2.0TSI Catastrophic engine failure, owners be aware.

[Transporter]

I hope this can help other owners (save them money as well) who have the similar engine CCZA, CCZB under the bonnet of Octavia, Golf GTI.

VW, Audi, Skoda 2.0L TSI catastrophic engine failures caused by VW failure to notify their customers that they had to redesign a critical engine component.
….and not just once, the timing chain tensioner was silently revised 4 times by manufacturer,
because it was failing to keep the timing chain from jumping the teeth on the cam resulting in
engine destruction. The right thing to do would be to issue the recall and replace the tensioner
inside the engine or at least update the ECU, so it would detect and set the check engine light off if
the chain would start losing the tension. The out of timing cams will cause bent valves, possibly broken valve guides and has potential to damage the postons.
Often there is no warning when the tensioner fails and the damage happens instantly in fraction of a second. Some
engines may have a rattle on start up when starting cold engine in the morning, which many may
overlook. Every 2.0L TSI engine from 2009-2013(4) in Golf6 GTI, Passat, Audi A3, A4, Octavia2 vRS that’s
done 100,000km should have the timing chain tensioner inspected and replaced if found that you
don’t have the latest revision, which is VW p/n 06K 109 467K. It should take less than 1 hour.

[Shadow_Rusty]

This is definitely a wide spread issue as the ~08.5+ Eos and ~08.5 Mk5 GTI also have this same failure...
Unfortunately, unlike the US, there is no extended warranty here for this either.
So if you have one of these cam chain based TFSI engines, get it checked even if the service history says it was done.

[Transporter]

Reserved space for future post

[Willow2015]

2011 Skoda Octavia vRS, 130,000km, immaculately maintained, serviced regularly (more regular than the 15,000km service book recommends). Timing chain tensioner failed 2/4/19, Notified Skoda Australia - they didn't want to know about the issue, spoke with a guy called Charlie who seemed too have no idea what he was talking about - was unaware that the engine is shared with VW/Audi?? Also said timing tensioner should be changed at regular intervals, he then refused too speak with me directly, and i had to speak with someone else at Skoda Australia (equally as unhelpful: clearly they could do with a crash course in customer relations/communication) advised has to be diagnosed by their mechanics - towed to Jarvis - made to feel like a criminal, they were asking for at least 5 hours to diagnose the issue - my Mechanic diagnosed the problem in less than 20 minutes. When I questioned them, they got upset and refused to look into it further. Really disappointing. Would never purchase a Skoda again, they clearly have no desire to help their customers (potential returning customers) with common factory caused faults.

Through a google search, I found this was a very common worldwide issue - something Skoda denies, found a link to Shine Lawyers with a proposed class action against them for this particular issue. VW has compensated/repaired vehicles in other countries. If you, or someone you know are having this issue - share the word.

Audi, Skoda and Volkswagen Potential Class Action | Shine Lawyers

[Lucas_R]

When i had my 2010 model Mk6 GTI I replaced (at my cost) the timing chain tensioner, guides and timing chain cover due to a startup rattle on cold engine and my car had the old model tensioner. The car only had about 55,000km on it at the time and had all its scheduled services done by my local VW dealership. I was aware of this issue and didn't want to risk being a victim of a much more expensive repair not to mention having the car off the road for several weeks.

VW was not interested in coming to the party, insisting the startup rattle noise was "normal operation".

After trying to get some assistance from VW for several weeks i decided to pay for it out of my pocket for peace of mind and to eliminate/reduce the risk.

[Willow2015]

Lucas, register for the class action. I believe there are a few hundred people registered at the moment.

Audi, Skoda and Volkswagen Potential Class Action | Shine Lawyers

[spellbound]

I ditched my MK6 GTI 15 months ago when my independent service centre said they were seeing these issues at as low as 60,000 kms , not good , VW should be warning punters to get corrective work done .

[Lucas_R]

Lucas, register for the class action. I believe there are a few hundred people registered at the moment.

Audi, Skoda and Volkswagen Potential Class Action | Shine Lawyers

I sold the car approx 2 years ago (new owner knew the timing chain tensioner etc had been replaced). Not sure i could/should register when i no longer own the car.

[Willow2015]

I enquired about this, saying I'm likely going to sell it as parts, they said i don't need to keep the vehicle to be part of the class action. If in doubt, give them a call. If you register and get something back as a result - may take a while, but better than a kick in the guts!

[seangti]

It's certainly not a 1hr job to change the tensioner. I can't recall the labour charge, but you're looking at roughly $1000 all up for the tensioner and new cover.

Yeah, extremely weak form from VW Australia. I won't be buying another VW due to the lack of corporate integrity they've demonstrated over the past few years.

[Lucas_R]

It's certainly not a 1hr job to change the tensioner. I can't recall the labour charge, but you're looking at roughly $1000 all up for the tensioner and new cover.

Yeah, extremely weak form from VW Australia. I won't be buying another VW due to the lack of corporate integrity they've demonstrated over the past few years.

I agree - it takes some time to change the tensioner. Mine cost $950 for parts and labour (and my brother was working at the dealership at the time so that was somewhat "mates rates") and then they broke the dipstick tube (plastic) so that cost me another $180 approx. It was around $500 for the parts, so basically the same price for labour.

You can however check what tensioner you have quite quickly. If you remove the drivers side front wheel, there is a rubber/plastic plug on the side of the timing cover case that you can pop off to check the style tensioner your car has. My GTI was a 2010 so quite early in the Mk6 production so i checked the tensioner before replacing it even though i already knew it was the troublesome one.

[Transporter]

How to inspect the 2.0L TSI engine after timing chain tensioner failure.

The dealers usually and often will want you to agree that they’ll bill you for up to 5 hours diagnostic time(refundable if they accept the claim under the warranty).

Here is how you can do it in 30minutes or less.

Remove ignition coils and spark plugs.
Use horoscope (Inspection camera)
Stick it in every cylinder and check the valves
Use 24mm socket to slowly rotate the engine, often you can feel that engine rotates too easy (it’s a bad sign-no compression). Using borescope, check if the valves move while you turning the crankshaft – you will see the pistons going up or down. Bring the piston up to or as close to TDC as possible (if you feel the strong resistance while turning, stop rotating) and see whether the valves are closing or not. If the valves are fully/almost open and making contact with piston(s), the valves are bent and the cylinder head has to come off for repairs before you can replace the timing chain tensioner, chain, chain guides and the sprockets too.
Whole inspection took me 30 minutes with plenty of picture taking,

As you can see from the video, all the inlet valves were open, even when pistons were moved up while rotating the crankshaft.

Of course you can do compression test if the engine rotate freely (to confirm the engine is mechanically sound). If not, don’t force it, you don’t want to cause more damage to the engine

The bottom line is,
no one should ask you to pay for 5 hours time when the diagnosing fault takes 30 minutes.
You only need to know that there is 1 valve bent and the rest of the repair process is the same, since it’s cheaper to fit a brand new cylinder head than replace the valves, guides and the rest that’s broken. ...and as for the pistons and the cylinder bores? The borescope gives very good insight what conditions pistons and cylinders are.

[Transporter]

Now the car is for wrecking

RS Octavia2 147TSI DSG

[angry_kermit]

tops effort on the quick diagnosis, whilst not proficient enough to know how ti fix it I reckon I could have a stab at this if the issue arose.

[Transporter]

tops effort on the quick diagnosis, whilst not proficient enough to know how ti fix it I reckon I could have a stab at this if the issue arose.

We can’t find the secondhand good engine for the right price and to repair the damage could be very expensive. The car was already replaced with the new one. So, it’s either for wrecking or for sale if the replacement engine crops out somewhere.