1.8 TSI fuel leak and a rant

[NinjaPirateUK]

Yet more messing about with my 1.8 TSI FR.

The car had stood for a few days over New Year, and when I got in it yesterday night and started driving I noticed a smell of petrol through the vents. Over the next 6-7 miles I 'used' just short of a third of a tank, but figured I was so close to home it wasn't worth stopping. The engine was clearly being starved of fuel and was protesting as I arrived home. The stop-start system was giving an error in vehicle information when the system was enabled, but no lights on the dash. I had a look under the bonnet and found petrol pooled in the recesses on top of the engine and white smoke from all the fuel cooking on the engine block.

I called Seat assist to arrange to have the car recovered, who sent the AA out to my home. The problem was that the fuel pressure gauge had fallen out of the fuel rail due to a broken plastic clip. This had pissed, at a guess, 10+ litres of petrol all over the engine bay. The guy from the AA rigged up some wire and zip ties to hold the sensor in place so I could get it to the dealers today.

Credit where credit is due to Seat Assist/UK and the AA for sorting everything quickly. I have a replacement like-for-like rental car until mine is repaired.

I am, however, extremely unhappy with my car. This is the rundown of everything that it has been into the dealers for in just over 2 years and 20k miles of ownership:

Dealer 1

• Rear light replacement due to condensation (several visits arguing with the dealer, in the end went through Seat UK)
• Door rattles (still rattling)
• Thermostat problems causing the engine to over-cool (several visits to the dealer)
• Handbrake and rolling when in-gear parked on an incline (never resolved, gave up arguing)
• Door seals dumping water into the car when the doors open (although this just seems to be a design problem)

Dealer 2

• Half a litre of coolant vanishing with no explanation (I suspect dealer no. 1 didn't refill the system correctly after the thermostat replacement).
• Door rattles (not resolved because dealer 1 carried the recall work and it's on them to fix it, according to dealer 2)
• Hazard light switch sticking
• Front suspension creaking very noticeably
• Fuel leak

Admittedly some of the above was alongside routine servicing, and probably constitutes a minor issue. That said, it's still time and effort I have had to spend, normally arguing over getting things covered under warranty. I would love to be able to reject the vehicle, but it's a bit late in the day for that. So I think it will be getting part exchanged or sold sooner rather than later.

I'm pretty sure I just got unlucky with a Friday afternoon car, but it feels like I'm just waiting for the next thing to break. I might be being a bit pedantic, but this is a car I've had from basically new with 17 miles on the clock, that has been serviced on-time and never wanted for anything.

It shouldn't be such an uphill battle with dealers to get basic things fixed, and whilst I accept that I've probably just been unlucky, I can't say that I would recommend any friends or family enter into Seat ownership at this point.

 

[mrbugle]

Theres a TPI for the front suspension, I had mine greased by the dealer and it was fine for a couple of weeks but it's doing it again.

They also fixed the rattling doors which was excellent for a few days but it's getting progressively worse again now. Although my wife treats the passenger door like it personally wronged her family so who knows...
Debating if I take it back again or not.

 

[NinjaPirateUK]

Yeah, both were done under the TPI notices after I reported the issue to the dealer.

Suspension is ok, but the doors are worse than before the dealer touched them.

 

[scrich7]

Yet more messing about with my 1.8 TSI FR.

The car had stood for a few days over New Year, and when I got in it yesterday night and started driving I noticed a smell of petrol through the vents. Over the next 6-7 miles I 'used' just short of a third of a tank, but figured I was so close to home it wasn't worth stopping. The engine was clearly being starved of fuel and was protesting as I arrived home. The stop-start system was giving an error in vehicle information when the system was enabled, but no lights on the dash. I had a look under the bonnet and found petrol pooled in the recesses on top of the engine and white smoke from all the fuel cooking on the engine block.

I called Seat assist to arrange to have the car recovered, who sent the AA out to my home. The problem was that the fuel pressure gauge had fallen out of the fuel rail due to a broken plastic clip. This had pissed, at a guess, 10+ litres of petrol all over the engine bay. The guy from the AA rigged up some wire and zip ties to hold the sensor in place so I could get it to the dealers today.

Credit where credit is due to Seat Assist/UK and the AA for sorting everything quickly. I have a replacement like-for-like rental car until mine is repaired.

I am, however, extremely unhappy with my car. This is the rundown of everything that it has been into the dealers for in just over 2 years and 20k miles of ownership:

Dealer 1

• Rear light replacement due to condensation (several visits arguing with the dealer, in the end went through Seat UK)
• Door rattles (still rattling)
• Thermostat problems causing the engine to over-cool (several visits to the dealer)
• Handbrake and rolling when in-gear parked on an incline (never resolved, gave up arguing)
• Door seals dumping water into the car when the doors open (although this just seems to be a design problem)

Dealer 2

• Half a litre of coolant vanishing with no explanation (I suspect dealer no. 1 didn't refill the system correctly after the thermostat replacement).
• Door rattles (not resolved because dealer 1 carried the recall work and it's on them to fix it, according to dealer 2)
• Hazard light switch sticking
• Front suspension creaking very noticeably
• Fuel leak

Admittedly some of the above was alongside routine servicing, and probably constitutes a minor issue. That said, it's still time and effort I have had to spend, normally arguing over getting things covered under warranty. I would love to be able to reject the vehicle, but it's a bit late in the day for that. So I think it will be getting part exchanged or sold sooner rather than later.

I'm pretty sure I just got unlucky with a Friday afternoon car, but it feels like I'm just waiting for the next thing to break. I might be being a bit pedantic, but this is a car I've had from basically new with 17 miles on the clock, that has been serviced on-time and never wanted for anything.

It shouldn't be such an uphill battle with dealers to get basic things fixed, and whilst I accept that I've probably just been unlucky, I can't say that I would recommend any friends or family enter into Seat ownership at this point.

I've had a 1.8 TSI SC for just over 2 years now (it's approaching 3 years old) and I've seen a number of the problems you list above:
- Rear light condensation due to cracking (not got round to taking it to the dealers yet)
- Door rattles (had them 'fixed' by the dealer but they're still evident, bad some days, not so bad others)
- Thermostat problems causing the engine to over-cool (I've had some big problems with the thermostat, it's been replaced twice under warranty and has been into 3 different dealers on about 5 occasions. Latest fix seems to have solved this *touch wood*)
- Door seals dumping water into the car when the doors open (Agree that this must be a design fault, but that being said, it hasn't affected me too much?)

Overall the above is annoying. Would it stop me from buying another Leon? No. From what I hear elsewhere, other brands seem to have similar issues. Not all cars are affected, it just seems to be a lack of consistency in manufacture, an element of luck is involved.

Theres a TPI for the front suspension, I had mine greased by the dealer and it was fine for a couple of weeks but it's doing it again.

They also fixed the rattling doors which was excellent for a few days but it's getting progressively worse again now. Although my wife treats the passenger door like it personally wronged her family so who knows...
Debating if I take it back again or not.

Glad to hear it isn't just my other half who has something against the passenger door!