If anyone else has a conrod problem with a BXE engine,please, please, please can they report and complain to the following: VOSA, SEAT/VW/Skoda/AUDI as appropriate andthen also contact Watchdog. VOSA took mycomplaint seriously, but unfortunately there have been no other reports to themof such a failure and my prints out from websites such as this are âunsolicitedâand therefore they are unable to take them into consideration. Thank you.
This is my story:
I am the owner of a SEATToledo and on 1[SUP]st[/SUP] July, it broke down whilst driving on my localbypass. The AA recovery service diagnosed a conrod through the engine block andtowed it to a local AA approved service repair centre.
Whilst talking to familyand colleagues (mainly Engineers) about this unfortunate incident, they havebeen very shocked and surprised that a car which is only 4 years old shouldhave such a problem. I am upset that this has happened being as I bought thecar last year for nearly £7K, thinking that I was buying a quality car that Iwould be able to use for my commute to work. The car has FSH up to the purchasedate and has since been regularly serviced by my father, who is a qualifiedengineering fitter. My father has been maintaining vehicles all of hisprofessional working life and has spent the last 35 years as the WorkshopManager for XXX, maintaining a fleet of HGVâs. All Iâm trying to point out bythat background information is that my car hasnât been serviced by someone whodoesnât know what they are doing and just âtinkersâ with vehicles in theirspare time! Iâm sure that you can appreciate that when you have a professionalin the family, it doesnât make sense to continue having my car serviced by anexpensive main dealer.
I had assumed that maybethis incident, whilst unfortunate, was perhaps âone of these thingsâ, but onresearching the internet, I understand that this is a common fault with thistype of engine. Please find attached a significant quantity of forum reportsfrom others who have experienced the same problem. Some have been fortunateenough to have the manufacturer give a âgoodwillâ payment; others have not.
Whilst I understand thatthe SEAT warranty is only 3 years and I am now out of that period, I believethat this fault causes the car to be âunfit for purpose âunder the definitionof the Sale of Goods Act. I understand that owning a car which is 4 years oldcarries a risk, but I believe that SEAT should be acknowledging this as adefect in their manufacturing and should be resolving the issue for me. Youwill understand that I find this financially devastating.
The customer service I havereceived from both the SEAT Head Office and the SEAT dealership has been superbâ I cannot fault either for politeness, helpfulness and responsiveness, howeverit is the decision made by SEAT Head Office to not resolve this issue for me attheir cost which I am aggrieved about. They had agreed to a âgoodwill gestureâ of50% if the dealership would match this. The dealership wouldnât and to behonest I donât blame them; I didnât purchase the car from them in the firstplace (purchased from XXX), therefore it is not really their concern. As thedealership wouldnât offer a goodwill payment, SEAT Head Office will also notoffer me anything. Incidentally XXX aren't interested in helping me either as Ipurchased the car 15 months ago.
The SEAT dealership stripped down the engine and reported the following:Carriedout investigation into engine damage. unable to start vehicle to lack of oilwithin engine. Carried out gff and checked for any relevant TPI's all ok.Carried out visual check, found hole in engine to oil cooler, new enginerequired. Stripped engine and found hardly any oil left in the engine this hascaused the conrod to go through the engine.
The above simply isnâttrue. Having previously owned a car which drank oil, I religiously check theoil level in my car - once a fortnight. I had checked the oil on 28th Maybefore making a trip to Great Yarmouth (4.5 hr drive) and again on the 1st Junebefore leaving for Birmingham airport as part of my normal holiday routine. (1hour drive) It was parked at Birmingham airport for a fortnight, so I did notcheck it again before the engine seized - in the year I've owned the car, it'snever been heavy on oil-infact I really can't remember if I've even had to topit up. I don't believe that my car was suffering an oil loss for two reasons -the first being that we've just had (in June 2012) a new block paved drivewaybuilt and if the car was leaking oil, I would have been well aware and upsetabout it. I can also categorically confirm that no oil warning light came on(even though I don't rely on this to tell me that I need to top up the oil).
The engine seized whilstdriving down the bypass in XXX and managed to get it into "Homebase"car park so it was safely out of the way (approx 1/4 mile). My dad told me offfor this, but the AA man said that I couldn't have done anymore damage bydriving it, as the engine was as bad as it gets anyway. Both the car and theroad were covered in oil (you can still see the trail of oil stain on the roadnow). So it's no wonder that there is NOW hardly only oil left. But that's thereason -the conrod threw causing the hole which caused the oil leak. Not thatthere was no oil which caused the conrod to throw.
In addition to the variousinformation Iâve found regarding others having the same problem with thisengine code â BXE, Iâve also enclosed photographic evidence that there is nosign on the engine bearings of the engine seizing. If the engine had of seizeddue to lack of oil there would be scoring/damage to the bearings.
A catastrophic enginefailure such as this is dangerous. Luckily we were driving on a relativelyquiet piece of road, albeit with my two young children (aged 1 and 2) in theback seat. If I have been driving down the motorway when this occurred, thiscould have led to a fatal accident.
In summary, I believe thatthere is a manufacturing defect with the conrods on engine code BXE and Ibelieve that the financial cost of putting this right should be met by SEAT. Ialso believe that from a safety perspective a recall on these engines should beconsidered.
I have just had the carrepaired at my own cost (£2,400) by purchasing an engine from a salvaged carand it's been fitted by SEAT. I've asked them to save me the conrods out of myold engine incase there is any need for me to get them independently tested.
Iâve since parted companywith the car as I need a safe car to drive â I cannot take the risk of owning adangerous car, but I still aggrieved at the injustice.
thanks mate, will make sure to call them and VOSA in the morning.
