GolfGTIforum.co.uk
Model specific boards => Golf mk6 => Topic started by: james-w on 20 November 2020, 01:32
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Hello,
New member to the forum but avid reader of it, some excellent stuff in here!
Unfortunately had the car fail on me while driving... Could be 100 things till I get it investigated, and I'm not much of a mechanic but wondered if its jumped timing going by previous posts, and being notorious, but after a long search I couldn't find much detailed info of similar experiences to what happened.
59/10 plate GTI, manual, 70k miles & serviced it only 6 days (drove 150~miles) before it happened..
The car hasn't felt itself the last month or so, and almost felt like there was a flat spot whilst accelerating in the higher gears, along with being a little sluggish. I put it down to requiring a service & maybe the valves are coked up.
(I should have got this looked at sooner... idiot :lipsrsealed: )
Anyway.. So I started it up after finishing work & sounded fine, car has always had a loud valve tick but never really had that initial rattle to suggest the tensioner was failing.
I drove about 5 miles, and just as I started accelerating towards 60mph after passing through a village, this almighty screech came from the engine and had massive loss of power.
Sounded like a total bag of spanners. No lights came up on the dash & theres still none.
Dipped the clutch and the noise went away altogether, sounding normal. I coasted it as far as I could get it, but with nowhere to stop on a single-track back road, I had to put it back in gear and drove another mile or so. The noise had gone for this mile whilst driving, but just had very little power.
Arrived at a junction and as I came to a standstill with the clutch dipped, the engine cut out.
I tried to start the car over again but nothing happened. Didn't turn over at all.
Once I got the car rescued and taken home (& thinking I had nothing to lose!), I tried starting it again and it did. Just sounds really rough on idle. Turned the car off sharpish and haven't tried since.
I'm wondering if anyone had any similar experiences or an idea of what could of happened? In hindsight I wondered if the screech was the turbo failing but I've had this nagging feeling its the timing that's jumped.
My plan of attack is to firstly check the timing and see if its in time & if it's still the original tensioner. The guy I bought the car from claimed it had been done but there was nothing he could show me to prove this. Then depending on findings, maybe try a compression test? I'm keen to investigate this myself.
Very much open to any help or suggestions you can help me with!! Absolutely gutted to say the least :undecided:. Just got the front wings replaced & the front bumper re-sprayed, she's looking in her prime!
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Compression test it first.
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Thanks snoopy, getting a shot of a tester next week. Would make sense to try the easy thing first! I thought i’d maybe damage valves if I hadn’t already when turning it over. Chances are it will need a good strip down.
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no error codes? or eml? this happen to me and it was a stuck open injector
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I’ve just a cheap code reader ramrod and no codes or lights on the dash. Mate has a proper Autel £££ vag com jobby ill get a lend of and check. Will start with a compression test as snoopy mentioned.
Similar symptoms ramrod? I didn’t smell fuel or notice any smoke when it happened.
Haven’t had the time to do much due to work but hoping to attack it next week.
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update:
tried to carry out a compression test by hand but there was interference, metal contact. Didn’t have much to lose so stripped down the timing side for an inspection. Right enough it’s the original tensioner that’s on... I reset the timing & the engine turned over easily after.
Carried out another compression test using the starter and all cylinders were around the 140psi mark.
I don’t want to tempt fate but looking like i might have gotten lucky here. Plan is now to order up a timing chain kit and replace what i need to (and pray) that it’s running again - Baring any leaks or any other problems, this looks like the culprit.
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I hope you got luckie but I would say watch this all the way through. He gives a load of useful info on what can happen and how to fix it.
https://youtu.be/hRAcxGdkcZU
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From the description of your noise and it going away as you dip the clutch, is there the posiibility this is related to the dual mass flywheel and not the engine as such? As they get old the sandwich splits and the dual masses can seperate.
I haven't heard the noise, just going on what you have posted.
Good luck!
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cheers folks, just awaiting parts to arrive now which are taking ages to arrive... my fault for being so frugal and hunting about.
Fairly sure it’s not related to the DMF. Have had that happen as a passenger in my brothers TDi A3 and wasn’t similar, but something to not rule out if i don’t get to the bottom of it. Fairly sure it’s timing related after trying to turn it over initially. I can only hope i haven’t done damage to the head/valves but reasonably confident after the compression test once timing the was redone.
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update: Got a kit sorted out and replaced timing chain, balance chain and tensioner. Rechecked compression and was still all good. Primed it and she turned over first time. Only note is there was a bit of a rattle on the first start? Actually sounded a bit like the nasty rattle that’s the giveaway for the tensioner on its way. Unsure what it could be.
Test ran it (rather cautiously..) and all good. No lights on the dash or error codes and was really smooth. I must have gotten seriously lucky not to bend valves.
Only thing i’ve noticed, on only one occasion, when it was idling it started to hunt a little. Still revved fine and hasn’t happened since? Any help on this or the rattle is appreciated. Anything i’ve found from searches points to a vacuum leak.
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As a guess I would say the initial rattle may have just been the tensioners primimg up.
Hunting sound like an air leak. Did you fit the turbo pipe back on properly maybe.
Lets just hope its ok and that the timing is correct.
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Sounds pretty plausible snoopy. Yeah I replaced the elbow o-ring while I was at it. What a b!tch it was to get it out in the first place.
Drove it a good 40miles yesterday and all was well. No sign of any hunting either. Hope it gets thru it’s MOT pretty safely today.. not sure how long i’ll hold onto the car now, nervous every time i turn the car on :grin:
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As its now done it should be fine for 60-80,000 miles before the chain needs checking again.
Your choice of cause.