[turbine21]

Hi, I have a 2015 GTE bought through Das Welt Auto. Yesterday when my wife was driving first thing in the morning the car just totally packed in, there was the Hybrid Warning message then it went haywire, lights flashing, intermittent electrical power etc... Luckily it was just round the corner from the house so managed to push it to the side of the road in my pyjamas and got it towed up to the local dealer. Dealer phoned today to say that the inverter needed replaced (pt. no. 5G0907070E) and it was going to cost £5k. No way I was agreeing to that straight away so suggested they replace the 12V battery, reset the warnings and see if it ran. Managed to get it home and it was running fine but obviously, no idea if it will start tomorrow or what. Not very keen on spending £5k on a car that's only 5 months out of warranty and has done less that 50k miles. Has anyone else had this issue and repaired it? Do you think if I laid it on thick with Das Welt Auto they might discount the repair or am I on the hook for £5k regardless? Any thoughts welcome! Cheers.

Supplemental info: The diagnostics showed the fault had logged 43 times but obviously this was the first time the car had thrown its hand in. It was also absolutely baltic here yesterday (north of Scotland). Finally, when the tow guy put power on it the only error in the cabin was the ACC being unavailable, no hybrid error and he was able to drive it onto the truck fine.

 

[6652]

If it’s running fine after the 12v has been replaced, then the chances are it will be fine.

My 12v went on my GTE at about 3 years and 60k miles, I got all manner of error messages although it kept running. I replaced the 12v and all was good.

What convinced the dealer that the inverter was faulty? Were any of the 43 error messages logged within the period that the car was under warranty?

Running any car out of warranty is a risk, especially one as complex as the GTE with its dual drivetrain.

VW have been known to contribute to out of warranty repairs on a goodwill basis, but you’ll need the support of your dealer realistically.

 

[turbine21]

Hope you're right! Planning on running it for a few days to see what's what.

I didn't get the diagnostic report but that's a good point! I have VCDS, will that tell me the dates if the dealer cleared them do you know?

 

[6652]

Hope you're right! Planning on running it for a few days to see what's what.

I didn't get the diagnostic report but that's a good point! I have VCDS, will that tell me the dates if the dealer cleared them do you know?

If they’ve cleared them, then I’m not aware of a way to retrieve them unfortunately.

If you’ve got VCDS though, you’ll be able to see if any more errors are logging as you drive it over the next few days?

It might be worth an auto scan anyway just in case they were lazy and didn’t clear the error codes?

I scanned a mates newly purchased second hand Audi A4 a few years ago, it picked up a stored code where the car had done an engine shut down procedure following an airbag deployment. He had an interesting chat with the supplying dealer who’d sold it as never having been in any bumps or scrapes. It did look too clean on the front end in hindsight!

 

[turbine21]

Aye, that's right enough. Thanks again for the help.

 

[tom66]

[Whoops, missed that you have VCDS, so ignore my suggestion that you use OBDeleven.]

If the car drives normally besides the error codes I'd seriously doubt it's a £5k inverter repair. Chances are it's a simple sensor fault.

And the inverter is expensive, but it's also used in Peugeot hybrids, as it's a common Bosch part. Inverters themselves are reliable units and are not prone to failure.

 

[zapdos]

I wouldn't trust a dealer on this in the slightest, my local Hyundai dealer is forever wanting to swap out whichever module is publishing the fault code - they just like playing whack a mole, presumably for some decent warranty fees.

I'd suggest taking it to an electric vehicle specialist who may be able to apply some actual thinking to the situation.

That's if your problem returns, if it runs normally now it's probably fine.

 

[Carty]

my local Hyundai dealer is forever wanting to swap out whichever module is publishing the fault code - they just like playing whack a mole, presumably for some decent warranty fees.

All to often a common story I am afraid here.
Let the computer tell them which module is affected, then fire the parts canon at the car and hope for the best !.
Then hand a massive bill back to the manufacture !.
We need more people who have the correct knowledge and skills to repair our cars in a more cost affective way.
Leave the dealers to carry on playing with there dying bread of ICE cars.
Get with the program, or get left behind I say.

 

[phproxy]

Do keep us updated on this one..

Since you have a fully working car now, how much does the extended warranty cost?

Volkswagen | Extended Warranty (insurewithvolkswagen.co.uk)

 

[turbine21]

Coming up as £200 pa... That's not bad actually. I wonder if they would honour the repair under warranty tho if they have already recommended it...

 

[6652]

Coming up as £200 pa... That's not bad actually. I wonder if they would honour the repair under warranty tho if they have already recommended it...

To be honest, I’d be surprised if the warranty system was sophisticated enough to know what a dealer had recommended in terms of a repair when the car was presented with a problem.

I suspect the dealer was trying it on to be honest, or just blindly following the ‘replace this part and see if it works’ type approach.

 

[phproxy]

Ye, from what I know of VW, its systems/dealer network, I'd be buying the warranty and taking it to a different dealer if there were issues.

Interested to know if the 12v battery was the issue and you could have been £5k worse off for the sake of a new battery..

 

[Carty]

Ye, from what I know of VW, its systems/dealer network, I'd be buying the warranty and taking it to a different dealer if there were issues.

I would likely do the same thing if I was you.
Try and take the car to a dealer that does not come under the same group / family.
I have found that service work carried out at a certain dealer, tends not to travel with the car when using another dealership has been my experience.
Work carried out under warranty will be recorded on the data base.
If you can extend the warranty for a few hundred quid, I would suggest that would be a good option !.
Helps you sleep at night.
Remember, it will need to be supported by a dealer service history to avoid any issues if you required to make a claim under the warranty.
If you have the cover, you will probably never need it.
But if you don’t, you could be facing a massive bill.
As If you need to be told this now.
Take the warranty !!!.
It could be the best couple of hundred quid you have ever spent.

 

[TJEV]

EVs and complex hybrids should ALWAYS be kept in warranty

 

[Carty]

EVs and complex hybrids should ALWAYS be kept in warranty

I agree !.
Some manufactures only offer a 3 year warranty on the mechanical items, in line with their ICE offerings.
Longer on the HV pack of course.
Great if the warranty is 7 years like some models.
How good that turns out to be in real life, is the subject of a completely different subject and post of course !.

 

[turbine21]

Looks like warranty is the way to go then. The cover starts in 30 days so if the issue comes up after that surely they would cover it. Taking the car for a run at lunch so will feed back then.

 

[mrdr_ev]

EVs and complex hybrids should ALWAYS be kept in warranty

As always, over simplified sweeping statements are rarely universally true. Grown ups have the right and intelligence to assess whether they can afford to self insure their car, house, or boiler maintenance and let's face it when these cars reach 10+ years old there won't actually be any warranty options left and the grown ups will be buying cheap cars knowing full well the thing has TWO complex drivetrains that might go wrong, expensively. I suggest that resale values will reflect this.

 

[cdlb]

We need more people who have the correct knowledge and skills to repair our cars in a more cost affective way.

I wouldn't discount time as being a significant contributor to the problem. Mechanics have always been problem solvers, but if loads of cars are booked in for same day work, there simply isn't time to spend thinking about the problem and trying out the easy fixes. If computer says "inverter fault" and your boss is breathing down your neck because there are 20 more cars in the queue for today, you might not be able to swap out a 12V battery and do a test drive to see if that solves it.

(Disclaimer: this post is half conjecture and half based on what I've heard from friends in the trade)

 

[TomH]

I would likely do the same thing if I was you.
Try and take the car to a dealer that does not come under the same group / family.
I have found that service work carried out at a certain dealer, tends not to travel with the car when using another dealership has been my experience.
Work carried out under warranty will be recorded on the data base.
If you can extend the warranty for a few hundred quid, I would suggest that would be a good option !.
Helps you sleep at night.
Remember, it will need to be supported by a dealer service history to avoid any issues if you required to make a claim under the warranty.
If you have the cover, you will probably never need it.
But if you don’t, you could be facing a massive bill.
As If you need to be told this now.
Take the warranty !!!.
It could be the best couple of hundred quid you have ever spent.

I also recommend an extended warranty but be warned it excludes high voltage components.
Now the battery has a seven year warranty but I don't know if that covers ALL the other HV bits.

Never needed to claim on my warranties so I don't know from personal experience.

 

[turbine21]

Surely the inverter can't be excluded from the warranty... Sounds like I need to do some more digging.