[HP-BHP]

Things are not adding up here. Is this a petrol or diesel vehicle? How was the vehicle transported? Was it transported in a carriage or was driven from Bangalore to Delhi?

Have you taken the odo reading before handing over the car to the transporter and have you checked the same after delivery? Was there an oil leak while you have driven the vehicle after the vehicle was delivered to you?

Failing of engine at such a young age is extremely rare but the circumstances seem to be rarer. It seems there is some issue with the diagnosis on the VW. I would suggest you take a second opinion from some FNG or other dealer.

[audioholic]

Originally Posted by gaurav.jc

For a week, the car was with the transporter. After I received the car, I drove it for around 400-500 kms in 10-12 days. .

Forget the court, I cannot believe that the transporter transported/drove your car all the way from Bangalore to Punjab, ended up doing engine work on the car and still delivered it to you within one week of time. That would not be so easy since there would be money involved and also they should find a mechanic who can have all the parts ready and finish up the job in no time. Instead if there were some unexplainable delays or lame excuses given by the transporter with a delay in delivering your vehicle, then I would believe that something is fishy. Otherwise, you will have a tough time fighting this in court and would end up being fruitless in the end. Instead, spend the same time and money in fixing things or disposing the car and move on.

Perhaps, some more info shared here would help. In addition to that, you could also examine the status of the engine parts as to how new they are, whether they are VW spares or third party spares, and might even end up in finding some date stamps on most of the parts. That would help you get a better picture of the solution. Perhaps the engine was rebuilt by the previous owner but gave up when it was driven for the long journey or it was just pure bad luck that it failed now.

[Indian2003]

Something very mysterious here. The OP is clearly hiding something. He never says how the car was transported nor does he give any details of the engine.
Was it driven or transported on a flatbed?

Do transport companies do free service on cars they transport?

My take on this matter is that the owner himself or another driver ignored all the warning flashes and engine temperatures from the dashboard. He added fresh oil to the engine just before or after it seized.

First the oil pressure lamp flashes with audible sounds. Then the temperature goes up with more flashes and sounds. These sounds cannot be ignored and it is very irritating to listen to. The dashboard would have been sparkling like a Christmas tree.

I have had a low oil level warning once in my old car. The sound is so loud that I had to stop the car and switch off. It is just impossible to ignore.

Was it the owner who drove the car when it happened?

There was a similar post in the VW India group in facebook 20 days ago. A mechaninc had told the owner that the car could be driven 500 km with low oil pressure. On his way the engine seized. Is this the same car?

[Jessierider]

Originally Posted by hserus

Don’t fill a coolant reservoir with water and don’t fill random coolant brands in a vw. Also wait till the car has been parked in the shade / not run overnight before determining coolant levels as a lot of it circulates inside the engine..

This was way back in 2017, the car is still doing fine at 148*** km. As I said, the response and attitude from a VW ASS was horrible in my case, they stuck to their judgement that there is a leakage whereby coolent is leaking into the engine without doing any checks apart from popping the hood and pointing out that coolent reservoir is empty in a car that was serviced a few days prior to this.

The idea behind filling water was to drive the car under minimal stress for about 5km( to get back home) with Air conditioner turned off. Water was filled by the VW ASS under my insistence, I remember them not even protesting once as the intention was to just get back home and consider my option on either spending the money as quoted for repairs or sell the car in whatever the condition it was in.

The car was parked under a shade for a few days(without being used) . I found the level of water intact when I casually popped the hood and then it dawned upon me that perhaps I was being taken for a ride by this particular ASS as earlier the reservoir was empty within a few days post a service with the same ASS but with water the supposidly faulty reservoir was holding the same level of water as how much we had poured in.

I couldn't trust VW again and thus took the car to a mechanic who repairs premium German car. I said roadside mechanic as his workshop was not one of those highend fancy places but rather a simple shop with cars worked upon on the roadside.

Originally Posted by hserus

Blindly assessing 1.1 lakh bills without checking the actual level of coolant sounds like a scam of course.

What I think must have happened at the ASS is that perhaps they must have considered me as a gullable young adult not well-versed in Hindi from the south of India, new in delhi driving around a pondicherry registered car. I strongly believe that the car was delivered to me with its coolent reservoir empty deliberately to cause damage to my car which would entail a costly repair. This I say due to the following reasons.

1. The Air conditioner turning off as soon as the engine warmed up was an issue that cropped up post the service.

2. VW Vento did not come with a temperature gauge, the warning light would come up when the engine over heated. If this light is ignored which many non car guys would normally do then it was a a sure shot way to create apermanent damage entailing costly repairs.

3. The feedback call from the most ASS are done by generic staff as they just want to know the customers experince. This was how my experince with Toyota and maruti has been. However, in this case, the call was from a more knowledgeable person who enquired much more than just the quality of service.

4. The diagnosis was given within minutes after I got my car to the ASS in a sort of predetermined fashion. The estimate was written on a piece of plain paper( white A4) and not on a job card or a paper with any marking of either the brand or the ASS.

5. The ASS never called me to check if the car was repaired or when I would return for the work. I had clearly told the service advisor that I would return after a few days as the bill amount was quite high and u needed time to think. Any business would consider 1.1lakh as a big ticket sale. They would have pestered me to return but a radio silence from them was odd.

6. Post replacement of water with coolent, the issue has never occured.in the last 4 years and almost 40k km. The coolent level stays more or less the same between services, airconditioner works as usual, the engine temp warning has never come up again.

The oilfilter body or whatever the part that was recommended for replacement would not have miraculously gotten healed unless ofcourse the issue was never there in the first place.

[PrasannaDhana]

Many have mentioned this. This thread is the vaguest of all threads in team bhp. No clarity whether the car was driven/carried during 'transport'. No details why transporter can be sued here. No info about the fuel type the engine uses. Requesting the OP to please clarify the full story here. Like many others, I suspect negligence from the owner.

I have some experience with our legal system. If you are going to be so vague, a legal suit will just laugh through your wallet & time.

If I were the OP, I would just scrap the car.

Spending 3 lakhs on repairs on a 7 year old Polo?? That's more than it's resale.

[WhiteWash]

First thing, the transporter is never going to take responsibility or provide anything to you in writing. You could have also signed a waiver tgat takes away the responsibility from the transport company. So if you take the legal route you may waste valuable time and money for a object that depreciates every day. Instead, get a deal from a scrapper or any other parts buyer and get rid of the car ASAP.
Getting a new car sould be your best bet.
But, if sentiments are attached to this vehicle, get a used engine or repair it from the mechanic who makes videos on YouTube, fixes seized engines and makes them new at a fraction of the cost VW has quoted.

[rajeshsundaram]

Judging by the lack of response of the OP, I am tempted to think even more on the direction of using social media to corner/bully others.

It is very evident that lots of people take to social media / online forums to get some coverage and strong arm opposite parties. Is the OP trying to intimidate the VW service center? The lack of information, delay in replying implies that could be a possible motive.

"You know? I am a TBHP member. If I write something bad about you or your business in TBHP, it will end up as a bad PR" - This statement is a possibility. As discussed elsewhere - good number of car dealers / staffs do look into TBHP these days.

[or]

If the OP's intention was not really using TBHP as a tool, then be honest and mention the facts. No matter if it is right or wrong. As a community we are here to help fellow members. No one is going to judge.

I request OP to come out clear.

[arijitkanrar]

Quoting from the original post:

Oil recovered from engine oil pump is different/Fresh as compared to oil recovered from Oil pump and Filter which looks like oil was filled post damage.

And a few posts below:

When I was in Bangalore, car was running in perfect condition. For a week, the car was with the transporter. After I received the car, I drove it for around 400-500 kms in 10-12 days.

How is that someone can find fresh oil after a vehicle has been driven 400-500kms?

What's the difference between "engine oil pump" and "Oil pump"? Do VWs have two oil pumps?

Why would a transporter carry out work on a customer's car?

A lot of questions, not enough answers.

[Bibendum90949]

Originally Posted by arijitkanrar

What's the difference between "engine oil pump" and "Oil pump"? Do VWs have two oil pumps?

Oil recovered from engine oil pump is different/Fresh as compared to oil recovered from Oil pump and Filter which looks like oil was filled post damage.

Guess this must be a typo. Must have meant "oil recovered from engine oil sump" is different/fresh...

[RMN]

A lot doesn't add up and OP doesn't seem to be answering other members questions.

My take on this is that the engine was untouched but had unfortunately failed probably due to a factory defect. VW looks to be washing it off their hands and that makes me wonder - is the vehicle under warranty? Also, I'm wondering how they are able to compare engine oils from different parts of a vehicles and conclusively say that they are different?

[drpullockaran]

From reading through the thread I have a feeling that the original poster is hiding certain details or folkswagon have deliberately misdiagnosed a simple issue to milk the customer.

[ASP007]

Hey all, I would give the benefit of doubt to the OP here. May be he is busy dealing with the ordeal and not paying enough attention to the queries raised here. But yeah, many basic details are not provided in the opening post itself to elucidate the readers.

How come he is blaming this upon the transporter, here is my take. He had been driving the car since 2018. Till the transportation everything was fine. Means, as per him the first owner is not the one to blame. On top of that VW service center team might have told him that, if he didn't fiddle with the car or never repaired it in a FNG, it must be the transporter who had messed up and hiding. He was chasing them to get an answer and no replies given to his utmost satisfaction. Owing to all these circumstances, the suspicion is raised on the transporter, no one else.

The OP definitely need to clear the air here, and end the suspense thriller. It's been 3 pages and most of the questions are remained unanswered. I hope this wouldn't end up like, VW and the owner reached a deal and the issue is resolved amicably, thread closed!

[gaurav.jc]

Being new to team-bhp, it was my first post (after introduction). After going through all the messages on the board, I realised that many information from the post was missing. Though I was elaborative with my options, I missed on the history and detail of the events on the last one month.

Earlier I tried to individually answer some posts, but then I thought let me put some more information which will help my friends to understand my scenario and then advise me accordingly.

History of the Vehicle

Car - Volkeswagen Polo
Model - August 2014
Variant - Highline
Fuel and Engine - Petrol, 1.2 MPI
Owner - 2nd
Vehicle bought from first owner - Dec 2018
Total Kms - 35900
Service History - All the services done at VW Whitefield, Bangalore.
Any known issue with car - None. No repair whatsoever has been done on the car.

Like everyone else in this group, I am also in love with my car. It was my first car and I paid bit more than the market price when I bought it as it ticked all the boxes in my checklist ( came from team-bhp).

History of the Issue

I got the delivery of the car (23/05) after one week I gave to transporter in Bangalore (15/05). Before giving it for transport, I was driving the car for 2 months in Bangalore and everything was perfectly fine.

After I got the delivery, I drove it for 10-12 Days and may be 400-500 Kms (including a one way trip of 250Kms). One day I had gone to nearby town to visit a doctor(12/06), I filled the petrol from a petrol bunk. As soon as I switched on the ignition, engine issue dashboard light was up (yellow colour). I drove it for 200 meters, the alternator sign came up. I stopped the vehicle and called a local mechanic. He said there may be fault with alternator. Since the car is starting, drive it to my village and there he will check it.

I drove the car for another 1-2 kms, engine started heating up. I stopped the car and again called the mechanic. He said may be due to alternator fail, the battery is not charging and may due to that, coolant is not flowing around. He advised me to slowly drive the car and bring to his shop. I drove for another 1-2 kms but engine was heating up. So I decided to drive the car for 1 km and take it rest. I drove like this for 4-5 kms. Then suddenly once I stopped the car, it didn't start. I called the nearby VW service centre. They told me to bring the car to service centre. So I towed the vehicle to nearby VW service centre.


Diagnosis by VW

The nearby VW service centre was at Sirsa Haryana. I took the car there (same day 12/06). They checked the car and then showed me that crankshaft pulley head is out of place. That guy tried to tighten the crankshaft pulley head and tried to start the car, it still didn't start. He told me that looks like there has been some fault in the engine and it has to be opened up. However he said that they don't have much spare parts for petrol engines as in our area most cars are Diesel engines. He advised us to it to another nearby service stations (Bathinda or Hisar). I decided to take it VW Bathinda as that near to my hometown.

Next weekend, I took the car the VW Bathinda (19/06). They took some days to do the analysis but finally called me to service centre(24/06). They showed me that camshaft has been seized as looks like oil didn't reach the camshaft. I asked them that how come oil didn't reach camshaft when there is oil present in the engine. He said that for that, they need to further open up the engine. But engine can't be salvaged and it has to be replaced.

I came home dejected and disappointed. I felt like a lover whose girlfriend had just died. But at this point, I decided to escalate it to VW. I wrote to Mr. Boparai, Mr. Reiss and other top management of VW about the poor quality of their engine and how this kind of issue has dented their brand value of their cars.

After this escalation(24/06), their area manager and service centre manger spoke to me(30/06). VW area manager initially curly told me that since the car is out of warranty, they can’t do anything on this. If I choose to buy from VW, they already given me a quote of 3.5 lacs for a new engine. I told him that your team has not even done full analysis. VW told me that issue happened due to oil not reaching to camshaft while there was enough engine oil and also there was no waring for low engine oil.

He promised me that they will do a full analysis and will come back to me. After some more escalations to VW top management, finally they sent me the analysis (posted in my original post) (05/07). They have sent me this only in an email. Nothing else. In the analysis, they have told me that oil in the engine has been freshly put in ( as the last service was done in August 2020 and car has been driven around 3K Kms after that). They told me that its suspected that some repair has been done on the engine a local workshop.

Now I haven’t taken the car to any mechanic in last 2.5 years (apart from a small denting work 2 year ago) and top of it, VW saying that engine oil is fresh. Which means work has been done recently. I haven’t touched the car since getting the delivery from the transporter and only period during which the car was away from me was during the transport movement. So I decided to question to transporter.

Why I am suspicious of Transporter

I called Nobroker which I have booked for transporting my household items along with my car(09/07). Nobroker representative took their delivery partner on the call. So when I asked him how the car has been transported, he told me that they got the car in a car carrier from Bangalore to Gurgaon and from Gurgaon to Sonepat (around 100 kms) they have driven the car for delivery. I asked him if he can show any proof to me about the car carrier which he said No. I asked him that now VW is saying the car has been broken after 10 days of the delivery to which he replied that he can’t give the guarantee for life time. He took the car in running condition and delivered in running condition. We had a shouting match after which I told him that I don’t want to speak to him as he was not answering me properly and will only talk to NoBroker. All this time, NB representative was us with in the call.

I escalated the issue at NoBroker marking their CEO(10/07). I asked them that I have a very simple request to them send me in the email what they have said on the call that the car has been transported by car carrier and no repair has been done on the car. However they kept on saying that the issue has been brought to them after 1.5 months of the delivery (I lost one month with VW), and they can’t do anything about it.

Now this led me to have a high suspicion on them. They stopped answering my emails. So I decided to take a legal route to get the answer.( Last email sent to them 14/07)

Now one of them is lying. Either VW or NB. Either VW hasn’t done proper analysis or NB partner had some issue with the car which they quickly repaired or used a poor quality engine oil. I want to go to the root cause of the issue. I will drag NB to court and will make VW also a party. Let them fight with each other but truth should come prevail.

Meanwhile without a car, I am like a painter without paint. Whole mobility is gone. So many household work is pending and getting piled up. So came the options in my post.

Sorry for the long post. I have also put dates for better understanding of chronology of events.

[Bibendum90949]

Did you take note of the odo reading while handing over the car to them and after receiving it in your native? With that you can validate their version of the story about driving the car only on the last leg from Gurgaon to Sonepet. Besides, all your suspicion on transporter arose when VW in the analysis told you that the engine oil is found to be quite fresh. You'll have to verify this finding. Isn't there a possibility VW themselves had put the oil? If indeed it wasn't them who had put the oil, there's the equal possibility of their finding wrong(about fresh oil).

Ideally this transporter should've had enough evidence to show the car was indeed transported in a truck. If you've fastag attached, you can check the statement to see if the car was driven elsewhere apart from the gurgaon to your home stretch.

Originally Posted by gaurav.jc

One day I had gone to nearby town to visit a doctor(12/06), I filled the petrol from a petrol bunk. As soon as I switched on the ignition, engine issue dashboard light was up (yellow colour). I drove it for 200 meters, the alternator sign came up. I stopped the vehicle and called a local mechanic. He said there may be fault with alternator. Since the car is starting, drive it to my village and there he will check it.

I drove the car for another 1-2 kms, engine started heating up. I stopped the car and again called the mechanic. He said may be due to alternator fail, the battery is not charging and may due to that, coolant is not flowing around. He advised me to slowly drive the car and bring to his shop. I drove for another 1-2 kms but engine was heating up. So I decided to drive the car for 1 km and take it rest. I drove like this for 4-5 kms. Then suddenly once I stopped the car, it didn't start.

Also there's every reason to now believe that the chain of events you narrated above is the root cause of your car breaking down and the resultant engine damage. It was a costly mistake to drive the car after you noticed the warning lights and engine heating up and the local mechanic who was advising you should stop calling himself a mechanic. Common sense was lacking all over. I feel really sorry for your ordeal and the loss you've incurred. Let fellow members also chime in. I feel there's no merit in taking legal recourse since you don't have enough evidence nor clarity of the events. It can only burn your fingers further I guess.

[saket77]

What was the condition of the rubber belt if it was there at all? I suspect that the rubber belt broke and hence the alternator stopped. That’s when you saw the alternator/ignition lamp glowing. Now since this same belt drives the water pump pulley in most cars, you noticed the engine heating up a while later. Driving it further heated the engine beyond its tolerance and finally it seized. It all depends on the condition/ presence (or better say absence) of the rubber belt and it would be the first thing I would look into after opening the bonnet in this case.

Also I cannot comprehend that your mechanic said that coolant is not circulating because of the battery not charging! (Unless he knew that it could be case of broken belt and in that case it was not advisable to drive)