Golf 118 TSI Engine Failures and Service Campaign 24S4

[sVWatt]

How many km's David?

"Don't ever own a VW out of warranty" - such great advice!

I'd disagree. Had two Polos, a Beetle, two Golfs, Scirocco and Passat all out of warranty (by some years) and only the Passat let me down. That was due to the shonky guy I bought it from. Nothing wrong with the vast VWs in or out of warranty. Maybe the current 118 is a pig, but don't write off the broader range.

[davewave]

How many km's David?

79500 KMs

[davewave]

Yes but what are VW doing to instill confidence in me to buy from them again? Blaming me for putting in the wrong fuel is just deplorable.

[bushnut]

i wouldnt worry about it vga will pay for this its not like your the first prson to have a 118 self distruct on them

[kaanage]

Do they mean conrods?

Should be impossible unless the metal quality doesn't measure up or the rod was designed by a first week apprentice.

According to Guy Harding (APR), the Polo 6R GTi, which has a slightly tuned version of the 118 twincharger:

The conrods are the smallest I have seen in a production engine for some time. They look like they are out of a lawnmower.

Every time I read about what's happening with these cars I give thanks that I bought a diesel — and I'm a bit nervous about that...

I'm also glad we did (and which also has the 6 speed wet clutch DSG) but the DPF, HPFP and even the DSG still makes me wonder how things will go long term

[Gambit]

Nightmare come true. Please help, VW want to rebuild my engine.

First thing is its out of warranty, so may not be able to do much, unless you fight tooth and nail for the repair, having said that vag have a big bill in oz for cars already under warranty recall, so bear that in mind. If all else fails source a replacement engine and just drop that in and sell the car on, might be cheaper.

[bushnut]

vga are well aware of the 118 failures and if they made a customer pay for any engine failure there would be in the courts straight away an engine is not a service item it should last the life of the vehichle within reason there wouldnt be a week that goes by were a vw dealer isnt rebuilding or swopping out a 118 engine. if there saying your fuel is poor quality get them to test it this was common practice when they first started failing caltex tested a fair few but never saw warranty knock back a claim even if it was not 98 ron. vga usally ask just for a photo of a fuel samples nowadays amber fuel colour good fuel pink fuel colour bad fuel. piston ringland failure yes cracked conrods i dont think so. i think thats just the dealer/ serivce advisor monkey getting carried away

[hoi polloi]

I'd be getting in touch with the Fair Trading department in your state... Write a letter (as in on actual paper if need be) explaining your situation... Even though the car is warranted for 3 years there exists an "implied warranty" in as much as it is unreasonable for an engine to fail so soon... They have the power to force redress..

- Anthony.

[parso_rex]

Had this happen to a friend in a southern state where the service department convinced the wife of the owner that she must have used 91 octane in the car - seriously how many wives would really know, I'd say not too many and I don't mean that in a bad way either.

I then spoke to a service manager up here who went on to tell me that recently the fuel colouring in certain states had changed anyway which sort of meant the old colour test was no longer valid. We then had the car shipped up here and it was placed along side the other two dead 118s in the corner and after a couple of weeks was sent back to its happy owners down south their faith restored in VW but not in their home state.

The thing is the ECU 'should' be able to protect itself against pretty much anything you can fuel it with, if it can't then there is something seriously wrong with the programming and guess what there is/was. Imagine how many times you've inadvertently filled up with the wrong fuel or bad fuel due to a deliberate deception on the part of the service station or just some fuel quality issue.
Just ask them to 'prove' that it was indeed 91 not just via colour and then have them include this in a formal response from VW detailing their findings and suggested solution to the problem. You might want to try another dealer too of course

M

[davewave]

Just heard back from VW and its all approved and they are going to fix the car gratis.
But they certainly were trying to make out that it was my fault and that they were doing me a favor.
Oh well. Thanks again for the help peeps, it helped fuel my arguments but i still think with all the problems I've had over the short years of this car that I'm going to sell it as soon as it is fixed.

Recommendations?
What ELSE is wrong with my car waiting to pop?

Cheers
David

Oh and another thing, how do I know if I'm getting proper quality fuel and not some crap?
What can I do to insure this from happening again? Are some servos like shell more reliable than woolworths etc?

[Lucas_R]

Good to hear that VW will fix it at no cost - and so they should.

As for other potential issues - if the DSG hasn't failed yet (either the clutches or the brain (mechatronics) that controls it - it soon will). My advice would be to get the car fixed, cut your losses and sell it.

The 1.4 twincharger is a failure and the 7 speed DSG gearbox is a failure, and for cars like the 118TSI Golf which have that engine and that gearbox....it's only a matter of time.

[noone]

vga are well aware of the 118 failures and if they made a customer pay for any engine failure there would be in the courts straight away an engine is not a service item it should last the life of the vehichle within reason there wouldnt be a week that goes by were a vw dealer isnt rebuilding or swopping out a 118 engine.

Interesting. If they ask for your money and you hand it over, how would ANYONE know? Also, the 'life' of anything is a variable term, the 'life' of anything with a 'lifetime' warranty is determined by the manufacturer / distributor. I get where you're coming from, but the average Joe is going to get this from VW, thats why so many are frustrated, fighting for what they thought they had bought (both in company reputation and quality of the hardware)

[dsuhiti]

Just heard back from VW and its all approved and they are going to fix the car gratis.
But they certainly were trying to make out that it was my fault and that they were doing me a favor.
Oh well. Thanks again for the help peeps, it helped fuel my arguments but i still think with all the problems I've had over the short years of this car that I'm going to sell it as soon as it is fixed.

Recommendations?
What ELSE is wrong with my car waiting to pop?

Cheers
David

Oh and another thing, how do I know if I'm getting proper quality fuel and not some crap?
What can I do to insure this from happening again? Are some servos like shell more reliable than woolworths etc?

Plain simple, once you get it repaired - SELL IT!

[Corey_R]

Thanks in advance for any help/advice.

David

Hey David,

I'm the previous moderator for the Golf 6 forum here. I don't post anymore, but I saw this and thought it important enough to do so.

I couldn't see in your post, or any of the replies thus far, any mention of the 24S4 Service Campaign.

There is a thread about it here. It's a bit long. But basically people with the 118TSI were having engine failures, involving some or all of the symptoms that you mentioned. It was not only occurring in Australia, but also Singapore and a few other APAC places. Turned out to be the ECU not being properly calibrated to the quality of fuel available in this region.

(Sorry if some of what I'm saying isn't quite right, this is from memory of the details of this issue from 2009 to when I stopped reading/posting at the end of 2011).

Anyway, this is hopefully quite clear why I bring this up.

If your car did not have this 24S4 update performed, then VW have messed up here and not only should they be liable for the entire cost here, I'd be demanding a brand new replacement engine, not a repaired/reconditioned.

However, even when cars did have the 24S4 update performed, there were still a certain percentage that failed afterwards, as the damage had already been done. So this could still be the case for your car.

I'm glad that they are fixing this for you gratis, but hopefully there is still some useful information here.

Cheers,
Corey_R

[walbjj]

good luck selling it, im sure u will take a massive hit on it, otherwise just trade it in and be glad that anyone will take it