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VW Crafter Engine Problems Help Needed

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  • VW Crafter Engine Problems Help Needed

    Hi all hope someone in here can give me some advice.

    Ive had my Crafter for 4 years now and in the first year many things went wrong like a new steering rack, turbo, vacuum pump, new engine management system gear box faults about 10 times broken down with that.

    After that in year 2 to 3 my prop shaft broke cost £800 plus fitting and VAT, Engine manifold cracked £800, DPF replaced twice, complete new engine £6000 second turbo £800 plus clutch and bearing water sensor £127 plus and now it needs a new instrument panel £650 plus.

    The reason I need advice is that the run up to the engine change which although had done 198000 miles seemed to running fine but the engine management light kept coming on so I booked it in for a service and check. They told me the light was due to the DPF not regenerating caused by a crack in the engine manifold so I had this changed. The same day I drove of I got the same lights back on so took it back and was told it was the turbo so changed that. Next day same lights and DPF light into limp mode. They now say the DPF is full above 115% so had this taken off cleaned put back on, same day same lights back in and the big one low compression in two cylinders causing the DPF to fill up with soot. New engine £6000 lighter drove out got a new problem water light stays on changed sensor off I went water light back on and is still not fixed as they say it is the instrument panel and that needs changing and it gets better as two days later the same lights that were on before the engine change back on. They told me the fitter forgot to reset the system to tell the EMS that it had a new engine? Reset the lights next day back on again back in again this time they put a new DPF on at there cost and it solved the problem I had before the engine was changed strange that. Still got the water light on but they want me to pay for it even though there was nothing wrong with it till they changed the engine.

    This has cost so much money and time lost customers payouts to third parties to deliver goods I had on the vehicle when I broke down and to top it all the gear box went again and left me on a roundabout for an hour.

    This vehicle has been looked after by the same VW dealer serviced on time restricted to 68 miles an hour I want some of my money back from these clowns that engine did not need changing please help.

    Sorry it was so long but hope for some advice as I dont trust VW anymore thanks!!!!
    Tags: None

  • #2
    Re: VW Crafter Engine Problems Help Needed

    Hi sorry to hear about the problems your having.

    Having worked in the motor industry myself a good 10 years ago, i am off the opinion that they did things the wrong way round. If their was no obivous fault, they should have checked the computer system and the electrics first before changing any parts. Unfortunately the problem with faults such as this is it could be one of many things and it becomes a case of trial and error. But a full engine change was completely unnecessary. In fact if they connected the computer up to the diagnoses system it should tell them what was causing the fault. They should have then checked the part throughly to see if it was causing the fault, and probably then changed it only if it was uncertain if it was at fault or not, as part of a trial and error fix. If that didn't work then it would obiviously have been down to an electrical fault and not down to a specific engine part. Which is now why they are saing its the instrument panel, meaning the circuit board in the panel is faulty.

    Personally you should make a formal complaint to the companies head office and inform them you will go to trading standards if you are not satisfactory reimbursed for all the unnecessary costs you have had to incur in paying of new parts and a new engine to find out it was probably the instrument panel at fault all along. Base your letter on grounds of mechanics incompetence. Make it clear you appriecate a lot of it boild down to trial and error but at the same time they should have covered the most obivious causes of the fault and eliminated them rather than go gun ho and suggest you have a new engine put it.
    Please note that this advice is given informally, without liability and without prejudice. Always seek the advice of an insured qualified professional. All my legal and nonlegal knowledge comes from either here (LB),my own personal research and experience and/or as the result of necessity as an Employer and Businessman.

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    • #3
      Re: VW Crafter Engine Problems Help Needed

      Thanks teaboy2 that is what I thought as well, although I did not think about the instrument panel, I was thinking it was the DPF all along as the vehicle started regenerating a lot more near to it going in for service. VW customer care said I must be very unlucky I nearly bit there head off and stated the only unlucky bit was me passing a Merc dealer and walking into a VW dealer. All my Sprinters have gone into 400000 miles and still going when Ive sold them on. As an owner driver I need my van on the road these muppets have really let me down.

      Thanks Teaboy2.

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      • #4
        Re: VW Crafter Engine Problems Help Needed

        Originally posted by cheekymonkey07 View Post
        Hi all hope someone in here can give me some advice.
        Certainly.

        Succinctly, you've been conned, cheated, swindled and royally diddled. Some of the faults make less than complete sense whilst others - such as the cracked engine manifold - suggest grossly inept maintenance.

        Did the mendacious mechanics make a sucking sound through their teeth when they told you that the reciprocating fulcrums had broken or the grudget pins needed to be replaced?

        What you should do is this - contact VW and Chris Craft who is a director
        chris.craft@volkswagen.co.uk and tell them about this appalling service history.

        Comment


        • #5
          Re: VW Crafter Engine Problems Help Needed

          Thanks for that email address sent a nice note how much do you want to bet he will not reply????? The only work not done on this vehicle by VW was done by me and that was just brakes discs change oil every 10000 miles and a couple of callipers and restricted by VW to 68 miles an hour to save engine wear and licence LOL.

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          • #6
            Re: VW Crafter Engine Problems Help Needed

            If he doesn't reply, send him another note, also copied to watchdog@bbc.co.uk

            I'd be especially interested in the "broken" prop shaft; I'd like to know how it broke and whether you saw the bits those grease monkeys removed.

            Comment


            • #7
              Re: VW Crafter Engine Problems Help Needed

              The faults listed are unusual for a VW Crafter. D & C Police have got a fleet of the Kombi version of the Crafter and they don't have any problems with them. I agree with Teaboy that it sounds like the fault lies with the dealer.

              In Plymouth, there was a motor dealer (now gone) who had a terrible reputation for poor service. They were the Peugeot main dealer. Customers would bring their cars and vans in for service and leave them to be collected later. The mechanics would turn the engines and, if it didn't sound rough, the dealer would charge the customer for a full service and had done no work on the car/van whatsoever. One mechanic (whose identity will not be revealed) was so disgusted they resigned and rang Trading Standards and VOSA the next day. For those who are unfamiliar with the tactics of TSOs and VOSA, TSOs send "ringed" vehicles into workshops with parts marked with a UV marker and check the vehicle when they pick it up later to see if work has been done. VOSA, on the other hand, park an unmarked vehicle near the entrance to the garage and note the registration numbers of every vehicle they see going in and out of the workshop. Without warning, they will go into the garage, show their ID and ask to see the worksheets for the vehicles whose reg. numbers they have logged. The Peugeot main dealer got caught in a joint operation between TSOs and VOSA. Not surprisingly, Peugeot turned up with car transporters the next morning and took every new car in their showroom away. The same dealer had also been found with stolen vehicles in their secondhand vehicle stock.

              Trading Standards and VOSA are both very pro-active in protecting consumers and small businesses against the rogue elements in the garage and motor trades.

              Teaboy and CleverClogs have given you some excellent advice. Follow it through and the best of luck getting this sorted out.
              Life is a journey on which we all travel, sometimes together, but never alone.

              Comment


              • #8
                Re: VW Crafter Engine Problems Help Needed

                I have heard tales of mechanics making astonishingly stupid mistakes, such as fitting a clutch the wrong way round (using brute force to fit a shaft into a hole just a little too small and using shims to pack the corresponding shaft into a hole that was 'too big') or fitting combustion chamber liners that were supposed to be an interference fit, by fitting the wrong size before "interfering" with the cylinder head (by blows from a centre punch around the rim of the liner) in an attempt to "shrink" the hole to suit.

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                • #9
                  Re: VW Crafter Engine Problems Help Needed

                  I've come across cases of mechanics leaving oily rags on top of engines which have then caught fire as the unsuspecting motorist is going along (that happened to me once) and a case of a garage doing a first service on a virtually brand-new car, forgetting to put oil back in and then blaming the owner for not checking they had done the oil when the engine was wrecked. That happened to a Skoda owner. Skoda were not happy bunnies with the dealer involved and from what I know, the dealer was told to supply and fit a new engine or new car at their expense. No prizes for guessing what the owner opted for. The dealer involved did not make that mistake again.
                  Life is a journey on which we all travel, sometimes together, but never alone.

                  Comment


                  • #10
                    Re: VW Crafter Engine Problems Help Needed

                    Did the Skoda use less viscous oil for the first xx,000 miles, until the bearings had been run in?

                    My late father once bought a Skoda.

                    I started to get a bit concerned when I saw the spanners, slip-joint pliers and screwdrivers in the supplied tool kit.

                    As he was going down a motorway one day, the engine suddenly made a clanking sound, then faltered, spluttered and stopped. On checking to see what had happened, it was immediately obvious: first the fan belt had disintegrated, then the reinforcing cords had flailed around inside the engine compartment, wrapped themselves around the capacitor and ripped it away from its mountings. The clanking sound was the noise the capacitor made as the fan belt hurled its captive against anything in its path. Needless to say, the capacitor was by then quite U/S and the AA had to bodge together a rough repair just to get us home.

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                    • #11
                      Re: VW Crafter Engine Problems Help Needed

                      Thanks for all your comments guys I've been running Mercs for years and never had this sort of trouble. I wish I could agree with you Bluebottle but I know a DPF supplier and cleaner up hear and he looks after about 100 crafters all have problems with the DPF even before they reach 20000 miles. VW send the DPF's to him so they can be cleaned out and put back on. Don't get me wrong guys I can only tell you what is true and factual what I have said is 100% true and I know the police use them my partner is a police inspector so get to know a few things. The gear box is a Merc auto box so I had to get them to fix that problem as VW tried 10 times and it did not work I love the van it's £27000 I work for my self I keep everything clean oiled serviced but this is too much.

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                      • #12
                        Re: VW Crafter Engine Problems Help Needed

                        The prop shaft on these things come in one piece you can't buy the front or back or the end bits so when it went £1200 for a new one and ten days to get it from Germany the ECU £2500 and 2 weeks from Germany. After buying the Crafter I found out about the Turbo needing replacing every 80000 miles £800 cam belt every 120000 miles £600 you can all blame me for not doing my research but I took advice from a crafter driver bad move my fault but the rest is not my fault I know that.

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                        • #13
                          Re: VW Crafter Engine Problems Help Needed

                          I still do not understand how a prop shaft can fail. What actually broke on it?

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                          • #14
                            Re: VW Crafter Engine Problems Help Needed

                            As I remember it was the UV couplings on the end attached to the rear drive box. You can get these couplings made but the cost and the failure rate of them was not a viable option for me so I had to get a new one VW had none in the country so after a week they took one of a sales crafter and put it on mine after a caused so much trouble.
                            Last edited by cheekymonkey07; 11th February 2012, 11:26:AM.

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                            • #15
                              Re: VW Crafter Engine Problems Help Needed

                              And for a used part, they charged you £800 plus labour and VAT?

                              How much would a new component cost?

                              Comment

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