Dealer Warranty

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Associate
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I picked up a used Mk5 Golf from a local trader a couple of months ago, which came with a 3 month 'MBI warranty on engine and gearbox'. While getting some work done last week, I was told that from the sound of the engine on startup it was likely my timing chain/tensioner had gone and would need replacing.

I don't really have much experience with used car warranties. Is this sort of thing going to be covered? And if so, am I likely to face a fuss?
 
Associate
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has the noise been there since day 1? if so take it back. if its something that's developed after you got it ask them about the warranty. but as above there are so many get out clauses there next to useless
 

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OP
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I bought the car on 65k and have done 1k since then. But the noise surfaced within the first 100 miles or so. I didn't think much of it until the garage mentioned it last week.

I was under the impression that the chain and tensioner should be good for the lifetime of the car, and so couldn't really be classed as wear and tear. Perhaps a call to VW to confirm wouldn't go amiss.
 
Soldato
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I bought the car on 65k and have done 1k since then. But the noise surfaced within the first 100 miles or so. I didn't think much of it until the garage mentioned it last week.

I was under the impression that the chain and tensioner should be good for the lifetime of the car, and so couldn't really be classed as wear and tear. Perhaps a call to VW to confirm wouldn't go amiss.

Timing chain wear/failure is quite common across a range of modern cars/engines.

One of the more notorious was the later model Nissan micras where excessive wear/failure could occur within as little as 20,000 miles from new.

Clearly timing chains are a dark art that the arcane and Kabalistic knowledge of has been lost by the current generation of designers/manufacturers!
 
Associate
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Well ****! I'm in your exact position OP. Also recently bought a Golf MK5 (GT TSI) as a first car. The car has a fair bit of miles on the clock (71k). It had been performing flawlessly until 700 miles later when I noticed I was filling up my coolant once a week! A week later, a strange noise starting coming from the engine, mainly audible when the car is idle. Took it to one of the Arnold Clark motorstores (Where I have my warranty) and they got back to me today saying my water pump needs replacing, my timing chain needs replacing as well as something else. They said I was very lucky as the chain could have failed at anytime, possibly taking the engine with it. They also said the car was dangerous to drive in its current state, so that gave me a whole boat load of confidence. Now I have to wait for them to get back to me tomorrow for more details as they have to put in a request form of sorts for the warranty.

What annoyed me further, is that the car had been serviced March this year, surely they would have picked up some early signs of at least one of these issues? Or do they not look that far into the internals?

Anyway, good luck OP, hope they sort it out for the both of us!
 

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Well damn! Now I feel pretty fortunate. Took the Golf down to a local VW indy as I wasn't happy with the tracking after a suspension fix. Had a good chat about the chain while I was there. Two of them took it out for a drive separately and both said it sounded fine. Although apparently it was pinking a bit. They've said it is likely a fuel quality issue, so have changed the fuel filter as a first step. They also recommended I try and use Shell as much as possible!
 
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