[Catamaran]

I also wanted to ask the experts on few things below.

1. On the fourth or fifth day in workshop, Service advisor told me that as per Skoda instruction they are opening the EGR valve. when i called on the same day evening the advisor tell me that they found complaint with EGR Valve. next day when i call the service manager he tod me that the EGR valve is OK and there is no complaint. when i cross check with the advsor, he changes his word.

2. Also the service manager told me that after scanning, the coolant quality is found to be "Fair" and the Skoda engineer had told him that generally consdering the age and mileage of the car the coolant should show "good" and not fair


Does the above reasons 1 & 2 has got anything to do with water getting into the fuel system ?? Iam asking all these because there is absalutely no trace of water in the fuel tank, when he diesel was taken and inspected.

The service manager also told my brother that the age of the fuel filter is old. I am not sure if the fuel filter was changed during the 2nd service. I have the bills at home, shall check this..

Regards,

[sudev]

These two statements at are variance.

Originally Posted by Catamaran

Today morning we took diesel from the tank and inspected in presence of service manager and there was no trace of water.

Originally Posted by Catamaran

5. Next day the dealer shows me a bottle of diesel with water and tells me that the water is from the fuel filter, and the problem is caused due to adulterated fuel, pumped in from the gas station and that getting warranty may be a problem.

The only charitable explanation is that the mixed fuel in bottle was from the sedimentor drain outlet.

Originally Posted by Catamaran

Also the service manager told me that after scanning, the coolant quality is found to be "Fair" and the Skoda engineer had told him that generally consdering the age and mileage of the car the coolant should show "good" and not fair

Fair is not a warning. SO this is is not something they can hold against you. Old or new car the marking is done by manufacturer and as long as it is not in DANGER or LOW zone this is besides the point.

This in no way can result in water getting in to fuel.

And so with EGR - Exhaust Gas Recirculation - valve as it is closed to outside elements.

[VeyronSuperSprt]

1. The reading "Fair" is not connected to manufacturer markings of "High" and "Low" but is an indication after checking the viscosity / quality of the coolant using the tool intended for that purpose.

2. EGR valve is usually checked in cases where there is water in the fuel tank as the EGR valve would be corroded by water mixed with unburnt fuel / exhaust gases that reach the EGR valve.

3. The fact that your tank does not contain water would mean that the water mixed with fuel has already been consumed except for the quantity remaining in the fuel filter.

[Catamaran]

Originally Posted by sudev

These two statements at are variance.

The only charitable explanation is that the mixed fuel in bottle was from the sedimentor drain outlet.

Fair is not a warning. SO this is is not something they can hold against you. Old or new car the marking is done by manufacturer and as long as it is not in DANGER or LOW zone this is besides the point.

This in no way can result in water getting in to fuel.

And so with EGR - Exhaust Gas Recirculation - valve as it is closed to outside elements.

Dear Sudev

Thanks for your reply. The fuel they showed me was in a 500 ml 7up bottle green colour and was told to be taken from the filter. I can only believe this to be true as it was not taken in my presence. However yesterday my brother requested for a check of the fuel in the tank and they removed the tank and shaken the content inorder to get a mix and took in a bottle. This was done in the presence of service manager from Marikar and by looking at it he has confirmed that there is no trace of water on visual inspection.

Marikar so far has been cooperative and the service manager was very hopeful of getting the warranty although he initially mentioned that we may not get the warranty. At one time he even went to the extent of saying that 90 % there should not be any issue in getting the warranty. This was the sole reason I did not post this earlier as I do not want to make the issue public and defame Skoda. I am still hopeful that Skoda will consider again and will wait till Monday.

Regards

[gsurya]

Originally Posted by Catamaran

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.

So you take the car to Tafe.. you give them the complaint.. and they dont even give you a print of what is it that they have taken the car for? Not even when they return the car to you?? This is so different from my experiences with Fiat, Tata, GM.. you always get a record of your complaint & what they fixed.

[Steeroid]

Originally Posted by Catamaran

Thanks for your reply. The fuel they showed me was in a 500 ml 7up bottle green colour and was told to be taken from the filter. I can only believe this to be true as it was not taken in my presence.

Can that filter hold half a litre? I remember a similar issue in my Safari where the warning light came on, but the water remained in the filter (no damage to the engine). We got about a glass of fuel+water from the filter - now if there was indeed water in the fuel, I assume (from previous experience) that the filter is supposed to isolate it from and not feed it to the engine. Isn't that what filters are meant to do?

[B747]

Originally Posted by Steeroid

Can that filter hold half a litre? I remember a similar issue in my Safari where the warning light came on, but the water remained in the filter (no damage to the engine). We got about a glass of fuel+water from the filter - now if there was indeed water in the fuel, I assume (from previous experience) that the filter is supposed to isolate it from and not feed it to the engine. Isn't that what filters are meant to do?

Same here, Swift vdi which is one-third the cost of Yeti could identify water in fuel filter and gave proper warning. After cleaning it everything was back to normal.

[Catamaran]

Originally Posted by Steeroid

Can that filter hold half a litre? I remember a similar issue in my Safari where the warning light came on, but the water remained in the filter (no damage to the engine). We got about a glass of fuel+water from the filter - now if there was indeed water in the fuel, I assume (from previous experience) that the filter is supposed to isolate it from and not feed it to the engine. Isn't that what filters are meant to do?

This was my first question to Marikar when they told me about water in filter. Their answer was that the filter has certain capacity beyond which it will feed to the engine. It is strange that a 20 lakh European car with all kind of electronics do not give a water in fuel warning even when a swift and a safari has that as per the below post. In this case I have filled from kochi from a known pump and there is no trace of water when the sample is taken from fuel tank. However in a span of 4 to 5 years of usage there is every chance that someday or other you will be forced to fill up from an unknown pump in a remote area and the car should have the system to provide warning or in worst case stop before it gets into the engine and cause a 4.5 lakh damage. If the car is not equipped to do that then Skoda should provide warranty. OR let Skoda provide their own pumps all over india and write in their manual that diesel to be filled from only these pumps.

The bottle they showed me was filled only between half to 75% and not full. Anyway I am waiting for Skoda to give a final answer by Monday after which will decide on the way forward.

[mints21]

Skoda's horror stories are increasing with each passing day. There seems to be no end to them. My neighbour who is a Managing Editor of a leading hindi news channel has a Skoda which was missing from his parking slot for the last one month. I thought he had sold and is planning a replacement. I inquired from him yesterday and to my shock, the car is in a workshop and according to him will take another 15 days to return. Reason for sending the car at workshop is the display of faulty engine light and failure of diagnosis at Skoda is another reason for delay in returning the car.

Given the fact, ever since its inception Skoda India has maintained its consistency with poor customer service, it is high time that a forum be made of all affected car owners and a case be filed against Skoda India for cheating, harassment and endangering lives of car owners.

The Ministry of Commerce & Industry, Ministry of Transport & Ministry of Consumer affairs be involved and this must be brought to their attention. Otherwise, one after the other all Skoda car owners will continue to suffer as individuals and Skoda India will continue its arm twisting tactics and work with the same brazenness and shameless attitude.

I am lucky because I don't own a Skoda.

[nitinbose]

Hi Caterman,

So sorry to hear of this incident. For Skoda owners at Bangalore, please try and avoid TAFE access after-sales service at any cost! They are nothing more than a bunch of comedians who hardly know anything about cars. They can only ruin the situation as they've done for me a couple of times. I was lucky not to fall in their trap, instead, I collected my vehicle. Vinayak Skoda is way better. They're atleast polite, listens to the customer and then attend to your vehicle.

I feel TAFE could have performed certain manipulations to make things worse. Are you still in Kerala? You could perhaps take your car to Vagtune and let Sukesh take a look, as a final opinion.

regards,

Nitin

[VW2010]

This to me looks like the HPFP failure of the TDI engine.

Check the below threads to get more detail on this and i am not sure you will be bale to get this covered under warranty or manufacturing defect. But fight it out as much as possible. There is a initial fear of social media based customer feedback which will slowly wane down. Use it as much as possible to get some thing fixed by the Skoda.

http://forums.tdiclub.com/showthread.php?t=286380

http://forums.tdiclub.com/showthread.php?t=284441

The issue cannot be detected as easily or earlier like it is mentioned by the service engineer. The issue will pop up suddenly and that's precisely what has happened.

And here is why the engine check light cannot be used to determine an issue.

The diagnosing tool will throw a generic error and under engine this could a dozen of things including clogged filter alone. Just removing the filter and poping it back will remove this warning light.

The HPFP is very famous and read regarding the symptoms. Some say the best way to protect is to drive half tank full and keep refilling regularly.

Hope this helps for you to clearly take this case up and use any history of free fixes to push for free service.

The tool is pretty detailed yet it cannot go to the level of fuel pump having contamination.

[Catamaran]

Originally Posted by nitinbose

Hi Caterman,

So sorry to hear of this incident. For Skoda owners at Bangalore, please try and avoid TAFE access after-sales service at any cost! They are nothing more than a bunch of comedians who hardly know anything about cars. They can only ruin the situation as they've done for me a couple of times. I was lucky not to fall in their trap, instead, I collected my vehicle. Vinayak Skoda is way better. They're atleast polite, listens to the customer and then attend to your vehicle.

I feel TAFE could have performed certain manipulations to make things worse. Are you still in Kerala? You could perhaps take your car to Vagtune and let Sukesh take a look, as a final opinion.

regards,

Nitin

Thanks Nitin for the kind words. Having checked the remaining fuel in the tank and found to be clean and water free I think the initial engine check light may may have been due to the same problem. Tafe failed to diagnose it both times and may have undone the error code somehow. My brother had reported promptly to them regarding the check engine light and cold start problems of the car. But Tafe did nothing as no explanation was given regarding the check engine light on and/or how they solved the issue.

The first service was also done in Bangalore in Vinayak when my parents had visited my brother in Bangalore. My brother was particularly not happy with Vinayak and this time tried Tafe.

I have returned back and my brother is in Cochin is following up. The car is in Marikar currently and awaiting final feedback from Skoda. Hope they agree to cover this under warranty and bring confidence for future Skoda customers...

[Lalvaz]

You've been "skodad"!!! It's so normal to hear a skoda horror story, that it should become a verb for being suckered.

I'm not even surprised anymore with the wrong diagnosis and the way they make up stories conveniently blaming the customer for the problem, it's so typical of them.

Am I glad I did'nt buy a Yeti? Or that I talked my friends n family members out of buying 3 skodas? To me it's just unforgivable what they did to Harish and I do not want any of my loved ones to go through such disgusting treatment. Stay away from skoda if you value peace of mind!

[Catamaran]

Skoda promised to come back to us with a final decision by today. My brother now called Mr. Deepak now and after lot of talks he told that they can give a discount of 30% on the parts. We haven't agreed to that. Skoda is just playing to cover up the mistakes of Tafe who failed to diagnose the check engine error twice and penalizing the customer.

I am trying to attach the photos of the diesel taken from the tank in front of the service manager

[k_nitin_r]

Originally Posted by Lalvaz

You've been "skodad"!!! It's so normal to hear a skoda horror story, that it should become a verb for being suckered.

I second your proposal to turn it into a verb... along the lines of the way they turned Mankanded into a verb in the cricket world.

Originally Posted by Catamaran

It is strange that a 20 lakh European car with all kind of electronics do not give a water in fuel warning even when a swift and a safari has that as per the below post.

When someone tells me about Skoda being European, I am forced to agree but add, "European, yes. German, no." Volkswagen did acquire Skoda but then again, Tata acquired Jaguar. There are some aspects of the brand that cannot be shaken off, and perception of quality is one such thing (I also wanted to mention that perceptions are also often illogical).