Potential Class Action re Thermostats/Water Pumps

[golf gti]

Have a mk 7 golf GTI, 2 years out of warranty and 55k. Thermostat housing is leaking. Tried to have dealer ask VW to do a good will repair. VW rejected it stating the age of vehicle. Tried calling VW head quarters and they told me to go back to the dealer.

Definitely will sign up to any class action law suits. I am just surprised this has not been a bigger deal as pretty much every car that has this 2.0 TSI engine is impacted.

[spacemannz]

Me too. Was just told I need a water pump. Just 24000k and 6 years old (MY18 Tiguan).
My mechanic has quoted $2000 - I feel like I’m getting rorted on that too.

[Lucas_R]

Me too. Was just told I need a water pump. Just 24000k and 6 years old (MY18 Tiguan).
My mechanic has quoted $2000 - I feel like I’m getting rorted on that too.

I paid $1k exactly 12 months ago from my independent VW specialist mechanic, so yes a quote for $2k is expensive.

[Jaffs]

Maybe a bit different for later models, but I have a current quote for a Mk 6 GTI, $1200.
Water Pump & Thermostat Assembly Replacement Labour $547.75
Water Pump Assembly $496.65
Water Pump Union $32.19
O-Ring $4.54
O-Ring x 3 $15.18
Temperature Sender $54.27
Coolant Concentrate (Violet) $55.92

[DeboDasAuto]

Guys late seeing this but my 2013 Golf Mk7 had the issue too. At the time I was told the pump had a plastic part that fails (admitting design fault but wearing no cost!) and that the replacement pumps had a metal part to resolve the failure - and all 7.5 golfs had the metal one. (This is just info from the service dude at the time). I thought it was poor at the time and felt even a 50% price cut would have been appropriate. Nope full price for you sir, and this is at the dealer where i had every service done by the book!!

Anyhow yeah happy to join the party.

21/05/2020

68392km

$1265

Water pump replace

[Andrei6182]

Has there been any progress with this? Same here VW Golf 2017, 45,000km, water pump started leaking.
Put me down for the class action as well.

[minke]

How have others going with dealer service when it comes to the leak?

My 2020 GTi coming up to its third service. Between each service I've had to top off the coolant and I mention this each time. Each time the service advisor comes back with "we cannot detect any leaks"

Again a few months ago I was below min and topped off again. Service due May.

What have others done to get it taken more seriously?

[MazlikSan]

I would to join as well. My Golf R had first coolant issue on 9th December 2022 when the warranty expired in November 😫. Now in April it happened again and mechanic told me that I may need new water pump. Apparently the leak is small. But advised to talk to VW directly and if they will dismiss the issue to come back to him. He quoted 1,400$ for the pump 😫. The car is 2017 and has 31k. I cannot believe it. I may sell it just out of the anger.

[spacemannz]

So as a bit of a happy update (for me at least). VW have just replaced my water pump and engine start/stop button under warranty. Vehicle age 5 1/2 years.

MY18 Tiguan 162TSI
24000km
Owned from new
3 year warranty
I raised a coolant level issue on the very last ‘in warranty’ service (almost 3 years to the day). Pressure tested ok, and noted on service report in case of future issue.
Logbook services with VW Alto at every recommended interval for first 3 years.
I have since had logbook services twice with a non VW mechanic.

I spoke to my local dealer (VW Alto) and they told me to bring it in for them to inspect and submit a report to VW. No promises and it would cost me an hours labour.
The dealer said that VW look at numerous factors including KM, condition, number of owners, service history and brand loyalty.

About 4 or 5 days later they came back and said VW had approved and I could bring the car in for repair in the next few days, and leave overnight.
The whole process was about 10 days from start to finish.

To Alto’s credit, they were not the selling dealership - so there was very little leverage for me to invoke any ‘goodwill’ favours with them. I was happy to pay them an hours labour to sort it and they were very helpful and communicative. This has gone a long way to restore my faith in the brand and the dealership. It is my first VW vehicle.

I hope this case helps others out there.
Good luck everyone!

[Flipper Dog]

Fantastic result, thanks for posting your experience.
I hope this is now a bench mark others can use with their dealings with VW on this problem.