Hey all,
About a month ago, I purchased a post-dieselgate TDI from a local dealership. It's a 2012 Execuline and has approximately 158K kms and is in excellent shape. It comes with the 4 year TDI warranty from VW. The dealership I purchased it from is about 120kms from where I live, so not easy to get to. There is a dealer a few kms from my home but at the time of purchase they didn't have any TDI's.
Literally on my drive home from the dealership, the Check Engine Light came on. I took the vehicle to my local VW dealership and they determined it was a faulty NoX sensor, covered under warranty and ordered me the part (good thing as parts/labour was quoted at $1,800 CAD). The dealer noted that a warranty maintenance on the AdBlue system was required, so claimed the warranty and changed the AdBlue fluid. The NoX parts took approximately 2 weeks to arrive and in that time, I noticed that the Kessy system stopped working, so I decided to invest in an OBDEleven. The OBDEleven correctly diagnosed a disconnected antenna wire in the trunk area -- likely disconnected when the AdBlue service was done by the technician -- no big deal, I reconnected it and all good again.
As I was waiting for the parts to arrive, on a drive, the vehicle briefly went into limp mode for about 10 seconds and I got a warning to "Check Engine Coolant". I happened to notice the temperature gauge was moving erratic. It would sit at normal (90C), then shoot up to between 110 and 130C -- and within seconds, zip right back to 90C again. Thinking there is no way a vehicle can go from 130C to 90C in 3 seconds I continued home watching the temperature. Once or twice on the drive, the gauge spiked up and quickly recovered. I also noticed that the vehicle would not blow warm air. Fans all work, AC works but no heat or defrost. When I got home, I made a service appointment. Even on the way to take my vehicle to service, I continued to notice erratic readings from the dash temperature gauge as the vehicle warmed up to normal operating temp. The gauge hit roughly 70C, all of a sudden jumped up to 120C for several seconds, then back down to 70C where it then slowly increased like normal to 90C and held there.
The dealership diagnosed the problem as not 1 but 2 faulty thermostats, unfortunately NOT covered by the TDI warranty and would cost me $1100 to replace. They explained that one of the thermostats was not opening and closing properly causing the temperature fault. I could see one of the thermostats causing the "No Heat" situation where warm coolant couldn't get to the heater core, but if the main thermostat wasn't opening -- the engine would have overheated and stayed hot -- I can't see the thermostat suddenly opening and cooling the engine from 130C to 90C in 3-5 seconds. I've also never experienced a thermostat opening then closing and opening again -- usually they fail to open or fail to close (but maybe these are special???). Anyhow, I told the dealership I was not convinced replacing the thermostats was the issue prior to the repair and asked that they take the vehicle for a long test drive. Sure enough, the erratic temperature reading still persists. They've provided me with a loaner vehicle now, and have suggested that the vehicle now needs a new EGR Cooler (fortunately covered by warranty).
So sorry for the long story, but I'd like to get some feedback. Assuming the EGR Cooler replacement fixes the issue, should I be asking for a refund on the $1100 dual thermostat replacement (or at least just pay for half???)? I'm not against getting a free EGR Cooler, but I'm still not convinced that the symptoms the vehicle is showing are consistent with a failed cooler -- I would expect the engine to get hot and stay hot. In my mind, the symptoms seem to be a faulty coolant temperature sensor -- I've relayed these concerns to the dealer -- but I'm just the customer <not the mechannic>. By the way, the OBDEleven scan gives me a fault code P102A00 (Torque limitation due to coolant temperature) - Intermittent and SCR NOx Catalyst Efficiency Below Threshold (P20EE00) - prior to the NOx sensor replacement.
About a month ago, I purchased a post-dieselgate TDI from a local dealership. It's a 2012 Execuline and has approximately 158K kms and is in excellent shape. It comes with the 4 year TDI warranty from VW. The dealership I purchased it from is about 120kms from where I live, so not easy to get to. There is a dealer a few kms from my home but at the time of purchase they didn't have any TDI's.
Literally on my drive home from the dealership, the Check Engine Light came on. I took the vehicle to my local VW dealership and they determined it was a faulty NoX sensor, covered under warranty and ordered me the part (good thing as parts/labour was quoted at $1,800 CAD). The dealer noted that a warranty maintenance on the AdBlue system was required, so claimed the warranty and changed the AdBlue fluid. The NoX parts took approximately 2 weeks to arrive and in that time, I noticed that the Kessy system stopped working, so I decided to invest in an OBDEleven. The OBDEleven correctly diagnosed a disconnected antenna wire in the trunk area -- likely disconnected when the AdBlue service was done by the technician -- no big deal, I reconnected it and all good again.
As I was waiting for the parts to arrive, on a drive, the vehicle briefly went into limp mode for about 10 seconds and I got a warning to "Check Engine Coolant". I happened to notice the temperature gauge was moving erratic. It would sit at normal (90C), then shoot up to between 110 and 130C -- and within seconds, zip right back to 90C again. Thinking there is no way a vehicle can go from 130C to 90C in 3 seconds I continued home watching the temperature. Once or twice on the drive, the gauge spiked up and quickly recovered. I also noticed that the vehicle would not blow warm air. Fans all work, AC works but no heat or defrost. When I got home, I made a service appointment. Even on the way to take my vehicle to service, I continued to notice erratic readings from the dash temperature gauge as the vehicle warmed up to normal operating temp. The gauge hit roughly 70C, all of a sudden jumped up to 120C for several seconds, then back down to 70C where it then slowly increased like normal to 90C and held there.
The dealership diagnosed the problem as not 1 but 2 faulty thermostats, unfortunately NOT covered by the TDI warranty and would cost me $1100 to replace. They explained that one of the thermostats was not opening and closing properly causing the temperature fault. I could see one of the thermostats causing the "No Heat" situation where warm coolant couldn't get to the heater core, but if the main thermostat wasn't opening -- the engine would have overheated and stayed hot -- I can't see the thermostat suddenly opening and cooling the engine from 130C to 90C in 3-5 seconds. I've also never experienced a thermostat opening then closing and opening again -- usually they fail to open or fail to close (but maybe these are special???). Anyhow, I told the dealership I was not convinced replacing the thermostats was the issue prior to the repair and asked that they take the vehicle for a long test drive. Sure enough, the erratic temperature reading still persists. They've provided me with a loaner vehicle now, and have suggested that the vehicle now needs a new EGR Cooler (fortunately covered by warranty).
So sorry for the long story, but I'd like to get some feedback. Assuming the EGR Cooler replacement fixes the issue, should I be asking for a refund on the $1100 dual thermostat replacement (or at least just pay for half???)? I'm not against getting a free EGR Cooler, but I'm still not convinced that the symptoms the vehicle is showing are consistent with a failed cooler -- I would expect the engine to get hot and stay hot. In my mind, the symptoms seem to be a faulty coolant temperature sensor -- I've relayed these concerns to the dealer -- but I'm just the customer <not the mechannic>. By the way, the OBDEleven scan gives me a fault code P102A00 (Torque limitation due to coolant temperature) - Intermittent and SCR NOx Catalyst Efficiency Below Threshold (P20EE00) - prior to the NOx sensor replacement.
