Went camping for the girlfriends birthday last weekend in Wales. 100 miles into the roadtrip the onscreen mpg computer gave a warning tone and displayed STOP then /CHECK OIL the STOP again.
Pulled over and turned the engine off. Cracked the bonnet, checked the dipstick, not a drop of oil on it. Looked under the car and it was pouring out like a waterfall
The entire underside of the car was covered in oil and the back window/boot had speckles of oil on it so it may have been leaking slowly before the major burst.
Car has covered 175,000 miles, had the cambelt done 4 months ago, oil changed every 10,000 miles without fail and well looked after. I was hoping to reach 300k + miles out of her.
My breakdown cover ran out on Friday, after 7 years of never claiming the day I need it i'm not covered!
Rung a few local companies who all wanted £300+ to tow me home. Flagged down an AA van and joined on the spot for £150 which gave an option of a tow upgrade if I couldn't get it fixed. Guy removed the shield from under the front of car and said he could see the inside of the engine through a hole?!!!! The only debris he retrieved was a screw which was lying on the plastic shield. 2 hours later and £60 upgrade to relay service my tow arrived and took me back home to my local VW garage.
VW garage confirmed the conrod had blown through the engine.
