Back at the dealer for 5 weeks - and counting

acwiltshire · Dec 10, 2023

shawtrav said:
I wrote to Lynn Calder 1 week ago - sent by recorded delivery. I have had no response. Nothing.
Does Lynn care about Ines customers? - apparently not enough to respond to a letter from a customer who has been let down by her company.

Please keep me posted as I had this in mind as my final act

JonSutton · Dec 10, 2023

shawtrav said:
I wrote to Lynn Calder 1 week ago - sent by recorded delivery. I have had no response. Nothing.
Does Lynn care about Ines customers? - apparently not enough to respond to a letter from a customer who has been let down by her company.

If I were you I’d carefully read your purchase contract and determine from that how either party serve formal notice on the other - use that method for communication and make sure you record everything.
There is no certainty that the CEO actually got your letter despite proof of delivery, I’d communicate again and be 100% accurate in what you say to them.
Vehicle being out of action for five weeks without a usable replacement suggests (firstly) that your vehicle is not fit for purpose and cannot be easily returned to full functionality and (secondly) that Ineos Automotive are not tracking this vehicle and its’ status.
Whilst Ineos Automotive have been tardy with quite a few buyers i’m sure they don’t intend this. They are a very young, inexperienced manufacturer who chose to sell direct to customers in some markets without (IMO) fully understanding what the selling direct/agency model entails in terms of their liability and customer service demand.
In my opinion they will sort you out properly and either get you a replacement vehicle or refund you if you reject your vehicle given the passage of time.

crimson · Dec 10, 2023

shawtrav said:
I wrote to Lynn Calder 1 week ago - sent by recorded delivery. I have had no response. Nothing.
Does Lynn care about Ines customers? - apparently not enough to respond to a letter from a customer who has been let down by her company.

Just an observation, but I've seen greater response from Ineos when people have posted the issue on a public forum such as Facebook or LinkedIn. I hope the more we do this as a group we can increase the support from Ineos, as everyone would benifit.

acwiltshire · Dec 10, 2023

crimson said:
Just an observation, but I've seen greater response from Ineos when people have posted the issue on a public forum such as Facebook or LinkedIn. I hope the more we do this as a group we can increase the support from Ineos, as everyone would benifit.

I agree entirely , which is why I have posted honest facts on the positives and the negatives of my early vehicle.
My expectation was always that there would be niggles and defects picked up in everyday , normal people driving. The disappointment and increasing frustration is when IA do not appear to recognise just how deep this disappointment is becoming.

shawtrav · Dec 13, 2023

All,

An update on my Grenadier - now in week 6 at the dealers site.

Endeavour Automotive are Ineos' dealer, and I have an email dated December 4 informing me that they have started to bleed the coolant system.
A simple task for a qualified automotive technician, I would have thought - but apparently not.

I have an email from Ineos dated December 13 (today) telling me that the automotive tech can't get the vacuum bleed kit to work. Tricky things, these bleed kits - apparently.
So, they plan to get a different kit (delivery date unspecified) which is known to work. Perhaps they could give the job to a garage which is known to work?

And this is how the dealer conducts maintenance on their customers' cars - days turn into weeks, as there is no direction and no urgency.

When I first bought the Grenadier - I had planned to get Endeavour to service my car to maintain the warranty.
I have revised that plan - I can't afford the time to allow Endeavour to carry out any more warranty work.

Highwayman · Dec 13, 2023

shawtrav said:
All,

An update on my Grenadier - now in week 6 at the dealers site.

Endeavour Automotive are Ineos' dealer, and I have an email dated December 4 informing me that they have started to bleed the coolant system.
A simple task for a qualified automotive technician, I would have thought - but apparently not.

I have an email from Ineos dated December 13 (today) telling me that the automotive tech can't get the vacuum bleed kit to work. Tricky things, these bleed kits - apparently.
So, they plan to get a different kit (delivery date unspecified) which is known to work. Perhaps they could give the job to a garage which is known to work?

And this is how the dealer conducts maintenance on their customers' cars - days turn into weeks, as there is no direction and no urgency.

When I first bought the Grenadier - I had planned to get Endeavour to service my car to maintain the warranty.
I have revised that plan - I can't afford the time to allow Endeavour to carry out any more warranty work.

I am sad to hear of your issues.

I had the issue with bleeding the coolant. I believe early last week, INEOS issued a technical bulletin to their agents, detailing how to bleed the cooling system. May be worth checking that your agent has actually seen the bulletin?

Doing some research myself, it seems the BMW engines with the electric water pump are not that easy to bleed. For BMW cars, there is a specific procedure built into the ECU to bleed the coolant. Search on YouTube, there are lots of videos showing how to activate it. INEOS have not adopted this process (I’ve tried in my car, and it does not activate) but have put in place their own variant. Working it through with my agent, it did seem to take quite a few attempts.

I’m not sure vacuum bleeding is the solution. Apparently this is how the coolant is filled at the factory, and given the issues many of us have had, it doesn’t work.

Perhaps get your agent to call Heritage Gloucester. They have sorted mine.

Good luck

Logsplitter · Dec 13, 2023

Highwayman said:
I am sad to hear of your issues.

I had the issue with bleeding the coolant. I believe early last week, INEOS issued a technical bulletin to their agents, detailing how to bleed the cooling system. May be worth checking that your agent has actually seen the bulletin?

Doing some research myself, it seems the BMW engines with the electric water pump are not that easy to bleed. For BMW cars, there is a specific procedure built into the ECU to bleed the coolant. Search on YouTube, there are lots of videos showing how to activate it. INEOS have not adopted this process (I’ve tried in my car, and it does not activate) but have put in place their own variant. Working it through with my agent, it did seem to take quite a few attempts.

I’m not sure vacuum bleeding is the solution. Apparently this is how the coolant is filled at the factory, and given the issues many of us have had, it doesn’t work.

Perhaps get your agent to call Heritage Gloucester. They have sorted mine.

Good luck

That doesn’t bode well for anybody who has a coolant leak or burst hose in the middle of nowhere that you need specialist equipment to bleed and refill the coolant system

shawtrav · Dec 13, 2023

Thanks Highwayman,

Highwayman said:
I am sad to hear of your issues.

I had the issue with bleeding the coolant. I believe early last week, INEOS issued a technical bulletin to their agents, detailing how to bleed the cooling system. May be worth checking that your agent has actually seen the bulletin?

Doing some research myself, it seems the BMW engines with the electric water pump are not that easy to bleed. For BMW cars, there is a specific procedure built into the ECU to bleed the coolant. Search on YouTube, there are lots of videos showing how to activate it. INEOS have not adopted this process (I’ve tried in my car, and it does not activate) but have put in place their own variant. Working it through with my agent, it did seem to take quite a few attempts.

I’m not sure vacuum bleeding is the solution. Apparently this is how the coolant is filled at the factory, and given the issues many of us have had, it doesn’t work.

Perhaps get your agent to call Heritage Gloucester. They have sorted mine.

Good luck

Hi - where can I get hold of the Ineos variant for the coolant bleed process?

Thanks,

Shaw

Highwayman · Dec 13, 2023

shawtrav said:
Thanks Highwayman,

Hi - where can I get hold of the Ineos variant for the coolant bleed process?

Thanks,

Shaw

I haven’t seen it personally. I was told about by my agent, Heritage Gloucester. It seems there are more than a few of us who have reported heating issues since the weather has gone much colder, hence the technical bulletin.

trobex · Dec 13, 2023

Logsplitter said:
That doesn’t bode well for anybody who has a coolant leak or burst hose in the middle of nowhere that you need specialist equipment to bleed and refill the coolant system

This was my initial thoughts on this issue... how does this go for repair when you are NOT 'near' your local dealer...

AnD3rew · Dec 14, 2023

My vehicle had a hose failure which required replacing the hose. The coolant was refilled and I have not had any issues in the 7000+ kms since. Presumably my local agent in Australia several months ago now was able to successfully negotiate this issue.

JOB · Dec 14, 2023

Highwayman said:
I haven’t seen it personally. I was told about by my agent, Heritage Gloucester. It seems there are more than a few of us who have reported heating issues since the weather has gone much colder, hence the technical bulletin.

Here is the information from the technical bulletin for bleeding the cooling system.

Unfortunately my dealer are reporting that bleeding the cooling system has not cured our cars lack of heat in the cab. They are awaiting further input from Ineos technical. I wonder if the system will need bleeding several times for a particularly stubborn air lock?

Tazzieman · Dec 14, 2023

trobex said:
This was my initial thoughts on this issue... how does this go for repair when you are NOT 'near' your local dealer...

It goes like this

View: https://youtu.be/duvRY76UFlo?feature=shared

Highwayman · Dec 14, 2023

JOB said:
Here is the information from the technical bulletin for bleeding the cooling system.

Unfortunately my dealer are reporting that bleeding the cooling system has not cured our cars lack of heat in the cab. They are awaiting further input from Ineos technical. I wonder if the system will need bleeding several times for a particularly stubborn air lock?

Thanks for sharing.

Apparently mine took many attempts ……..

TD5-90 · Dec 14, 2023

Highwayman said:
Thanks for sharing.

Apparently mine took many attempts ……..

Would be good to know if parking the car on a slope (nose or back high, tilted) eventually would improve bleeding. I know that e.g. my VW T3 needs nose up quite substantially to fully bleed.

Jean Mercier · Dec 14, 2023

shawtrav said:
And this is how the dealer conducts maintenance on their customers' cars - days turn into weeks, as there is no direction and no urgency.

Some dealers care, others don't. My car stayed two weeks at the dealer to find a safari windows leak, until I took the car back, and I found the leak myself after some hours searching ... to hear later on that this was a known problem at Ineos Automotive.

Same with airco not working: was mentioned to them in June and only repaired end of August, when I didn't need it anymore!
I was very angry then on them, because I brought the car in at 8h00, they started only at 13h30 (found this by casualty) and couldn't finish the job (and other warranty tasks), and handed me the car only the next day, despite telling me that it would be finished in one day.

Now they told me that they will replace the airco filter next week, task included in the 20.000 km preventive maintenance: I refused that task!

I would like to go back to my Suzuki workshop: there was communication and service and honest explanation! I could walk in the workshop without restriction also! Official Suzuki dealer by the way!

acwiltshire · Dec 14, 2023

Jean Mercier said:
Some dealers care, others don't. My car stayed two weeks at the dealer to find a safari windows leak, until I took the car back, and I found the leak myself after some hours searching ... to hear later on that this was a known problem at Ineos Automotive.

Same with airco not working: was mentioned to them in June and only repaired end of August, when I didn't need it anymore!
I was very angry then on them, because I brought the car in at 8h00, they started only at 13h30 (found this by casualty) and couldn't finish the job (and other warranty tasks), and handed me the car only the next day, despite telling me that it would be finished in one day.

Now they told me that they will replace the airco filter next week, task included in the 20.000 km preventive maintenance: I refused that task!

I would like to go back to my Suzuki workshop: there was communication and service and honest explanation! I could walk in the workshop without restriction also! Official Suzuki dealer by the way!

Hello Jean
Mine is in at present for safari roof / soggy drivers footwell. What was the eventual IA fix please?

Jean Mercier · Dec 14, 2023

acwiltshire said:
Hello Jean
Mine is in at present for safari roof / soggy drivers footwell. What was the eventual IA fix please?

For the Safari window, it was a temporary fix: the driver side I did myself with Sikalastomer (I posted that) and the passenger side they did it by replacing the rubber and ... putting Sikalastomer!

Apparently, next week they will replace the rubbers again.

acwiltshire · Dec 14, 2023

Jean Mercier said:
For the Safari window, it was a temporary fix: the driver side I did myself with Sikalastomer (I posted that) and the passenger side they did it by replacing the rubber and ... putting Sikalastomer!

Apparently, next week they will replace the rubbers again.

Thanks Jean I had seen your fix but not theirs ! I will see how complicated they try and make it !

shawtrav · Dec 17, 2023

So - After 6 weeks, I finally have the Ineos back. The heater now works, but;
- the radiator cooling fan comes frequently, at times when the engine surely cannot be too hot. I plan to investigate with my thermocouple thermometer on the rad top hose.
- the info screen keeps bonging with no active warnings shown. A 1 mile return trip this afternoon produced 4-5 bongs each way. The screen briefly flashes a warning that disappears before I can read it.
- the info screen keeps flashing up that I have only 4,750 miles before the next service is due. Do I really need to be reminded of this every 5 minutes?

I need to do some offroad driving to remind myself why I even have this vehicle.
Oh yeah - and I have a cracked windscreen caused by a stone or some other object. This one is not Ineos' fault.

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Back at the dealer for 5 weeks - and counting

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