Leon Problems

[gaffer1986]

The car is now getting near to 70,000 miles after 30 months. So far I've had the following done, has anyone else had these problems:

New steering rack after knocking noise 30K miles
New cylinder head after oil usage and misfire which it had since new - turned out to be a leaky head replaced at 63K
New third brake light 60K
New steering wheel controls as volume stopped working 40K
New LCD screen due to cold weather issues 60K
New heater fan after squeaking sound 60K
Steering software update at around 60K

Currently the traffic button is nearly always showing no traffic reports available but I am yet to investigate this.

This has all been done under warranty, I must have lost SEAT a lot of money. :/

 

[bladerider666]

Sounds like an unlucky car/owner. On 18k miles after 15 months and all I've had replaced was the cracked rear lights and the drivers seat height lever.

 

[gaffer1986]

No problems with rear lights here, the drivers lever does get stuck so I probably should get them to sort this whilst it is under warranty.

 

[gaffer1986]

To add to the list, wing mirror motor and battery.

The most unreliable car I have ever owned.

 

[yellowcone87]

That's quite a list you have there Gaffer.

I now feel lucky by comparison to have only had a few minor issues. Mine is now coming up to three years old and I've been trying to make my mind up with regards to its replacement...

I still don't know what my next one will be, but I doubt it'll be another Leon. Are you sticking with Seat?

 

[andrew_ww]

Mines @ 30k and I've had two screens replaced. The garage gave the impression they replace a lot of them due to failures.

 

[BlackFR]

In the first 15k miles I had this little list replaced:
Turbo actuator
Turbo
Drivers seat base
A headlight
A tail light
High level brake light

 

[abulafia]

Bloody hell guys. Strange to see so many problems listed. I've had mine for 50k (km) and more than 3 years, and haven't had a single problem, not even the typical problems I see often listed on these pages such as handbrake and rear lights. So far, knock on wood, the car is bullet proof. I guess the only "problem" was that I had to recently replace the dampers (leaking oil), but that's more down to the quality of roads here in Athens than their build quality.

Life with my Leon has so far been a peach...

 

[Aardvark]

34000 miles, 1.5L of oil, two new tyres and minor adjustment to front wheel tracking alignment. Broken plastic clip for luggage cover (ST) replaced under warranty.

 

[gaffer1986]

That's quite a list you have there Gaffer.

I now feel lucky by comparison to have only had a few minor issues. Mine is now coming up to three years old and I've been trying to make my mind up with regards to its replacement...

I still don't know what my next one will be, but I doubt it'll be another Leon. Are you sticking with Seat?

I'm still not sure what I'm going to do, I can replace it from Feb 17.

 

[gaffer1986]

Bloody hell guys. Strange to see so many problems listed. I've had mine for 50k (km) and more than 3 years, and haven't had a single problem, not even the typical problems I see often listed on these pages such as handbrake and rear lights. So far, knock on wood, the car is bullet proof. I guess the only "problem" was that I had to recently replace the dampers (leaking oil), but that's more down to the quality of roads here in Athens than their build quality.

Life with my Leon has so far been a peach...

The front dampers are supposed to be oily on these cars, it's how they lubricate themselves.

 

[gaffer1986]

Given the statement there was probably no problems with your shock absorbers.

2016-10-28_12-57-26 by Richard Fanders, on Flickr

 

[gaffer1986]

Also, three of the four ignition coils where recently replaced as they crumbled during a service, I forgot about them.

 

[gaffer1986]

So total:

New steering rack after knocking noise 30K miles
New cylinder head after oil usage and misfire which it had since new - turned out to be a leaky head replaced at 63K
New third brake light 60K
New steering wheel controls as volume stopped working 40K
New LCD screen due to cold weather issues 60K
New heater fan after squeaking sound 60K
Steering software update at around after steering weight kept changing 60K
Battery 25K
One ignition coil 60K
Two more ignition coils 75K
Wing mirror motor 75K

Currently traffic button not working.

 

[abulafia]

Given the statement there was probably no problems with your shock absorbers.

Hey Gaffer, thanks for the advice - however, the oil leak was much more than what is considered normal. In fact the front left and the rear right dampers were knackered (oil had covered the dampers' body). Front right and rear left were OK (with acceptable leakage levels), but I changed all 4 because it didn't make any sense to only change 2. I switched to Bilsteins at the time anyway.

 

[robin cur]

The car is now getting near to 70,000 miles after 30 months. So far I've had the following done, has anyone else had these problems:

New steering rack after knocking noise 30K miles
New cylinder head after oil usage and misfire which it had since new - turned out to be a leaky head replaced at 63K
New third brake light 60K
New steering wheel controls as volume stopped working 40K
New LCD screen due to cold weather issues 60K
New heater fan after squeaking sound 60K
Steering software update at around 60K

Currently the traffic button is nearly always showing no traffic reports available but I am yet to investigate this.

This has all been done under warranty, I must have lost SEAT a lot of money. :/

AND EVERYONE KNOCKS FRENCH CARS.
Both my daughters have French cars one has a c4 picasso and the other a Peugeot 5008 both top 100k plus, other than serviceable parts no problems.
I have 2 German cars so far VW OK Merc spends most of the time in the workshop so many problems and only covered 17k.

 

[DANFR180]

are you a driving instructor ?

 

[gaffer1986]

are you a driving instructor ?

Yes, I would like to add these faults are completely unrelated to being a driving instructor. Clutch and transmission maybe but electrical components inside the car, wing mirror mechanism, brake lights, engine coils crumbling, valve stem seals leaking, battery dying, steering rack etc have nothing to do with slow inexperienced drivers. I put more wear on my cars than they do. It's does most of it's miles with a warm engine, I don't do 6 miles a day with lots of cold starts over 75k miles I do 150 miles a day with one cold start.

I totally agree with the French cars, Japanese also, many instructors have done over 150k miles in Citroëns, Peugeots and Fords with no problems, maybe one clutch and consumables.

 

[gaffer1986]

However I feel luckier than the two poor instructors who decided to get a new shaped mini, both have lost lots of money as their cars where always breaking down, one sold hers and bought an Adam as she was losing too much money.

I'm thinking French next time, never owned one but not heard a bad word from a single instructor in 8 years of doing this job.

 

[Nick2016]

I totally agree with the French cars, Japanese also, many instructors have done over 150k miles in Citroëns, Peugeots and Fords with no problems, maybe one clutch and consumables.

I've had no mechanical problems with my Citroen. But first the wiring for the tail lights went. Wasn't designed for daylight running. Then the wiring to the engine electronics went and that meant they all need changing.

If the wiring wasn't designed for the very lowest cost I'd never have had a problem. OTOH when the wiring goes and burns out all the expensive bits