Unhappy with warranty work... Advice?

[MGV]

Hey, all.
Had a service done 2 weeks ago (independent) & they detected a very minor oil leak from the rocker cover sealant. They offered to fix it for me for $750, but i thought i may be able to have it done under warranty, which was approved at a melbourne dealership.
The said dealership carried out the work on Friday, & when i popped the bonnet yesterday to have a look, i found a very oily looking rocker cover & 4 untightenened torx screws, which was the source of all the oil, which is now also all over my driveway. There was also an empty cardboard box from the tube of sealant still in the engine bay!



This is a pic of 2 of the untightened screws...

Q is, can i have another dealership look at & verify the repair, as i now obviously have lost all confidence in the repairing dealership... ?

Appreciate thoughts,
Matt.

[Umai Naa!!]

Take it back.

By the looks, they've used the wrong goo, too. It's meant to be red (as in lolly frog red), and forever slightly tacky.

[tigger73]

This is the way I understand warranty repairs work. First time the dealer can bill VWA for the work. I'm not sure how the work gets approved. Anyway if there's a problem with that item post warranty repair then the dealer has to fix it out of their own pocket. I'm not sure you can go to another VW dealer/approved warranty repairer to get the job done as VWA won't want to pay twice for the job (just like you wouldn't want to).

So yes sorry best to take it back to the offending dealer/workshop and get them to fix their own dodgy work.

It may pay (in future) to ring VWA and ask for all their approved warranty repairers in your location. Then at least you can choose who you get to do the job (and any follow up work).

I'm really not looking forward to taking my car into my local VW dealer to get some warranty repairs done. I'm really not inspired with confidence.

[Umai Naa!!]

You will still have to go through a dealer to get any warranty work sublet out to an independant. It would need to be approved by VGA.

Even then, it'd be a highly unlikely event.

[gecko2k]

Take pictures and bring it back. I would also contact vw through their website and mention some keywords like 'accc' and 'safety issue'. They will still take about 2-3 weeks to contact you, but then they generally act pretty fast!

[MGV]

Thanks for the tips, will be taking it back tomorrow... Not happy, but will allow them to check & rectify their work. Yeah, i took a few pictures!

Umai Naa!, the green goo is something that i imagined would set, sort of like you would expect silicone to, but it's consistency is like a light grease. It has now been contaminated by all the oil that spewed over it, which definitely came from the two loose torx-heads in the above photo. The 2 other loose screws didn't seem to have any oil coming from within, but were about to fall out... The amount of oil leaking before the repair was really insignificant, but oil leaks only tend to get worse...
The part no's & descriptions for the sealants used are:
VWD000600A2 SEALANT - LIQUID 18mL
VWD154103A1 SEALANT, CYL HEAD COVER
Hoping it's NOT the wrong goo...

[jamesdavid]

From memory that is the correct sealant, from factory it is red yes but it must be updated. I know as i have rebuilt a few 1.8/2.0L turbos and i always order it for the cylinder head cover but never use it as all of the ones i have done have whats called "assembly clearance" feature and enables you to take the head off without removing the cylinder head cover. Its quite expensive from memory too.

That's a pretty piss poor effort from the dealer, especially leaving a box in the engine bay. Tigger is right Vwa won't pay for the repair again, if you go again the dealer will have to bare the cost.

Let us know how you go

James

[kaanage]

i thought i may be able to have it done under warranty, which was approved at a melbourne dealership.

If it was Barloworld Moorabbin, then good luck trying to get any satisfactory response from them.

[MGV]

Let us know how you go

James

Will do, once it's all resolved. Sigh...

[Mk3 AAA]

Really have to take it back and give them a chance to fix it before the ACCC will be of much assistance, that doesn't mean you can't get an independent perspective though, so long as that person can't be blamed for having done something in between. Also, if it gets nasty don't quote the Trade Practices Act like some people still do, it's the ACL now and it has some consumer guarantees that can't be waived.

Good luck, hope it's sorted as easily and as positively as possible.

[MGV]

So, a week later i think the outcome is satisfactory... There seemed to be a bit of a communication breakdown between the dude who took my details (sales?) & the service manager, who was immediately on the defensive & blaming everyone else, but eventually claimed responsibility for handing back an 'unfinished' job...
My car went back in last Monday, was promised to be repaired by Wednesday, & was finally ready to be collected at the end of Friday. They ended up doing the whole job again, due to 'poor adhesion'.
Was happy that they accepted responsibility, gave me a loan car for the week & seemed to do a good job this time! I just won't really get to drive it for a week, as i'm away for a week & won't get to test it properly.

Just hoping it's all good, as am planning on keeping it for a longish time... Although, i'm not expecting to get 460000 out of it, like my old 2.4 petrol hilux!