[YVES]

The current SKODA engines are quite sensitive not only to adultered fuel but also wrong fuel used, this was told to me by a Skoda dealer mechanic stating the older skoda cars 2009 and earlier were not that sensitive to especially if a petrol is added to Diesel car and vice versa

[saket77]

Actually more than a fuel to fuel mixture (petrol mixed with diesel & vice versa), water is more dangerous and can ruin the engine by a phenomena called hydrolock.

[lancer_rit]

Originally Posted by YVES

The current SKODA engines are quite sensitive not only to adultered fuel but also wrong fuel used, this was told to me by a Skoda dealer mechanic stating the older skoda cars 2009 and earlier were not that sensitive to especially if a petrol is added to Diesel car and vice versa

Filling petrol in a diesel engined car would damage the fuel pumps and the injectors etc in any diesel car. The car should stop within a few mins/km of filling in such a wrong fuel combination. Requires extensive replacement repairs costing thousands of Euros/some lakh Rs depending on the vehicle.
Filling diesel in a petrol engined car will also cause problems, including engine vibrations and loss of power. This is a much smaller problem,and can be fixed by doing a cleansing of the fuel tank/pump/pipes for about 200 euros.

But no one in India will adulterate diesel by adding petrol !! The question is if adulterated diesel is used, then can such extensive damage happen ? And do pumps really add water to diesel for adulteration (I thought kerosene etc) ?

[saket77]

Originally Posted by lancer_rit

And do pumps really add water to diesel for adulteration (I thought kerosene etc) ?

Water can seep into the diesel storage tank only accidentally at the station. But that is more probably only in the rainy season.
None will mix it intentionally.

[B747]

Originally Posted by asr245

So happy that I maintain my stay away from Skoda/VAG/German vehicles stance. Fuel might be a problem, but then there are 10 times more diesel vehicles from Maruti & Hyundai yet it is Skoda that fails catastrophically or is it that Maruti/Hyundai folks don't bother about making noise or have too much money to bother about it?

Why can't they build it properly for Indian conditions?

Completely agree. Cars manufactured by Maruti & Hyundai which are 3 times less costly runs fine and they do identify water in fuel filter and give proper warning. So bad that Vag companies are not able to give same level of reliability.

[Catamaran]

Dear all,

Thanks for the replies and suggestions. Today my brother went to marikar in the morning and met the service manager. He requested to have a check of the remaining fuel in the tank. Fuel was taken from the tank and inspected and there was no trace of water. This was done in the presence of service Manager and he has taken photographs.

However i do have slight ray of hope as seeing my team bhp post my brother got a call from one Mr. Deepk from Skoda Bangalore. he talked in length and was very courteous. My brother explained all that happened from start. Finally he has told that as the technical team has made a decision of rejecting the warranty claim, it is difficult to revert the decision, however he promised to take up the matter with the skoda management and asked time till Monday for a final decision from Skoda.

keeping my fingers crossed. Will update theforum as soon as i have further news from Skoda.

Regards,

[saket77]

Originally Posted by Catamaran

Fuel was taken from the tank and inspected and there was no trace of water. This was done in the presence of service Manager and he has taken photographs.

Just what as I wrote a few posts earlier. Now the plot thickens dear!

[rajeev k]

Originally Posted by YVES

The current SKODA engines are quite sensitive not only to adultered fuel but also wrong fuel used, this was told to me by a Skoda dealer mechanic stating the older skoda cars 2009 and earlier were not that sensitive to especially if a petrol is added to Diesel car and vice versa

Cross filling of Petrol and Diesel were quite common earlier but these days with many filling station dispensers yelling out "Petrol" or "Diesel" and with higher awareness levels of filling station staff, the problem is almost eliminated.
Sometime back, one of my friend's BIL filled Diesel inadvertently in his Petrol engined Swift Dezire. The error was noticed after filling about 4 ltrs and he then topped it up with Petrol as advised by the filling station staff. No apparent problems surfaced.

[Catamaran]

Originally Posted by sudev

I share your concern but IMHO the two issues are being mixed up in to one.

Please clarify did the engine check light got rectified in Bangalore? I mean after service in Bangalore did it go off? From your account answer is affirmative and it did not show up on your drive out of Bangalore. So this is not the cause of problem.

The immediate problem could - could - be fuel contamination. Such contamination does not cause immediate symptoms but as the fuel is used symptoms come up. This is what you are describing - about 90 kms after fueling up the car started giving noise.

If I remember correctly there is a a water in fuel warning light on dash board. Did this come on?? (....glow plug like symbol.....)

If I read this correctly the damage has been caused by water contamination and I really fail to see Skoda being blamed for fault.

Read this by SS-Traveller:
http://www.team-bhp.com/forum/techni...ml#post3033767

The engine check did not show up after the service and i did not feel any kind of performance flaws in the entire trip from bangalore and even after. Everything from engine sound to the glow plug flashing and message came all of a sudden and i immediately pulled over knowing my previous experiences with European cars

I do not think there is a warning light in the yeti for the Water in fuel.

Today morning we took diesel from the tank and inspected in presence of service manager and there was no trace of water. I still feel Skoda should honour thier warranty even if it is a fuel aduteration case as we can only fill diesel available in India. In this case i have filled from a known station in kochi from which i have been filling for so many years. however in an emergency you may be forced to fill fuel from any unknown pumps in remote areas and thier cars should be capable of taking that or atleast show a warning before the engine gets spoiled to that level.

Also the service manager had mentioned about the age of fuel filter being older than normal. He also told about the Skoda engineer commenting that if Tafe had taken more care in servicing, this could have been avoided. All this leads to many questions.

I was a person who used to boast about VW and Skoda cars and our previous car in India was a skoda superb 1.8TSI which i was forced to sell after the 2 year warranty period fearing of the famous DSG issues. I was even considering replacing my 6 year old Nissan Murano here in Duabi with VW Toureg and my brother uses an Audi Q5 in Abudhabi. This incident has pulled me back big time not regarding the quality of thier cars, but regarding their after sales service and warranty..

Anyway skoda has asked time till monday before they tell a final decision. will keep the thread updated on the happenings.

Regards

[F150]

I think the previous CELs are for water in fuel filter. It appears that the folks at TAFE Access didn't do any analysis and may have simply cleared the error code.

Customer has reported the error promptly to Skoda A.S.S, incorrect/incomplete diagnosis by the A.S.S, why should the customer pay the bill.

Skoda should pick up the entire tab, send out emails to the list suggested by Shankar and push for a win win situation.

[MaxTorque]

Yet another horror story which involves Skoda India and their dealers. Hope Skoda India will look into your case and come out with an amicable solution.

Now one doubt comes to my mind, as a car owner, how can we ensure the fuel is pure? We have our own limitations right? What if the car manufacturer declares cause behind any engine failure are adulterated fuel?

[VeyronSuperSprt]

Originally Posted by MaxTorque

Now one doubt comes to my mind, as a car owner, how can we ensure the fuel is pure? We have our own limitations right? What if the car manufacturer declares cause behind any engine failure are adulterated fuel?

The ASS would state that the fuel is adulterated after carrying out checks on the fuel taken from your tank and ascertaining whether it contains contaminants (such as water in this case). There are various checks such as density checks, water detection tests, fuel degradation checks etc. The ASS should explain to you what check he has carried out and explain to you the results of that test. This would indicate whether your car’s fuel is adulterated. (ideally insist that the fuel from your tank is drained in your presence and the checks are also done on that fuel in your presence)

The ASS cannot just state your fuel is adulterated without carrying out the measures indicated above.

Strictly speaking, damage on account of fuel adulteration is not a manufacturing defect and Skoda would not be liable to honour warranty on that score.

[ecosport rules]

Originally Posted by YVES

The current SKODA engines are quite sensitive not only to adultered fuel but also wrong fuel used, this was told to me by a Skoda dealer mechanic stating the older skoda cars 2009 and earlier were not that sensitive to especially if a petrol is added to Diesel car and vice versa

+1to YVES.It has been proven beyond doubt in several instances that skoda engines are very sensitive to adulterated fuel .The level of toleration is really minimal .

Originally Posted by Catamaran

Dear all,

Thanks for the replies and suggestions. however he promised to take up the matter with the skoda management and asked time till Monday for a final decision from Skoda.
keeping my fingers crossed. Will update theforum as soon as i have further news from Skoda.
Regards,

Thats a ray of hope but beware that the whole VW group is quite popular to pass considerable time and finally lay the blame on the customer.

And the arrogant German companies take the Indian consumers for a ride.

Have heard too many horror stories be it VW, Audi, Skoda

[pdma]

Hoping to see some positive response from Skoda in this case which may give Catamaran some relief.
I second the thought of VeyronSuperSprt and would suggest let the service center carry on the tests and publish the same in black & white.
I too agree with many who already pointed that the warranty may not be applicable if fuel is the culprit, however the engines should be designed to handle the quality of fuel in our market. I read in this forum that Honda has done some extensive testing on their new born diesel engine with bad quality fuel to check how it runs before it was launched.(Ref : GTO's Official Review of Honda Amaze).
The manufactures should understand the market they are catering to and should test their engines by replicating the conditions accordingly.

[Catamaran]

Originally Posted by gsurya

During the 2 times you took the car to the workshop & they gave the car back to you without identifying the problem, do you have any written records?

Did you complain about engine check light in writing; did they give anything in writing?

Your best case seems to be to focus on the fact that they had opportunity to spot the problem twice & didn't. That may have made damage worse than it should & that can't be your fault.

The fuel filter should have been inspected the first time they saw the car & spotted the issue right away!

If you have kept the receipt of the diesel fill up prior to the problem detection you can also sue the pump owner in consumer court.

Either way, this is looking like a tough legal fight.

Dear gsurya,

Both times the complaint of engine check light on was logged in thier system through Tafe. I got ths confirmed in Marikar Skoda. However they are not able to give me a printout teling they have no print option for this. They even refused to give a screen shot. They told me that once entered it stays and cannot be deleted.


Regards,