Common Complaints/Problems Thread

[starbank]

With my Loop going in for it's 40k/end of warranty service shortly, I thought it would be interesting to all if we could have a thread where everyone can list the problems they've had/or are having.

I think this would be particularly useful for those who want to check specific things out prior to the warranty running out!

Those I've had bother with:-

1. Rear windsreen wiper washer. VW replaced mine a while back with a revised unit but it has gone again - I'm spraying the exhaust pipe at the moment not the window!

2. Door straps - mine are creaking and will be replaced at the service.

3. Faulty electric window switches - I can't open the passenger window from the drivers door and have to lean across - particularly awkward when stopped by the Police I can tell you!

4. Those rubbish Aero windscreen wipers. Never had to replace the old style blades every year!

5. Front brakes - warped discs are common - DON'T get VW to replace with standards. Plenty of threads on the site re upgrades.

6. Tyres - Again, there are much better tyres out there than the standard Dunlops - loads of threads on the site.

7. Remote alarm key/fob - Can be unreliable. I once opened the fob and found that the battery was not touching the contacts - only by 100ths of a millimeter but it caused no end of problems.

8. Bubbling rear spoiler - I have a few imperfections which will be discussed with VW.

9. Bonnet release - one word, pants.

Mechanically, I've not had one problem in 42000 miles (lucky git!) so someone else may have to highlight any issues.

Apologies for the essay!

[tdwindustries]

Ok good idea, some of these are my problems some are not:

1. faulty starter motor (makes noise after starting car) running on

2. broken 3rd brake light

3. noisy cam belt/tensioner

4. spark plugs popping out

5. faulty crank case breather pipe heater causes EPC light to come on

6. lambda sensor in exhaust faulty

7. pedal box breaking

8. gearbox becoming notchy and difficult to use

9. drive shaft loose

10. alternatir wiring loose

11. window seals sticky, need greasing

12. rusty exhaust baffle

13. damaged undertray - rattles

14. rusty discs - common and causes grinding/squeaking - only aftermarket discs work

15. tappet rattle - normal

16. battery box cover - never seen one not broken

17. miss matching panels (reflex/moon silver issues)

18. heater control lights break

think thats it for now....

[starbank]

Jesus wept!

I've been either extremely fortunate or you've been utterly unfortunate!

[tdwindustries]

they arent all mine! just off the top of my head

[Fran]

1. Blown up gearbox

2. Cam belt snap at 48,000 miles

3. Pedal box cracked

4. Door straps

5. Rear washer & wiper never work

6. Front wipers keep jumping and don't wipe when going over 60 mph

[Nicki]

Here's mine... I've had her since she was 3 years old (mileage = 26k), she's now 4 years old and at 36k:

1. Rear windscreen washer - doesn't work at all, can't be arsed to pay to get it fixed.

2. Front windscreen washer (drivers side) - Became blocked with a "waxy" substance - VW cleared & replaced under warranty.

3. Faulty electric window switches - Passenger window stopped working, switch replaced under warranty.

4. Bonnet release - VW broke it when they serviced her. Apparently its a 2 part cable that just comes apart... helpful!

5. Starter motor - Its started to make a noise after starting the car... no other problems yet

6. High level brake light - Its become dim (ie you can only see it if its dark outside), according to VW it wasn't something they could replace under warranty because it wasn't broken...

7. Occassionally get a squeaky `belt-slipping` type noise when cold

8. First gear & reverse occassionally tempremental

9. Brake light switch - Been replaced 3 times now (makes for interesting driving when you have no brake lights... as my journey to Inters proved last year...) EPC warning light came on to signal fault.

10. Passenger window not opening/closing properly - Had to be greased up (now have lovely little white patches in the corner of the windows as a result...)

11. Front loading single CD - lights surrounding the 2 round buttons on either side flicker.

12. Warranty numpties - When I bought the car, they put the wrong type of warranty on her, changed it to the correct, then cancelled it... when I needed work doing under warranty, it took about 8 phone calls to VW and to the dealership I bought her from... then they still cocked up. Eventually (ie 3 weeks later) got it sorted.

Think thats all the problems I've had so far...

[evofox]

AAAAAH! STOP! you're scaring the cr*p out of me. i was gonna get a gti as an economical runabout. but it sounds like it'll cost more to run than my evo! although i s'pose its better i found out now rather than later.

[lupogtiboy]

QUOTE(evofox)

i was gonna get a gti as an economical runabout.

not filled up a gti every third day then!!! hahahahaha!!

had loadsa stuff done under warranty (thankfully) on my gti, but some of the things listed could be easily avoided, ie washer jets blocking, by using the correct washer fluid from vw, as normal washer fluid is too gooey (for want of a better word!) for the "`fan-jet`" washer jets. usually, if your car is under warranty and the `fan-jet` stuff is not used, they will refuse any warranty claim for it!!!

[lupogtiboy]

my starter motor makes some funny noises sometimes when i first start in the morning, but seems to work fine, so not gonna worry bout it til it goes! had my fair share of `high-level` brake light issues too!! the crankcase breather pipe was one of my major problems, as the part fitted is not even listed as being fitted to a lupo!!! but i have the advantage of working for a main dealer, so things aren't so bad for me as for others!!!

[tdwindustries]

yeah and dont forget these lists are pretty exhuaustive - i.e. we know about most problems on the forum, doubt you will get many that havent been raised already above. sounds like starter motor is a known problem....

mine still makes the noise 2 years after i had it, still hasnt broken.

[Tigz™]

Front discs and pads replaced after 800 (ish) miles

Lamber sender replaced afeter a few thousand miles

Thats it after 30k mile thats been the fault of VW.

Not a bad little budget car Im thinking.

Editted to add, I must be looking through rose coloured googles.

Both window regulaters replaced under warrenty when they siezed up.

Also both winders.

[M1 Lupo]

10,100 miles.

Front pads changed at 2500 miles.

Bonnet release cable rather stretched.

Too many interior rattles to list...

[Fran]

i forgot to mention i had to have the coil pack changed (common fault, there was a recall i believe!)

[Kev_Ush]

Problems I've had....

Cracked gearbox mount - My fault

Air Con not working from new - Took dearler 6 months to fix, finally fixed 2 days before I lost my liecense.

Had to have a software upgrade for my ECU as it wasn't driving very well on cold mornings.

Thankfully only 3 problems, but then I'd only got to drive the car for 6 months before I lost my liecense and only covered 11600 miles. The cars been sitting for the past 14 months and has only covered 1000 miles in that time so in 8 month time when I get my liecense back I'll only have 6 months warranty left so I praying that if anything is going to go wrong, it happens in that last 6 months of warranty.

[Nicki]

QUOTE(lupogtiboy)

washer jets blocking, by using the correct washer fluid from vw, as normal washer fluid is too gooey (for want of a better word!) for the "`fan-jet`" washer jets.

I only use VW screen wash - the jet was fine when I took it in for service, but was blocked when I got it back... hence VW sorting the problem under warranty.

[RallyeBaz]

40,100k

Ignition switch went and could not restart car ( Changed under warranty )

Rear spoiler brake light intermittent

Water from the rear washer setting off alarm

Temperature gauge intermittent

Paint bubbling near the drivers side rear window corner

Bearing noise from front

Clutch did lay on the floor once stuck in traffic

Annoying squeak near passenger footwell

[D7 YME]

Where shall I start

1. Offside front window/door seal leaking, this caused the carpet in the car to become damp.

2. Wheel alignment out

3. Excess wind noise when off side front window is closed

4. Car under powered in 2 gear

5. High level brake light filled with condensation

6. Front bumper had orange peal and the bumper was not fitted correctly to the car

7. Power Steering pump making to much noise

8. Near side front side repeater filled with condensation

9. Puncture repair kit missing

10. No wheel locking nut

11. Battery cover broken

12. Windows dont go up and down properly

13.heater switch broken

All these probems have been within the first six months car has less than 3k miles on it

[bam margera]

From when my Fiancee had a 1.4 S:

Drivers side window squeled like hell when closing it up.

Often stall for no apparent reason

Drivers side door didn't sit on the hinges properly, (may have been from a previous owners doing something)

Boot was too small!

Colour was Gay! (Soft Blue!)

The last two are not to be taken seriously;)

[DanH]

Hi all,

Problems ive had with mine so far are as follows:

1. Broken water pump leading to insane overheating- hint..VW made the original pump with a PLASTIC impeller!

2. The usual blocked rear washer.

3. Catalytic converter failed twice now i think/

4. Lambda sensor knackered.

5. Thermostat stuck

6. Fan switch blown.

7. Entire throttle valve control unit blown - £335 main dealer!!! but got one for £97

8. Warped front discs already changed once but beginning to go again!

9. Tappety rattle - assured this is normal.

10. Breathing really heavy dont know why, but the throttle body is caked in crap.

11. Air filter covered in oil through the breather... dont know why.

Thats about it fir now.

[Az_zA]

nice of you to bring this back up, nearly 2 years old style="vertical-align:middle" emoid=":D" border="0" alt="biggrin.gif" />

[luke's lupo]

i have had absolutly no bother with my lupo style="vertical-align:middle" emoid=":D" border="0" alt="biggrin.gif" />

just the few niggily little body bits but that aint VW.

[JamesTdi]

Haha good idea! Heres whats wrong with my Rosa!

1. Windscreen wipers are stupidly noisy

2. Door straps are creaking

3. Rear drums grind alot

4. Passanger electric window buttons does not work form divers side

5. Passanger window does not go all the way down and squeeks alot

6. VERY stiff and squeeky clutch cable!

A lot of stuff has been replaced on my Rosa tho, recently had a new Cambelt, starter motor and coil pack

[JD66]

52 plate Arosa 1.0S been in the family since 2008 and I've owned it for about a year, its my first car and has done about 70k, so far I've had:

1.) Door catch came loose so the door wouldn't shut properly, tightened it up and it has since been fine

2.) Passenger electric window doesn't work

3.) Drivers Electric window goes halfway up then comes down again, always goes all the way up on the second attempt.

4.) The seat wouldn't click back into place after being put forward to let people in the back, my mate fixed it when he MOT'd it.

5.) Stiff clutch pedal about 6 months ago had the clutch cable adjusted and it was much better, its now gone really stiff again this week and is now making a noise as well.

6.) Remote locking doesn't work but locks fine if putting the key in the lock

7.) A few rattles etc.

8.) There's a crunch when selecting reverse.

9.) Had the battery replaced a couple of months ago but can't complain as it lasted over 10 years

10.) The rear wash wipe works but is a bit useless

11.) The engine light came on a few months ago but went off on its own accord and has stayed off and driven fine since.

Prior to me having it:

1.) The Central locking wouldn't lock or unlock the passenger door, that was fixed

Good car other than those niggles, the passenger window doesn't bother me as I'm usually the only one in it. The stiff clutch is the only thing bothering me at the minute.

Edited April 30, 2013 by JD66

[Skezza]

Woooah, I think I've been pretty lucky compared to some of you guys hehe, however here goes:

Lupo E 1.0 (was bought with roughly 50k miles on, I put about 48k on before it was written off in January this year) -

• Bonnet release packed up a day after we got it, so on about 50k miles.
• Temperature Sensor to dials was never working, but to ECU was working.
• OEM Exhaust fell off at about 80k miles (pretty excellent for OEM by the way so don't take that as a negative)
• Brake Light Switch failed after about 80k miles
• Lambda Sensor failed after about 75k miles
• Rear Washer clip split causing leak into boot (Fix was to simply replace clip and tube with one, long piece of tube).
• Drivers Door Lock barrel seized up at about 75k miles
• Coolant Level Sensor failed after about 85k miles.
• Front discs went at about 90k.
• Battery began to fail at about 90k miles.
• Generally seemed to have issues with static on aftermarket radios (I minimized it as much as I could after lots and lots and lots and lots of diagnosing, but it never truly went)

So considering most of that is disposable, I wasn't too disappointed.

Lupo S 1.7 SDI (bought in January after the 1.0 E was written off) -

• Passenger Door Central Locking mechanism is faulty.
• Replacement Passenger Door Central locking mechanism has developed the same fault as the previous
• Rear Water Jet has seized up.
• Rear Heated Window, the top 5 heating elements don't work.
• Previous owner has also replaced the drivers door lock barrel which seized up.
• Half the third brake light didn't illuminate (replaced using one from scrappy)
• Light behind heater controls is constantly flickering.
• Two bits of bubbling on the roof.
• Starter motor sometimes whines in the cold, fine in the warm.

I think compared to some of you guys, I've got off pretty lightly in truth lol!

Edited May 1, 2013 by Skezza

[Nathan94]

1) Both check straps have died

2) Driver's door drops

3) Window winder fell off

4) Back wiper washer failed

5) Then the back wiper motor died

6) Drivers door handle and door card ripped off, was quite funny.

Oh, I bought it with a broken gear selector too.

Other than that, I've not really had any problems with it and it's nearing 90k, I've already put just over 7k on it and it's well overdue a service.