Help - Issues

[shiggy]

i have a 18month old Polo GTI Plus.

to date the ownership experience has been particularly poor. Its back to the dealer for the fifth time to look at rattles and issues.

however this time the dealer has called to say the a/c condensor has magically split and now needs replaced. not a warranty matter?

given its location i find it an odd location for a 'stone' to hit it - this is what i have been told by the dealer.

has anyone else had issues with their a/c condensor?

[monkeyhanger]

i have a 18month old Polo GTI Plus.

to date the ownership experience has been particularly poor. Its back to the dealer for the fifth time to look at rattles and issues.

however this time the dealer has called to say the a/c condensor has magically split and now needs replaced. not a warranty matter?

given its location i find it an odd location for a 'stone' to hit it - this is what i have been told by the dealer.

has anyone else had issues with their a/c condensor?

Nope. However, the Audi S3 and some other A3s are known to have placed A/C condensors in the line of fire, behind very open grilles. Haven't looked where the Polo's is and how exposed it is. Take a look at these links - worth chasing up through 3rd party channels. Show us a pic of where the condenser is please? Might buy some mesh as per the Audisport forum fix.


https://www.google.com/url?sa=t&source= ... 2824956190

https://www.google.com/url?sa=t&source= ... 2825380829

[SRGTD]

A/C condenser damage from projectile road debris being thrown up by a vehicle in front is something that does happen from time to time, due to the usual location of the condenser - low down, behind the lower grille. I don’t know if it’s that common, but I have read on other VW forums of owners suffering a similar fate. Some owners actually fitted small holed wire mesh behind the lower grille to give the condenser more protection, but not impede airflow.

If it is damage caused by a stone, then it won’t be covered under warranty. Are you able to see any signs of physical damage to the condenser through the lower grille (assuming that’s where it is) - e.g. condenser fins dented or distorted? If not, I’d ask the dealer to show you the stone impact damage on your car’s condenser.

Not that it’s any consolation to you, but at least the lower grille on the Polo GTI+ will do a better job at protecting the a/c condenser than the lower grille on the forthcoming mk8 Golf GTI - the holes in that grille are huge as can be seen in the video at the link below;

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aicWFRDOVFI

[monkeyhanger]

At the end of the day it's shoddy product design. You can't 100% proof against everything without substantial cost, but VW/Audi should protect against the uncommon but not rare occurrences like this. A little fine mesh behind certain bits of the grille (without impeding air flow would be so easy to implement.

There is a "contribution" scheme VW operate whereby they can help with costs that are their fault (but they legally deny responsibility), usually when something big catastrophically fails just outside warranty. Usually they agree to cover half the cost, or will provide the parts free of charge when you agree to pay dealership labour costd for fitment.

[ho8882000]

I know a guy in South Africa with an early RHD model of Polo 1.0TSi Comfortline (Manual) had this problem before, his Polo have very open front grill (Many open holes).

A flying small stone chip didn't just damage his condenser, but somehow also fly into the engine's fan belt and caused an immediate breakage of the cam belt as well.

His car's engine was also damaged, he ended up need to open his engine as well, an expensive one to fix.

Below is a photo of my RHD manual 2019 1.6 Conceptline Polo's front grill with less open holes, my Polo is assembled on the 24-AUG-2019 in South Africa.
It seems like VW did try to correct the problem by having less open holes on the front grill of the later Polo.

All the closed (non-open) holes are circled in RED.

[shiggy]

the GTI grille is very close and alot of plastic. there is no damage to the front end.

the 'supposed' area of damage looks very difficult for a stone to hit. i have asked for more details but seems a complete odd one.

[LeebzP]

Towards the back end of last year, my R line's condenser got damaged by a stone chip. VW quoted me a ridiculous amount of money for the repair as it wasn't under warranty. I went and got a non-OEM replacement for an Audi A3 (looks cool because its black in colour ) and got an aircon specialist to replace it. I paid roughly 60% of what VW originally quoted me for.

I am still considering a stealth coloured wire mesh.