Owners of 1.4 TSI engine Volkswagens are being left with mighty bills after having to replace the faulty/sub-standard VW engines, normally after the warranty has just expired, but before the car is of a valid age to really be worthy of such major engine problems.
The VW fault and how it begins
As a solid VW owner and previous advocate for VW (alas no more) I have owned a 1.3s Polo, a 1.4s Lupo, a 2.0 Beetle and now a 1.4 TSI VW beetle.The 1.4 TSI was the 'recommended' choice by independent motoring experts, but how wrong they were.
I bought my 2012 VW Beetle in 2016 with 39k on the clock, in 3 years I've increased the mileage by a almost irrelevant 13k, totalling 52K on the clock of a car that is currently 7 years old. That's a pretty well cared for car you might say!
However the engine warning light appeared on my dashboard one day after the car unusually stalled when moving from a stationary position, and the car then began to immediately lack any power to accelerate or drive sufficiently. The error code was a P0302 ERROR, which is a cylinder 2 mis-fire, the car was immediately un-driveable and unsafe. The VW recommendation for any engine fault is to take it to a mechanic immediately.
It was towed to a local mechanic who initially suspected it was a just a coil that would need replacing, however on inspection he said, "This needs a new engine, this is a fault VW and Audi are aware of, we have seen a few instances of this already this year (at the MOT garage). Audi normally fix this for free, but VW will put up a fight and you will need at least a full service history to get any goodwill gesture from them".
Being somewhat cautious of such a speculative and expensive sounding diagnosis, I began to investigate and found many forum posts from disgruntled VW owners that had suffered with similar engine faults in recent years.
What did VW have to say?
I called my local VW garage, the VW technician I spoke to searched any faults related to my registration and told me there were NO KNOWN FAULTS related to this engine. But I could bring my VW Beetle into the 'Lookers' VW branch, Guildford and they would again run the diagnostics to see what the problem was with a starting cost of an initial £60 to check the computer (I might add at this stage my local mechanic who I had never used before and who had my car all day investigating the problem and running tests did NOT CHARGE ME anything).My problem was the car was un-driveable and my local VW service centre was a good drive away, my concern was if I took it to VW immediately without further knowledge I could potentially be stung with VW service labour and a new engine and they could still deny any knowledge of a known fault and not offer any goodwill, they had already denied any knowledge of a known engine fault.
Like these poor VW owners: Engine failure left VW owners picking up a surprise £6,700 bill: https://www.theguardian.com/money/2018/aug/11/engine-failure-left-vw-owners-picking-up-a-surprise-6700-bill
Talking to a trusted mechanic
I decided the next most sensible step was to get more knowledge and insight into the issue. My trusted mechanic who has serviced all my VW's over the years took a look for me. He ran various different tests and checked the compression, and he surmised the only way to get to the true route of the issue was to crack this baby open. I said yes, let's see what is going on. He carefully took apart the engine and removed the piston from cylinder 2, and under the piston rings, the side of the piston had indeed been 'worn/burnt' away, with the outside edge of the piston worn the engine was not producing the adequate compression, hence the power failure and mis-firing occurring.
The engine removed from my VW beetle
The piston removed from Cylinder 2
The piston from cylinder 2
The worn piston causing the mis-fire, a piston should not be this damaged after only 50k miles!
The next questions we had were:
- Are any of the other pistons cracking and also be on their way to a similar fate?
- What other VW componants have been damaged?
And the overall thinking being:
- This should not have happened to an engine with just over 50k on the clock.
- Was this simply caused by a faulty VW software update?
Beware of the VW engine issue
After a few quick google searches it appears this is not an unknown issue, it appear's that weak manufacturing of the pistons prior to 2013 are a common fault in VW and Audi 1.4 TSI engines.
Trying to get VW to accept responsibility for faulty VW engine build
So now we had diagnosed the issue with the cylinder 2 mis-fire, a piston malfunction, the next step was to go back to VW.I contacted VW UK customer care, and two local VW dealerships.
This was the response from VW Customer Care:
Unfortunately, we cannot comment on the current issues you are experiencing with your Volkswagen Beetle. We can only comment on diagnosis information provided to us by a member of our Approved Retailer Network. I apologise for any disappointment this may cause.
I do appreciate that your expectations of reliability and build quality are high when you purchase a Volkswagen and that any failure is most disappointing. It is not possible to give a life expectancy on any component. There is always a possibility that a component may fail during its lifetime. It is for this reason that all new UK Volkswagen vehicles are supplied with a comprehensive 3 years or 60,000 miles warranty, whichever arrives first.
I understand that you would like Volkswagen UK to look into the possibility of offering support with the potential costs involved in repairing your vehicle. Unfortunately, we are unable to directly offer any support towards the repair of your vehicle. Our UK Approved Retailer Network is empowered to review and offer goodwill support towards repairs; where they feel appropriate. Our Approved Retailers can only review the possibility of support, if they have had the opportunity to inspect the vehicle. I am sorry that we are unable to offer any further assistance at this stage, however I hope you can understand the reasons behind our response. Thank you for contacting Volkswagen UK.
Kind regards,
Eve
Customer Relations Advisor
Volkswagen Customer Services Centre
Now I understand they they would want to diagnose it personally, but at this point my car had the engine removed, was un-driveable, and VW still would not concede that this was a known fault. But I had the faulty piston I could have shown them.
Lookers VW in Slyfield, Guildford said I needed to book the car in before they would comment. And they did say they had NO POWER to provide any goodwill as it would have to be approved by VW UK first. Quite the opposite to the VW UK Customer Advisor email response above, who said the dealerships HAD THE POWER to offer goodwill.
Lookers VW in Walton were slightly more sympathetic but said I would need the car rebuilt before they would have a look at it. And as for 'goodwill' gestures or compensation, they would only offer this to loyal customers who have only ever had the car serviced through VW. Now I don't know about you but my 'local' VW is not that local, and of course the hourly rate is more than most independent mechanics, so like most people I get my car service/oil change etc through a local trusted garage.
So what options was I left with?
Can you send a VW mechanic out?
VW said:
No.
I asked:
Can I pay for a VW mechanic to come see the car?
VW said:
No.
I asked:
How could this have happened to an engine with ONLY 50k?
VW said:
It might be something as simple as not having the spark plugs changed within the 3 months they should have been changed, or it could have been caused by a coil.
I asked:
Could this have been caused by the software/a software update required?
VW said:
It might be a reason.
I asked:
How would I have know it could have needed a software update, you don't send out emails or notifications to VW owners?
VW said:
No, software is only updated when cars are serviced through VW.
I asked:
So there could be VW cars with faulty software installed and the owners would never know it needs updating unless they go to a VW garage?
VW said:
No, software is only updated when cars are serviced through VW.
I asked:
As you are not willing to do the repair unless I get the faulty engine put back in the car and get it towed to you; I will get my local mechanic to replace the faulty engine with a brand new VW engine at great expense to myself (over £5k), can you provide any discount on the VW engine if I buy it direct from you?
VW said:
No.
I asked:
If I get a brand new approved VW engine fitted with my local mechanic, can you at least run a software check and potential update if there is an issue found?
VW said:
Yes, you'll need to book it in and it will cost you at least £60 + VAT for us to diagnose it.
I asked:
And you wouldn't be willing to at least do this as a goodwill gesture (free)?
VW said:
NO.
BUT VW ARE AWARE OF THIS FAULT
Volkswagen Australia have recognised the fault: https://ssch.com.au/trade-news/bulletin-volkswagen-1-4-piston-failure/Where does that leave me, and you?
I am going to stick with the repair through my own mechanic and I will continue to use him. When my VW has had it's time (again), I will look to buy something more reliable and eco-friendly from an alternative manufacturer, hello Kia/Toyota/Nissan. Goodbye solid 20 year running streak of VW loyalty, recommendation and ownership.And it looks like I am joining the gang of disgruntled VW owners worldwide that feel cheated, unsupported and ripped off.
If you own a 1.4 TSI Volkswagen post 2012, I suggest you take it to VW to ensure you have the latest software update, and perhaps even check the cylinder compression to check there aren't any small leaks, because that's where it starts.
Feel free to contact me at volkswagenfail@gmail.com
Thanks for reading - Sally
