Scirocco Central

Hi guys and girls, this really affects people who own the 1.4 TSI 160bhp model engine cars but everyone is welcome to read.

I was talking to a VW workshop mechanic as he was admiring my car and started asking about my engine... He asked and I said the 1.4, blah blah, I love it and he replied the worst engine VW has ever made! I was astounded and asked why, he straight away said the engine wasn't built well and one of the cylinders in the engine doesn't hold pressure and the chain in the engine falls. Once the chain falls there's nothing VW can do apart from fitting a new engine in and apparently this is reoccurring problem. There was a case where one customer had to order an engine in and once the engine came from Germany it didn't start. Since the new engine had the same problem, so another one was ordered and same fault again so third time round it worked. Even though a new engine was installed the mechanic said another one would probably be needed to be installed again in two to three years time. Hearing this I was really upset and he said the first sign is engine lags changing gears and from a cold start car makes a funny noise which I did notice a few weeks ago... Furthermore he said if you took it to VW (the company he works for) it doesn't come up on the system the engine needs to be really hot for the compression thing to be picked up. Also I have been to a VW showroom to get it checked out but surprise, surprise nothing came up.

The mechanic suggested two things:
1. Sell car and get any another model scirocco except the 1.4, 160bhp OR completely get rid of it
Or
2. Extend warranty so it's not your problem, it's VW's and you'll save money

He said opt no.2 if you really like the car, which I'm thinking about but at the same time I am considering of part exchanging to another model...


Any advice or any insight to this conversation? Or anyone hearing stuff or experienced anything like this?

Any help would be appreciated

Dinesh

If you do a quick search on the forum you will see that the issues with the 1.4 TSI engine have been well documented and discussed at great length.

interesting stuff. mine's a 122ps, and there is a horrible noise on start up from cold, approx 50% of the time. lately ive decided to record the start up by videoing it and showing it to the garage when its next in, but it's like Herbie, it seems to know, and makes no noise when i start it. so possibly an easy fix, is just to press record on your digital camera and you should get a quiet start up!!

seriously, though- its worrying.

he straight away said the engine wasn't built well and one of the cylinders in the engine doesn't hold pressure and the chain in the engine falls. Once the chain falls there's nothing VW can do apart from fitting a new engine in and apparently this is reoccurring problem.

This was certainly the case on the early Scirocco and Mk 5 1.4 GT Golf and as Cuprabob points out there are threads on various forums about this. I believe the pistons were revised in later engines. The problem with the timing chain was the tensioner could fail and the engine timing goes out of sync causing the pistons to hit valves, bending various bits and scoring the block- like timing belt failures on other cars - so new engine needed. The tensioner has since been redesigned a couple of times. The timing chain tensioner is/was also a problem on the 2.0 TSI so you may want to give that a miss as well! As I have mentioned before, given the number of TSI engines in various models and makes including Audi and Skoda the failure rate is probably not that great otherwise VW would have had to do a recall rather than keep paying for new engines. If it happens to you though you are bound to make a big issue out of it. The early new model Polo GTis (1.4 again) had problems with oil consumption that has since been fixed but if you bought an early one you would not be too pleased. I think that the VAG group have been guilty of putting new models out without sufficient testing.

I intend to take out the extended warranty on my 1.4 (MY 2011) when it runs out!!

I've done the same, since my dsg box got stuffed, i took up the extended warranty at month 35 and now pay £21 per month and my car remains under VW warranty without having to worry about claims or lmits, its unlimited miles and claim directly through VW dealer network. Thats worth the money considering i drive it hard, everyday of the week

PS. My engine has always sounded rough but never gone wrong. My mates Polo GTI went through 3 engines and then he went and got a Merc