Golf 118 TSI Engine Failures and Service Campaign 24S4

[bgp10]

Great to hear some more positive stories.

While there was a dark period of uncertainty around the 118TSI a few years back, VW Australia and the Customer Service people (led by Jason) have been pretty fantastic in adressing these faults with the minimum of fuss. As you said, it's not ideal that it happens in the first place, but the fix gives me all the confidence I need to buy another VW in the future (not only because I've been obsessed since way back ).

Yeah, the level of customer support has been crazy good. It’s certainly restored my confidence in the brand.

[Ranger]

Update:

My suspicions were correct and it was a cracked cylinder causing the engine light and rough idle.

The dealer checked the car and ruled out any other possible cause, saying it could be compression failure on the cylinders but would not know until they took the engine apart.

To look further it would be $1500 to $2000 to take it apart. At that point I told them to wait and contacted VW Customer Experience.

They were very good, giving me a hire car immediately and liaising with the dealer about the repair. It's been a few weeks but today I got the confirmation of a goodwill repair.

Overall very happy with VW customer care and how its been handled by them, gives me confidence in the brand and would recommend and buy another VW.

I hope any others in the future experience the same support, good luck.

Hey mate

I am 100% in the same situation.

Got a 2011 Golf, 61,000km on the clock, had it since 43,000. Have only had it one year and owe quite a bit.

Had it inspected and got told cylinders 1 & 4 had compression loss and suspected cracked piston. Immediately got in touch with VW, they said get the inspection etc etc. Took it to a dealer, they reckon 4 week wait and were overly keen on selling me a car. Got in touch with VW again about my bad experience with that dealer, saying this is a known issue and they should be doing a goodwill replacement. Said that I'm more than happy to explore all my option if they don't want to fix it, without threatening. But I did finish by saying that I really enjoy my Golf and got one over a Renault because my brother and niece both have one and they are extremely happy, concluding by asking if we can just make this as smooth as possible so I can get back into the car I enjoy.

After a few quick messages they had offered to get a loan car, but when the dealer didn't have one, they like with you have paid for a hire car for me until the issue gets sorted - initially for 2 weeks and further if need be. Funnily enough it's a brand new Golf. Now even though I'm sick to the stomach about the outcome 24/7, if that isn't good customer service I'm not sure what is.

It does actually give me confidence they will come to the party and fix it. Got confirmation from dealer yesterday it is compression loss in cylinder 1, and they wanted my authorisation to pull the engine down. They said they "can't guarantee VW will come to the party", but I definitely can't afford dropping $6000+ on a new engine. Seriously what can go wrong with my Golf that's my fault when it's been regularly serviced and always had premium? Like I said I just hope their customer service so far is a good indicator of their goodwill.

[Ranger]

Great to hear some more positive stories.

While there was a dark period of uncertainty around the 118TSI a few years back, VW Australia and the Customer Service people (led by Jason) have been pretty fantastic in adressing these faults with the minimum of fuss. As you said, it's not ideal that it happens in the first place, but the fix gives me all the confidence I need to buy another VW in the future (not only because I've been obsessed since way back ).

Yes mate need a bit of positivity right now - see my post...

[Ranger]

Edited.

[Ranger]

Hi all, OK I've got some awesome, awesome news, but just want to wait until I pick the Golf up to explain fully. But yeah it's good

[BlueSteel]

I've just had this same issue happen with my 2013 Jetta 118TSI CTHD engine at 50,000KM. Issue was rough idling, and CEL flashing.
VW are doing a goodwill repair on this currently .

Initially took it to my mechanic who confirmed the car logged a misfire in Cylinder 4. As a result of this he changed spark plugs and had me run injector cleaner through the next tank of fuel - I added fuel cleaner and filled the tank that day. It still felt rough and occasionally the CEL would flash a few times, however driving was OK for the next ~300KM - the CEL came on intermittently and the rough idle did not go away.

After 300KM the idling got rougher, and the EPC light came on. I took it back to my mechanic who diagnosed low compression (50 psi), and advised I take the car back to Volkswagen as the engine would need to be taken apart by them.

I called around to a couple of VW Dealerships. The first dealership didn't seem to want to deal with my car. I asked about the cracked piston issue, and was advised that since my car was a 2013 / CTHD engine, it shouldn't be a cracked piston. I was told the current wait time before they would be able to disassemble and look at my engine was 7 weeks, then they we could apply for a goodwill repair..

The second dealership was much more helpful, and advised they could look at it the next day (and would be able to disassemble the engine later that week if required). I was advised if it is the cracked piston issue that they will apply for a goodwill repair from VW Australia.
As I didn't want to risk (further) damage to the engine (it was ~20KM drive, and I wasn't sure the car would make it), I had the car towed to this VW Dealership on Wednesday. Initially authorising ~2 hours of labour to diagnose/confirm where the fault was.

I was given a call later that day (Wednesday) to advise that the technicians suspected it was a cracked piston, however would need to disassemble the engine to confirm, and then could log a good-will request with VW Australia. I approved this labour with the understanding that this would probably be done by Monday.

On Monday I called to follow up, I was able to speak to someone in the service department, however not the person who worked with my car, who advised that they could see parts had been ordered parts for my vehicle (a new engine) - I queried this as I had only approved the labour for engine disassembly at that point.
The tech advised he'll get back to me, and after ~20 minutes called back advising this is a good will repair, with VW Australia covering parts & labour (including the labour to disassemble the engine). I was advised this work should be completed by Friday.

Even though the service department is not open on Saturday I was advised I can still pickup over the weekend (they can provide codes to a lockup garage on site), I need to confirm the details for this however. I guess any paperwork for the vehicle would be done at the associated dealership (which is open Saturday).

Overall I'm pretty happy with Volkswagen & the dealership's handling of this.

I should get the car back either Saturday or Monday. I'll let you guys know if I have any issues with the car next week, or if there are any hiccups with getting the new engine.

[Yapa]

Update:

My suspicions were correct and it was a cracked cylinder causing the engine light and rough idle.

The dealer checked the car and ruled out any other possible cause, saying it could be compression failure on the cylinders but would not know until they took the engine apart.

To look further it would be $1500 to $2000 to take it apart. At that point I told them to wait and contacted VW Customer Experience.

They were very good, giving me a hire car immediately and liaising with the dealer about the repair. It's been a few weeks but today I got the confirmation of a goodwill repair.

Overall very happy with VW customer care and how its been handled by them, gives me confidence in the brand and would recommend and buy another VW.

I hope any others in the future experience the same support, good luck.

So just 2 months and approx 5000 KM's after getting my car back with rebuilt engine the gearbox blew.... just heard a loud poping sound and lost all drive. The P R N D gear letters are flashing on the dash and the car seems to be in neutral all the time.

Had to get it towed home.... very disheartening ...

[tigger73]

So just 2 months and approx 5000 KM's after getting my car back with rebuilt engine the gearbox blew.... just heard a loud poping sound and lost all drive. The P R N D gear letters are flashing on the dash and the car seems to be in neutral all the time.

Had to get it towed home.... very disheartening ...

Bugger!!! [emoji21]

I wonder whether VW are going to be as good with this on and fix it under goodwill.



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[brad]

So just 2 months and approx 5000 KM's after getting my car back with rebuilt engine the gearbox blew.... just heard a loud poping sound and lost all drive. The P R N D gear letters are flashing on the dash and the car seems to be in neutral all the time.

Had to get it towed home.... very disheartening ...

crap engine
crap gearbox
worst VW driveline ever.

[Lucas_R]

So just 2 months and approx 5000 KM's after getting my car back with rebuilt engine the gearbox blew.... just heard a loud poping sound and lost all drive. The P R N D gear letters are flashing on the dash and the car seems to be in neutral all the time.

Had to get it towed home.... very disheartening ...

Far out - sorry to hear. Fix it and get rid of it. Must be hard to imaging buying another VW product again.....but this engine and gearbox used in the 118TSI really are cursed and are literally a ticking time bomb. Thankfully, other VW products are much more reliable.

[Yapa]

It's back at the VW dealer who repaired the engine.

Waiting on diagnosis but have since found that the mechatronics unit in these 7 Speed gearboxes was recalled... I believe it should have been done by VW as it's always been serviced by VW but who knows?

If it is the gearbox and expensive hopefully VW comes to help again, never had such a troublesome car before...

[Lucas_R]

It's back at the VW dealer who repaired the engine.

Waiting on diagnosis but have since found that the mechatronics unit in these 7 Speed gearboxes was recalled... I believe it should have been done by VW as it's always been serviced by VW but who knows?

If it is the gearbox and expensive hopefully VW comes to help again, never had such a troublesome car before...

Yes i believe there have been 2x separate recalls on the 7 speed DSG used in the 118TSI - one for the oil to be replaced, and another which was either clutch packs or mechatronics. Someone else who has 1st hand experience should be able to clarify this.

[The_Hawk]

I've just had this same issue happen with my 2013 Jetta 118TSI CTHD engine at 50,000KM.

Is this the first CTHD that has been seen on VWWC?

As you said, the newer revision was supposed to be much better and I don't know that I've heard of another one going like this?

[Yapa]

Just got the call from dealer and was quoted $33xx for the mechatronics unit...

He said they would speak with VW customer care.

[Yapa]

Good news, VW have agreed to cover the repair costs in full! Very happy to as the least!