well after some mucking around with engine mounts (which has reduced the noise), we now think there is excessive backlash in the differential. It's only a very small amount but it is noticable when the car is off the ground, in neutral and the wheels are turned backwards and forwards by hand.

So from that, it appears your mechanic had 2 goes at diagnosing the problem and from the quote at the top of the page it seems both times his diagnosis was wrong and the problem was diagnosed by Burwin as something else that related to the suspension mod and their diagnosis appears to have been correct.

What troubles me is why no criticism of the mechanic that made 2 incorrect diagnoses?


Cheers

George

[Polo GTEye N9]

My car was diagnosed as having a failing CV joint by the service department of a VW dealer as I was experiencing a "clunk" when getting on or off throttle (no noise at all under brakes or over bumps).
I was also charged for this investigation as they claimed my warranty was voided by having used the car on a race track with modified suspension (Bilstein Cup Kit).

Now a mechanic that I know and trust has looked at car and determined that the CV joints are fine and is looking into the engine mounts (my initial thought) and suspension components as the noise source.

My question is that if it does turn out to be something other than a CV joint (and I'm almost certain that this will be the case), can I recoup the cost of the faulty diagnosis from the dealer?

If not, is it reasonable for me to name and shame the dealer?

Not unusual, not my VW but a low k's Nissan I had, under warranty and clicking noise on lock (I was sure CV was not at fault) . Dealer ordered the new CV joint then on further investigation it turned out to be a plastic clip not holding the inner guard plastic cover together.
Misdiagnosis has been the bread and butter for mechanics forever. The owner pays for process of elimination, Oh we replaced this and the problem is still there lets try............. Ching ching $$$$$

[elephino]

Not unusual, not my VW but a low k's Nissan I had, under warranty and clicking noise on lock (I was sure CV was not at fault) . Dealer ordered the new CV joint then on further investigation it turned out to be a plastic clip not holding the inner guard plastic cover together.
Misdiagnosis has been the bread and butter for mechanics forever. The owner pays for process of elimination, Oh we replaced this and the problem is still there lets try............. Ching ching $$$$$

I had a Subaru (luckily under warranty) with a rattle coming from the dash. First dealer said replace entire dash. Sounded a tad extreme so went to dealer #2 who had the car for 2x 4 days with no result, after pulling apart most stuff behind the dash, inside front wheel wells,etc. I called for a third look and was told never to bring the car back to them again - the next call was to Subaru Aus to complain about that, they recommended dealer #3 who, after a day and a half with the issue diagnosed as a loose bonnet hinge.

[Stuwey]

diagnosed as a loose bonnet hinge.

My loose headlight sounds like a door rattle!

On topic, my Adelaide dealer removed and stripped my gearbox three times looking for a vibration... It was an engine mount. Useless.

[kaanage]

Something troubles me about this thread. The car was modified, the car is used on a racetrack

Indeed and I am willing to cop the cost for fixing it, though others here have said that it should be up to the dealer to prove that the modifications and usage caused the fault before stating that the warranty is invalid.

from what you say, it seems the fault was difficult to diagnose

Yes, which is why I expected that dealers would be able to find the source of the noise as they should be familiar with these cars.

So from that, it appears your mechanic had 2 goes at diagnosing the problem and from the quote at the top of the page it seems both times his diagnosis was wrong and the problem was diagnosed by Burwin as something else that related to the suspension mod and their diagnosis appears to have been correct.

What troubles me is why no criticism of the mechanic that made 2 incorrect diagnoses?

I am now not totally convinced that Burwin has correctly diagnosed the fault, either - I have found in the last couple of days that I can recreate the noise but only when lifting off the accelerator and in 4th or 5th gear at low (< 1200) rpm.
Additionally, the hub that was replaced spins smoothly and quietly and the mechanic told me at the time that he did not like replacing perfectly good parts but I told him to go ahead anyway to try and put this issue to bed.

My mechanic did say that there were enough fasteners in the front end removed and replaced in the front end (he did some other work as well as the hub change) that the retensioning alone could have eliminated (reduced) the noise, even though none were obviously loose (including the hub nuts).

I could go off at Burwin too but they only charged me for a 1/2 hour inspection and their diagnosis made some sense at the time, unlike Barloworld who spent 2 hours looking at the car to come up with their dodgy diagnosis and then defended it with statements (common problem/known weakness with the model, brass aftermarket replacements) that were either stupidly incompetent or just lies.

I first took the car to the mechanic in question in order to have him inspect the suspect CV joint and perform replacment, if necessary, as he builds, services and repairs rally cars as well as normal servicing so he has some familiarity with suspension and driveline issues even though he is not a VW specialist. He did warn me before inspecting the car that these sorts of noises were often difficult to source but he could at least eliminate the CV joint as the cause - now proven since it hasn't been touched and the noise can now only be made in circumstances that would only affect items before the gearbox input shaft.
I have also been advised by 2 forum sponsors who tune this car that they have never seen the outer CV joint fail without the boot having been previously damaged so the lubrication was lost and no forum members with this car have stated that they have had this CV fail. And then there is the forum member who sells spare parts for VWs and said, in this thread, that he very rarely sells this part for this car.

So yes, the mechanic did get it wrong with his first diagnosis but at least it was with a likely cause and the change he made did reduce the noise. The 2nd "diagnosis" was more a discussion of most likely candidate for the cause rather than a proper diagnosis and I was not advised to act on the suspicion but to discuss with people more familiar with this car (hence the other thread where I asked for possible sources of the noise).

The noise is now only produced in very special circumstances so I will live with it and see if it is finally eliminated with some further modifications down the track.

Sorry for the tardy response - I have been rather busy the last couple of days.
I hope this addresses your concerns
Greg

---------- Post added at 08:18 AM ---------- Previous post was at 08:16 AM ----------

My loose headlight sounds like a door rattle!

Yes! I have had this retightened twice under warranty and thought it was in the door until the report from the 2nd time stated it was the headlight.

[kaanage]

Final update: noise is gone after further modifications to the front end - most likely due to the front subframe being more secured.

CV joints were not touched at all - EVER.

I repeat my earlier assertion
Do not give any business to Barloworld Moorabbin VW - they do not deserve it and will not provide satisfactory service except for mundane issues.