Hi guys,
Another update. VW aren’t prepared to contribute anything to the cost of my repairs. The VW dealer is prepared to contribute 50% to the total of £2,600, so I would pay £1,300 after their goodwill. I just wanted to ask for something advice and if you think I should go for it. I managed to get a breakdown of the work.
The parts are £900 inc VAT. Biggest cost being a ‘repset’ costing £200, any ideas what this is? Apart from the chains, tensioners and rails, there’s also a few gaskets and sealants which cost a few bob. Is this normal to need to replace these when changing the chain and tensioner?
The work they say their going to do is ‘carry out compression test, remove cylinder head, check valve seats, piston pertrusion replace camshaft drive chain, tensioners and guides, carry out final check’. Apparently it is 12 hrs labour. Is this work necessary? Chain has stretched but not snapped. But sounds like they want to take apart the engine which explains the gaskets. Indie I spoke to said it sounds a bit OTT and quoted me about £600 to change chains, tensioners and guides. Im looking to get it running so I can sell on, is it worth spending the extra money to take the engine apart to check the other components?
Difficult one regarding the cost as it is your money / car etc. But it's £1,300 at VW main dealer, £600 at indie. Given you already come this far with the main dealer (as in labour costs for investigation work), if you took the car away now to be repaired at an indie, would you not be hit with some labour costs at the main dealer?, plus the cost of transporting the car to the indie garage. In other words, the difference would no longer be £700, but potentially a lot less.
I also believe that all work completed at VW main dealers comes with 2 year warranty on parts and labour. Work at your indie will come with a 2 year warranty on parts only, at least that was the case with my indie. Perhaps not important to you, but if you are selling the car any potential buyer having done their home work will be asking about timing chain and if has been changed etc, a VW main dealer warranty backed chain replacement with an invoice will help the sale I would think.
The parts sound a little expensive and 12 hours labour does sound a lot, however, I don't know the full breakdown of components being changed (it does sound over and above the usual chain, tensioner, guides and chain cover which is what your inide will be quoting for), i would concentrate on the total cost and if you are happy rather than amount of labour etc. No idea what 'repset' is, the gaskets and sealants again not totally sure, but i do know the timing chain cover for example uses a special sealant which is expensive - again my parts listing is on or around page 14 on this thread. If gaskets are mentioned, this will be due to the cylinder head being removed.
It sounds like you are slowly getting this sorted, and the dealer has done the right thing by dropping the price to a similar level seen on this thread. Not my money, but if you are wanting my opinion... Let the dealer do the work, you know the cost now (be clear with them you will not pay any more than the £1,300 quoted), it will be fully warranted work and less hassle overall than trailering the car to the indie, and essentially starting over again with work. Also potentially the bill may raise from the indie if other problems are found. Then you need to pay VW for the time already spend with the car.
Let us know what you decide and when you get the car back.
Mike