"slight misting of oil on shock absorber" advisory note

[steve12345]

Hi all,

So my car came back from its routine service with the above advisory note. However the shock absorbers where replaced apx 17months ago, and covered 20k miles during that time. So I'm a bit disappointed that they have already started to leak / fail, i have the DCC car too so it was over £600 to replace the shocks.

They where replaced with the original VW parts by a independent VW specialist. The guy at the garage said this could be a warranty claim but I would need to take it to a VW dealership for them to verify the warranty claim on the shock absorbers. I called my local VW dealership and they confirmed this however they also said that if they deem it not to be a warranty claim i would be charged a £60 inspection fee. The part has a 24 month warranty apparently.

So before I take the gamble on a VW warranty claim wanted to get some opinions:

Whats the likely hood of them accepting the claim given the shocks where fitted 17 months ago and covered 20k miles already?

Whats considered normal in terms of misting oil?

Should I be worried about this? I don't fancy forking out another £600 quid for new shock absorbers every 2 years

Thanks in advance!

[sjw]

Hi all,

So my car came back from its routine service with the above advisory note. However the shock absorbers where replaced apx 17months ago, and covered 20k miles during that time. So I'm a bit disappointed that they have already started to leak / fail, i have the DCC car too so it was over £600 to replace the shocks.

They where replaced with the original VW parts by a independent VW specialist. The guy at the garage said this could be a warranty claim but I would need to take it to a VW dealership for them to verify the warranty claim on the shock absorbers. I called my local VW dealership and they confirmed this however they also said that if they deem it not to be a warranty claim i would be charged a £60 inspection fee. The part has a 24 month warranty apparently.

So before I take the gamble on a VW warranty claim wanted to get some opinions:

Whats the likely hood of them accepting the claim given the shocks where fitted 17 months ago and covered 20k miles already?

Whats considered normal in terms of misting oil?

Should I be worried about this? I don't fancy forking out another £600 quid for new shock absorbers every 2 years

Thanks in advance!

FWIW, I have my service about 10 days ago, and I got the same note. The form says "slight misting of oil (normal)". I'm not fussed, it got a green light

[fredgroves]

Slight misting is fairly common. Its an indicator that at some point it will fail.... the same that have a shock absorber full stop is an indicator that at some point it will fail - everything fails in the end!!

[dereks]

I’ve also got DCC and had to replace mine 1 was misting and one was leaking apparently. Car had only done 30k from new.

2 year warranty from the dealer.

Dunno who makes them for VW but my Skoda Octavia also has had them replaced.

[steve12345]

Mine where replaced at 30k too, the car is on 50k now and the misting has already started.

30k of milage is usually a year and half for us. My wife has a decent motorway commute and we do regular trips to visit my parents (London to Birmingham). Surely they would be built to last longer than this? Subjective of course, if your driving over pothole’s at silly speeds all the time, then they might not last a week I get that.

I guess I just wait and see what happens

[itavaltalainen]

Surely your warranty claim is with the indy, assuming he supplied the new struts?

[karlos]

The Golf's DCC shocks are made in Spain by Monroe.

According to their site, Monroe offer a 5 year warranty if you buy from them, so why are VW only offering 2 years?

[Snoopy]

IMO. That VW specialist should claim from his supplier of the shocks thats if he supplied them not you.

Why hes passing the buck is prob due to the way he would have to claim. Alot of suppliers now make you buy replacements then get you to send the old ones back and if the claim is valid they refund you the cost of the new ones... If its rejected then no refund!

The rest of this thread seems to indicate there maybe a trend they start to fail after ~30K very poor design if that is the case.