Problem with car I bought

weekaizer

Hi all,

So I bought a vw from a Northern Ireland car dealer (not a main dealer), and imported it in March this year. It had 50000 miles when I bought it.

Since buying it, it has overheated a few occasions, temp gauge goes up towards red for a few seconds before settling, only once has it gone into red zone and it had to be turned off… coolant levels in reservoir were ok… I phoned the garage and they took it back in and changed one of the auxiliary water pumps and said it was sorted, 1 month later now and I had to fill up coolant levels as it dropped below min mark, and 2 further occasions temp gauge has gone up again. Garage want car returned again next week, I’m not getting a courtesy car and it’s a 2.5 hour drive to garage which I have to accept…

Car has a 6 month warranty although I notice in the print out that it’s actually 6 month or 6000 miles.. I’ve done 5600 miles since buying it…

Have I a right to refuse the car as I’m annoyed as it wasn’t a cheap car at over €15000.

Whocare

Sounds like pup of car and last owner got rid of it because of that problem. Best you can do now is be nice to garage and hopefully thay fix it .

As for being 2 and half hours away that your problem

BlakeS94

I think you have to give them a couple chances to fix it, and if they can't fix it after a couple tries you can demand a refund. That's the way it is here don't know if same applies in Northern Ireland with cpcc

weekaizer

that’s what I’d like to do..

What I’m afraid off is by the time I drive the car up and down again the 6000 miles will be up and car will be out of warranty then…

weekaizer

cheers

colm reilly

Matter of interest op .what engine is in your car ?

Avatar in the Post

You would think that a problem identified during warranty would still be under warranty if the garage hasn’t fixed it even after the 6 months. Otherwise they could just run down the clock. Not sure about non main dealer warranties.

weekaizer

it’s a 2.0 tdi 184bhp

BlakeS94

I don't think the warranty comes into play when it's a matter of repeated returns with the same issue and it hasn't been resolved, If you're done with it just write to them stating you want a full refund and the car to be taken back.

goochy

If they can't fix problem after several attempts you can return . Will be awkward you being from another jurisdiction though

User1998

Can you suggest bringing it to a local garage and they pay for the bill up to a certain amount or certain labour price per hour?

weekaizer

no they stated before I bought car that they have to do all the warranty work. If I was to refuse the car though, I have already paid over €4000 worth of VRT, would they have to reclaim that back or is that gone?

tohaltuwi

this shouldn’t be too tricky to locate and fix the problem. Coolant issues are mechanical in nature and should be easy enough track. Though could be head gasket.

User1998

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122411537#Comment_122411537

You are not entitled to have your VRT refunded by the garage. You would only be entitled to what you paid for the car. So it would be your responsibility to get a VRT refund before you export it back to Northern Ireland. Anyway, just give them a chance to rectify the issue. Its not their fault you decided to buy a car from another jurisdiction on the other side of the country

Avatar in the Post

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122411648#Comment_122411648

"Its not their fault you decided to buy a car from another jurisdiction on the other side of the country"

The OP should be entitled to a working car or a fix. Where the car was purchased by the dealer is irrelevant. And I'm assuming the dealer paid the VRT before the OP purchased the car.

weekaizer

no I bought the car from the dealership and I took it to get it VRTd

Kimbot

you have reported a fault and they tried to fix it, now a few months later the fault has developed again. This has nothing to do with the 6000miles as it was reported previously and a fix was attempted that didnt rectify the original issue so just get the car back to them and get them to fix it.

User1998

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122412021#Comment_122412021

Yes, but if they had of bought the car from a local Irish dealer they would have just dropped it back to be fixed again and it wouldn’t have been much of an inconvenience. The real problem here is that OP bought a foreign registered car in another jurisdiction on the other side of the country and is now considering a refund because bringing it back to them is too much of an inconvenience. And its now been clarified that the VRT was not included so OP will have to go about getting a refund themselves.

Wailin

Sounds like the head gasket is gone. Loosing coolant and engine overheating, very bad luck OP. You will have a fight on your hands I'd imagine.

What year is the golf?

C3PO

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122412244#Comment_122412244

I thought the same!

Avatar in the Post

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122412182#Comment_122412182

Apologies, I didn't realise it was bought in NI (clearly stated in the OP, I missed it), thought it was one of the cars a local dealer hadn't registered yet.

Kimbot

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122412244#Comment_122412244

Sounds to me like the MK7 GTD and the silicone bag issue.

CMOTDibbler

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122412244#Comment_122412244

If it's the head gasket and those symptoms, there should be oil in the coolant and/or vice versa. Easily checked if you've a dipstick and oil should be visible (if present) in the coolant reservoir. Oil cooler leak could be another possible cause.

Other possibility is a previous failure (like oil cooler) which may have resulted in oil still in the cooling system and hence the overheating. Would need a flush out or two to fix.

Wailin

Either way, engine overheating is never good and would more than likely warp the head leading to a blown gasket anyway.

Also, the coolant leak could be to the atmosphere and not internal, so wouldn't mix with oil or vice versa.

CMOTDibbler

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122412436#Comment_122412436

It would have to be sitting in the red for a while. Have had overheating in cars before, multiple times and head gasket fine. But in all cases, just barely hit the red.

weekaizer

just to clarify the overheating issue..

I’ve had the car since March, the temp needle has gone into red once since I bought it, other half was driving it at the time and she stopped and rang me and I told her to stop the car and check levels.. they were fine.. when she restarted car a few mins later temp gauge was back to half way…

Since then I’ve been driving it and needle has gone up towards 110 degrees or so on about 4 or 5 occasions, it’s only for about 20 seconds and then it goes back down itself…

Coolant had to be topped up once since it came back from dealer first occasion. No obvious mayo under oil cap. No white smoke but I had to top up engine oil level by 1 liter in the 5800 miles I’ve done on it. I’m taking it back to then this week.

Kimbot

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122412606#Comment_122412606

If its a GTD then that level of oil topup is about normal for them.

Personally I would get a second opinion on the car, there are known issues with the GTD in relation to the Silicone bag that houses the coolant etc that could cause your issue.

User1998

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122412651#Comment_122412651

I’m pretty sure the silicone bag issue prevents hot air from being blown around the cabin? Had the issue twice myself.

Kimbot

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122412702#Comment_122412702

Im not 100% but a few of the GTD owners pages have had similar as the above and it turned out to be the silicone bag, not 100% sure what the issue was myself as thankfully I only have a MK6 one :)

weekaizer

it’s a vw cc not a golf . Not sure if they suffer with the silica gel bag issues or not