OEM parts warranty ripoff?

[LizardOfBodom]

Hi all

Had a 'great' experience yesterday night to witness my fresh, 1 week old coolant, spilling out to the side of the engine. Lost apx 2 liters but fortunately caught it on time to fill up and limp to my indie garage. Quick diagnosis - waterpump or (unlikely) frost plug.

Aside of the fact if it really IS water pump or not (will know later on), I called Volvo dealership where previous owner had timing belt+ waterpump done in Aug 2015. I told them car is 30k miles older but looks like wp failed - was bluntly told "its only 1 year for parts warranty". Asked him if thats normal that OEM part fails after 2 yrs/30k after "official dealership work" and if that happened to them before, but was told "thats not normal, hasnt happened before, bad luck but still 1 year warranty"....

So... you basically pay double for OEM parts and overblown labour just to have the same warranty on parts as cheapo aftermarket sets? And fact you did it in official service using official parts means nothing because "you had bad luck on part that should last 100k miles but your one failed"?
Anybody had similar experience with it? Is that normal???

My car is being sorted now by my trusty indie mechanics. I doubt its frost plug so I am prepared for t-belt+w.pump replacement. Asked them to hold onto old part to see wtf...

gutted and p***ed off...

[Yobbo]

Sorry to hear that, I would be INCREDIBLY surprised if it was water pump failure as the Volvo water pumps are legendary for longevity.

Did you just have a routine coolant flush last week then?
It seems more likely that something during the process of that occuring has caused the leak. - Take it the coolant was pizzing out right where the water pump is?

[thats not gone wel]

Originally Posted by LizardOfBodom

Hi all

Had a 'great' experience yesterday night to witness my fresh, 1 week old coolant, spilling out to the side of the engine. Lost apx 2 liters but fortunately caught it on time to fill up and limp to my indie garage. Quick diagnosis - waterpump or (unlikely) frost plug.

Aside of the fact if it really IS water pump or not (will know later on), I called Volvo dealership where previous owner had timing belt+ waterpump done in Aug 2015. I told them car is 30k miles older but looks like wp failed - was bluntly told "its only 1 year for parts warranty". Asked him if thats normal that OEM part fails after 2 yrs/30k after "official dealership work" and if that happened to them before, but was told "thats not normal, hasnt happened before, bad luck but still 1 year warranty"....

So... you basically pay double for OEM parts and overblown labour just to have the same warranty on parts as cheapo aftermarket sets? And fact you did it in official service using official parts means nothing because "you had bad luck on part that should last 100k miles but your one failed"?
Anybody had similar experience with it? Is that normal???

My car is being sorted now by my trusty indie mechanics. I doubt its frost plug so I am prepared for t-belt+w.pump replacement. Asked them to hold onto old part to see wtf...

gutted and p***ed off...

This is something I would be going to Volvo Ireland about. I assume you don't have an invoice, but it would be logged into the system that the work was completed at X dealer on such and such a date.

do they guarantee a new cars parts for 1 year too?

I would chance my arm for some goodwill at the least, OE is €€€ as it is without the willingness to stand over the work.

[Welton]

I would be amazed if the water pump was at fault here. When I replaced mine at 8 years old with a Volvo part (£70.00+) the factory pump was pristine! it looked like it had been in a laboratory it was that clean.

The Volvo pumps have nice brass impellers, quality bearings etc.

Lizard - let us know what happens??

[LizardOfBodom]

Yobbo - yes, I had routine flush + radiator clean bottle added just beforehand.
I have suspicion that is what caused a leak (like it cleaned something that was clogging the unsealed part or something) and maybe in hindsight shouldnt have done so?..
yep - coolant was dripping from WP side, also seen some spray-like residue from coolant on nearby hoses.

tngw - well, I actully do have an invoice and it is also noted in dealership history (I called them to confirm) but was told its not covered anymore....
see - its a bit of pickle I have here - I could try to chance my arm there and argue with dealership. Maybe if I went to Volvo Ireland and complained, they MIGHT consider taking it to inspect, but then - as it is also possible - may happen it is not WP itself but something different, and I would be
a) charged twice for the same repair elsewhere
b) without a car for veryvery long time, knowing my previous "16 days of waiting for earlierst service slot" experience. With my daily 100km commuting, its just not possible for me...
anyway - whether its WP itself or not, I am still amazed by their "only 1 year warranty" attitude....
Volvo US has lifetime warranty on parts & labour, was just told. Why here is different?

Welton - will of course update when I know what happened. Car is being worked on now, as we speak, should know more later on in the evening.
I am now also suspecting it may be not the pump itself, but something around or gasket or wtf else. Will see.

[Bloders2]

i dont see why you could expect warranty on it.
I dont know of any service work for anything which carries more than 12 months.
plus, you have now sent the car to your preferred garage, without giving them any chance to discuss and offer a discount (if they would) on the repair

IMO, its not worth the hassle. LIfe is short enough and stressful enough without arguing over a 2 year old repair for the sake of a few quid.

I would expect a timing belt and water pumpt (ok, not OEM) to cost about £80, and three hours absoloute max to fit.

[LizardOfBodom]

Originally Posted by Bloders2

i dont see why you could expect warranty on it.
I dont know of any service work for anything which carries more than 12 months....

Well, the answer to above is in my previous post, for example . Apparently in some parts of the world you COULD expect warranty on OEM parts that are sold and fit by dealership with a huge profit margin and with reliability promise. If you can get chineese w-p for 25quid, with 1 year warranty from local motor factor, I would kinda expect 70quid worth part bought from authorised dealership to be subject to a little bit more. Maybe Im wrong, looking at it from my IT perspective, but if some manufacturers of PC components can do this, why not for car parts? Noctua gives 6 yrs warranty for their fans where other manufacturers have 1 or 2. It gives you some reason to spend more money on technically similar part.

But yes, in general you are right - its not worth the hassle, nor my time. I would just expect much longer warranty period for parts that are bought&fitted in overpriced dealership.
More surprised, than angry....

[scoobysn7x]

Things is I think 12 months is just the stardard warranty on parts now, and a lot of the time the parts are not made by the car manufacturer, the part might be OEM spec but I'm guessing it doesn't mean its a car manufacturers part. For example years ago I had a clutch fitted by ford and it went, they refitted FOC as it was only 6 months old, but it wasn't a ford part, it was a LUK part and I would imagine ford would just pass the cost on to LUK.

In this case if you went to volvo UK you may get some good will, but as you say the part is over 12 months old.

[dovado3gn]

I dont know how the warranty works in the UK or Ireland but here in Spain, you get 2 years warranty on any product or repair on a product. But then again, manufacturers now a days make their products to just hold for the warranty period, its like obsolescence. Its planned to failed just after warranty but it is what it is.
Hope you get your car back soon

[Loskie]

Not sure about Irish law but in the UK as you did not purchase the timing belt/waterpump then the contract is with the purchaser not you so unlikely that the warranty would transfer anyway.