“NOW MY CAR SOUNDS LIKE A VAN AND SMELLS LIKE A LORRY”

Hampshire-based reader Richard Frame had his Volkswagen Golf 1.6 TDI’S fix completed in January.

The next day, Frame’s car began to judder in low gears, and the fan went into overdrive when the engine was turned off. He took the advice of the local VW garage and drove it at above 45mph in fourth gear for 15 minutes, in a bid to regenerate the diesel particulate filter (DPF).

Nine days after the fix, the car wouldn’t start, so Frame returned it to the VW garage.

Three days later, he was told the car needed a new exhaust gas regeneration (EGR) valve. VW eventually agreed to cover the cost (about £1300) but wouldn’t say this failure was in any way linked to the emissions fix.

This procedure took a week, at which point Frame was informed that the garage had found a faulty injector. VW also agreed to pay the total cost for this (about £700).

When Frame collected his repaired car in mid-february, he still noticed a significant difference. In early March, VW recalled Frame’s car because the EGR valve had been fitted with the wrong bolts. He expressed his concern about the Golf still sounding very different and juddering after it had been started. VW checked the other injectors but determined that none of them was faulty.

Since then, Frame said he has repeatedly experienced strong burning smells from the engine after short journeys and the fan runs rapidly to cool the engine.

He said: “Since the fix, the engine needs to regenerate so much more — on average, once every two weeks — which means that fuel efficiency has also been affected.”

Frame contacted VW on 20 March about the ongoing issues with his Golf and was told a case manager would call him back. At the time of Autocar going to print, he had still not received that call. He said: “Before the NOX emissions service action was applied, my wife and I had been very happy with the car and with its performance.

“Now, the car sounds like a van and smells like a lorry. Volkswagen has picked up the bill so far but at no point has it accepted there is a link between these additional problems and the emissions fix, when I believe this is the obvious cause.

“We have now lost all faith in how reliable our car is — and each and every time we drive it, we’re genuinely concerned that something else will go wrong. This is our only car and we have a young family.”