Engine cutting out on my 1.4 TSi 160
Posted: Wed Sep 17, 2014 2:16 pm
Hi,
I'm a new member of the forum but have had my Scirocco for 3yrs and 3 months, it's an 09 plate and I bought it from a dealer with 11k on the clock and one previous owner, FSH too.
For the first 34,000 miles - 2yrs and 9 months all I bought for it apart from VW serving costs and tyres and wiper blades was a side light and a dipped beam bulb - total dealer cost £15.00.
Then the troubles began........
First up was a blocked fuel filter, it basically was clogged with gunk and eventually backed up and split due to the pressure of the fuel being forced through it but having a limited escape route out of the filter leading to leaking fuel but was an easy and cheap fix to undertake.
Next was the electric power steering, and I had no warning of this going other than a steeering wheel light on the dashboard when I turned the engine on one morning last May. This was almost £1700 to fix, as the problem was only a little electrical box but the little box was attached to the rack and pinnion and they couldn't be split apart - so I complained to VW Head Office that although I was out of warranty I had a full service history and everything had been done via the dealership and they then offered to pay £1k of it.
Then, two weeks after getting it back, it started juddering, shuddering and the engine lights came on the dashboard.
Back to the dealer and I was told that they'd done a diagnostic test and it was a loss of compression in the cylinders and it'd need a full engine strip down but the news was likely to be bad - a new engine - which is what it did indeed need. I was presented with a bill in the region of almost £6k but the dealership reduced this to £2500 but I wasn't happy that a car with 45k on the clock and really cared for had to have a new engine! So I appealed again to VW and after 2 weeks of calls, emails, discussion, etc. we agreed £770 would be my contribution and to be fair VW were good in terms of keeping in touch and offering a fair deal out of warranty for a very unfair engine issue.
Two months later - yesterday - and with 1800 miles on the new engine at 47000 miles in total, and at 65mph and 23 miles into a morning dual carriageway trip the engine just shut off - no electrics - only hazards - and a recovery job back to the dealer again. No warning lights came on at any time, before or after. It wouldn't restart on the hard shoulder for me but by the time the recovery arrived it would start and seemed fine, but after 2 miles it shut off again. It rested without being able to start for 3 minutes then started again, and it then shut off after about 5 minutes - this was repeated in the recovery location off the main carriageway several times - as if perhaps it was erroneously sensing the engine was too hot and would shut down immediately upon that temperature being reached. Still no warning lights though. We took it back to the dealer, and today they've looked at it but no faults are recorded under test and it is not cutting off so far in the garage but they're going to try to recreate my conditions from yesterday as I type this - i.e. a 20 odd mile run at average 60mph.
All very odd but it did cut off for them yesterday between the recovery vehicle and the service bay so they accept it is an issue.
Has anyone else had similar issues to me, especially this puzzling and mysterious last cutting out issue which is quite dangerous potentially or has my car just decided that for the past 6 months it was going to play up every few weeks?!
Thanks.
I'm a new member of the forum but have had my Scirocco for 3yrs and 3 months, it's an 09 plate and I bought it from a dealer with 11k on the clock and one previous owner, FSH too.
For the first 34,000 miles - 2yrs and 9 months all I bought for it apart from VW serving costs and tyres and wiper blades was a side light and a dipped beam bulb - total dealer cost £15.00.
Then the troubles began........
First up was a blocked fuel filter, it basically was clogged with gunk and eventually backed up and split due to the pressure of the fuel being forced through it but having a limited escape route out of the filter leading to leaking fuel but was an easy and cheap fix to undertake.
Next was the electric power steering, and I had no warning of this going other than a steeering wheel light on the dashboard when I turned the engine on one morning last May. This was almost £1700 to fix, as the problem was only a little electrical box but the little box was attached to the rack and pinnion and they couldn't be split apart - so I complained to VW Head Office that although I was out of warranty I had a full service history and everything had been done via the dealership and they then offered to pay £1k of it.
Then, two weeks after getting it back, it started juddering, shuddering and the engine lights came on the dashboard.
Back to the dealer and I was told that they'd done a diagnostic test and it was a loss of compression in the cylinders and it'd need a full engine strip down but the news was likely to be bad - a new engine - which is what it did indeed need. I was presented with a bill in the region of almost £6k but the dealership reduced this to £2500 but I wasn't happy that a car with 45k on the clock and really cared for had to have a new engine! So I appealed again to VW and after 2 weeks of calls, emails, discussion, etc. we agreed £770 would be my contribution and to be fair VW were good in terms of keeping in touch and offering a fair deal out of warranty for a very unfair engine issue.
Two months later - yesterday - and with 1800 miles on the new engine at 47000 miles in total, and at 65mph and 23 miles into a morning dual carriageway trip the engine just shut off - no electrics - only hazards - and a recovery job back to the dealer again. No warning lights came on at any time, before or after. It wouldn't restart on the hard shoulder for me but by the time the recovery arrived it would start and seemed fine, but after 2 miles it shut off again. It rested without being able to start for 3 minutes then started again, and it then shut off after about 5 minutes - this was repeated in the recovery location off the main carriageway several times - as if perhaps it was erroneously sensing the engine was too hot and would shut down immediately upon that temperature being reached. Still no warning lights though. We took it back to the dealer, and today they've looked at it but no faults are recorded under test and it is not cutting off so far in the garage but they're going to try to recreate my conditions from yesterday as I type this - i.e. a 20 odd mile run at average 60mph.
All very odd but it did cut off for them yesterday between the recovery vehicle and the service bay so they accept it is an issue.
Has anyone else had similar issues to me, especially this puzzling and mysterious last cutting out issue which is quite dangerous potentially or has my car just decided that for the past 6 months it was going to play up every few weeks?!
Thanks.
