Recovery vehicle on the way.....

[T6 Dave's Dad]

Not again @TEESIXY ? As this is a recurrence of a previous issue then bear in mind that should you wish to raise the question of a replacement engine with VWCC the start date of the problem is that of the first recovery by VW Assist to the dealer if they failed to acknowledge any previous attempts to raise it with a VW Dealer. Previous unsuccessful atttempts to raise the issue may well be taken into consideration if legal action is necessary.

 

[Deleted Member]

I think you'll have an element of slow warranty repairs when a vehicle comes from 3rd party companies like Leighton/Swiss/Vanworx etc, the main dealers are bound to look after their own sales first before working on other vans.

Personally, although having a vehicle with mechanical issues isn't ideal, it does happen across all marques and I wouldn't stress about it too much provided you get a courtesy van and the problem resolved in a timely manner.

My wife's FFRR is just over 12 months old, it's been back for warranty work 8 or 9 times so far and it's been roadside recovered twice. I had a brand new V8D Toyota Landcruiser that broke down on the motorway with 52 miles on the clock, these things are supposed to do a zillion miles and never break down, well mine did and it had to have a new gearbox after less than a week of having it delivered. I leased 4 Transit Customs last year and they've all been back various times for various faults, they really are a load of crap compared to the Transporters that I run, I've taken delivery of 11 Transporters including my T32 and they've all been faultless so far.

It does sound like the EGR cooler is a common fault, that's a good thing so far as diagnosis and repair goes. Fingers crossed it gets fixed and the experience doesn't sully the new van experience too much.

 

[TEESIXY]

Not again @TEESIXY ? As this is a recurrence of a previous issue then bear in mind that should you wish to raise the question of a replacement engine with VWCC the start date of the problem is that of the first recovery by VW Assist to the dealer if they failed to acknowledge any previous attempts to raise it with a VW Dealer. Previous unsuccessful atttempts to raise the issue may well be taken into consideration if legal action is necessary.

Thanks Daves Dad. VW assist were here at 7.30am. It was a big rubber hose that had blown off the charger cooler, that rectangular device on top of the engine. Some time ago the van went in for new mounting rubbers on the charger cooler, and it looks like the tech hadnt refitted the hose correctly. So its sorted !

 

[Shredder]

@Insert Coin ... yeah that's a fair point but the main dealer the van is at is the one Leighton use for all their warranty and official VW stuff. So Leighton are an enormous customer for them.

I take your point about all marques having issues (although my Range has had none ) but the reason I am particularly stressed about this one is that the T6 EGR issue puts coolant into the Oil, Gearbox or Exhaust. So, there are varying degrees of widespread collateral damage. Replacing the EGR and hopefully ending the leak, is unfortunately not the end of the story. The collateral damage can show 1000's miles later. Turbo's, Engine, Exhaust system .... all silly money to fix. Having read loads on it, particularly noteworthy stories on the Caravelle and T5 Forum's where people had to have complete replacement engines and turbo's !!

You are so right

sully the new van experience

... unfortunately this has been the biggest anti-climax new car delivery of my life. I cannot see how my confidence can be restored. I bought this to very reliably warp across Europe biking. It can't make it down the road

 

[Deleted Member]

@Insert Coin ... yeah that's a fair point but the main dealer the van is at is the one Leighton use for all their warranty and official VW stuff. So Leighton are an enormous customer for them.

I take your point about all marques having issues (although my Range has had none ) but the reason I am particularly stressed about this one is that the T6 EGR issue puts coolant into the Oil, Gearbox or Exhaust. So, there are varying degrees of widespread collateral damage. Replacing the EGR and hopefully ending the leak, is unfortunately not the end of the story. The collateral damage can show 1000's miles later. Turbo's, Engine, Exhaust system .... all silly money to fix. Having read loads on it, particularly noteworthy stories on the Caravelle and T5 Forum's where people had to have complete replacement engines and turbo's !!

You are so right ... unfortunately this has been the biggest anti-climax new car delivery of my life. I cannot see how my confidence can be restored. I bought this to very reliably warp across Europe biking. It can't make it down the road

A very fair point ref Leighton being a big customer, yes you would expect the main dealer to jump through hoops. Our Range must be a Friday afternoon job, suspension overheats, suspension locks in the down position and won't rise, AEB crashes frequently, DPF faulty, side steps stuck in/out/shakeitallabout, nav crashes, bluetooth audio clipping and two totally dead instances needing recovery.

I don't think your 204 EGR cooler is the same issue as the T5 180 EGR issue, the 180 EGR issue caused chronic oil consumption, I hope I'm correct on this?

 

[Shredder]

@Insert Coin ...yep, I understand the EGR has changed in design after the T5 problems but now there are just a new and different set of (just as serious) problems. On the Caravelle forum ... it was brand new vans having replacement engines etc due to faulty EGR !!

For me, the bottom line is that I am within my 30 days, there is 'online' evidence of this widespread fault everywhere and I won't be stupid enough to let VWCS delays and prevarication time me out

(Very unlucky on your Range. I've had 5 of them and only two issues. Front passenger side air suspension unit and condensation on driver side light pack. You wouldn't really want to be out of warranty with them. Light unit excl fitting and VAT £2,500, suspension unit excl fitting and VAT £1,750 !!! )

 

[DaveyB]

@Insert Coin ...yep, I understand the EGR has changed in design after the T5 problems but now there are just a new and different set of (just as serious) problems. On the Caravelle forum ... it was brand new vans having replacement engines etc due to faulty EGR !!

For me, the bottom line is that I am within my 30 days, there is 'online' evidence of this widespread fault everywhere and I won't be stupid enough to let VWCS delays and prevarication time me out

(Very unlucky on your Range. I've had 5 of them and only two issues. Front passenger side air suspension unit and condensation on driver side light pack. You wouldn't really want to be out of warranty with them. Light unit excl fitting and VAT £2,500, suspension unit excl fitting and VAT £1,750 !!! )

If you are within the 30 day period, then i’d be giving some serious thought to rejecting the van if you are that concerned about the long term damage done.

 

[Shredder]

@DaveyB Indeed ..... that is exactly the discussion taking place in the last two hours.

I've had confirmation today that it is an EGR valve fault that caused the coolant to dump into areas it should never be. So, that's me added to the very long list of customers with this fault (that apparently doesn't exist and isn't a known problem)

 

[DaveyB]

@DaveyB Indeed ..... that is exactly the discussion taking place in the last two hours.

I've had confirmation today that it is an EGR valve fault that caused the coolant to dump into areas it should never be. So, that's me added to the very long list of customers with this fault (that apparently doesn't exist and isn't a known problem)

It truly amazes me how VW can tell such bare faced lies. They never learn and never will, as people still keep purchasing their product. All you can do is show them the so called non-existent evidence that is captured on just this one forum, of so many people having the same fault.
All I can say is that I am so glad I have the E5 engine in my T6, and the majority of reported problems are with the E6 version.

 

[Shredder]

I was surprised and annoyed at first, as it only took me a few hours on Google searching on this specific issue to learn that it is an extremely widespread problem. As an EGR issue, it also seems to go back many years.

As someone, who shall remain nameless, said to me today ............. "we know they don't want the enormous recall costs of this one" !!!

Although, is it that surprising after the scale of deceit in their emissions debacle

 

[DPS]

@DaveyB Indeed ..... that is exactly the discussion taking place in the last two hours.

I've had confirmation today that it is an EGR valve fault that caused the coolant to dump into areas it should never be. So, that's me added to the very long list of customers with this fault (that apparently doesn't exist and isn't a known problem)

I have a strong suspicion it is a known problem. When I contacted the dealer (Marshall, Bridgwater) about my van losing coolant I was asked a few questions after which the EGR was quickly diagnosed, over the phone, as the problem. It was replaced the next day. When I asked what might have caused the issue (900 miles) I was told it would have most likely have been a faulty unit from the factory. I got the impression they were very familiar with the issue. I must say that I received excellent service from Marshall's.

 

[Deleted Member]

From what I've read I still don't think the EGR issue that apparently plagued the 180 is causing the same kind of damage to the T6. Happy to be proven wrong, but one is causing massive oil consumption and the other is causing coolant loss.

My in-laws have a 180 with about 60,000 miles and it shows no issue with oil consumption so far, touch wood.

I wonder if the T6 now has an even more betterer improved EGR to replace what appears to be a bad batch of improved EGR's?

 

[Pauly]

The two issues are very different, the T5 EGR problems are basically caused by the inside of the EGR valve corroding (badly) and it then basically shits itself into the cyclinders which destroys the bores and in turn causes huge oil loss (burnt off in the cylinder) and the only fix is a replacement engine

 

[Shredder]

From what I've read I still don't think the EGR issue that apparently plagued the 180 is causing the same kind of damage to the T6. Happy to be proven wrong, but one is causing massive oil consumption and the other is causing coolant loss.

Yeah but the issue is .... where is that coolant is going. Today, I was told that when the EGR valves fail, the coolant mostly gets dumped into cylinder 2. In very mild cases it burns off .... but still doing less noticeable damage to engine, turbo's and exhaust obviously . The catastrophic failure comes when people are confused and keep topping it up and the cycle repeats the damage. The worst cases being topping it up at night, the whole lot dumping into cylinder 2 overnight and then you innocently try to start it in the morning and BOOM .... minimum of new engine required ! Hence Leighton Vans correctly telling me not to top up, not to try to start or drive the van whatsoever when the coolant warning came on. VW Customer Services (Assist) incorrectly saying the opposite

The two issues are very different, the T5 EGR problems are basically caused by the inside of the EGR valve corroding (badly) and it then basically shits itself into the cyclinders

Interestingly similar to what today was referred to by VW as an EGR valve failure on mine ..... a 2 week old T6

 

[Shredder]

OK ... so update for those interested and anyone who is buying a new T6 or doesn't know about this problem... it's pretty important !

@DPS is right and I suspected as much. VW obviously know about this and it is kept very quiet (I guess they don't want the recall costs). At all times, everyone in the VW ecosystem dealing with this fault on my van acted like it was all a big surprising mystery ...... except Leighton Vans whose correct intervention prevented catastrophic engine failure.

I have been offered a satisfactory compensatory agreement from VW and am not now formally rejecting the van.

In the end, not just the EGR Cooler valve but the whole unit had to be replaced.

 

[Deleted Member]

That's a good result, fair play to Leighton.

I wonder if this issue is something that could affect all T6's at some point or if it's just a faulty batch of coolers?

I've done 2000 miles now without issue, I even managed to fix my squeaking seat

 

[Shredder]

@Insert Coin I can't unfortunately answer that as everybody (VW) are tight lipped about it. It appears it mostly happens in the first few thousand miles. I have to be careful saying that though, as it's just that those cases are the ones dealers are most aware of and are more likely to get publicised by disgruntled new owners. I did read one case of it happening at 15,000 miles. Leighton Vans have seen enough to know it's a real issue and what needs to be done about it. Whether it's true or not I don't know but I quite often hear an opinion that these VW EU6 engines were put together in a rush and foisted on us before enough testing had been done

 

[mopardave]

That's a good result, fair play to Leighton.

I wonder if this issue is something that could affect all T6's at some point or if it's just a faulty batch of coolers?

I've done 2000 miles now without issue, I even managed to fix my squeaking seat

Tell us more about the squeaking seat.....I've got two (squeakers that is!)!

 

[Deleted Member]

Tell us more about the squeaking seat.....I've got two (squeakers that is!)!

If the squeak is coming from inside the seat like mine was, take it out (4 bolts and a couple of connectors), turn the seat upside down and liberally spray dry silicone spray over all the adjustment mechanisms. I used WD40 dry PTFE spray with a straw, the seats have been squeak free for a few weeks now. I also sprayed the recliner mechanism, between the adjuster and the side of the seat and both arm rests where they pivot.

 

[KEDSKI]

First, thank you @Deaky , @Shredder and many others for sharing your experiences!
Reading dreadful sorties of yours make me wonder whether we are just lucky or Velles/Multivans are made with greater attention as we haven't got any issues with now 2y old T6Velle (14000 miles on the clock and still 3000miles /90days to go to first service)????
The only thing is that it had to be recalled for software update and oil system?fault or something like that, which never did show on dash.