EPB Did garage burst it?

[dug8018]

Hi All,

Newbie poster here and I'm wondering if some of you seasoned pro's might be able to give a bit of advice.

I recently put my Passat into my local 'large chain' garage to have new rear brake discs fitted off the back of a service.


When it went to the garage the parking brake worked fine.


The garage advised that I could pick up my car at the end of that day. At the end of the day, I popped in to pick up my car and they advised me that they were having 'some problems with seized callipers’ and could they keep the car for another day? I agreed they could call midday the next day to arrange pickup. Midday the next day came and went and they never called. Eventually after much phone calling I managed to get hold of them, where they advised they needed to send the car to their own VW branch to have the parking brake 're-coded'.


Okay, starting to sound a bit dubious I thought, but fair enough whatever gets the job done.


So again, I agreed. The next working day they called to say the EPB unit on both back wheels were a gonners and needed to be replaced at an eye watering six hundred and something pounds! (this is on top of the service charge, and discs and pads)

So I've told them I'll need to look into it, and after fishing around here for a while and speaking to VW and an independent garage, it turns out you need a specialist piece of kit to release the EPB whilst working on the back brakes.

This would be the same specialist piece of kit the garage needed to 're-code' my cars EPB following the discs being replaced?

My suspicion is that the my local garage didn't have the kit they needed, but forged on with the job anyway and destroyed my cars EPB in the process, but didn't realise what they'd done this until they put everything back together and tried to get it to work.

So my question to you is this:
How easy is it to examine the calliper/motor unit and tell if the part is past its best due to wear and tear, or due to some lad who didn't understand what he was messing with and forced it?


My hope is that if it’s fairly easy to tell, I can get an independent to have a look and give me an opinion.


I’d really appreciate any feedback you folks could give as I’m at a bit of a loss to understand how a £70 service has snowballed into £900 plus and talks of further finance etc to pay for it!?

[kenney]

If the the garage has not the equipment and the experiance to replace the discs,there is a possibility they have destroyed the parking brake motors,although i dare say it will be hard to prove.What you could do,was get a friend to ring and ask for a quote to replace the rear pads on the same type of vehicle,if they then say,they have not the equipment to do the job

[dug8018]

Worth a shot, I suspect the garage in question would give the quote anyway, then worry about how they would do it. But I'll post back with the outcome of that.

Anyone have any advance on that

[johnloaderuk]

dug8081, follow this link to another recent post ref this subject, you may find some useful info.

https://www.vwaudiforum.co.uk/forum/s...ad.php?t=96035

[Flash2]

Yeah, it sounds like they have damaged your rear calipers.

I've seen Passats in a VW dealer that have had the rear calipers damaged because the technician didn't know you had to move the EPB motors to the service position before replacing the pads so it's highly unlikely a tech in a non VW garage would know.

Good luck getting them to fix it.

Jim.

[kenney]

Yeah, it sounds like they have damaged your rear calipers.

I've seen Passats in a VW dealer that have had the rear calipers damaged because the technician didn't know you had to move the EPB motors to the service position before replacing the pads so it's highly unlikely a tech in a non VW garage would know.

Good luck getting them to fix it.

Jim.

If that is the case then he is no technician

[martin1810]

Dug. Removal of the caliper motor and operating it will show if it is faulty. The motor gets damaged when somone tries to push the caliper piston in without rewinding the motor first.
I doubt you could ever prove the garage did the damage though. 2 new calipers will cost about £1000 so I hope they are ok. Trouble is, when the caliper motor is damaged it sometimes damages the electronic control module as well.

[Flash2]

If that is the case then he is no technician

No, that's a bit unfair.

The technology on modern cars is advancing at a frightening pace and unfortunately, the training of technicians doesn't always keep up. (it costs money!)

In the case I mention, the VW dealer covered the cost of the repair as they rightly should have done, so no real harm done as far as the customer is concerned.

As for Dugs problem, remember, it's not the technician who is trying to rip Dug off. It's his employer. I'm sure the tech has put his hands up and admitted his mistake. It's the service manager who is at fault by trying to pass the cost of his tech's mistake onto Dug.

Jim.

[DSG4ME]

Ask them to prove they have the equipment at the garage that did the job, if they haven't then they have destroyed your calipers and it's down to them to put it right, tell them you have had the car inspected by an expert and that he thinks they have simply pushed the caliper pistons back in the normal way and you are going to issue a small claims against them plus a claim for the inconvenience caused, and that you will be alerting the local rag to their incompetence, do not settle for any less than full satisfaction at no more cost to yourself, if they blame the VW setup, then sue VW for shoddy parts, 70k from a caliper is not acceptable, and in any case, they need a good shot up the backside, they are the worst major company I've ever experienced for C/S's, and from what the web says, their cars are pretty dire from 05 onwards.

[kenney]

[QUOTE=Flash2;506026]No, that's a bit unfair.

The technology on modern cars is advancing at a frightening pace and unfortunately, the training of technicians doesn't always keep up. (it costs money!)(QUOTE) The workshops are compelled to school there technicians,this is a mandatory agreement,and if they don't,the VAG sign outside the workshop wont be there long. My point was a VW technician who does not know the right procedure to replace the pads on a 3c,can not call him self a technician