Advice Needed 2010 VW Golf

NotSureIfSerious on 13/11/2018 - 10:58

Hi I bought a 2010 golf second hand about 2 years ago and earlier this year it randomly didnt start, the engine light also was illuminated. This is the first real problem I've experienced since getting the car, it was towed to my local mechanic about 3-4 months ago.

The mechanic is a nice guy and he services both my cars but he is a fairly small business owner and had I realised the significance of the fault I would have brought it somewhere bigger.

So long store short the car has been there the entire time, he replaced a sensor followed by the timing belt and now hes taken the engine apart, replaced the top half and put it back together. I rang him yesterday and he says it's still leaking compression and wants to now do the bottom half taking another 2 weeks, he suggested maybe a new engine but this would be on top of the work he has already done.

Work so far is estimated at roughly 4 grand and I'm at wits end dealing with just one car between myself and my partner. I guess my advice is what should I do going for forward? Should I just accept this needs to be done or should I ask for the car back and get a second opinion? Is it normal for mechanics to just replace everything until they find the problem? I personally think 4 months for any mechanical issue is extreme but I've never had any significant engine issues before with any of my other cars.

Thanks for reading

Automotive

Comments

  • thatonethere on 13/11/2018 - 11:11

    How much did you buy the car for? Might be just worth getting a wrecker to take it and give you some money and start again with another car.

    • NotSureIfSerious on 13/11/2018 - 11:20

      About 11 grand from memory. Sell to the wreckers? Do you think it's probably not going to be reliable even after all the work is done to it?

      • zonra on 13/11/2018 - 11:55

        Years ago I was in a similar situation to yours: bought used car, kept paying to fix it again and again well after the repair cost outgrew the innitial purchase price.
        I remember asking the mechanic if it would be fine now after a major repair and he simply said there was only so many tests they could run on a used car, in other words, nfc.
        If I find myself in this situation again I would just cut my losses and get a new/demo reliable car, saves myself potential headaches.

        P/s: by new/demo I don’t mean get a new Golf (unless your budget allows of course), but more like an i20 or Mazda 2 (or others, apologies but I’m very biased toward these brands) which shouldn’t have been much more than the 11k outlay on your current used one.

        • NotSureIfSerious on 13/11/2018 - 14:47

          Thanks for the advice I wanted a an i30 but partner drove it and didnt like it. Definately will get either that or a Mazda 3 instead.

  • Bid Sniper on 13/11/2018 - 11:21
    +2

    Doesn't know what he's doing and/or the car is a Lemon, not uncommon for a VW. If you take it to a stealership cost of repairs will be worth more than the car.

    Id sell the car on ebay/wreckers at a loss with faults and get a something Japanese or Korean and be done with it.

    • dcep on 13/11/2018 - 13:36
      +1

      but this guy after 4 grand still no clue how to fix (done nothing to fix the right problem)

      you can shoot stealership for that and not paying it

      • Bid Sniper on 13/11/2018 - 14:05

        We had a VW with electrical issues and was a dealership for 7 months. Hard to say incompetence or just another VW Lemon. Either way Id ask him to stop work on the car. This happens at dealerships too but they have access to internal support documents that list common faults, where this mechanic is flying blind.

        Car is only worth $10K if it was working. $4K spent, only $6K to recover if the car was working. Engine is looking like an issue, so probably at least $5K since its leaking upon compression. Its out of warranty, not sure about recall status. So basically car is worthless.

        Can get a second opinion but Id ring around wreckers, gearbox is worth a few K.

  • pantsparty on 13/11/2018 - 12:29

    I would never buy a Volkswagen - I am sure most of them work just fine but I hear enough negative things about them to scare me off. Sure they are nice looking and pretty classy but I would rather have reliability and something a bit less fashionable, and much less expensive to repair (I am thinking one of the Japanese brands).

    To answer your question, can you take it to a Volkswagen dealership or specialist to get it checked out properly? Sounds like your mechanic has no idea.

    • NotSureIfSerious on 13/11/2018 - 14:45

      Sort of stranded in a small town, only has a VW dealer and they were useless when I took my Subaru in there a few years ago. I would take it to Adelaide if I could be sure it would make it.

      • pantsparty on 13/11/2018 - 14:55

        Yeah that is a tough one. Assuming you can afford to take the financial hit of buying another car, I would sell the VW ASAP - just get rid of it. It isn't worth the hassle. So many people have issues with VW's and have to fight to get things fixed. Go buy a Toyota and enjoy your worry free motoring (with the exception of worry about the airbag exploding and killing you of course).

  • blonky on 13/11/2018 - 12:37

    Should really take it to an independent VW workshop (not a dealer) to get it properly checked out before your mechanic tries anything else.
    They should be able to confidently diagnose it before you pour more money in

  • slknv on 13/11/2018 - 12:44
    +2

    Is it the 118TSI? Well known grenade twin charged engine, even more unreliable than most VWs. Learnt my lesson after owning an audi A4 - worst car I've owned in 20 years.

    • NotSureIfSerious on 13/11/2018 - 14:42

      Yep it's a 118TSI, when he said it was an uncommon issue I knew something was up because I've read nothing but bad things about them.

      It's a pity because I stayed clear from the auto due to lots of recalls

  • John Kimble on 13/11/2018 - 13:04

    I had my dad's 2010 Golf 118TSI engine replaced for free by VW early this year. Would have cost over 10k. It was a "good will" replacement because the car had only done about 50,000kms

    See this thread: https://www.ozbargain.com.au/node/413236

  • pegaxs on 13/11/2018 - 14:56
    +3

    Take it back and get a refund on it under ACL. Report it to ACCC. A VW car should last forever. But make sure you get the original owner to submit the warranty concern. And say that you didn’t buy it off them, that you only paid for “exclusive” rights to it…

    And don’t forget to abuse everyone that tries to give you advice that you don’t want to hear. Make sure you misquote ACL and post 3 page replies that are just complete waffle and off topic.

  • brendanm on 13/11/2018 - 17:24
    +2

    Is this a 118tsi? Very common for them to melt/crack pistons, also VW are pretty good about fixing it as it's a known problem.

    Edit- just saw it is a 118tsi. Your mechanic is an incompetent goose. Take the car, don't pay him anything, and take it to vw, where they will fix it for free or cheap.

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