And my retort.
"Dear Connie,
Thank you for your response.
Whilst we are pleased to hear things are moving in the right direction, we are still not happy with the situation i.e. we are presented with a bill for thousands for a new engine for a 4.5 year old Volvo.
With regards to the warranty, the fault was manifesting itself. However, the small internal coolant leak and subsequent “coolant level low” message could not be fully diagnosed until the head was removed and the bores inspected which only occurred when the car was out of warranty.
With the case of the door lock issue, this began manifesting within warranty but was not sorted until the car was out of warranty. I am glad to say that in our case Volvo rectified this fault without charge, whilst out of warranty, only fair considering to the proliferation and seriousness of this fault.
With regards to the engine we are in a similar situation. The symptoms were reported to the dealer back when the car was in warranty. However, the reason for the fault is only now fully known.
It is clear we are not alone with this issue
http://www.volvov40club.com/forums/....com/forums/15-engine-technical/23921-engine-coolant-level-low-stop-safely.html
"Yes this happened on my v40 D3. After a lot of hassle and 12 weeks in the garage, it turned out to be a leak in the exhaust gas coolant coil where it goes to the egr valve. Got a brand new engine out of it though as they found a split in one of the bores."
http://www.volvov40club.com/forums/15-engine-technical/11954-coolant-level-low.html
http://www.volvov40club.com/forums/15-engine-technical/27001-low-coolant-level.html
http://www.volvov40club.com/forums/15-engine-technical/23785-check-coolant-level.html
http://www.volvov40club.com/forums/7-volvo-v40-general-discussion/31809-low-coolant-warning.html
I have refrained from commenting online since our engine block failure was fully diagnosed. However, if Volvo are unsympathetic then we shall make our situation plain. Also, there are many avenues to explore with this regard, media, social media, online forums and reviews. I do not wish to be a disgruntled customer but it is clear the engine supplied was not fit for purpose and Volvo should replace it.
At this point I want to mention that the omission of a temperature gauge on the dashboard was more that a faux pas with regards to the design of this car, indeed another design fault. I have driven many different brands and models of cars in my 30 years of motoring, some older than myself and I have never seen one which didn’t show the temperature. If the temperature was indeed on show then the overheating issue would have certainly been diagnosed earlier as it started climbing rather than later at the point where it was likely catastrophic.
I want to state again, we bought the car for it’s resounding safety and reliability record and it has failed abysmally on both accounts. Our son has a rare condition, as I mentioned before he is under Great Ormond Street Hospital for Children. During all the time that the car has been in for repair and we have had to wait for a response from you we have struggled with appointments and daily logistics for our son. This has caused more stress and strain on our family which is ironic as the purpose of purchasing a reliable car was to help reduce these stresses not compound them.
So I ask again you to reconsider your position and replace the faulty engine as seems fair and right.
Yours faithfully,
Stephen Bond"