Talk to me about VW 2.0TDI Engines and DPFs
Discussion
I have the opportunity to buy a really nice 2014 Golf GT TDI with the 150PS engine. It's done 54000 miles. I think it's the EA288 engine with a DPF.
I didn't particularly look for a diesel but the torque makes it very nice to drive and this particular car has a very nice spec and is in really good condition.
My concern is the DPF. I don't drive a lot in towns but do a mix of short (<10 miles) and longer journeys so is it likely to be a problem?
Is there anything else I need to look out for?
I didn't particularly look for a diesel but the torque makes it very nice to drive and this particular car has a very nice spec and is in really good condition.
My concern is the DPF. I don't drive a lot in towns but do a mix of short (<10 miles) and longer journeys so is it likely to be a problem?
Is there anything else I need to look out for?
2016 GTD being run here as our daily, currently on 62k miles and owned for nearly 2 years.
Without wanting to give it the kiss of death, we've had zero issues with the DPF despite it being run frequently on urban journeys as short as a 3-mile round trip. I am careful to make sure it gets longer runs, which is no inconvenience given our usage patterns but can be infrequent.
The car itself has no issues to report, other than some usual MQB niggles like front end suspension creaking at low speeds from bushings.
Without wanting to give it the kiss of death, we've had zero issues with the DPF despite it being run frequently on urban journeys as short as a 3-mile round trip. I am careful to make sure it gets longer runs, which is no inconvenience given our usage patterns but can be infrequent.
The car itself has no issues to report, other than some usual MQB niggles like front end suspension creaking at low speeds from bushings.
Wife had a late 2015 Tiguan with this engine. Her's was one of the last mk1 Tiguans and they switched to EA288 just before we bought it. It had AdBlue and was EU6.
Kept is 8yrs and did 45K in it, vast majority of use was 3-4 mile school runs and shopping trips.
I think a key thing to know is that in normal UK use, these never passive regen, so the idea of taking it for a weekly thrashing is pointless. We did a fast trip over the M62 and back again one weekend and the car started an active regen on Monday morning's school run.
They're programmed to do an active regen about every 450 miles if they haven't done one before - in practice ours was doing them around every 200 miles. I really couldn't tell until I got out of the car and the engine fan was still running. We never had any issues after stopping mid-regen, but apparently they can turn the dpf light on and then they do need a run to clear it.
I will say we did always run the car on Shell V-Power - with the mileage it did the cost wasn't a massive issue, but it was getting painful. The one time I didn't use it, the car got its own back by making a glow plug fail!
We ditched the car at 8yrs as could no longer renew the VW All In cover. To be honest with its triple cooling circuits, switchable water pump and the added complication on ours of the AdBlue system, I was a bit terrified of the car!
One point on a 2014 car is that it should have had the cambelt (and ideally the water pump) changed at 5yrs. VW have dropped the requirement to change them so often now, but it does seem to be thought worth doing on the diesels. If that's the case then a 2014 needs doing again now.
Kept is 8yrs and did 45K in it, vast majority of use was 3-4 mile school runs and shopping trips.
I think a key thing to know is that in normal UK use, these never passive regen, so the idea of taking it for a weekly thrashing is pointless. We did a fast trip over the M62 and back again one weekend and the car started an active regen on Monday morning's school run.
They're programmed to do an active regen about every 450 miles if they haven't done one before - in practice ours was doing them around every 200 miles. I really couldn't tell until I got out of the car and the engine fan was still running. We never had any issues after stopping mid-regen, but apparently they can turn the dpf light on and then they do need a run to clear it.
I will say we did always run the car on Shell V-Power - with the mileage it did the cost wasn't a massive issue, but it was getting painful. The one time I didn't use it, the car got its own back by making a glow plug fail!
We ditched the car at 8yrs as could no longer renew the VW All In cover. To be honest with its triple cooling circuits, switchable water pump and the added complication on ours of the AdBlue system, I was a bit terrified of the car!
One point on a 2014 car is that it should have had the cambelt (and ideally the water pump) changed at 5yrs. VW have dropped the requirement to change them so often now, but it does seem to be thought worth doing on the diesels. If that's the case then a 2014 needs doing again now.
Dr G said:
Ran two loan cars with this engine for 3 years and ~30k miles with zero DPF issues in mixed use.
The 5 year belt interval was excessive but at 10 years I would say it's now sensible, preventative maintenance.
There were a couple of diesels popped up on the Tiguan 2 forum, around the time VW dropped the 5yr interval, where the belts (or something associated with them) failed before 5yrs old.The 5 year belt interval was excessive but at 10 years I would say it's now sensible, preventative maintenance.
We have a golf gtd dsg but same engine I believe.
Not sure of its fuel history but we always run in v power and so far we have covered around 1000 miles and it’s only done one regen from what we can tell.
Apart the dsg gearboxes being chocolate, it’s a lovely car to drive with its insane amount of torque.
So, eyes open and all that but if it it's a dsg, budget for a potential gearbox repair sometime in the future.
Having said that, there are plenty of specialists around that can deal with them for a reasonable cost.
Not sure of its fuel history but we always run in v power and so far we have covered around 1000 miles and it’s only done one regen from what we can tell.
Apart the dsg gearboxes being chocolate, it’s a lovely car to drive with its insane amount of torque.
So, eyes open and all that but if it it's a dsg, budget for a potential gearbox repair sometime in the future.
Having said that, there are plenty of specialists around that can deal with them for a reasonable cost.
Sheepshanks said:
There were a couple of diesels popped up on the Tiguan 2 forum, around the time VW dropped the 5yr interval, where the belts (or something associated with them) failed before 5yrs old.
Parts fail. Sometimes even famously reliable things will unexpectedly stop working. I have this conversation often, but the echo chambers of owners forums, facebook etc. are notorious for making isolated cases feel like pandemics.There's absolutely no harm in having a diligent atitude to preventative maintenance (I do) but the 5 year belt interval was excessive.
Dr G said:
Parts fail. Sometimes even famously reliable things will unexpectedly stop working. I have this conversation often, but the echo chambers of owners forums, facebook etc. are notorious for making isolated cases feel like pandemics.
There's absolutely no harm in having a diligent atitude to preventative maintenance (I do) but the 5 year belt interval was excessive and (stuck record here) never the factory guidance anyway.
There's absolutely no harm in having a diligent atitude to preventative maintenance (I do) but the 5 year belt interval was excessive and (stuck record here) never the factory guidance anyway.
May be a bit of luck involved too, my old 2010 A3 started to have a few issues when i sold it to my brother in law who was only doing short trips but my latest 2012 model which is on 160k miles has been ok. I bought it off a workmate who only did mainly short trips but he had owned it since 70k miles.
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