Wet timing belt disintegrated, new engine required outside warranty

[RVD203]

Have you had any luck?

Been battling with Vauxhall for two months over this. 19 plate Grandland x started with low oil pressure warning and then stop engine fault. Diagnosed in Vauxhall garage as wet timing belt issue. 2 months later and Vauxhall customer care have said they will only pay for the parts and I need to pay labour of £925! Ridiculous for a known issue. 2018 plates had a recall for it!! They have told me after several unhappy emails that they can escalate it no further and it has gone as high as it can. Only other option is motor ombudsman and that can take 8 weeks. Unfortunately after being carless for 2 months I can’t wait any longer. Don’t understand how they can pay it for some people but not others. Very frustrated.

[RVD203]

Update:
Diagnostics have concluded that i require a replacement engine. £7000 for parts and £1890 for labour. If Vauxhall don't support in cost, then i am not sure what to do...

Hi all,

I have been reading through everything you have written as on Sunday without warning I had Engine Fault: Needs repair and it cut out. AA diagnosed that the timing belt had gone. Following reading all of the entries, i have contacted Vauxhall that asked me to get it to a local Vauxhall Garage for diagnostics, so out of my own pocket i have got it towed there. But without it being looked at customer care have called me back today and said they wont offer financial contribution due to the age and mileage of the vehicle. Its a 68 plate, so five years old and mileage is 73,000. I has partial service history missing 2020 and 2022 but had 2021 and 2023 - although not with vauxhall. This hasn't been taken into account though in their refusal.
What i am asking, is that this forum appears to have varying success, but as i am not confrontational i don't really know how to challenge their decision and would appreciate if there is a letter template etc that could be shared on how to challenge this or do i just give up and cry in a corner? I am a single parent with three children and work across the county so work and family life is hugely impacted for me currently and need to get back on the road!
Any advice greatly appreciated please!

[Adzkyle]

Have you had any luck?

Been battling with Vauxhall for two months over this. 19 plate Grandland x started with low oil pressure warning and then stop engine fault. Diagnosed in Vauxhall garage as wet timing belt issue. 2 months later and Vauxhall customer care have said they will only pay for the parts and I need to pay labour of £925! Ridiculous for a known issue. 2018 plates had a recall for it!! They have told me after several unhappy emails that they can escalate it no further and it has gone as high as it can. Only other option is motor ombudsman and that can take 8 weeks. Unfortunately after being carless for 2 months I can’t wait any longer. Don’t understand how they can pay it for some people but not others. Very frustrated.

No. They are paying the parts(won’t tell me how much but will ask garage for receipt) and I need to pay the £925 labour costs.

[Joshuajaywilliams]

Please can you tell me any further information for this case, I am literally having this exact issue right now and the customer care team don’t seem like they are going to allow the repairs to be covered. Reading your story ours is almost identical scenario.

Hi,
I have recently had the same issue with a 2018 Vauxhall Crossland X and managed to get all costs covered by Vauxhall's contribution team.

Firstly, DO NOT DRIVE YOUR VEHICLE. As soon as you are aware of the issue, report the issue to your dealership and arrange a recovery vehicle.

Even if you are outside of your warranty and you don't have service history - VAUXHALL WILL RESOLVE THIS ISSUE as it is a manufacture's error, not user error.

Call Vauxhall Head Office on 0800 026 0034 and advise that you believe it is a wet belt issue.
Vauxhaul will insist you have your Vauxhall approve dealer run a diagnostic on your car to confirm the cause of the issue.
Vauxhaul will then provide a case number.

Once the diagnostic check has been undertaken - report immediately to Vauxhaul - using your case number.
Any damage caused to your vehicle from the disintegrating wet belt will be covered.

Vauxhaul have advised all dealerships that 'upon complaint from customer' they will cover all costs up to 6 years out of warranty or up to 100,000 miles on the vehicle.

The staff at the dealerships are trained to knock this issue back on you, the owner but ignore them and go above them to Vauxhaul Head Office.

My local dealership were very passive aggressive and tried to convince me that the fault was mine as I had not taken out extended warranty and my vehicle had not been serviced for
15 months. They urged me not to speak to Vauxhall and to instead by the bill (approx £2000) using 0% interest free credit split over 6 -12 months.

All my costs were covered - including the diagnostic check.

This is a common problem with these specific engines and both manufacturers and dealerships are aware.

[Joshuajaywilliams]

Vauxhall Grandland x 2018 (68) 1.2 - WET BELT ISSUE
42k miles
Last year we received a letter for a safety recall relating to loss of brake assistance due to the timing belt disintegrating and particles entering the engine oil circuit. Letter dated 10th February 2023. The car came in for the repairs needed at the Portsmouth Vauxhall Evans Halshaw services but we were told after a couple of days that there was something additional outstanding on repairs and we would need to come back, we were told we would be contacted to get booked in. They never booked us back in when they said they’d call us.

The car had its MOT in August 2023 and had only used approx 4k miles since the previous service in August 2022 and we were told we don’t need a service as the mileage was so low, due to the vehicle not being used daily.

In December we drove to a friends and the car stopped on a motorway and displayed ‘engine failure - STOP’ on the dashboard and the car went into limp mode not allowing us to accelerate and we were slowly moving across a motorway to stop. So scary.

I contacted Vauxhall Evans Halshaw who told me I need to get the vehicle booked in and we have to pay £162 for a diagnostic test, which we did. During the visit we were told it was to do with the oil being low. (We had no oil warning light, so did not believe this to be the issue). They said to fix the issue we have to pay £240 for a service and oil pressure test following the service in hopes that this would fix the issue ,however, to determine this we would have to pay a further £162 for another diagnostic test.

The car was booked for the service on 26/01/2024. Later on that day I received a call from Portsmouth dealership who told me that I would not have a bill for the service or diagnostic test as planned as they were unable to complete the service as the ‘wet belt’ failed the width test and is causing damage to the engine. I was told by him this is a well known issue amongst these makes and model and he said he does not believe we should have to pay for the repairs to the vehicle and this should be covered by Vauxhall as it’s a known issue.

I contacted the customer care team and set up a case with them and provided all the details including Vauxhall service history and history of the recall letter sent last year to which we still have the letter.

I am now waiting for the customer care team to say yes or no to cost of repairs which are currently standing at over £3k.

If anyone has been successful and can provide any further advice for me to do anything else please let me know. Praying for a miracle.

[RVD203]

I am sorry to hear this, I feel like that my best case scenario is that they will cover the cost of parts, but i am still awaiting feedback from them. They are liaising directly with the garage and not returning my calls.

Have you had any luck?

Been battling with Vauxhall for two months over this. 19 plate Grandland x started with low oil pressure warning and then stop engine fault. Diagnosed in Vauxhall garage as wet timing belt issue. 2 months later and Vauxhall customer care have said they will only pay for the parts and I need to pay labour of £925! Ridiculous for a known issue. 2018 plates had a recall for it!! They have told me after several unhappy emails that they can escalate it no further and it has gone as high as it can. Only other option is motor ombudsman and that can take 8 weeks. Unfortunately after being carless for 2 months I can’t wait any longer. Don’t understand how they can pay it for some people but not others. Very frustrated.

No. They are paying the parts(won’t tell me how much but will ask garage for receipt) and I need to pay the £925 labour costs.

[Cargo42]

Hi all, had my Grandland X for five years ( 41000miles) this month so thinking of replacing the wet cambelt. As part of the cambelt change should they also change the water pump plus belts as well. Am based in France and uk main dealer quoting £650+ with local main Opel dealer here quoting approx £370 . Crazy difference but assume parts here maybe cheaper because of being in EU. Appreciate any comments

[Sam789]

Hi

First time posting after 7 months of stress!!

So I purchased my Grandland X in April 2023 on finance from Big Motoring World. My car broke down on me whilst driving down the motorway on June 23rd. It was recovered to Vauxhall who said I had a wetbelt issue but would not repair as the previous owner didn’t do a Vauxhall service. Luckily for me - I say lucky very loosely that I took out a 3 year warranty with waranty 2000. They got an independent engineer to look at the car who advised that economicly my car needs a new engine.

They wouldn’t pay for a new engine and repaired the wet belt and replaced oil filters etc at a nominated garage by them. I picked up the car which broke down on me in on the way home - car went onto limp mode. The garage then advised that the car needs a new engine. But no! They wouldn’t allow one and repaired again. This time I was told it was the injectors. I then picked up the car once again for me to drive home and the spanner and the engine light both appeared back!

Once again the garage has advised o need a new engine!!! After 7 months of it being in the garage and I still don’t have it back, I am now being told that big motoring world want to repair them selves! But in 8 weeks time! That’s their next appointment. They will do a diognostic report again - at a cost to me! Them decide what they will do to repair the car.

I am not happy with this. I will not accept anything other than a new engine now. I don’t feel safe driving the car.

I have gone to the finance company who say I can reject the car but will take out fair usage and from the deposit and payments made (6200) they will pay me £2600!!! Why should I be out of pocket?

Can anyone advise and help?

Many thanks

[Leckgrandlandx]

Hi Matty

this happened to my wifes car send me a e-mail to scotspie501@hotmail.com and i,ll send you the info I have
my wifes car is a 2018 1.2 turbo they know this issue its the oil they used 0/30w and should be 0/20w
if you have a full service history then raise a call with VX customer service ,they 100% know this issue exsists
I<ve spokne to at least 5 people on here get ready for a fight

Can you send me this info please? Currently having a nightmare trying to get them to fix!
jade.keene18@hotmail.com

Thanks!

[AidanQuinn96]

I have literally just had to get my car towed to the mechanic for this issue, can anyone tell me how they got on with claiming from Vauxhall for the wet belt issue? And how they went about the claim?

Thanks in advance