Broke Touran! What to do?

[Strazzy]

Bought a '09 Touran in February from a local dealer with 135,000 miles on the clock for £3,000.

Relative pennies I know but car was for the wife to ferry kids about/tip runs etc....

We went to Cornwall with it back in April and it broke down. Duff battery- fine, did that.

Changed the cam belt, temp sensor as needed doing.

Fast forward to yesterday- and we broke down yet again. This time in the middle of a dual carriageway. It smells like it's burning oil and car would not start at all when engine temp warm. We got it recovered to our house and this morning it started but it really sounds like a proper bag of nails (I mean it did before as it's an old diesel) but it now really sounds rough. Sounds as though it's misfiring also.

I know it's only £3,000 but 2 breakdowns in such a short space of time is frustrating. Looks like an expensive bill and £3,000 ain't £500 either. Does supplying dealer have to help out at all or is it scrap time?

[Shabaza]

its been 4 months, its a 16 yr old touran with 135k mileage.
The gamble on whether theres longevity in it was your risk to take.

The supplying dealer owes you nothing im afraid

[ingenieur]

I think unless you have mechanical ability you are asking a bit much from such an old high mileage vehicle.

If it is running then the way you can get back the most is to sell it as is. Of course you must be honest and say that it broke down and you don't know the state of it and just sell it for a bit less than the asking price of other similar cars.

Think that's called 'cutting your losses'

If you want something that's reliable enough to do road trips to Cornwall probably have to buy with fewer miles and something with a better reputation than VW. Japanese cars tend to be good workhorses that'll just keep plodding on as a second car to use for going to the tip / whatever.

[gazza285]

At least get a diagnosis before scrapping it.

And buy a Volvo next time, I’ve had loads of leggy Volvos over the last twenty years and haven’t been recovered once.

[OutInTheShed]

Sounds terminal for the engine.

Possibly swapping the engine might be a way forwards, but finding a good used engine might be hard and it's a lot of work, for a car that won't be worth much when fixed. I might investigate a fixed price engine swap if you can still find such a thing, or ebay it, some semi-amateur mechanic might take it on.

Of course diagnosis by internet is high risk of being wrong, it's probably worth getting a good mechanic to at least look at it on your drive, and if were my car, I'd read the fault codes.

[Strazzy]

The neighbour mechanic had a bit of a look at it earlier....

Appears to be injectors. Lots of smoke out of the exhaust and definitely not running right. What makes it worse is that we're moving abroad in 3 months..... We still need a car but this one appears to expensive to fix- yet buying another leggy car is another risk!

[gotoPzero]

Could be injector but usually does not die as normally only one injector fails so will just run super rough.

I would be more worried about oil pump tbh.

That said, if its burning oil its got to be getting out the exhaust one way or another, have a look in the turbo too and see if there is any oil in there.

First thing I would do is test the oil pressure. Then a compression test if oil pressure is ok. I would sample the oil too.

Those 2 tests will help check the general health of the car. After that you need to be looking at the turbo, clogged cats (dpf?) and as your mechanic says - injectors.

If it is injectors they are cam driven - so a bit of a pain to change - but they are not that bad to do. You should be able to get a set for not a crazy sum under £30 each.

What sound is it making?

[ZX10R NIN]

I'd say the first thing to do is to actually find out what's wrong with the car, at which point you can make an informed decision.

[OutInTheShed]

ZX10R NIN said:

I'd say the first thing to do is to actually find out what's wrong with the car, at which point you can make an informed decision.

But to really know what's wrong may require investing in mechanic hours.
And even if you correctly diagnose one fault, how do you know that's he only fault?

I don't buy the injector theory, but I've not seen the car first hand.

[ZX10R NIN]

OutInTheShed said:

ZX10R NIN said:

I'd say the first thing to do is to actually find out what's wrong with the car, at which point you can make an informed decision.

But to really know what's wrong may require investing in mechanic hours.
And even if you correctly diagnose one fault, how do you know that's he only fault?

I don't buy the injector theory, but I've not seen the car first hand.

Simply getting the error codes will give you a good idea of what's wrong & that doesn't take long

[OutInTheShed]

ZX10R NIN said:

Simply getting the error codes will give you a good idea of what's wrong & that doesn't take long

Indeed.
needs to be weighed against the observed symptoms like smell of hot oil etc .

[samoht]

Strazzy said:

Bought a '09 Touran in February from a local dealer with 135,000 miles on the clock for £3,000.
...
Does supplying dealer have to help out at all or is it scrap time?

IIRC when buying a used car from a dealer, any faults which materialise within six months of purchase are legally presumed to have been present at the point of sale and thus the dealer's responsibility to repair, unless they can prove otherwise.

So I think in principle it may be worth asking them for a contribution.

[Strazzy]

samoht said:

IIRC when buying a used car from a dealer, any faults which materialise within six months of purchase are legally presumed to have been present at the point of sale and thus the dealer's responsibility to repair, unless they can prove otherwise.

So I think in principle it may be worth asking them for a contribution.

Yes it seems the law is on my side BUT we are reasonable as long as the supplying dealer is. It's old and has some miles on it but nevertheless an outlay of £3,500 for 4 months of motoring including 2 breakdowns is a tad harsh.

I will call and discuss with him and see what he says.

[Mogul]

Bad luck.

Is it the PD or the CR diesel engine?

I have a CR and the EGR / throttle body / anti-shudder valve got terribly gummed up around 90,000miles with thick black gunk deposits.

The impact was that it suddenly started to run very roughly. After googling this, I removed the throttle body and cleaned it all up. It was a cheap DIY fix though and shouldn’t take any back street garagiste long. Cleaning these throttle bodies is often worth before contemplating replacement...

Is your dealer also a mechanic, or just a sales operation?