Blocked heater core due to silica bag burst

[Superduperaverage]

Hey,
So I purchased a 2016 6C GTI 50k, 2 days ago from a dealer.
Picked it up on the Friday afternoon, drove it home, all was well although I struggled to get the cab warm, but I didn’t really pay attention to it at the time. The following morning, I popped to the super market and it was just pure cold air coming through the vents. The engine was at a perfect 90C for the entire journey but still no heat.
Doing some research online, I discovered the nightmare of the silica pouch spitting in the coolant, so I decided to siphon some of the coolant out of the tank and low and behold a silica bag with a tear in it…

The car came with a basic 3 month warranty on it from the garage but what would you guys do?

Fight for you money back or make them replace the heater core that’s been blocked by this bag bursting?

My worry is, they don’t get all of the silica beads out so it keeps clogging up.

[spartacus68]

Fight it all the way. Dave Sterl has a decent video on his YouTube channel. I fished out the silica bag as soon asI saw it. The entire cooling system will need to be checked and flushed. Even then, I’d be wary.

[2fast4ya]

Definatly …as Sparticus said get the dealer to fix the issue as youve got warranty on the car , odd that they didnt check all that !? Or they did notice but sidelined the issue !?
There was a youtube vid i watched but not sure if it was the same one spart mentioning , as soon as i watched that i thought maybe that the silica bag had caused mine to blow cold whilst parked , hot when upto temp & driving .
That moment i went & looked in my tank then fished the bag out , luckily it was intact , it was brown in colour but thats not the colour its ment to be , i remembered that i like an idiot put leakstop in the system some time ago lol , i pulled some brown spongy stuff out aswel , leakstop locked my heater supp pump .
That silica bag aint going back in , i brought a tank without one in it & now gona use G12 Evo instead of G13 coz that silica bag aids the required protection for inside your system, with G13 as you may already know ,but dodgy .
So G12 Evo is probly a safer choice , i havnt put it in the car yet coz ive gota replace waterpump unit etc & got a heater supp pump which are all the latest revised Oem parts,cant wait to get stuck in when this weather eases up .

[Superduperaverage]

Yeah - feels a little suspect that they didn't pick up on this when they did their inspection.
I'll give them a chance to sort this out. I want a full coolant system flush, and a new heater matrix fitted + them guaranteeing the work for at least 2yrs.
If they can't do that, then I'll be returning the car as it was sold faulty and not fit for purpose.

[Bepis]

Was this a VW dealer, a dealer for another brand or just a used car dealer?

Regardless of the warranty you've had the car less than a week and there's a fault present that can't really be attributed to fair wear and tear so you're well within your rights for a repair at no cost to yourself or to reject the vehicle outright and get your money back.

If I've interpreted it correctly your claim would fall under "of satisfactory quality" section of The Consumer Rights Act 2015. It may also fall under "fit for purpose" as you quite often need heat to demist the windscreen effectively.

https://www.theaa.com/car-buying/legal-rights

Before you send it back check for the well-documented water pump leak that the EA888 gen 3 suffers from as well. You'll have to get under the car and remove the undertray and see if the front of the block and sump is covered in a white/pink residue.

I bought mine with 24k miles, 4 years old and it had a leaky water pump. If it wasn't covered it would've been a £749 bill.

[Superduperaverage]

It was just a used car dealer.

Spoke to them this morning and they said that they'd speak to VW regarding the parts - a new header tank and heater matrix, then they'll book it in.
I'll have a look under the car today and see if I can spot any leaks.
Thanks for all your help everyone, I really appreciate it!