When are fault codes set? / dealership rant

[Bepis]

TLDR: Does the engine need to be running for fault codes to be set in a module or can just having the ignition switched on to make it possible for a module to start setting fault codes?

Recently had a water pump and thermostat housing replaced on my GTi under warranty at a main dealer (saving me £1500~ ) but I've had the car back for not even a day and there are some issues I've discovered.

They mentioned having to regas the aircon which would be covered as they had to remove some components in the aircon system to carry out the job which is fine by me as it looks very cramped in that area and it was all being paid for by warranty. However, they didn't mention what was removed but I assumed they were just removing the front stack (radiator, intercooler, and condenser) to gain better access. When I got the car back I couldn't help but notice that my aircon wasn't blowing cold at all.

So I started digging.

I first noticed that my under bonnet sound deadening had a nice new hole in it from what looked like the bonnet being dropped onto the bonnet prop while it was up and not locked into its position.

Under bonnet damage 1.jpg (904.04 KiB) Viewed 1163 times

Under bonnet damage 2.jpg (1.12 MiB) Viewed 1163 times

I assumed it was from the bonnet prop as the end of it fits perfectly into the hole that is now there. You can also feel (and slightly see) a crease in a straight line between the hole and where the prop should go.

Under bonnet damage 3.jpg (1.03 MiB) Viewed 1163 times

I then noticed that the plastic caps for the Shrader valves on the aircon lines were also missing.

I could also see a lot of witness marks from the bolts that hold the headlights in place so to me this reinforced my assumption that the whole front end had been off to carry out the work.

The car also didn't react to me turning the air con on at all, no increase in RPM, no click noise from the compressor engaging with the pulley (I assume it has a clutch or solenoid?) or fans kicking on, just the orange light on the button in the car.

I then plugged in VCDS and did an autoscan and got the following faults back:

262914 - Refrigerant pressure
B10AB F0 [13] - Too Low

1113107 - Front Parking Aid Sensor(s)
B10FC 13 [008] - Open circuit

I checked the measured values for refrigerant pressure which was 0 BAR and the compressor load which was 0.5nm with the AC button on and off. So they have either forgot to refill the system with refrigerant or something is damaged I thought.

I was expecting a fault to come from the HVAC module as something was obviously wrong but not the park/steer assist module as my parking sensors were working perfectly fine.

I compared the freezeframe data and both were set at the exact same time give or take a second early in the morning while the car was at the dealership. So the refrigerant was never refilled after being evacuated.

So I'm now concerned if my car has been started with no front end whatsoever which is less than ideal. Due to the bonnet lining damage, missing Shrader valve caps, inoperative aircon, and a car being handed back with fault codes which I can only assume is caused by negligence, I'm not filled with confidence.

However, I don't have any fault codes for the headlights or engine which is why I'm asking if fault codes could be set with the engine off but ignition on as I imagine I'd also have faults for headlights not working and many unmetered air, fuel trim, and boost fault codes if there was no front end at the time of an engine start.

The dealer is aware of the inoperative air con as I called them on my way home (hands-free of course ). I didn't turn around and go back as I was almost at the end of the 45-minute drive home. I will be calling them back to discuss my findings since then.

Bit of a rant but for being my first decent investment into my first nice car I'm not too pleased with how it seems to have been treated by a main dealer.

Any guidance would be much appreciated.

[iichel]

They probably forgot to gas the AC system

[RUM4MO]

Yup, also, the Low side dust cap missing is an extra annoyance, these caps cost about £5 in UK so make sure they fund replacing it, ATS Euromaster handed me back my wife's 2015 Polo after recharging the AC - without the Low side dust cap - that is the only AC gas port that tends to get removed during a gas recovery and recharge by low tech "smart AC machines". The next time that I got that car's AC recharged, I removed the new Low side dust cap and fitted a cheap blue one - that time the car came back with the Low side cheap blue dust cap on it!

The damage to the sound proofing is just another indication that they were not trying or rushing this job, can you not poke something in there and bend it back into place to minimise the visual damage - that garage will probably look at you in amazement when you ask them to sort that out!

I've had a car, an Audi S4 back from getting some side paintwork damage sorting out and that car came back with many logged faults because they had removed the drivers side mirror and rear bumper - but I was just P'd and cleared these faults, lots of these VW Group dealerships just don't give two F's about your property, they are only set up to handle business/leased cars which are just bits of metal of no personal value.

Logged faults, from my 11 years of VW Group products, there are now two types of faults, depending on their level of seriousness, the low level faults tend to get scrubbed by themselves after a few engine starts - if they no longer exist, the others tend to stay until they are cleared. The issue with "what or where" areas that log faults when the ignition is off does seem to at least with modern cars, be selective. For instance, see what I wrote above concerning the powered mirror and rear parking sensors, also my old 2000 VW Passat, logged a fault for each heated side mirror I removed and replaced with a new one - I had not expected that so only discovered that when scanning the car at its next service.

[ciclo]

Faults can be established in both ways (+30 engine off or +15 engine on), but primarily when the unit is requested to run.
As mentioned, some faults are memorized (diagnostic tool required to clear) and others are cleared by themselves once the units are working properly again.

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I heard that COVID vaccination reduces the intellect of all mechanics from official VW dealers around the world. I do not know if this is true.

Some photo of what they did at my wife's golf (a pristine vehicle):







I prefer not to show the worst of what they did, I save it for another time ...

and just then is when you receive advertising in your email/etc with recommendations for you to use official VW dealers with original spare parts.
... for your safety and great peace of mind...

[Bepis]

Update:

After a visit to the dealer again they sorted everything.

Recharged the aircon
Replaced the Schrader valve caps
Replaced the under bonnet liner
Cleared all faults

[RUM4MO]

Good, but surely that VW dealership knew that that extra or rework was avoidable!