VAG 2.0 TSI engine - advice?
Discussion
I'm asking on behalf of a friend who I've met for an evening in the pub.
He has a Scirocco with the 2.0 TSi engine. It developed a problem which began by him noticing a tiny power loss, and over the space of 6 weeks or so has got to the point where he is seriously concerned. He's not a technical chap, so when the problem became quite apparent (early December) he booked it into the local VW dealer to have a look at. There were no fault codes and they just shrugged their shoulders a bit. The car has been fully serviced by this garage from new.
He's had it back to them since again after it got noticeably worse, which again, they shrugged their shoulders at.
I have had a look under the bonnet this evening, and the oil is black, like you'd expect to find in a diesel engine. Not golden at all. The car was serviced 5 months ago or so and done around 6500 miles since. The even more worrying thing is that there is creamy-ness around the filler cap for the oil. The car does more than just short runs.
It is now slow in starting, often trying to catch a couple of times before it actually does. It runs lumpy at idle when cold too. He isn't using it at the moment, and it's booked in at the dealers for Tuesday.
Really he wants to know what he can expect, and what information (common faults?) to go armed with to the dealer.
Cheers!
He has a Scirocco with the 2.0 TSi engine. It developed a problem which began by him noticing a tiny power loss, and over the space of 6 weeks or so has got to the point where he is seriously concerned. He's not a technical chap, so when the problem became quite apparent (early December) he booked it into the local VW dealer to have a look at. There were no fault codes and they just shrugged their shoulders a bit. The car has been fully serviced by this garage from new.
He's had it back to them since again after it got noticeably worse, which again, they shrugged their shoulders at.
I have had a look under the bonnet this evening, and the oil is black, like you'd expect to find in a diesel engine. Not golden at all. The car was serviced 5 months ago or so and done around 6500 miles since. The even more worrying thing is that there is creamy-ness around the filler cap for the oil. The car does more than just short runs.
It is now slow in starting, often trying to catch a couple of times before it actually does. It runs lumpy at idle when cold too. He isn't using it at the moment, and it's booked in at the dealers for Tuesday.
Really he wants to know what he can expect, and what information (common faults?) to go armed with to the dealer.
Cheers!
Jizzy filler cap sounds a tad like a head gasket issue, i'm told that quickly blackening oil shouldn't really matter, however excess use could be, ask him if he ever feels the need to top it up.
Other than that, I don't have much familiarity with these engines, so best of luck to your friend. HTH
Other than that, I don't have much familiarity with these engines, so best of luck to your friend. HTH
chongwong said:
Jizzy filler cap sounds a tad like a head gasket issue, i'm told that quickly blackening oil shouldn't really matter, however excess use could be, ask him if he ever feels the need to top it up.
Other than that, I don't have much familiarity with these engines, so best of luck to your friend. HTH
I don't have much familiarity with them either, although from what I gather on here they do use oil.Other than that, I don't have much familiarity with these engines, so best of luck to your friend. HTH
He reckons he tops it up a bit every couple of weeks. I'm not really sure what that equates to!
I've never known an engine that doesn't blacken its oil in that kind of time. White gunk in the oil could be the head gasket, or could simply be a result of condensation if the car gets used for short trips a lot.
Oil consumption on the TFSI engine varies but they all use a fair bit. Ours seems to get through about a litre every 4000 miles but I've heard of engines that use four times that.
First thing I'd do is a compression test. If the head gasket has gone, that could explain the power drop and the white gunk.
Oil consumption on the TFSI engine varies but they all use a fair bit. Ours seems to get through about a litre every 4000 miles but I've heard of engines that use four times that.
First thing I'd do is a compression test. If the head gasket has gone, that could explain the power drop and the white gunk.
The mayonnaise type stuff under the oil filler cap can be caused by condensation in colder weather and is usually nothing to worry about (unless there's loads of it).
ETA - just re-read your post and it would seem it is a petrol. I'd echo what kambites has said and get a compression test done. He may be better off finding an indy to do this though rather than the dealer in my experience.
ETA - just re-read your post and it would seem it is a petrol. I'd echo what kambites has said and get a compression test done. He may be better off finding an indy to do this though rather than the dealer in my experience.
Edited by 340600 on Sunday 6th January 21:07
340600 said:
Just to clarify - is it a petrol or diesel? The TSI is a petrol engine.
If the latter everything you've mentioned is pointing to it being a faulty glow plug. If I were him I'd find a good indy VAG specialist to scan it and possibly replace the glow plugs if they can't find/replicate the fault.
The mayonnaise type stuff under the oil filler cap can be caused by condensation in colder weather and is usually nothing to worry about (unless there's loads of it).
It's a petrol. The TSi engine.If the latter everything you've mentioned is pointing to it being a faulty glow plug. If I were him I'd find a good indy VAG specialist to scan it and possibly replace the glow plugs if they can't find/replicate the fault.
The mayonnaise type stuff under the oil filler cap can be caused by condensation in colder weather and is usually nothing to worry about (unless there's loads of it).
There's a fair bit of mayo. Enough to spread over a couple of slices of toast if it were actually mayo.
The mayo stuff ain't right if, like you say its not used for regular short cold runs. I followed one of these not long ago and was surprised by the amount of blue smoke it emitted.
A colleague has a new polo gti with the 1.4 supercharged petrol that had the same symptoms as your friend. After numerous stays at the vw dealer they gave up and replaced the complete engine.
A colleague has a new polo gti with the 1.4 supercharged petrol that had the same symptoms as your friend. After numerous stays at the vw dealer they gave up and replaced the complete engine.
Personally I'd suggest taking it to a Bosch ignition specialist. My sister had issues with her polo cutting out and vw also scratched their heads - albeit at their horrendous hourly rates. We took it a Bosch ignition specialist called RA Engineering near us in Reading and they diagnosed it within 2hrs of having the car.
I have had my mk5 Golf GTI for 5 years and on occasion a small bit of mayo does form under the oil cap but it has never lost any coolant. In fact I have never heard of a HG failure on this engine, i put it down to condensation forming
As for the power loss the DV and PCV valve are known weak items and have gone through several revisions in order to improve durability and performance. Both are cheap to buy and fit. I did the PCV this weekend in 20mins
As for the power loss the DV and PCV valve are known weak items and have gone through several revisions in order to improve durability and performance. Both are cheap to buy and fit. I did the PCV this weekend in 20mins
Edited by Holepunch on Sunday 6th January 22:00
Although the power outputs are similar the Scirocco uses a different variant of engine to the MK5 GTI. The Scirocco uses the chain driven EA888 variant.
Mayo will be condensation and modern synthetic oils blacken very quickly. Also never heard of a HG go on one of these.
They also use a bit of oil too.
Take it to a good indy.
Mayo will be condensation and modern synthetic oils blacken very quickly. Also never heard of a HG go on one of these.
They also use a bit of oil too.
Take it to a good indy.
Edited by cuprabob on Sunday 6th January 22:47
Drive Blind said:
Crafty_ said:
Compression test it.
+1needs a compression test
Sniffer test to check if you're loosing compression into coolant and leak down test to check valves and rings arn't leaking.
As it's an intermittent fault I'd go with management or electronic failure. Main dealer mechanics aren't always the best, plenty are but not all. They tend not to have to earn their stripes so to speak.
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