GolfGTIforum.co.uk
Model specific boards => Golf mk6 => Topic started by: Rolfe on 11 June 2012, 22:50
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Sorry I haven’t been here for a while - just drifted off, you know how it is, things to see, people to do...
Those of you who have been here from almost the beginning may remember Prospero - my Sept ’09 GTi in Blue Graphite.
http://www.golfgtiforum.co.uk/index.php?topic=121668.0
(http://www.vetpath.co.uk/netpics/prospero1.jpg)
He’s been a fantastic car, absolute pride and joy. All-rounder par excellence. I particularly remember one evening, election campaigning in a rural ward, when a very up-market-seeming gent in a very up-market rural house looked at him and said, “are all you SNP people rich?”
Sadly my elderly mother, for whom the ACC was added, died last August. But she loved the car too, and having such a smooth ride meant she got out more than she otherwise might have done in her last couple of years.
Anyway, a week ago it looked like Prospero died too!
He’d had his third service about three weeks previously, just over 30,000 miles, no problems at all. I have to say I’d thought his fuel consumption had been a little poorer than of late for about six weeks, but I could have been imagining that. I’ll update my fuel consumption graph and see how it looks later. I also thought I heard the very occasional misfire, but it was so slight and so infrequent I didn’t even mention it to the garage.
On Monday 4th June I was working (so were most people in Scotland as far as I could see), and I drove to work as usual. No problems. Overtook a couple of cars on the A702, as usual. Parked outside work as usual. Left work about 5.30, and Prospero wouldn’t start. Battery fine, engine turning over, but wouldn’t catch. Wondered if I’d flooded the engine (can you flood a car with a DSG?), and went back inside for 15 minutes just to see. But that didn’t do the trick. Went back to my office and phoned the RAC. The patrolman showed up quite quickly, and he couldn’t get any joy either. The spark plugs were black and oily, but cleaning them made no difference. In the end he said he’d tow me back home, and we agreed he’d leave Prospero in the forecourt of the garage which has looked after him since he was a nipper, and I’d walk the half-mile home.
Next day I phoned Andrew, who runs the garage, and he said he’d been just about to phone me. Looks catastrophic, he said. Looks like you need a new engine.
WHAT???!!!
So Prospero had to be transported (by the RAC but this time they charged me money, £135) to the dealer where I bought him, about 25 miles away, because it was a warranty job. Then the dealer (Verve) said they wanted £65 from me to put the spark plugs back, because Andrew had taken them out in his initial assessment and had thought there was no point putting it all back together. The next two days were spent in to-and-fro between them and Andrew, looking for documentary proof that every drop of oil he’d ever put into Prospero was pukka kosher VW stuff, but eventually he satisfied them that it had all been done by the book.
Meanwhile I’m panicking. This happened on Monday evening, and on Friday evening I was scheduled to drive to Mull for a five-day break. I’d even got my friend added to Prospero’s insurance so we could share the driving. For logistical reasons we couldn’t take her Polo. And nobody was prepared to give me a courtesy car. The garage said they would have done but all theirs were booked up ten days in advance. VW started to arrange a hire car for me then turned round and said that since I’d let Andrew service Prospero and not the dealer (even though he’d done it perfectly), I could whistle for a courtesy car for all they cared. My insurance company didn’t want to know, because I hadn’t had an accident. The RAC offered me one for 24 hours.
Oh great.
In the end I hired a car for the week from Arnold Clark. It’s a Kia that seems to be a shopping trolley with a lawn-mower engine, and it crawls up even little hills in second, but at least it goes and it was only £135 for a week. Plus £15 to get my friend on the insurance. So I’m posting this from Craignure, having spent the day in Tobermory, it’s not all bad.
I heard from Verve today. Andrew was right. Prospero needs a new ENGINE! But they have ordered it and he should be all better by Thursday when I get back from holiday. Something to do with the compressor they said. They will explain all when I collect the car.
But at least they’re not arguing about it being a warranty job.
So here I am, £135 to transport the car, £65 to put four spark plugs back in, £150 for a hire car for a week. What’s that, £350 altogether? Plus a prezzie for the friend who doesn’t know it yet but is going to ferry me to return the hire car and collect Prospero on Thursday. Could be worse, not really high finance, and at least the new engine is under warranty.
But hey, a new ENGINE! In a car less that three years old! Am I the only one who’s encountered this one? And can you imagine the week I spent wondering if Prospero was dead and gone, and if VW were going to disown the warranty completely because Andrew had done the servicing?
Rolfe.
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Sorry to hear about your mother Rolfe. I always associated your car with her and the ACC.
That's pretty shocking that a new engine is needed so early in the cars life. Or have you been tearing its lungs out round those country roads?
I've read on other VW forums about the TSi 1.4 engines causing problems and occasionally having to be replaced.
It makes you wonder if buying a car out of warranty would ever be a sensible idea.
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It's a thought, isn't it? No, I haven't been doing anything awful. Petrol consumption almost always averaging better than 30 mpg over a tankful should prove that.
I had always intended to keep Prospero until he was at least as old as his predecessor Ariel, who went to the scrappage scheme aged almost 12 and with 120,000 miles on the clock. Right now I don't know what to think.
I'm too busy being relieved VW didn't find some trumped-up excuse not to honour the warranty, with Prospero always having been serviced by a non-dealer.
Rolfe.
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First and foremost sorry to hear about your mother...
So it's been quite eventful for you of late then, so you've practically got a new car again, and on warranty...WIN WIN then esp as you love it so...glad to here its been very faithful up till now.
£135 for a weeks hire, that ain't bad...
Good to hear there was no issues with warranty claim, and I bet your looking forward to get it back esp as you've had to put up with a kia :wink:
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Don't start me on the Kia. My friend who has also been driving usually drives a 1.1 litre Polo, and even she is swearing at it. I don't remember driving such a wimp of a thing for decades, if at all. It really hates even a small incline, and this is Mull! And its clutch is so temperamental we're forever stalling it.
I had really been looking forward to taking Prospero on the single-track mountain roads, and giving my friend a chance to drive him too (show him off, more like!). I think the DSG with a little bit of use of the paddles would really have come into its own. The Kia is a swine.
Still, I should have Prospero back the day after tomorrow. I wonder if they set the odometer back to zero with a new engine?
Rolfe.
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Sorry to hear about your woes mate.
I'd be telling Verve to whistle for their £65. To put 4 spark plugs back in? I take it they weren't supplying new ones? It takes all of about 120 seconds to put them in - not to mention the fact that the engine was dead anyway and a competent mechanic would have wanted to run a compression check (which requires the removal of the plugs!).
I'd like to know what the problem with the engine was - a "compressor" isn't really a part of the engine. The closest thing it may relate to is the turbocharger, but then that in itself wouldn't end an engine.
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Don't start me on the Kia. My friend who has also been driving usually drives a 1.1 litre Polo, and even she is swearing at it. I don't remember driving such a wimp of a thing for decades, if at all. It really hates even a small incline, and this is Mull! And its clutch is so temperamental we're forever stalling it.
I had really been looking forward to taking Prospero on the single-track mountain roads, and giving my friend a chance to drive him too (show him off, more like!). I think the DSG with a little bit of use of the paddles would really have come into its own. The Kia is a swine.
Still, I should have Prospero back the day after tomorrow. I wonder if they set the odometer back to zero with a new engine?
Rolfe.
I'm sure if evo1986(member) is about before you get the car back he can answer this question...
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That's a joke about the 65 quid! In many ways, great to get new engine on warranty but will be interesting to know what the proper diagnosis is. Mileage should definitely not get reset.
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I feel your pain Rolfe... mine too had a new engine around the 30k mark. And no, they do not recent the odometer :grin: (i was distressed to find this also)
I had a similar issue with spark plugs before the engine went. I was told it was timing on mine.... but who knows. They tell you what they like!! Just so happens I only told them what i liked :wink: :lipsrsealed: :grin:
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Sorry to hear about your mother Rolfe but, regarding the meat of your post, let me add two of my own experiences.
Back in September last year I bought an R56 MINI JCW which popped a spark plug and needed a new engine after only 3 months of being delivered. Suffice to say in that instance I effectively rejected the vehicle (had also needed a water pump replaced after 3 weeks and the brakes squeaked horrendously).
More relevant to GTI's, my own MK6 ended up getting a new engine. I put a fair few miles on my Mk6 (63k in just under 3 years). A few months ago the cam belt/chain thingy started to go - unfortunately it ran just long enough to do some damage so VW replaced the engine FOC.
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I've read on other VW forums about the TSi 1.4 engines causing problems and occasionally having to be replaced.
Hence why my GT 160 is being traded in for a new GTi in September.
The car has had 6 RAC/VW Assist callouts, 2 sets of spark plugs, 3 software updates and fuel injectoers changed twice.........And the car has under 9500 miles !
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Welcome back Morag!
Sorry to hear about your mother.
Not such good news with the car either.
Sixty five Scottish Pounds sounds rather harsh to replace the plugs!! They're obviously upset with you to dare going outside of VW to get routine work done!!
And no, they definitely won't re-set the odometer as it records the mileage the vehicle as a whole has covered not just the engine. There are a million and one other bits to wear out on a car rather than just an engine. If it was law just to record the engine mileage then it would have a 'running time' clock on the engine a bit like on an aeroplane.
It's a bit worrying how many of these engines are letting go.
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Nice to have you back, was wondering where you'd gone. Sorry about your mum, it's never easy but she enjoyed your car and being able to get out.
I know nothing about engine problems but having only done 30000 miles I would say it is a VW fault in the TSI engine and at least they are honouring warranty.
Keep us posted and don't be a stranger on the site.
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Thanks to everyone who expressed their condolences about my Mum. It's funny, when I suggested she move in with me about six years ago, I didn't realise how hard it would be to be living in the house where we'd lived together, after she'd gone. On the other hand, no house clearance to do I suppose.
It's good wishes such as yours that make things easier.
Sixty five Scottish Pounds sounds rather harsh to replace the plugs!! They're obviously upset with you to dare going outside of VW to get routine work done!!
Oooooh, the engine was "stripped down" when the car arrived, and we have to "build it up again" before we can test it to see what's wrong. That will be an hour's labour, £65 please.
Andrew says he gave them an earful about that, because he only spent 15 minutes on it before realising it needed a new engine one way or another, and thought there was no point putting the plugs back in at that point. But what can you do? They had me over a barrel. I was hardly going to say no, leave it, I'll take the car elsewhere.
And no, they definitely won't re-set the odometer as it records the mileage the vehicle as a whole has covered not just the engine. There are a million and one other bits to wear out on a car rather than just an engine. If it was law just to record the engine mileage then it would have a 'running time' clock on the engine a bit like on an aeroplane.
Indeed, that makes sense. I did have an odometer set to zero once though. I fell off my motorbike and totalled the speedo. When they replaced it the odometer was at zero. I had to tell the next owner to add 10,000 miles to the thing's mileage.
It's a bit worrying how many of these engines are letting go.
Indeed. I don't really know what's happened to mine, bear in mind I was talking on my mobile while browsing the bookshop in Tobermory, and only talking to the girl who passes on the messages. I guess I'll get the whole story when I collect the car. Or from Andrew, who was getting quite aerated at Verve to tell him exactly what the diagnosis was.
I never heard of a new-ish car having to have a new engine before. This is all quite scary. How long are these cars under warranty for anyway?
Rolfe.
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Rolfe! Good to see your name again, sorry for your loss and I hope the car gets back on the road as you remember it.
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Sorry to hear about your mother. I lost my dad in Feb so know what the loss is like.
Not good to read about your issues with the gti.
I wonder if the turbos failed and sent the bits into the engine.
I have head of a few turbo failures.
I just hope the oil leak on mines not the same thing staring as yours.
Hope everything works out in the end.for you.
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Sorry to hear about your mum Rolfe - I lost my mum 8 weeks ago so I can understand what you're going through.
I had a Mk3 Golf that decided to blow up on the motorway and needed a new engine at 1yo and only 10,000 miles so it's not new but very frustrating/worrying.
Overall it sounds like VW have done h right thing by you and will be interesting to see what they say was the cause.
Look forward to your update when you collect him very soon!!!
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Condolences regarding your Mother, a lot of us know the sadness of their passing!
Re the "compressor" failing.... I wonder if it's "compression" they were saying (especially with oily plugs)? where either piston rings or part of the valve's gear has failed?
Either way, VW seem to be honoring their warranty. I wonder if you'll get back the odd's and ends you had to pay out for (spark plugs etc?)
Good Luck!
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Sorry to hear your bad news,this has got me thinking about what would happen if this car was just outside the period of warranty :undecided:,surely they would not expect the customer to pay for a new engine on a car a little over three years old with average mileage that has been well looked after. :huh:
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Sorry to hear your bad news,this has got me thinking about what would happen if this car was just outside the period of warranty :undecided:,surely they would not expect the customer to pay for a new engine on a car a little over three years old with average mileage that has been well looked after. :huh:
I was wondering that as well. Just done the 40k mark and probably not got much warrenty left.
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I don't imagine they'd cut you any slack if the car was even a day or two out of warranty, quite honestly.
I did note something quite interesting about that bloody Kia which has now been returned to Arnold Clark with thanks. There was a sticker on the rear windscreen advertising the fact that it came with a SEVEN YEAR warranty. Now that is something to think about. With modern cars becoming increasingly complex, and liable to fail quite catastrophically if something goes wrong with these complex systems, a three year warranty looks increasingly inadequate. Frankly I don't think a modern car engine that requires replacement within five or six years or indeed 100,000 miles of normal use, is of merchantable quality. But that's what they seem to be trying to tell us.
I just talked to Verve on the phone, and they tell me that Prospero seems fit and well, but since it was such a major repair they would like to give him to a mechanic to drive home for the evening and test him out, was that OK. I said fine, so long as there was no ragging, as I don't really need him back that urgently as I'm still on holiday and not going anywhere I can't do on a bike.
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VW would offer a certain amount of goodwill after the warranty so long as you could prove the service regime was 100%.
Vauxhall do lifetime warranties now don't they? As with all of these things, you need to read the small print!!
You can extent the warranty on your VW up to 5 years on major components too. Well worth the outlay if you're keeping the car long term.
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I don't imagine they'd cut you any slack if the car was even a day or two out of warranty, quite honestly.
I did note something quite interesting about that bloody Kia which has now been returned to Arnold Clark with thanks. There was a sticker on the rear windscreen advertising the fact that it came with a SEVEN YEAR warranty. Now that is something to think about. With modern cars becoming increasingly complex, and liable to fail quite catastrophically if something goes wrong with these complex systems, a three year warranty looks increasingly inadequate. Frankly I don't think a modern car engine that requires replacement within five or six years or indeed 100,000 miles of normal use, is of merchantable quality. But that's what they seem to be trying to tell us.
I just talked to Verve on the phone, and they tell me that Prospero seems fit and well, but since it was such a major repair they would like to give him to a mechanic to drive home for the evening and test him out, was that OK. I said fine, so long as there was no ragging, as I don't really need him back that urgently as I'm still on holiday and not going anywhere I can't do on a bike.
Take it home for the night? Why can't they test drive this afternoon, then drive it around tomorrow for a bit from cold and so on to test, I don't think I'd be letting them take the car home at all. :shocked:
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It does sound a bit odd that they want someone to take it home with them! I hope they don't give it to the YTS guy to show off to his dodgy teenage mates in MaccyD's car park!!
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How do you think they check for issues?
A mate of mine is a Master Tech at VW and he's often got something home that belongs to a customer...and he drives it like he's taking his Gran to church.
It's hardly worth his job ragging somebody elses car when he can borrow a demonstrator if he was so inclined.
I very much doubt anyone other than long term Techs are trusted with customers cars - certainly not round here.
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VW would offer a certain amount of goodwill after the warranty so long as you could prove the service regime was 100%.
Vauxhall do lifetime warranties now don't they? As with all of these things, you need to read the small print!!
Exactly have you read VW small print on their standard 3 year warrenty its shocking :shocked:
http://www.volkswagen.co.uk/owners/warranty/factory/terms
As was asked earlier about spark plugs if you read the small print its supprising as there not covered after 6 months!
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How do you think they check for issues?
A mate of mine is a Master Tech at VW and he's often got something home that belongs to a customer...and he drives it like he's taking his Gran to church.
It's hardly worth his job ragging somebody elses car when he can borrow a demonstrator if he was so inclined.
I very much doubt anyone other than long term Techs are trusted with customers cars - certainly not round here.
When I was at my local BM dealer the 'master tech' who tested someones car (with me in the passnger seat) nearly maxed a 335d on a mile long straight near us. Unfortunately for him one of the cars he passed whilst doing this was the cars owner. Cue letter from the dealership almost begging the customer not to take it up with BMW, as the customer was in the showroom before we got back! Needless to say, the techy didn't go on another road test...
On the flip side, one of the young lads that had just started drove them with the utmost respect. Just depends on the individual.
Regarding warranty work and just outside the warranty, it depends on the dealer I'd say. BM whilst I was there (again) replaced an engine that a customer blew after he changed down from 6th to 2nd by mistake at 95 mph! You could see through the sump and out the other side when it was on the ramp! The car was 6 months out of warranty and they honoured it. On the flip side, Ford argued about a problem on my family's Focus that started in warranty, and wasn't fixed until after the warranty period ended. Cue call to Which magazine who promptly sorted this :grin:
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How do you think they check for issues?
A mate of mine is a Master Tech at VW and he's often got something home that belongs to a customer...and he drives it like he's taking his Gran to church.
It's hardly worth his job ragging somebody elses car when he can borrow a demonstrator if he was so inclined.
I very much doubt anyone other than long term Techs are trusted with customers cars - certainly not round here.
When I was at my local BM dealer the 'master tech' who tested someones car (with me in the passnger seat) nearly maxed a 335d on a mile long straight near us. Unfortunately for him one of the cars he passed whilst doing this was the cars owner. Cue letter from the dealership almost begging the customer not to take it up with BMW, as the customer was in the showroom before we got back! Needless to say, the techy didn't go on another road test...
On the flip side, one of the young lads that had just started drove them with the utmost respect. Just depends on the individual.
Regarding warranty work and just outside the warranty, it depends on the dealer I'd say. BM whilst I was there (again) replaced an engine that a customer blew after he changed down from 6th to 2nd by mistake at 95 mph! You could see through the sump and out the other side when it was on the ramp! The car was 6 months out of warranty and they honoured it. On the flip side, Ford argued about a problem on my family's Focus that started in warranty, and wasn't fixed until after the warranty period ended. Cue call to Which magazine who promptly sorted this :grin:
OMG and LMAO! :laugh:
That's some bad luck to be caught out like that...needless to say the customer was fuming know doubt, I know I wud of been...
My dads warranty on his Triumph when it when in for work was four days out and they still honoured it!
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Did they tell you what was wrong with the engine?
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I don't know. Crossed wires with the service department means I'm not getting it till tomorrow now. (I was waiting by my landline and the girl had left a voicemail on my mobile.)
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Hi Rolfe.
Nice to have you back, shame about the circumstances.
VW will offer you an extended warranty for around £200 a year when yours runs out, I think you can have this for a further two years if you choose.
The engine on my OH EOS needed replacing at 13K, that's the 1.4 160 with turbo/super charger.
It's done 10k since, no issues. I'm not sure if I'd trust this type of engine long term though so it may be going once the extended warranty runs out.
My GTI has had no problems so far.
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I don't know. Crossed wires with the service department means I'm not getting it till tomorrow now. (I was waiting by my landline and the girl had left a voicemail on my mobile.)
Hate when that happens, you think there phoning on one phone so you stay in waiting for the call for them to only call the other.(mobile)..
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VW will offer you an extended warranty for around £200 a year when yours runs out, I think you can have this for a further two years if you choose.
I read that on the web site, thanks to an earlier link on this thread. I think I'll take them up on that, given what's happened.
Well, I don't know exactly what happened yet, but I will. Going to get the car first thing tomorrow morning now.
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VW will offer you an extended warranty for around £200 a year when yours runs out, I think you can have this for a further two years if you choose.
I read that on the web site, thanks to an earlier link on this thread. I think I'll take them up on that, given what's happened.
Well, I don't know exactly what happened yet, but I will. Going to get the car first thing tomorrow morning now.
Make sure to check her over before leaving...as if this needed saying any how :grin:
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Prospero is a he, of course. But otherwise, yes absolutely.
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Prospero is a he, of course. But otherwise, yes absolutely.
Sorry pal, I naturally think all cars are girls what ever there names as there so temperamental... :laugh:
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VW will offer you an extended warranty for around £200 a year when yours runs out, I think you can have this for a further two years if you choose.
I read that on the web site, thanks to an earlier link on this thread. I think I'll take them up on that, given what's happened.
Well, I don't know exactly what happened yet, but I will. Going to get the car first thing tomorrow morning now.
Dependant upon what they say when you collect you might ask them to offer you a discounted extension i.e. Half Price? At worst, they can only say no!
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VW will offer you an extended warranty for around £200 a year when yours runs out, I think you can have this for a further two years if you choose.
I read that on the web site, thanks to an earlier link on this thread. I think I'll take them up on that, given what's happened.
Well, I don't know exactly what happened yet, but I will. Going to get the car first thing tomorrow morning now.
Dependant upon what they say when you collect you might ask them to offer you a discounted extension i.e. Half Price? At worst, they can only say no!
If you don't ask...you don't get!
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Got back from collecting Prospero, and no, I didn't ask. He's got a new engine, after all. And the vibes are that anyone using a non-VW garage for servicing can whistle for any favours.
There was a very cute white ED35 in the showroom, and the salesman who sold me Prospero saw me in "admire" mode and tried to persuade me it was time for a trade-in! No chance.
Anyway, Prospero is now fine. There was about 45 miles extra on the clock from the breakdown, which doesn't seem unreasonable to me as regards testing. Can't find any fault with the car and actually it's quite hard to get my head round the fact that there's a new engine in there now.
I'm no wiser as to what caused the failure. "Damaged pistons". I get the impression they just looked long enough to realise the engine was buggered, and ordered a new one. I wonder if VW themselves will want to look at the corpse to find out what happened? Of course there's always the matter of the RAC patrolman, who really did flog it while trying to get it started originally. In retrospect, he kept at it beyond the point when it was obviously a dead horse, and there were a couple of quite interesting bangs from the engine during all that. So it might not be entirely straightforward.
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Good to hear your happy with him again.
Shame they did not give you more of a clue about what happened.
Piston damage could be caused by many things including turbo failure, timing Chain failed.
New engine does sound catastrophic but then they are fitters not mechanics.
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Good to hear your happy with him again.
Shame they did not hive you more of a clue about what happened.
piston damage could be caused by many things including turbo failure. timing Chain failed.
I was thinking timing chain
New engine does sound catastrophic but then they are fitters not mechanics.
And I was thinking this too
Glad it's all ok now :smiley:
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The part I still find strange is that this wasn't an engine that blew up or failed while running. The car was perfectly normal when driving to work (just over 11 miles on a fairly fast A road), and when parked. Then the engine failed to start in the evening.
Odd.
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Can happen like that, my winter hack died in a similar way.
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Good to hear he's back and in good running order...must be nice to be back in a proper car!
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Glad to hear your hero is alive and well with his new bionic heart Morag. Fingers crossed this time and the new engine will be under VW guarantee for a couple of years.
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Glad to hear your hero is alive and well with his new bionic heart Morag. Fingers crossed this time and the new engine will be under VW guarantee for a couple of years.
Probably worth checking out the warranty/guarantee supplied with the new engine, isn't it 2 years for all new parts? And since every part on the engine is brand new .......... I'd find out, could save a small fortune on extended warranty costs!
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The Mk6 Gti uses a timing chain. This is kept nice and tight by a hydraulic tensioner, running off engine oil pressure. When the engine is stopped the oil pressure drops to zero and some oil in the tensioner can leak past it's stop valve, leading to a more sloppy timing chain. This is when the chain can skip. Constant turning over of the engine in this state can cause more skipping and in the end allow the valves to open onto the top of the piston, which is no good.
You often hear the sloppy timing chain on start up on all VW's TSI engines.
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The part I still find strange is that this wasn't an engine that blew up or failed while running. The car was perfectly normal when driving to work (just over 11 miles on a fairly fast A road), and when parked. Then the engine failed to start in the evening.
Odd.
exactly the same thing as mine. made worse by trying to start it 50x afterwards
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The part I still find strange is that this wasn't an engine that blew up or failed while running. The car was perfectly normal when driving to work (just over 11 miles on a fairly fast A road), and when parked. Then the engine failed to start in the evening.
Odd.
exactly the same thing as mine. made worse by trying to start it 50x afterwards
problem is, if you didn't try to start it 50x, breakdown would, and if you got them to tow you straight to a garage, be it VW or an indy, they'd try and start it a few times too before stripping it down (and maybe try some other things first to get it going), so unfortunately it's a no win situation :(
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Breakdown really flogged it. There were a couple of seriously alarming bangs during that process. I wouldn't be at all surprised if that was what did the major part of the damage. But I don't see how that could have been completely avoided. You can't expect all non-starting cars to e towed to a garage and immediately stripped down, just on the off-chance.
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If it was just a belt jumping teeth seems odd full new engine.
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Pass. I literally have no clue. Andrew, who has maintained the car from new, is quite frustrated.
He agreed it could have been the timer belt ("though it's way too young to expect that to fail"), and then the aggressive attempts to start it did the major damage. But we're all just guessing.
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If it was just a belt jumping teeth seems odd full new engine.
Once the belt has slipped, valves and pistons will be out of timing and will meet in a major metal mashing. This could damage all the major parts of the engine.
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The tension in the timing chain relies on a big banana shaped block pushing against the chain. It gets its push from oil pressure. If your oil is knackered (and oil does go off in an alarming way) it might cause this failure.
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It's not a chain in this particular car, it's a belt. And this car was serviced only three weeks before the incident.
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It's not a chain in this particular car, it's a belt. And this car was serviced only three weeks before the incident.
Are you sure Rolfe? I thought the GTI was a chain and the R was a belt!
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The Mk6 Gti uses a timing chain. This is kept nice and tight by a hydraulic tensioner, running off engine oil pressure. When the engine is stopped the oil pressure drops to zero and some oil in the tensioner can leak past it's stop valve, leading to a more sloppy timing chain. This is when the chain can skip. Constant turning over of the engine in this state can cause more skipping and in the end allow the valves to open onto the top of the piston, which is no good.
You often hear the sloppy timing chain on start up on all VW's TSI engines.
does turning it over not increase the oil pressure? As that's what your suppose to do to old cars when they stand for a ages unused.
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It's not a chain in this particular car, it's a belt. And this car was serviced only three weeks before the incident.
Are you sure Rolfe? I thought the GTI was a chain and the R was a belt!
+1 GTI has chain (EA888) and R/ED's have belts (EA113) I think that's right.
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Hardly complicated at all, how could it possibly go wrong :shocked: :shocked:
(http://www.thewindinglane.co.uk/images/mk6gti/misc/chain.jpg)
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Am I right in thinking that we know of 3 tensioners that have failed.
Were the cars all built same period?
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All I know is, when I said "chain", the guy who actually works on the car said, that car actually has a belt, not a chain. Maybe it depends on your definition.
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Hardly complicated at all, how could it possibly go wrong :shocked: :shocked:
(http://www.thewindinglane.co.uk/images/mk6gti/misc/chain.jpg)
Scary :lipsrsealed:
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No wonder the f****r goes wrong then is it????
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No bad as others out there. Alfa 3.0 I've done in the past has a oil driven tensioner. A lot of cars do.
If you think that looks complicated good job you never had to change a belt on a subaru impreza turbo or many other cars
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All I know is, when I said "chain", the guy who actually works on the car said, that car actually has a belt, not a chain. Maybe it depends on your definition.
I'm sure he's very competent and knows his stuff but it is a big difference.
Chains tend to outdo the life of the car so don't need changed.
Belts are perishable and need changed at X amount of miles and usually cost a premium to do.
I've had 3 cars that have all had their belts snap "before" the recommended mileage. 2 of which cost an absolute fortune to rebuild the engine. The 3rd being my wife's old Punto that was non destructive, thankfully. It only required a new belt.
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It's not a chain in this particular car, it's a belt. And this car was serviced only three weeks before the incident.
It's a faff to drain the oil. But I'm sure VW will have tested it just to make sure it was done.
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It's not a chain in this particular car, it's a belt. And this car was serviced only three weeks before the incident.
It's a faff to drain the oil. But I'm sure VW will have tested it just to make sure it was done.
No doubt that's why VW were *very* inquisitive with Andrew - Morag's mechanic - as to whether he'd used the correct oil..... Any doubt and I'm sure the warranty would have been void!
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They were indeed. They actually kept badgering him after he'd sent the information. He had the receipted invoices from VW for the correct oil, and was able to supply these. After all, he knew he was servicing a car under warranty, this was something I discussed with him before actually buying the car, never mind letting him service it. He knew he had to do it by the book.
Also, this is a fairly small village. Andrew relies on people in the village patronising his garage. If it got round that he'd cost someone a £5,000 repair bill by invalidating their warranty (and let me tell you, things like that get around pretty fast), he'd be looking at a serious dent in his business.
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What age were the ones that went bang?
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The 3 owners who have had failed tensioner may want to join in this from the USA.
http://www.golfmk6.com/forums/showthread.php?t=53883