Is timing chain failure rate high on the Scirocco?

[eikido]

I'm a little worried about the famous timing chain tensioner that can go bad and misalign the timing chain in my 2.0 TSI and in worse case, wreck the whole engine.

I've read a few reports about the tiguan and golf Gti with that failure (with ofcours 2.0 TSI).

Anyone heard about this happening to Sciroccos? I guess its not common?

[matthewlancs]

I asked this question at the VW specialist I had my roc serviced at last week as I had seen in the book about the belt being changed after 4 years!?

They told me this was rubbish and there was absolutely no need to - it will last in the region of 100,000 miles. They said VW based it on a couple of failures in the old GTI engine but the new TSI engine in the roc and GTI is not at risk of this fault.

[Cuprabob]

I asked this question at the VW specialist I had my roc serviced at last week as I had seen in the book about the belt being changed after 4 years!?

They told me this was rubbish and there was absolutely no need to - it will last in the region of 100,000 miles. They said VW based it on a couple of failures in the old GTI engine but the new TSI engine in the roc and GTI is not at risk of this fault.

Timing belt and timing chain are 2 different things although they provide the same function. Petrol models have chains, diesels have belts.

It is recommended that the belts are changed every 4 years as a precaution whereas the chain should last the life of the engine and is significantly more expensive to replace than the belt.

VW has had chains stretch and break on MK4 R32s and some owners have taken the precaution of changing them at a cost of circa. £1,500.

[wigit]

the faliure in timing chains on the EA888 is linked to the failure of tensioners (which have gone through numerous incarnations)

few links to mk6 GTI forums where issues have arisen

http://www.golfmk6.com/forums/showthread.php?t=53883" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

http://www.golfmk6.com/forums/showthread.php?p=880655" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

i know a fe people running older mk6 GTI who have upgraded this for piece of mind on modded cars, one of the reasons why i got shot of mine after three years

love to know which indie you use mathewlincs so i can give them a wide birth

[salsajoe]

Given the number of EA888 engines produced in various guises and models, the fault is not that common. IMO if it was larger VW would have had to do a recall rather than fork out for new engines. That said there have been 3 or 4 redesigns of the timing chain tensioner. It is not restricted to the 2.0 engine but can also occur with the 1.4 and there are threads on various forums about mk5 1.4 golf GT failures.

[ZephyR]

RW1 (Chris) did a couple of posts about the timing belt tensioner causing problems on the 1.4 TSi due to the solenoid sticking.
I'm not sure whether the tensioner failing to operate properly could cause timing chain failure but it was something that worried me as mine started making that ticking / dieselling noise when it started up.

That and the issues over piston failure, I decided it was time for a change unfortunately