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My new Lupo is broken 😔


loopydebs
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It’s just you mention several garages in your posts. If the vehicle isn’t fit to drive then shouldn’t you be getting your home mechanic to do all the digging? You’d more than likely dodge all the crap with people trying to rip you off if you get someone in the trade to do all the dog work. 

Also you mentioned your mechanic showed you corrosion on the ecu pins, but another garage that you’ve took it to aside from the garage you’ve used for 15 years has said that there is no corrosion. What happened there?

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Yeah, i was wondering the same thing. We don't like seeing people getting ripped off/being taken for a ride here on CL!

I once worked as freelance mechanic, filling in for different garages. Best of both worlds. Good money and you only need a boot of basic tools. Great way of working your way up in the trade, before switching to auto design.

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Thanks for expanding.

the exterior pins were corroded- the ones that connect to the wiring loom. My garage/mechanic did not want to open the ECU up as they don’t deal with ecu problems.

The 2 companies they use to fix/ look at ECU’s refused to look at the car because it was potentially water ingress and because of its age. So they looked some up, found several. All with mixed reviews as there were none they trusted they asked me what I wanted to do.

I said I’d ask on here, @mk2 suggested finding a tuning company as they may repair ones that they accidentally damage during tuning. (Great suggestion btw, thank you 😊).

Found one relatively near me with seemingly good reviews. Spoke to him, seemed really helpful. Then he started ghosting me! I kid you not. 

Thought he’s just busy he must be good.

Took it there, the struggle to contact him was real!

Then all of a sudden, he went from I’m really busy I don’t know when I can look at it. To I’ve found a replacement ECU it’s 4x the price I originally quoted you and I can get it done by the end of the week.

Found somewhere else, turns out the first tuning guy hadn’t even put my ecu back together or secured it to the car and now my EGR solenoid was broken 😔

I do feel like I dodged a massive bullet.

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Oh and also the second tuning company main mechanic/owner said he couldn’t fault the car a few times and I am so pleased. I paid quite a bit over the odds for it and was so worried it was going to be a write off with potential ecu/wiring loom damage. It’s a lot for me and my husband to spend.

I was totally buying it before I saw it, it was a foregone conclusion so I’m pleased it’s turned out ok! My 4th Lupo and I’m hooked. Have done 1000 miles in it since the repair, and so far so good!!!

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Excellent news!

I wish we had that buyers guide (wiki) on here still. It listed every common problem with each model, right down down to detail, why 'it' failed and the symptoms (but not a how-to fix it, which already exists). It was a handy guide to help people spot/identify problems before they became expensive. I wonder if we should have another go.... took weeks though.

if we did it as a thread instead of a wiki it might not get erased.

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13 hours ago, loopydebs said:

Thanks for expanding.

the exterior pins were corroded- the ones that connect to the wiring loom. My garage/mechanic did not want to open the ECU up as they don’t deal with ecu problems.

The 2 companies they use to fix/ look at ECU’s refused to look at the car because it was potentially water ingress and because of its age. So they looked some up, found several. All with mixed reviews as there were none they trusted they asked me what I wanted to do.

I said I’d ask on here, @mk2 suggested finding a tuning company as they may repair ones that they accidentally damage during tuning. (Great suggestion btw, thank you 😊).

Found one relatively near me with seemingly good reviews. Spoke to him, seemed really helpful. Then he started ghosting me! I kid you not. 

Thought he’s just busy he must be good.

Took it there, the struggle to contact him was real!

Then all of a sudden, he went from I’m really busy I don’t know when I can look at it. To I’ve found a replacement ECU it’s 4x the price I originally quoted you and I can get it done by the end of the week.

Found somewhere else, turns out the first tuning guy hadn’t even put my ecu back together or secured it to the car and now my EGR solenoid was broken 😔

I do feel like I dodged a massive bullet.

So has this work actually been completed now, or have you taken the advice of a mechanic to just drive and appreciate the car..... something we've been telling you to do for weeks?

If the exterior pins were corroded on the ECU, then I fail to see how that's a surefire sign of water ingress. The exterior pins are exposed to the elements to some degree. I suspect most likely someone misfitted the scuttle panel or left it off for a period of time which allowed a bit of additional moisture to build up. Alternatively, it was a bit of bad luck and condensation played games.

Even so...... what a bunch of buffoons some of these guys are:  "I won't look at it because of potential water ingress" ? I swear the world is going absolutely bonkers.

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@mk2 I think that would be great! Luckily my mechanic had experience of this, otherwise he said had he not, he’d have thought it was the throttle pedal.

@Skezza my ECU has been opened up and inspected. No sign of water ingress thank goodness and yes as you told me it wouldn’t have, are you happy now? If my car hadn’t died a death in the middle of central Cambridge and the corrosion on the points had just been spotted then maybe I’d have just driven it as you said. Now I can drive it with complete peace of mind instead of with my eyes constantly on the dashboard, which for me is worth every penny I spent. Also I needed to know how damaged it was to proceed with a claim against the person I purchased it from.

The broken EGR solenoid valve is still bugging me.

Can someone please tell me where it is in relation to the ECU? 🤷‍♀️

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46 minutes ago, loopydebs said:

@mk2 I think that would be great! Luckily my mechanic had experience of this, otherwise he said had he not, he’d have thought it was the throttle pedal.

@Skezza my ECU has been opened up and inspected. No sign of water ingress thank goodness and yes as you told me it wouldn’t have, are you happy now? If my car hadn’t died a death in the middle of central Cambridge and the corrosion on the points had just been spotted then maybe I’d have just driven it as you said. Now I can drive it with complete peace of mind instead of with my eyes constantly on the dashboard, which for me is worth every penny I spent. Also I needed to know how damaged it was to proceed with a claim against the person I purchased it from.

The broken EGR solenoid valve is still bugging me.

Can someone please tell me where it is in relation to the ECU? 🤷‍♀️

Not really. I wasn't trying to be a know-it-all, I just hate seeing people mugged off and despite the huge progress in the second hand car/repair garage world, we're still a long way off having widespread scrupulous garages. There are still too many dodgy characters in the car world and some sound advice from a decent mechanic would have put you at ease, rather than some absolute tool telling you that there was a potential of water ingress and then further mechanics telling you that you needed a new bloody ECU. That said, we were all fairly open with our predictions on this one, so it's a shame that you've spent as much money as you have finding out. Hope they bloody sealed it properly.... sorry, couldn't help it :D 

Still, it's a win to some degree, because if this issue appears on another Lupo, the owner will hopefully find this thread and be more at ease, so to some degree you've done others a potential favour :) 

At the end of the day, the money you paid is worth the peace of mind, for you personally, so I don't blame you for that. That's only real reason any of us get the cambelt changed at the interval right? I just tend to play fast and loose with this kind of stuff. I drove several miles a few months ago with coolant absolutely pouring out the turbo return on my A4. Race against the traffic lights....

How are you going about claiming against the person you purchased it from? Are you sure they were aware of it being an issue?

 

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