No, I don’t drive like a granny, I do long motorway trips including a spell in Germany where the car was driven pretty hard.

Driving for economy involves brisk acceleration up to speed and then maintain it. Not just going slowly.

Modern diesels do seem to need to be thrashed periodically to clear all the soot out of their internal gubbins.

[edit] I think it’s more about driving it along at 5000rpm in third for a mile or two than doing a steady 80 (ish) on the motorway in 6th.

I take it the old ‘waterlogged’ ECU is now in the bin somewhere?

Did the specialist give the fraudster a paper report, or just a verbal one?

wwaswas has it. to blow all the stuff in the EGR out the back – seems to just be a storage vessel for “polution” most of it comes out eventually. the polution cost of manufacturing a replacement EGR valve is less than what i spew out the back im fairly sure. took my CAT to the scrap yard as well – why there was one on a diesel im not entirely sure for the microbe of difference it actually makes on a diesel.

I think it’s more about driving it along at 5000rpm in third for a mile or two than doing a steady 80 (ish) on the motorway in 6th

I think you are thinking of DPF regeneration. And in any case, there wouldn’t be any EGR in that situation, so it would to nothing for it.

martin – long verbal advice.

Tbh, the specialist should have refused to supply a new ECU to replace a working old one really – since they should have known it was being paid for with a customer’s money.

seems to just be a storage vessel for “polution” most of it comes out eventually. the polution cost of manufacturing a replacement EGR valve is less than what i spew out the back im fairly sure

For trail_rat and others who don’t know how this shit works:

Diesel engines burn very hot, and usually with excess air in the charge. This heat creates oxides of nitrogen known collectively as NOx, some of which are quite serious pollutants. They contribute to smog and have a negative impact on local air quality. EGR replaces some of the oxygen in the intake with CO2 by recirculating some exhaust gas into the intake charge. This lowers the combustion temperature and reduces NOx formation. It switches off when you boot it. People say it affects economy, but it doesn’t seem to in my car since economy is unchanged now that the egr is not working (car defaults to 0% recirc when a fault is detected)

Catalytic converters on diesels convert CO to CO2 and also oxidise unburned diesel which could be HC fumes or fine soot particles.

inlet manifold motor and anti shudder valve !

[edit] I think it’s more about driving it along at 5000rpm in third for a mile or two than doing a steady 80 (ish) on the motorway in 6th.

christ my car would be on the rev limiter at 5k revs !! and you suggest doing that for a mile or 2 !!!

DPF generation for my vehicle is above 2k revs for 20mins

inlet manifold motor and anti shudder valve !

The fault is ‘short to ground’ which suggests wiring. Code still comes back even when the flap motor is disconnected, which also suggests wiring. But the wiring tests ok. As previously mentioned there are two different wiring looms present in cars manufactured around the time mine was, I suspect the ECU is matched to the wrong version since the wiring suggests (to me) that short to ground is exactly what you’d expect.

I’m not saying bounce it off the rev limiter for an hour, just start wwith a well warmed engine and then sharp acceleration up to 90% of max revs and hold it here for a minute or two.

Repeat a few times.

Mine always seems generally less smokey after that sort of treatment and there isn’t a trail of engine parts in the road behind me.

sounds plausible.

have you checked the fuses?

Yep. But fuses don’t tend to short to ground very often 🙂

ok.

you need to confirm what ecu number you have and what should be fitted to your cars build.

How do I find that out? ELSA? Cos it would be great if I could find out, that would prove my theories.

speak to an ecu specialist?

all the cat did on mine was create water and cause it to rot through 😉

best way to reduce emissions is to drive very little – thats my EGR valve 😉

your cars obviously much more advanced than mine- mines is controled by a vacumn and a spring and does not turn off when i boot it. – i stuck a penny in the vaccumn pipe and no longer does it function.

It should have turned off when you boot it – that’s what the vacuum tube is for.

probably already broken and clogged when i got it then. didnt look that far into it – mechanic said unless you want to spend the rest of your days with a toothbrush , degreaser and black hands block that shit off ….

doesnt help my engine wasnt really designed to have one and was rehashed with one to meat emissions.

if you speak nicely to your local vw dealer and give them your vin number they will be able to give you the correct part number for the correct ecu to be fitted to your car.

most parts fitted to cars are listed under the vin number and not by the model, which is why you normally get asked for your reg or vin number when trying to get parts.

Im guessing you have got the wrong ecu, however I still think you may have a flap motor issue.

The slow gearshifts may well be down to the faults with the engine, causing the engine to limit it’s torque reduction during shifts if there are faults present. I’d focus on the engine faults first before worrying about the gearbox; if the shifts are slow when the engine faults have been cleared for a number of drive cycles, then investigate further / worry about the gearbox.

I will try the VW dealer, that’s a good shout thanks.

Bamboo – interesting idea… it’s plausible and would explain why there are no codes, it’s just working differently. Can’t find any reference to that behaviour online mind. And the codes I have don’t affect engine performance or anything. But in the absence of any other leads I’ll do as you say and focus on the fault codes.

molgrips… it really depends on the software strategy of the ECU, and I’m only guessing myself, but it seems plausible to me. I write embedded software for these kind of systems and don’t think it is beyond the realms of possibility. Also bear in mind that some of the stuff you can read online can be total rubbish (except for STW where nobody is ever wrong 😉 )

Just called a solicitor about this. It could get messy 🙁

Apparently I’m not allowed to ask for details of the conversation between the electrical specialist and the mobile mechanic, cos it’s their business, even though it’s about my car. Problem is my case sort of hinges on it.

Unless I can prove that the mobile mechanic has not acted competently. There are no real records of it, but under cross examination it should be apparent I’d say.

The solicitor reckoned that the specialist’s diagnostic tools would keep records of the jobs they do, and that I might be able to get hold of those. Anyone able to back that up?

You don’t have much luck with cars do you?

How much compensation are you actually going to claim for?

You don’t have much luck with cars do you?

I don’t have much luck with garages, you mean.

I’m going to ask for my money back and someone to fix the problems he caused.

Ok, but how much – as in is it worth to you enough to take 2 days holiday to attend a hearing (based on him not turning up for the second)?

Well as I previously said we run autologic software & as far as I know they is no automatic logging of faults/jobs, but I dare say that if the specialist called autologic for support then they would of logged it, so worth an ask to the specialist.

Out of interest (I may of missed it) but is the car now totally fixed & what were the problems in the end?

Cheers.

The car’s not fixed all the way, no. I think the ECU is the wrong version, so it’s not recognising the inlet manfold flap properly, which is causing EGR faults. And the gearbox is not right either.

Ok, but how much – as in is it worth to you enough to take 2 days holiday to attend a hearing (based on him not turning up for the second)?

About £800. Given it could cost that much again to put the car right, I’d say it’s worth it.

So you are after £1600, ok.

How much are you willing to lose (in legal costs etc) trying to get the £1600.

Its always a risk and you’ve got to realise that even though you think you’ve a water-tight case, you could lose and he could counter-claim for costs etc.

The solicitor reckoned that the specialist’s diagnostic tools would keep records of the jobs they do, and that I might be able to get hold of those. Anyone able to back that up?

Probably right, but they’ll also probably charge you for it – although if they’ve sense, they’ll just say they don’t keep records/backups.

I find it hard to accept that circumstances have conspired to let this **** get away with it.. I can’t really see how I can build a good case here.

You are a seriously angry young man.

If you post a summary of issues/parts/tests plus what you’re trying to get out of this then I’ll run it past a mate whose an exceptionally skilled/experienced mechanic. He’s ex-Bentley and they still bring him on jobs they can’t resolve.

I find it hard to accept that circumstances have conspired to let this **** get away with it.. I can’t really see how I can build a good case here.

Moly – 5h1t happens and sometimes its better (ie cheaper) just to walk away.

How legal stuff can get expensive…

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2060357/The-500-000-row-garden-hedge-come-blows-landed-neighbours-court.html

You are a seriously angry young man.

Young – thanks 🙂

Angry – I think most people would be if they were ripped off.

Moly – 5h1t happens and sometimes its better (ie cheaper) just to walk away.

I know. I’m trying to decide if it’s worth it. Car’s still broken though.

Spacemonkey – thanks for the offer but it’s pretty involved, not sure your mate would want to get involved on this basis… I’ve been in touch with a ‘vehicle consultant’ whose judgement is widely respected locally and in courts.

If it’s only £1600, it isn’t a solicitor job, it’s a small claims track thing. You aren’t going to come up against complex points of law in small claims court (even points of law which surely have to be rubbish – it is evidence as to how the work that is claimed to be done for you was done). If that was really true, then no one could ever check on their sub-subcontractors, which must be a load of rubbish.

If you can get the specialist to put in writing that he spoke to the guy and said that the ecu wasn’t water damaged, then you should be fine. If possible I’d send him an email checking what you discussed with him, most people will happily send an email saying things whereas writing a signed statement might put some people off

Get that in writing, write down the facts in chronological order. Put it all in a letter to the dodgy mechanic saying you’ll put it into court in 14 days unless he refunds you. Quite likely he will refund you now. In 14 days, put it into county court as a small claim – you don’t need solicitors to do that, and aren’t eligible for much in the way of his costs if you lose, and it costs not much to do. Worst case is that he fights it in court, but if you have him bang to rights, he might well not, or he will lose. Then you get enforcement (for that amount of money, you can get high court enforcement on him, which might be most effective).

It will take a couple of months total, but assuming you are capable of filling in a couple of forms and being vaguely organised, it is a piece of piss, and worked very well for me when I took a case against Derby Car Centre for a similar thing (they’d claimed to have got an engine fault fixed, and instead a piece of tape had been put over the engine warning light inside the dashboard). If they fight it, it also teaches them a lesson not to be such a dodgy geezer, as they end up paying more money (I think close to £3k was paid back total for my £1800 car after fees and costs and things).

Joemarshall that’s great, thanks. Small claims was what I had in mind but I know nothing about it really so I didn’t know you didn’t need a solicitor. I’ll chase it up.

assuming you are capable of filling in a couple of forms and being vaguely organised

Oh bugger.. that’s me out then…

So now all I need is to get the specialists to write me an email or letter with their side of the story in it. Although – what’ll happen if the specialists say ‘we told him the ecu was fine’ and the mobile guy says ‘no you didn’t’ ? One word against the other..?

There are a few possibilities:

1) Mobile guy is an idiot and insists on a replacement ECU against advice
2) Specialists are lying about the water damage and told mobile guy porkies
3) There really was water damage, but it was not responsible for any of the symptoms…

1 seems most likely, and I’d have thought the threat of having 2 against their reputation would be enough to get the specialists to put pen to paper. It’s in their interests.

3 seems highly improbable.

Come to think of it, there’s also an argument to say that he should have done more diagnostic work on the car before deciding it was the ECU. All he did was have a quick glance at the codes and say ‘oh it’s buggered’.

One word against another is fine at small claims, it’s balance of probilities you are after, not beyond reasonable doubt. JoeM is spot on.

Car’s still broken though.

Well, on the plus side, overtaking won’t be raising your blood pressure for a little while then!

Quite right, I don’t much feel like it with the gearbox taking ages to change gear 🙁

I’m thinking perhaps I can get an expert to describe the proper procedure for determining electrical faults and diagnosing a damaged ECU. Cos I’m sure he didn’t follow it.