Main Dealers (Vans) - a rant

[Endeleus]

Check Engine Light appeared on dash of my 4 year old Amarok yesterday, so popped down to my local trusted independent garage for diagnosis.

Was advised it's a NOx sensor fault, so will need to go to a main dealer as VAG have locked the indies out of replacing many such parts (need to be coded to the vehicle by VAG). They estimate around an hours work to fit if they'd been able to do it. Didn't charge me for their time to diagnose.

No dealer I called (in 200 mile radius) will even look at it before the end of the month, and local dealer said if I come in 3 weeks time they'll run diagnostics for £85 (as it's out of warranty), but will probably need to book a subsequent appointment for repair.

So now I have a supposedly "premium" commercial vehicle off the road for a month because main dealers book up all their slots for scheduled maintenance and don't keep anything free for breakdowns, then use software trickery to lock any other competent mechanic out of fitting a basic part which I could order from their parts department and have in my hands tomorrow.

Same vehicle also has a fault on the head unit. Displays "Component Protection Active", which is apparently an anti-theft feature which they refuse to disable (the head unit functions perfectly apart from being muted by this security feature). Local main dealer last year charged me £85 to run diagnostics to then tell me it would cost £2,500 to repair (the entertainment and navigation system was a circa £1,200 option when the vehicle was new). Hence I've been driving in silence for the past 6 months.

Feeling somewhat peeved, as bought this vehicle from new on the basis it would easily last 10 - 15 years of service.

Grrrr.

 

[DanZac]

If its not useable, stick a big sign in the window saying " this vehicle is waiting for VAG to fix it" or similar and park it up on the road outside their showroom.
Bet that changes their minds about how fast they can fit it in.

 

[mtt.tr]

@premmington I'm I right in thinking 3rd party diag software cade code Nox sensors

 

[8ob]

This is the reason most commercial fleet vehicles are dealer purchased ,maintained and traded in at three years old.

Bob

 

[Danez]

as always older is just better

 

[Kayos]

I'd try another indie, I know someone who can code everything on all BMWs, even brand new ones

The kit to do it exists

 

[Edward Teach]

Have you had it serviced by a main dealer from new !
If so.
I would go make some noise in their showroom

 

[mike os]

Anyone with vagcom should be able to recode, probably best looking for an independent VAG specialist

 

[m_c]

Anybody who knows what they're doing with decent diagnostic kit should be able to replace a NOx sensor on a VW.

I suspect its more that you're independent just doesn't want to get involved.

As for booking times for dealers, most dealers in and around Edinburgh are 6 weeks just now.

 

[Moose McAlpine]

Whereabouts are you based?

All dealers around me have a 3-5 week waiting time. I get lots of customers who think i can queue jump for them with the dealer, who are then upset when i can't.

Lots of diag kit will program in new NOx sensors. I think even my work machine will. I'd check but it's currently doing a forced regen. I'm sure Vag-Com/VCDS will.

 

[premmington]

@premmington I'm I right in thinking 3rd party diag software cade code Nox sensors

Yes -

 

[Trevorleach]

Change loads of nox sensors on heavy trucks, might be worth a look see as to whats involved as you may be able to replace it, clear codes and see how it goes.

 

[Cato]

If its not useable, stick a big sign in the window saying " this vehicle is waiting for VAG to fix it" or similar and park it up on the road outside their showroom.
Bet that changes their minds about how fast they can fit it in.

It's probably not a good idea to drive/park a commercial vehicle with a sign that says "waiting for VAG". More so when you have a faulty head unit.

 

[mtt.tr]

Change loads of nox sensors on heavy trucks, might be worth a look see as to whats involved as you may be able to replace it, clear codes and see how it goes.

Very often in ours, we carry them on the van.

 

[premmington]

Whereabouts are you based?

All dealers around me have a 3-5 week waiting time. I get lots of customers who think i can queue jump for them with the dealer, who are then upset when i can't.

Lots of diag kit will program in new NOx sensors. I think even my work machine will. I'd check but it's currently doing a forced regen. I'm sure Vag-Com/VCDS will.

VCDS version 22-03-1

Will do it...

 

[hotponyshoes]

Vagcanpro will certainly do nox on a v6 amarok so I would expect vcds etc to do it as well. Probably most of the other aftermarket tools also.

I expect the garage has had plenty of experience of replacing £300 sensors based on a fault code only for the same fault to return 3 days later and the customer coming back moaning so they probably want to avoid the job if possible!


The component protection is a main dealer job as it needs an online login for the code and I don't think any of the aftermarket options have cracked that yet.
Although, that might be a DIY fix anyway.
There is no reason for it to have ever come on in the first place if nothing has been messed around with.
It's embedded into several systems so needs setting up again if you change the instrument cluster, key part and so on.
Some aftermarket things like tow bar interfaces can mess with it as well.
The system will keep working for 24hrs or so (driving time) with no coding so it might not stop working until a week or so after a change was made.
If nothing has been changed/added then the most likely problem is one of the canbus wires loose or something.
If it is a genuine fault with the headunit then it's going to be a lot cheaper to replace that with something like a kenwood unit from halfords!

 

[premmington]

Vagcanpro will certainly do nox on a v6 amarok so I would expect vcds etc to do it as well. Probably most of the other aftermarket tools also.

I expect the garage has had plenty of experience of replacing £300 sensors based on a fault code only for the same fault to return 3 days later and the customer coming back moaning so they probably want to avoid the job if possible!


The component protection is a main dealer job as it needs an online login for the code and I don't think any of the aftermarket options have cracked that yet.
Although, that might be a DIY fix anyway.
There is no reason for it to have ever come on in the first place if nothing has been messed around with.
It's embedded into several systems so needs setting up again if you change the instrument cluster, key part and so on.
Some aftermarket things like tow bar interfaces can mess with it as well.
The system will keep working for 24hrs or so (driving time) with no coding so it might not stop working until a week or so after a change was made.
If nothing has been changed/added then the most likely problem is one of the canbus wires loose or something.
If it is a genuine fault with the headunit then it's going to be a lot cheaper to replace that with something like a kenwood unit from halfords!

Your quote "I expect the garage has had plenty of experience of replacing £300 sensors based on a fault code only for the same fault to return 3 days later and the customer coming back moaning so they probably want to avoid the job if possible!"

Is this why I spend most days dropping NOX sensor faultcodes off the "P code fault tables" - for other garages (and the big trade!).

 

[Endeleus]

The component protection is a main dealer job as it needs an online login for the code and I don't think any of the aftermarket options have cracked that yet.
Although, that might be a DIY fix anyway.
There is no reason for it to have ever come on in the first place if nothing has been messed around with.
It's embedded into several systems so needs setting up again if you change the instrument cluster, key part and so on.

Yes, that one is really annoying.... everything in the vehicle is as it left the factory, and the head unit issue only appeared about a month after the warranty ran out.

Some aftermarket things like tow bar interfaces can mess with it as well.
The system will keep working for 24hrs or so (driving time) with no coding so it might not stop working until a week or so after a change was made.
If nothing has been changed/added then the most likely problem is one of the canbus wires loose or something.
If it is a genuine fault with the headunit then it's going to be a lot cheaper to replace that with something like a kenwood unit from halfords!

It did totally stop working about a week after the battery was replaced, but took it back to the main dealers at the time for a full reset which made no difference other than leaving my wallet lighter. Will probably change it for an aftermarket unit at some point rather than pay the quoted £2.5k to fix it

 

[Endeleus]

Vagcanpro will certainly do nox on a v6 amarok so I would expect vcds etc to do it as well. Probably most of the other aftermarket tools also.

I expect the garage has had plenty of experience of replacing £300 sensors based on a fault code only for the same fault to return 3 days later and the customer coming back moaning so they probably want to avoid the job if possible!

Quite likely the latter.... I know the owner so he wouldn't want to charge me for anything he's not 100% sure will work and stay working

 

[Melvyn Best]

Who says the Germans don’t have a sense of humour,
“ If only everything in life was as reliable as a Volkswagen” ? ?
Glad I’ve retired after 50 years in the motor trade