Oh woe is me!

[spydoor]

Well I've just heard back from my mechanic and it's not good news...

I took it in cos it sounded like it was misfiring and was down on power & producing black smoke with the toe down.  Plus I need to get the clutch replaced as it has started slipping.  So I was prepared for a fairly big quote.

It turns out at least one of my pistons has gone!  So that's gonna be £300 for the investigative works, £150 for each piston that needs replacing, and that's before I look at doing the clutch, which is gonna be in the region of £900-1000.

So since Jan this year I'm going to have spent somewhere in the region of £3000 if I go ahead with the works.  Not to mention the £1600 I had to spend last year after some tw*t at the garage I had it serviced at put the wrong oil in, and the engine needed rebuilding.  I spose they do say when it rains it pours, but why does it have to rain on me? (to paraphrase an annoying song).

My options are:

• Cut my losses and get rid of the cash black hole, but have to replace it with something and potentially go through it all again
• Shrug my shoulders, dip into savings and hope that as I've replaced most things there can't be much left to go wrong
• Get a refurbed lump put in, but what issues will that bring with it?
• Cry alot

I do love my golf, but boy is it testing that love.

[warnesey333]

If you love it enough to go through with that, do it.

Personally I'd consider cutting my losses and look at a different car...

Sucks to hear what you've been through, especially about the wrong oil.

Good luck

[spydoor]

Decided to go through with the repairs......it must be love.

So, i'll wait to hear exactly how bad the damage is, hopefully by the end of the week.  Unfortunatly my mechanic is going on hols soon, so i'll be without a motor for a week or so.

I also decided that while the car is in bits to get the Sachs clutch put in at the same time.  What the hell, the bill is gonna be huge anyway, may as well make it collosal.

[Rhyso]

they say love is blind lol

you could pick up a non-running 150 for way less than that and swap the engine surely 

make sure your mechanic checks the condition of the camshaft as they tend to be a bit chocolately 

were you not able to sue the garage who put the wrong oil in last year?? 

[spydoor]

Yeah I thought about getting another lump dropped in, but I could end up inheriting a load of new problems.

Yeah he's gonna do a full check of the pistons, injectors, cams & camshaft make sure they've not gone (as you put it) chocolatey...lol
He may discover that nothings melted and he can repair the fault at minimal cost.....but that's my wishful thinking.

The thing with the wrong oil went on for ages, I got them to get a guy out to take a sample of the oil and send it off to castrol for analysis.  The results came back but to the garage that did the service, and they wouldn't send me a copy (dodgey right?).  Anyways they told me what oil went in (i can't remember what it was now, i think it wasn't the long life and a different w rating or the other number) and I tried to get VW to tell me the effect of putting that oil in the car in writing but got nowhere.  I looked at getting a solicitor on to it but decided that it could just end up costing me even more, and after the repair bill i was fairly skint.  So annoyingly I had to do exactly what the servicers wanted me to do and draw a line under it, walk away and put it down to experience.

[Rhyso]

sounds a painful experience mate 

i know hindsight is a wonderful thing but you should have got Trading Standards involved as they could have helped heap a load of pressure on the garage.

My girlfriend works for them and deals with this sort of stuff on a weekly basis.

Fingers crossed that you don't experience it again mind 

[mac456]

sorry to hear your bad news 

how long did your car last with the wrong oil before you had to rebuild it?

what millage is your car? do you have any idea what would of caused it?

[spydoor]

how long did your car last with the wrong oil before you had to rebuild it?

It lasted about 3-4 months before I noticed anything, but it started with a really subtle kinda rattle when i put the engine under load, but it was going into the winter months and I put it down to the cold at first.  Over a week or so it gradually got worse and developed similar symptoms of a blown off hose.  I couldn't find any hoses blown, then the rattle got louder and I took it in.

what millage is your car?

It's on about 86k i think.

do you have any idea what would of caused it?

Bad luck accelerated by a remap is my best guess.  Plus my engine hasn't had the best time lately

They've completed the investigation, and it's looking like all 4 pistons need replacing (oh joy! ), 2 are worse than the others, but while it's in bits it not worth leaving them.  Excuse me while I go and shout into a pillow for a while.

[Wayne]

When they put the wrong oil and it needed rebuilding what work was carried out, seems strange to have piston failure at such low miles.

[spydoor]

When they put the wrong oil and it needed rebuilding what work was carried out, seems strange to have piston failure at such low miles.

The camshaft and 8 hydraulic tappets were replaced.  As a new camshaft was put in, that required the cam belt doing, and while they were there I asked them to replace the water pump too (didn't realised my car would be in bits again so soon).

So, the pistons weren't touched, but the investigation they carried out suggested they were fine.  So I guess there could have been some minute damage to the pistons that has taken some time (13k miles) to rear its ugly head

But after the rebuild work the car was rolling road tested, and was performing as expected.