Sick 140PD - turning into a joke

[birds town]

Hi all

Just wondered if anyone has encountered similar...

Went to start car ('06 2.0 140PD) last night, my hand slipped off the key as I turned so engine didn't even get a full crank. After cursing and trying again the car starts, but is misfiring and shaking at idle - the engine will rev up, but still isn't running right.

Abandoned it on the drive for a while and when I try again, it will start, but won't hold an idle at all - just conks out. Again it will rev up (still rough) but as soon as you lift off, it splutters out.

Anyway, left it at home this morning and phoned the Ford dealership I bought from, who sent a breakdown truck out, now the car won't idle or hold a rev, just keeps dying out! Glowplug light is flashing (handbook says this means engine management failure ) and exhaust control system light stays on.

I'd been driving the car about half an hour before the misfire started and all was well. It's been taken to the Seat main dealer's for the once over, will have to wait to see what happens tomorrow (and no courtesy car either!! )
TBH, bricking it a bit at the mo, have only had the car three months and supplying dealer's being a bit funny about the warranty...

Any help/advice greatly appreciated...

 

[SpursMadDave]

Its well inside its warranty and if you only had it 3 months i would have insisted on a courtesy car, or told them you will hire one and send them the bill! Get on to Seat Customer Services straight away and give them an earbashing!!!

 

[Deev]

I don't get how a dealer can be "funny about the warranty" when it's an obvious fault and within the 3 years manufacturer's warranty!

 

[SpursMadDave]

I don't get how a dealer can be "funny about the warranty" when it's an obvious fault and within the 3 years manufacturer's warranty!

If the supplying dealer was Ford then they have no right to be 'funny' about the warranty the issue is with Seat surely? As long as the car has been serviced correctly then there is no issue.

 

[flakmunky]

I would prolly not bother with the Ford dealer - go straight to Seat... At least then you aren't getting Chinese Whispers about what is wrong...

 

[birds town]

Sorry, should clarify. Car is Irish market, which only comes with two years Seat warranty. That ran out in May, and the Ford dealer agreed to six more months with a 6k limit. Thing was, the salesman put on the invoice that the car had 26k on the clock when I bought, when in fact there was 36k (and in the excitement, I didn't check the paperwork ) and there's 40k on the clock now. Anyway, after mentioning 'Sale of Goods Act' and 'Unfair terms in consumer contracts', he's "taking my word for it."

At least I have a courtesy car now, but the Seat dealers are "wile busy at the minute" and weren't due to look at my car until this evening Think I'll be giving them a bell directly in the morning...

 

[flakmunky]

G'luck, mate.

 

[Xe]

Lets us know what was wrong with your car and good luck

 

[birds town]

Update:
Still no further forward - called in to the SEAT dealer today and spoke to the service manager and they still haven't figured out what's wrong!
Apparently, car's showing up a fault code for the injectors, but they've had them out, checked, pressure tested the system and can find nothing wrong. And now, the car runs perfectly when warm, but goes through the whole dying out thing from a cold start. Dealer's been on the blower to HQ, running whatever checks they suggest, but it sounds like it's got them stumped.

Beginning to lose faith, and it's not helped by the fact that next week the garage closes for holidays, so if it's not sorted by Friday, it'll be mid august before I see my car again

 

[birds town]

Dealer phoned me today - they've decided to put a set of injectors in, even though two days ago they were adamant the injectors were fine
Anyway, with the holidays next week and the parts on backorder, it'll be at least a fortnight before they have the new ones in the car (and know if that fixes the problem!)

 

[coggie]

The garage closes for a week?

Thats a new one on me.....

 

[Michael B]

The garage closes for a week?

Thats a new one on me.....

Well you two are in different countries, it is possible that holidays are different..

 

[seremotors]

is there any possibility that it has jumped the timing due to the slip when cranking? this could bring up an injector fault as they would just have been kicking in to fire. the injection pump can be turned back by hand - might be worth checking. also its possible its coincidence that it happened on a half crank and the fault is a sudden failure of a temp sensor or something. the diagnostic machine will tell you what temp the sensor is reading and common sense will tell if its right or not. however the diagnostic machine will not necessarily show up a timing fault as its physical rather than electronic.

 

[birds town]

The garage closes for a week?

Thats a new one on me.....

Yep, a very Irish thing, country pretty much closes down around the August Bank Holiday. Just have to grin and bear it i guess...

is there any possibility that it has jumped the timing due to the slip when cranking? this could bring up an injector fault as they would just have been kicking in to fire. the injection pump can be turned back by hand - might be worth checking. also its possible its coincidence that it happened on a half crank and the fault is a sudden failure of a temp sensor or something. the diagnostic machine will tell you what temp the sensor is reading and common sense will tell if its right or not. however the diagnostic machine will not necessarily show up a timing fault as its physical rather than electronic.

Thanks, something to think about. Dealer's really not inspiring much confidence anyways - two days after saying the injectors are fine, they decide to stick a set in because "that's where the computer's pointing and we can't find anything else." Told them I wasn't happy waiting two weeks for them to fit parts that might fix the problem and got not much more than a shrug of the shoulders. Thank god I'm not picking up the bill.
Anyhoo, I'll have to wait until the 11th before I can speak to anyone to bring it up

 

[birds town]

Right, this is getting laughable...
The SEAT dealer has had the injectors since last Thursday, when I spoke to them on Thursday they reckoned they'd have her ready for Friday evening. No such luck. Today (Monday) rang them - car still not ready and "we've pulled the mechanic off it to do something else. Might get back to it this evening" 'Red rag' and 'bull' spring to mind.

Knocked off early, drove straight to the Ford dealer I'd bought from. Salesman I dealt with is on holidays and no one else knew anything!

Anyway, got speaking directly to the head honcho of the Ford dealers, who pleaded ignorance and did seem genuinely surprised at how poor the service had been. He had a word with the SEAT dealers and now they're to finish putting the injectors in tomorrow, and are certain that's going to be everything fixed so all being well I should be able to collect tomorrow evening.

I'm getting this sneaky suspicion that things won't run so smoothly. but fingers crossed...

 

[birds town]

Sick 140PD

Well wadda you know... Rapidly heading for week 6 and still no car.

The injectors were in last Thursday, car was being tested and developed a "slight" misfire at idle when warm! My friends (ahem...) at the SEAT dealers roped in the help of the VW garage opposite, who suggested replacing the loom leading to the injectors.

Not surprisingly, that hasn't worked either. Latest chat today, and they're running a compression test in the morning, SEAT HQ now thinks "there's something bent in the engine" and want them to take the head off to check!
The one plus is that they've finally roped in SEAT Ireland and SEAT UK to try and figure out what's wrong, shame its about four weeks too late. I'd hate to think what kind of a bill had run up at this point, and realistically, its now looking like at least another two weeks before I get my motor back.

To be honest, the Ford dealers I bought from have pretty much given up, had already told them (last week) that I wasn't waiting much longer before bringing in a solicitor, from talking to them today, I don't think I'll even need to. Probably call in with them in the next few days and make it clear that at this point, I'd rather have my money back rather than faff about for a few more weeks with no guarantees.

So, might soon become an ex-SEAT owner - only problem is I don't have a clue what I'd get to replace it...

 

[seremotors]

That is such a shocking experience, and speaking as a dealer aftersales manager, an embarrassment to our brand. Holidays aside, the timescale is appalling and every dealer has the ability to communicate fully with SEAT to get help - even to the point where they will fly an expert technician across to actually work on the vehicle. Every car has its issues but it is how they are resolved which is important. Sorry you are put off SEAT, good luck with whatever you get next

 

[birds town]

Well, surprisingly enough, I still own the Leon - gave the dealers until the end of September to get the car fixed, SEAT Ireland took it to Dublin, started looking at it on 29th September, had the fault diagnosed (Replaced faulty ECU - misreading some signal from the alternator ), parts ordered and car "fixed" and waiting for a transporter back to Donegal by the 3rd October.

It finally made it back to Letterkenny today. Picked the car up this evening, 6 kilometers down the road and the traction control light comes on. Turn back to SEAT dealer, stop the car to go in, sure enough light has gone out when he starts the car. Put her on the computer, no faults showing, so off I head again. Five minutes down the road, light comes back on.
After a shouting match with the dealers at 6:05pm (We're closing, don't have any courtesy cars here, why don't you drop it off with us tomorrow?), car has to be collected tomorrow from my house 30 odd miles from the dealership - service bloke is "pretty sure" the traction control switch has gone - from what I spotted on the rest of the way home, he's pretty far off the mark...

1) Traction control light coming on.
2) Switch climate to max demisting, turn on heated rear window - rear window switches itself on and off every few seconds...
3) and most bizarre - turn on cruise control, set speed. When you cancel the cruise, the buttons on the stalk "reverse" - next time you try to use it, RESUME sets the cruising speed and SET resumes the previous cruise

At this point I feel like putting the car through the showroom window and torching the f***er - getting your car back after almost twelve weeks with a litany of new faults is an absolute disgrace. To date, I've had new injectors, new wiring loom, compression test carried out, diagnostic logs sent to Spain (were they f**k) who then came up with the notion of putting a clutch and flywheel on the car! It even took them 2 months before they finally admitted the car was still under SEAT warranty! Not to mention the five days my car vanished - left Letterkenny on Wed. 24th Sept for the 5-6 hour run to Dublin, didn't arrive until the following Monday? And guess what? No apology from SEAT, no compensation, they won't even extend the warranty.

Gotta remember tomorrow - deep breaths, calm thoughts...

 

[googies]

That is a disgrace! But all to common with dealers in this country, most just don't want to know. Seat customer services again, bombard them and get legal onto it if you can, get some sort of compensation for your troubles, even if it is warranty extension.

Godd luck with the car.

 

[seremotors]

ah man i work at a dealership and that really makes me angry. id be seeing a solicitor - first to sort the car out, then to prepare my defence for killing someone . . . .
seriously, you must have some legal redress?????? id go for it bigtime - press, tv, legal action, finance company etc etc involve as many people as you can - area SEAT manager be my first one