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A friend of mine took his Touareg through a ford (apparently about a foot deep) the other night, and the car died. They eventually got it started again but it sounds rough as hell. They've phoned VW warranty/recovery (the car's an ex demo so only a few months old) and admitted they took it through a ford (probably not the best thing to let them know!) and at the moment, the warranty guys are saying it'll be a new engine @ 10k, and they won't cover it.

It's early days obviously, and when the workshop guys get hold of it their verdict may not be so bad, but I was just wondering if anyone's had similar experiences, and whether a bit of water should spell the end of an engine - I would have thought a diesel engine would be pretty tough, and find it somewhat amusing that an offroader dies in a foot of water.

Any advice of how nest to proceed, or anyone who's gone through the same kind of thing would be much appreciated as they're both pretty devastated at the thought of their new baby wagon being knackered already.

seems a bit poor to me if it can't stand a bit of water. we salvaged a vauxhall frontera not so long ago that had been totally submerged, once we'd drained and refilled everything it ran straight back up. just had to make sure there was no water in the bores or the hydraulic lock would have wrecked the crank or pushed a rod out

tell him to be ruthless when it comes to talkin to main dealers and remeber the customer is allways right if they refuse to fix it say your goin to the local rag and trading standards, ive worked in merc and bmw main dealerships in the past and if you make enough noise eventully they will back down

Diesel engines and water do not get on......... usually bend a rod or two when they ingest a lung full of water... HAd an old Rover 200 heavy oil........... ok pile of cack I know.. but was used to park in Belfast and never got attacked... it had a very low air pickup/intake... and swallowed a lung full.... removed injectors, spun til water all gone then refitted, car started and ran but rough as a badgers bum.... drove it like that for another 100K miles but it finally died of non compression.. Stripped it to find two very bent rods which were at least 12mm shy of the top of the bore at TDC.. the rods had actually rubbed a small grove in the bottom of the cylinder wall.... Warrentee wil exclude damage caused by water ingress!

"And if you want the ultimate in extreme off-road sporting design"

quote taken from the volkswagen website, wonder if the "design" bit is a giveaway

http://www.volkswagen.co.uk/new_cars/touareg

Yeah, apparently the car is running rough as a dog. I'll try to get him to push as hard as he can to get VW to sort it, but given he told them straight off the bat that he drove it through a ford, it's unlikely he'll stand up for too long. I've no idea why they bought the thing in the first place (well I do - it's because they think it's fashinable and it looks a bit like a cayenne) given that they want it to protect one small child and they already had a megane mpv thing which was actually designed for that!

Cheers for the input anyway. I'll let you know what the outcome is!

That's the trouble with so many cars...low air intake. If this is the case on the Touareg then that surely must be a serious design fault?

Is there anything in the handbook warning the user NOT to take it through a ford deeper than 10cm or something? Might be a point to tackle them on?

Paul

Get him to call his car insurance ,i've fitted new engines befor due to water damage . they will fit a new one.

Yeah, VW are confirming this morning that it's gonna be a new engine. He's gonna go through insurance if that's the case.