Volkswagen Crafter 2020, broken down after 1000km only!

A bit more about it.

Bought on
May 30 2020
Production date January 17 2020 Crafter 4motion SYBB8YHD/20
VIN WV1ZZZSYZL9034294

Most of June the Crafter was parked and I was fitting the tools and equipments into it.

June 29 - first working day with new Crafter

July 13 -,the engine stalled repeatedly after start up

Being qualified diesel mechanic with over 40 years experience I knew straight away after running diagnostic scan and no fault codes present that the issue is mechanical and serious. Completely empty coolant reservoir and no visible external coolant leaks was very disturbing. A phone call to 2 main dealers was fruitless since they couldn’t even look at the van till the June 30, so it prompted the following;
Easy enough to do removal of the air intake hose from the water to air intercooler to the throttle body, which is just a short elbow and easily accessible, I’ve removed it to look inside the intake and it was all obvious to me why the engine stalled, where the coolant from the reservoir disappeared. There was 20mm of coolant at the bottom of the intake, when I sucked it out it was almost 700ml of it.

Outlined in red is EGR cooler, the arrow points to the flange where the short straight EGR pipe (removed for inspection) connects to the engine intake. There should only be hot exhaust gasses going through that pipe, but the coolant completely filled up whole EGR cooler dry side.

https://www.vwwatercooled.com.au/for...5444file-1.jpg

I’m a sole trader, one man business, with only one vehicle equiped for servicing and repairs.
The reliability of my vehicle is a big deal to me. However, if the defect from the manufacturer appears, it must be fixed in reasonable time. After a brief conversation with the service manager at Solitaire Automotive (Adelaide VW dealer) on...

June 16 Crafter with 1031km went into their workshop with broken EGR cooler, luckily they had the part in stock

June 21 around midday, phone call from workshop - Crafter drives ok, it was roadtested for 100km and all OK I was told, detailed paperwork attached confirms just that. I collected repaired van later afternoon and guess what?

As soon as I shifted to 4th gear, very noticeable rattle from the engine valve train, no power to continue smoothly in the 4th gear, any attempt to just cruise in the 4th produced shaking of whole engine. The pick hour traffic on south road heading south didn’t allow me to make a quick u turn and go back, also it was close to closing hour, so I’ve continued to drive home (about 20km).

June 22 morning the Crafter went back to VW service centre.

June 27 they’re still testing and waiting for VW Australia With further instructions.

June 29 call from service manager telling me that the cylinder head had to come off after the compression test result didn’t look very good and as I expected, I was told 1 piston is lower than the others (bent conrod).

The VW Australia is now looking to refund (buy back) option, since it’s in their warranty policy.

“Volkswagen 60-Day Policy

If your vehicle suffers a manufacturing defect that renders the vehicle immobile and no longer driveable within 60 days of the date of the purchase, Volkswagen will allow you choose either a refund, replacement or repair of your vehicle without having to prove that a major failure occurred, provided that:

You, or a third party, did not cause the defect and did not fail to take reasonable steps to prevent the defect from occurring; and
Volkswagen has been given a reasonable opportunity to determine the root cause of the defect (including to confirm that a manufacturing defect rendered the vehicle immobile and no longer driveable within 60 days of the date of the purchase).”

August 6
Still nothing official from VW Australia. Now 52 days without van, almost 2months and no suitable vehicle provided or any indication when. It’s really bad business from VW.