Where do i stand?

[Wallis22]

Hey guys. Recently had my 1.9TDI '98 Ibiza scanned. Was told by the garage that the fuel cut off valve (or stop Solenoid) was at fault. I ordered this from SEAT and have just fitted it. The car still doesn't start. It turns over but doesn't fire up. If i bridge the fault, running it off the ignition, (which the AA did for me) it works...

My question is, if a garage said it is definitely a part that was faulty and i replaced it and it didn't fix the problem, will they run another scan for free? Where do i stand with this?

The way i see it they told me it's definitely the fuel cut off valve, so i purchased a new one and it didn't fix the problem. In my eyes they have made me fork out for nothing. On top of this they gave an incorrect diagnosis. If i ring them and explain all this will they offer another scan? Do i have any legal ground with this? I probabaly don't but thought i'd ask you guys if you know...

Cheers guys. Any help is much appreciated.

P.S. Mods, i orignally posted this in this forum but i said it was for my Toledo. You kindly moved it to the Toledo forum but if it's ok with you i would very much like to keep it in this forum as it's more "active" as more people have Ibiza's than toledo's. Also, the post is relevant to Ibiza's too as it's the exact same engine and code. I've changed the name of the car from Toledo to Ibiza. Hope this is ok. PLEASE allow me to keep it posted here. PLEEEEASE

Thank you.

 

[Boi Ninja]

aww man I feel sorry for u ...someone help quick hehe (hope that helps)

errm you don't have anything in writing to confirm it but there is a verbal contract you had with them and in most cases this should be enough, if however they deny this ... I would say its too much hassle to bother. yeh but go direct and ask them and say that's what they said to u dnt be rude to them at first and they may be nice ppl. u never know.

 

[Wallis22]

Cheers for the reply Ninja. I highly doubt they will do anything about it as i think they tried to get me to replace the clutch for no reason. I'll try them tomorrow and see what they say.

Cheers again.

 

[Tom B]

The garage can only tell you what they find in the time they've taken, and if there is a fuel cut off valve fault logged on the ECU, they have to act on it as the ECU shouldn't throw up random codes. Also they won't pay their mechanics to look at your car for free, unfortunately.

Have you spoke to the garage about it yet? They may be able to help you further at a discounted rate.

If they're no good, try a VW specialist.

 

[Fl@pper]

if the AA already bridged it and you have too then surely that would show the valve wasn't the fault anyway ?

sounds like wiring or even an immobilizer reprogram to me

 

[Wallis22]

if the AA already bridged it and you have too then surely that would show the valve wasn't the fault anyway ?

sounds like wiring or even an immobilizer reprogram to me

Fl@pper, you're so right. I feel like a complete idiot now as it seems so obvious.

What's throwing me off though is i explained to the garage that the AA ran a live feed from the battery to the cut off valve, and when they looked under the bonnet they saw the wire, yet they still told me that the cut off valve it's self was at fault.

I'm not mechanically trained but i can see now that if you give the valve power and the car works, then the valve isn't at fault. How did a fully trained VW specialist mechanic not see this? The scanner said "fuel cut off valve", nothing more. From that he took it as being the valve it's self that was at fault. I think it should have said "no power going to fuel cut off valve." Even so, how does a fully trained specialist not realise that when you give the valve power and it works, then it's not the valve that's at fault?

To be honest i don't think he knew what was wrong with it and was just trying to rip me off as he wanted me to take the new valve to them so they could fit it, and he said the clutch was slipping when it wasn't.

Rant over.

Fl@pper, how do i go about checking/ reprogramming the immobilizer? When the car broke down the AA guy did say something about immobilizer but he was mumbling and talking to himself. He also said it could be a problem with the chip in the key. Does this sound like it could be true?

When you don't bridge the valve the diesel pre heating light doesn't come on at all. Do you know what i mean? On diesel models you turn the ignition on and leave it on untill the pre heating lamp goes off before starting the engine...

Sorry for another long post everyone. I just really hope i can get to the bottom of this.

Do you think it's worth taking it to SEAT instead of trying the other local VW specialist? There's one more VW specialist but they can't gook the car in untill the 11th of september...

Thanks for all the help everyone. It is greatly appreiciated.

 

[Jib]

I had a similar issue when i owned a mk4 Astra. Car was mis-firing like crazy so the mechanic diagnosed it as a the Coil Pack....................£70 later, he then decided it wasn't the coil pack and then decided to tell me that once the Pack is removed from the packaging, u cannot have a refund!! I was furious!!

 

[Tom B]

You're in Northampton right?

I was told of a garage today that resets warning lights for a tenner. I don't know if its true but I got their number for my mate as his Saxo ABS light is on. If you wanna give them a try, drop me a PM and I'll hand it over.

I actually thought it was the immobiliser at first thought, but it didn't sound like they'd bridged the right places. Have you got a spare key that you can try?

 

[Wallis22]

Sadly the car only came with one key...

 

[Wallis22]

Just thought i'd update this topic...

The car has been to SEAT and they say the problem is with the ECU. A new one will cost £800, but they said they can re wire it for me. I've had them re wire it and now i'm selling.

Thanks for everyone who helped.