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The definitive Pedal Box Thread


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Hi RichLupo and Mcbandy

I see you've both got yours done recently and didn't want to give out dealerships names - now you've had them done are you willing to disclose...? Please!!!

My latest...

Breeze VW in Southampton have said...

"Thank you for replying, I have put your registration number into out system and have seen that it hasn’t had a service at a Volkswagen dealership since 2005 in which it should have had at least 2 services since that date. Volkswagen goodwill policy is only applicable to vehicles that have supported the Volkswagen dealership network and as such any goodwill possibilities would not be available for this vehicle.

I have also spoken to the warranty clerk to look into any possibility of any goodwill against this issue for you and unfortunately there is none."

...so that is really helpful. I'm not sure why who services the vehicle is relevant when it is clearly a design fault, but anyway, I'll persevere...

Cheers all

SVRSteve

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Hello Steve,

I got mine replaced at the wonderful Martins VW in Basingstoke, they also replaced a faulty brake light switch (broken by them i assume) and washed the car for me all FOC. It now aches to drive the car as the clutch is too high for me (6ft 4ish), i initially thought it had no drive at all its that high!

My car hadn't been to a main dealer since '06 and has missed 1 service and is shortly due another (66000 miles) but i got them to quote me on a service @ 70K - advised £130-150.00 :o much cheaper than i thought, but quoted £299-375.00 for a cambelt, is it right its every 4 years as well?

Main downside is they diagnosed my engine + epc lights as being due to the crankcase breather and would need a new ECU, £700+ !!!!

Edited by McBandy
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Hi McBandy

Thanks. That is a coincidence as I received an email back from Martins Basingstoke about 45mins ago. Basically saying if I give them VIN no. and mileage they'll look into it. Apparently they said "Volkswagen have paid for a few pedal boxes on the Lupo’s even though it is not a safety recall issue but it seems to all depend on the VIN number and mileage." - so i guess one of these is yours! We shall see if they'll do mine too...wish me luck!!!

Hah luckily I'm not 6'4"...

Cam Belt - I'm not an expert, but I'm pretty sure VW reduced the cambelt intervals quite a lot recently. I haven't got my stuff with me, but when our cars were new I think it said change at 80,00 miles. I think VW reduced this to 60,000 - I assume because they had some break. I had mine done last year at approx. 70,000 miles, but the later you leave it the mroe risk you take. I'm sure someone on the forum will be able to advise.

Warning lamps - My exhaust emission warning lamp has been coming off and on since I've owned it (5 1/2yrs), which VW kept fiddling with during the warranty, but never fixed. I just left it after I had to start paying. My local private garage has now diagnosed the problem and says VW were probably just avoiding replacing expensive parts under the warranty - who do you believe...

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I'd believe VW tbh, its in their interest to take on work, they still get paid for doing warranty work, normally at a slightly reduced rate but work is work, maybe they couldn't loacte the fault or their workshop was staffed by a bunch of monkeys!

Ref the clutch aching to use, i think the cable slipped/self adjusted on the way home yesterday (felt something move through the clutch pedal) because its now mushy for a lot of the travel then a low biting point, no grinding though!

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Just had NO from Martins of Basingstoke. Chap was very helpful and said he was sorry, but VW won't even contribute!!! He says, they don't give a reason, but he suspects it is due to age and milage.

McBandy - Yours is a 2000 isn't it? Has it done many miles?

Mines a 51 plate, but registered Feb 2002. It has done 73,164 miles, which is hardly astronomical and below average (for 6 years old) surely...

Also had NOs from Ridgeway Reading, Breeze Southampton. I'm getting fed up with this!

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2001 '51, not sure on actual reg. date, 66000 miles just over, FSH up till 2006.

Bad luck bud, if you read further above the parts are only about £33 and it just involves stripping the dash, depends how competent you feel

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Cheers for your help anyway.

Mine has done just 7,000 miles more and same age so very strange. :confused:

Chap at Martins said they had done a few Lupos and referred to one (not yours), he said: "I am disappointed as well as I was fairly sure that Volkswagen would pay for the repairs. The vehicle in question that we repaired recently was 6 months newer and had 18,000 miles less."

In case anyone else is interested, he also said price-wise... Best case: Pedal Box £31.40 + Labour £145.11. Worst Case: Pedal Box £31.40 + Labour £292.50. All prices are Inc Vat. :o

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Hello

I've finally got myself a Lupo and I wish I'd found this thread before I bought it - I just thought the clutch needed adjusting!

I finally did this and what seemed an impossible job, became faily easy...

Icegeezer (or anyone that's done this themselves): do you have to disconnect the steering column to do this? Are there any particularly tricky bits to look out for, or is it just generally fiddly and quite a long job?

Thanks to everyone for all the information so far - it could well have saved me further outlay for clutches and gearboxes...

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  • 2 weeks later...

It seems that this saga over pedal boxes is going on an on. To add to this, Club Lupo can only represent a fraction of the lupo owners out there so I wonder how many other people have faced or are facing the same problem.

This clearly isn't an isolated fault. Perhaps it is time we worked together to take this evidence to VW to try and get some accountability.

Here is the plan: -

I have a lot of evidence through print outs of threads on here but I really need more detail if I am to take this forward. So, if your car has been affected and you have tried to deal with VW main dealers or customer care with or without success then send me the following and I'll see about taking this forward.

Date problem occured:

Dealership(s) contacted (Names):

Who did you deal with (manager/technician?) names if possible:

What was said (be specific):

Car Model and reg number

Costs involved?

Has the problem been resolved?

Either post on here or mail/message me. If I collate it all and send a response to the Head of VW UK He should also have records and be able to verify the evidence.

Cheers,

Adrian

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Mine's now gone - 2001 Colour Concept about 60k miles. Getting local chap to fit new one quickly as need the car on the road asap. He reckoned old one could have been fixed, but amount of work same easier just to replace it. Hope parts dept supplier the revised stronger box!

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I work for volkswagen and I have NEVER replaced a pedalbox that a customer has had to pay for!!

They have all been paid for by VW!!!!!

Its down to retailers not knowing that VW still pays for them via there goodwill dept

Edited by lupo pd 150
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I work for volkswagen and I have NEVER replaced a pedalbox that a customer has had to pay for!!

They have all been paid for by VW!!!!!

Its down to retailers not knowing that VW still pays for them via there goodwill dept

yeh i've sent a few folk over to benfield and never had an issue, think they tried to fob kam off but then they agreed. :)

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I work for volkswagen and I have NEVER replaced a pedalbox that a customer has had to pay for!!

They have all been paid for by VW!!!!!

Its down to retailers not knowing that VW still pays for them via there goodwill dept

Would they have replaced for an owner that's NOT a customer? I've been using my indy during my Lupo ownership

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Just got my car back from the garage and they told me the pedal box is the problem, i phoned my local vw dealer and they told me my cars to old for them to fix it for free. It's 7 years old and has done 72'000 miles. So i'm going to have to pay £162.00 which to me sounds reasonable but i am still making investigations with Vw.

Edited by iShine
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  • 2 weeks later...

Right, quick response needed. Its defo about to snap, its parked at work (13 miles from home, in city centre!) and i would rather get it to a garage before then. There is a seat garage in alexandria parade, will they do it for free? 6 years old, 58K ish

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mine was 8 in april and is defo on its way out as of the last week. gears got really crunchy like overnight and my clutch is lower than brake pedal. Any advice on cheapest way to get done. i will have a go but there is no haynes for guidance. any advise guys? cheers :)

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  • 3 weeks later...

I dont know if my pedal box needs replaced - sometimes I feel like I'm pushing it fairly hard to get into gears, other times its fine. I also find the clutch very heavy - anyone who drives my car also agrees and says its pretty stiff and harder to use. Also when I'm putting it into reverse it sometimes crunches even though I have my foot down and I'm putting it in correct. (I'm sick of the "if you can find it grind it comments! :lol: ) Does it sound like it could be the pedalbox? Car is a 2002 Sport on 39k, hopefully VW would be fine with this?

Lauryn

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I dont know if my pedal box needs replaced - sometimes I feel like I'm pushing it fairly hard to get into gears, other times its fine. I also find the clutch very heavy - anyone who drives my car also agrees and says its pretty stiff and harder to use. Also when I'm putting it into reverse it sometimes crunches even though I have my foot down and I'm putting it in correct. (I'm sick of the "if you can find it grind it comments! :lol: ) Does it sound like it could be the pedalbox? Car is a 2002 Sport on 39k, hopefully VW would be fine with this?

Lauryn

The clutch being heavy is more likely to be the pressure plate than the pedal box but it may be the cause of the pedal box going as your putting more stress on the metal to fatigue. The chances are it is on its way out. My gear change was the same for quite some time before it would no longer go into gear.

My clutch got more and more heavy, its still heavy so i am planning to do the clutch as soon as i get the best price for parts and

cost of fitting.

Have a look to see if you can visually see a break in the metal it will look like a hole, if you can see one take a picture you

can present to the dealers.

They did my pedal box a few weeks back on good will. you basically have to tell them that they need to do it on good will for you

or they will tell you your car is out of warranty. the car is under 8 years old so they are meant to do it under good will. I was told i had to

have full VW service history for it to apply all though i cant see how that would make the slightest bit of difference as the item was revised over 20 times

so its known to be a problem regardless of the servicing of the car.

They have to put forward your case to VW. If you find it has gone and have problems with the dealers PM me. My car is a year older and

has 15k more miles than yours and they did it so they cant really tell you it cant be done. A sly comment about a phone call to watchdog is not

out of line for the situation if they want to be bitchy about it. If you are polite but stern knowing yoru facts its harder for them to pull a fast one.

I was told the parts are £60 so the bulk of the cost is labour to take the dash out, its a 3 hour job.

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Went into VW today, and after about 5/10 mins waiting for someone to come anywhere near me to help, finally spoke to a guy about it. Told me there was no such thing on the Lupo, and that if I want it looked at I'll need to book it in for an inspection, and pay labour costs for that. I told him theres no chance I'm doing that, I know theres a problem with mine and its probably ready to go, and a memo was issued. The guy continued to deny it, and when I asked him kindly to check he refused. I said thats fine, I'll take it to another dealer!

****ing well annoyed, but I'll just keep hassling VW til they do it. I refuse to wait til it goes pop and be stranded at the side of the road!

Rant over :rolleyes:

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Hi all

See two responses from "VW Cust. Care"... ...my Lupo is 51 plate with 70K on clock... ...wonderful!!!!!!!!!!!!

EMAIL REPLY 1:

Thank you for your recent email in relation to a requested contribution towards your vehicle's clutch pedal.

When looking into possible contributions towards repair costs a certain criteria is taken into consideration, your vehicle falls out of this criteria in two areas, which are the age of the vehicle and the fact that your vehicle does not have a complete service history.

I trust this email explains the reasoning behind my decision.

Yours sincerely

Customer Case Manager

Volkswagen Customer Services

EMAIL REPLY 2:

Thank you for your recent email in relation to an issue with your vehicle's pedal box. I apologise for the delay in my response.

Your vehicle is outside of the normal warranty parameters, and any contribution towards repair costs is a goodwill gesture. However, for the goodwill to be received we ask that the customer has a complete service history within the Volkswagen Network, as your vehicle does not meet this criteria I am unable to assist any further.

The part in question was modified due to advancing technology, we always strive to improve our parts.

This goodwill decision will remain. Thank you for contacting Volkswagen UK.

Yours sincerely

Customer Case Manager

Volkswagen Customer Services

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****ing well annoyed, but I'll just keep hassling VW til they do it. I refuse to wait til it goes pop and be stranded at the side of the road!

Rant over :rolleyes:

Its not to bad when the weld cracks when your driving, you can still get it home, you just have to press the clutch to the carpet to get a responce (or go up the gears with using the revs only). They contacted me about it and said it was only fixed for free for cars that were 5 years or less old. The people i spoke to were very helpful as the women said that although she had never heard of the problem she would look into it and she did and found that it was a common problem. Got mines fixed for £250. Then a week later the clutch adjustment 'slipped' and i though the same thing had happened but that one is easy to fix yourselve if that happens :)

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What email address(es) did you use for them?

Hi Lauryn - volkswagencustomercare@volkswagen.co.uk

i've written another email again tonight - including...

"I am very disappointed with your response... ...I intend to contact BBC Watchdog regarding this issue. I am also exploring my options with the Retail Motor Industry Federation and the Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders Ltd. As well as gaining advice from Trading Standards and Citizens Advice with regard to complaining about this issue... ...There is clearly a design fault and the part was never “fit for purpose”...."

etc, etc, etc, blah, blah, blah

Good luck! Perhaps if they receive lots of similar emails/ letters they might do something!!!

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