Im glad to hear that the garage is finally taking you seriously, as you have identfied it before the warranty runs out then its down to them to fix it even if it takes it out of warranty. Another thought is to get the garage to put a monitor on it. This will track whats happening while you are driving. The garage may not have one but Seat will. My mate (we call him the Engine Whisperer) works for Ford and when the Techs cant fix it he is sent in (A Team music playing in the back ground)
This is what he gave me to check prior to car hunting
Please find below a list of the points I would be inclined to evaluate :---
1) If the engine is Cold (overnight cold soak) then it should crank over quickly, usually around 220 – 285 rpm and have an even tone during the cranking period
2) Healthy engine are designed to “fire up” in 0.5 of a second, (designed intent) however up to 2 seconds may be deemed acceptable, be it petrol or diesel
3) If you have longer periods of cranking this could mean there may be a weakness either with “Compressions, Pilot Injection flow for diesel engines, or in the case of diesel engines the starter motor is worn and drawing too much electrical power which then starves the engine control system (pcm) of electrical power, this will cause the pcm to reboot once or several times during this starting phase, end result uncontrolled amounts of fuel will be injected into the engine which will result in premature engine wear or engine back firing and / or possible hydraulic lock which bends a conrod (major expense)
4) The engine should start cleanly on all four cylinders, and run smoothly without any undue smoke emissions from exhaust
5) There should also be no metallic noise from the engine due to low oil pressure and the hydraulic cam followers pumping up, they should be quiet virtually straight away
6) Check engine oil level when cold and see what it looks like and how much is present, DO NOT OBSERVE THE FIRST READING, DIP IT THREE TIMES, as retained air pressure in the dip stick tube will push the oil down and on some engines indicate no oil is present
7) With the engine turned OFF look at FEAD belts (alternator and A/C belts) twist them over where possible to see if the fabric is cracking or they are hairy or delaminating
8) When the engine is running look at the belt run position is stable and not shuffling from side to side, or jumping up and down if the engine has an automatic tensioner, some belts are “stretchy belts” which means they do not have a tensioner pulley, if it does have a tensioner pulley then observe the pulley movement at idle speed does the tensioner oscillate a lot? If so this may mean the alternator one way clutch is seized common on (vw 1.9 engines)
9) Allow engine to reach normal operational temperature again during this period look at the exhaust for undue smoke emissions and changes to engine noise or vibrations, taking care to depress the clutch several times and listen for any random or heavy knocking noise from transmission, noise from the DMF (dual mass flywheel) and clutch
10) Does the clutch operate smoothly
11) With the engine at hot idle remove the dipstick and observe the tube to see if it looks like Thomas the tank engine or someone puffing on a pipe( i.e. smoke emissions as a cylinder fires) if so then the engine is worn or has internal cylinder leakage and would require a cylinder leakage test to access the wear or photographic inspection of each cylinder
12) Listen to the turbo should be quiet with no whine or whistle, rev the engine or blip the engine several times and does it sound like a “police car siren” if so the turbo has dynamic imbalance which means it has a chipped blade on the exhaust impellor
13) Check the VIN numbers on the vehicle
14) Look for full service history with correct and proper dealer receipts the receipts should have a WIP number visible or Job number rather than the service book stamp which may just be anyone’s stamp
15) If you do see smoke from the exhaust it may be wise to get an Emission test carried out and this will give a readout on part per million smoke emission
16) If possible get a noise recording of the engine starting up and running for 30 seconds afterwards and also one when fully warm and get an engine speed change during these recordings ie blip the throttle a couple of times.
17) Check coolant degas tank for “tide mark” inside tank and see if coolant has been topped up or any crustation of anti-freeze solution around cap or inner wing area
18) Any evidence of oil in coolant FORGET IT and if there is check the front brake discs and pads as oil may be ejected from the degas tank down onto the o/s/f brake assy or n/.s/f brake assy depending where the degas bottle may be located
19) Check exhaust for grounding damage if damaged also check temperature sensor in exhaust for body / engine contact they bend
Re point 16 I walked away from perfectly good looking cars because of the sound recordings I made of the engine identifying a issue / or future
problem. The analysis of the sound recordings through a spectrum analyser was amazing. when I get 15 posts I will lob one up for all to see.
So what I am saying is that if the Techs dont/cant fix it then Seat will also have a Engine Whisperer they can call......
So if you have a
problem stick with your guns and get them to fix it.