Water in airbox £170 to repair :(

darrellr

Full Member
Apr 2, 2006
278
0
monmouth
Sometime around late October/early November last year I noticed that the my wife's 2.0 TFSI was making some rather odd noises. Over time I decided it was probably 'blowing' a little and the exhaust needed a change. I thought it didn't sound too bad and so put it off 'til after Xmas.

A few days ago the noise was definately worse and my Wife said the yellow engine light had come on which really grabbed my attention and so I took it to a local ATS. THey had a look and said the exhaust was fine and the problem noise appeared to be within the engine.

My wife drove it the 30 miles to our 'local' dealer who examined it and reported we had 3 litres of water in the air box and then he was worried we may have caused some real damage. He was adamant that the only way the water could have got in there was by driving through a large body of water i.e flooded road. After further inspection the report was that the car required a new air filter, spark plugs and coil pack. The compression test reported back 'within tolerances' and so con rod damage wasn't suspected.

My question are:

1. Is the driving through a big puddle' scenario valid?
2. How common is this?
3. Should I be requesting anything further test-wise to ensure the engine hasn't suffered.

The £170 is for replacing the 3 parts plus 1.5 hours labour.
 
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m0rk

sarcasm comes free
Staff member
May 19, 2001
27,787
33
Clanfield, UK
I think they've robbed you for an air filter, plugs & coil pack - that's more like £50 of bits. then maybe 1.5hrs @ £90/hr plus vat
 

andycupra

status subject to change
yes the puddles thing sound about right, there is plenty of them about at the moment and if the cars i followed to work are anything to go by most people are happy to drown their cars.


is that £170 for the bits them labour on top?
or
£170 parts and labour? (depends how i read it).

my take:

£90 per hour for 1.5 hours = £135
+ vat? = £158.625

so if £170 inclused parts and labour then in that case you got the parts very cheap at £11.50 odd.

coil packs alone are £25-£30 each inclusive.
spark plugs, are these long life? titanium? long life are £40-50? otherwise £9 odd?
panel filter about £10?

so assuming they are not titanium plugs, like M0rk said, about £50 for parts.

1.5 hours seems plenty of time to change those parts. but perhaps not for a dealer ;)
 
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Fl@pper

Back older greyer and less oilier but always hope
Jun 19, 2001
12,370
26
Gloucester
£170 before vat is £145 roughly

-1.5 hours @ say £60hr = 90

leaves ya £55 for parts

sounds about right for the 3 bits
 

darrellr

Full Member
Apr 2, 2006
278
0
monmouth
I think they've robbed you for an air filter, plugs & coil pack - that's more like £50 of bits. then maybe 1.5hrs @ £90/hr plus vat

I think it was £40-odd for bits and £130 for labour.

Any advice on further testing or is the Compression test definative?

Also, if we'd have realised that we shipped in water could I have done something at the time to drain it out? Or is it a job for a mechanic?
 
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Rampage

Trainee Northener
May 24, 2003
1,033
2
Surely you'd remember driving through something high enough to put that much water through the inlet?

Check it's just water and not oily or got anti-freeze or something in it.

Could it be the wat you wash your car? Have you washed the engine bay.

You can always check the hardness of the water to see if it's rainwater or tap water.
 

andycupra

status subject to change
where is the air intake on these? front of car? wheel arch?
if the undertray on the car?

is the car ever parked on a steep hill front of car upwards?

if the air inlet is piped to the front of the car then its amazingly easy to have water in the intake. Whether this would be enough for the water to be drawn up to the filter is another matter.

this time of year it could even be worth removing inlet pipework that runs to the front of the car on in the wheel arches..
 

OLDOILER

Full Member
Jul 28, 2005
1,292
1
Wiltshire, UK
Sometime around late October/early
My question are:

1. Is the driving through a big puddle' scenario valid?
2. How common is this?
3. Should I be requesting anything further test-wise to ensure the engine hasn't suffered.

The £170 is for replacing the 3 parts plus 1.5 hours labour.

1) that was no puddle - that was a flooded road
2) not that common unless you drive too fast [ my rover air intake was at spot light level and could hydraulic lock the engine - new engine required then) yours is just below the bonnet lip [ there are two drain points within the air intake system seems strange that this did not cure the problem??
3) this does seem excessive - as stated by others on this thread.
 

traumapat

Leon Cupra IHI
Jul 24, 2005
5,925
4
sunny sussex
did you see the water yourself?

3 litres... thats alot of water. it suprises me the turbo hadnt just sucked it through?

if it got to a cylinder.. would it blow past the rings? or sieze? would you get mayo in the oil?

have you been through any flooding in it?

:confused:
 

darrellr

Full Member
Apr 2, 2006
278
0
monmouth
1) that was no puddle - that was a flooded road
2) not that common unless you drive too fast [ my rover air intake was at spot light level and could hydraulic lock the engine - new engine required then) yours is just below the bonnet lip [ there are two drain points within the air intake system seems strange that this did not cure the problem??
3) this does seem excessive - as stated by others on this thread.

Thanks for the insight. My wife is adamant that, whilst she may have driven through a few biggish kerbside puddles, she hasn't attempted to ford the local river! Water at bonnet lid level is ridiculous. However that still doesn't explain how come we have water damage.

We live on level ground, we haven't flooded, we are guilty of washing the car quite infrequently and we certainly are not so diliigent as to wash inside the engine bay.

The dealer's service guys are simply adamant the car has been driven through a flooded road and are quite unsubtly suggesting we must know this as the car itself has signs of dampness.

I'm not contending the work is at my cost or that the cost is overly high - I am just really worried that this will happen again.
 
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m0rk

sarcasm comes free
Staff member
May 19, 2001
27,787
33
Clanfield, UK
did you take the car swimming?

I can't see any other reason unless the dealer is playing their favourite game "billy bullshit"
 
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