2010 VW Polo - Timing chain gone.
Discussion
I have a 2010 polo 6R, 1.2 70ps petrol engine, 60k on the clock.
History ; Registered and bought new in 2010, serviced for 4 years through mobility at a main VW garage. I then purchased the vehicle in 2014 and have had it for 1 year with a full service from an independent VW specialist.
I have had the timing chain fail, there was no pre warning, engine lights or unusual sounds, it has yet to be recovered to my mechanic but the local recovery garage said its not a pretty sight and the chain has failed and the work is major. His opinion is that the engine is destroyed.
I had traveled 70 motorway miles, parked the car on a steep gravel drive facing upward, on switching off the ignition the car jerked forward and there was a 'clunk' from the engine compartment, on re-starting the engine all hell broke loose with metal screaming, sounding like a tractor, I immediately turned the engine off and contacted my mechanic.
I have read online about 2009-2010 petrol VW tiguan, golf and sirocco's having timing chain failures but nothing on the polo 6R with it being a newer model. There are reports of similar stories with SEAT and Skoda 1.2 engines, albiet TSI's
Its my understanding that there is no maintenance plan or service schedule for the timing chain because it is a life time part and should last the life of the vehicle.
If the vehicle was fitted with a timing belt, and it had a service schedule at 60k to replace, then this would have been carried out as part of looking after my car, costing £300-400. The chain failure has potentially cost me 1-6k for an engine (reconditioned or new)
The car is very well looked after and its soul destroying for this to happen, I'm not sure yet what my options are moving forward from here. A realistic low ball private value before this problem was 5k (independents listing similar @ 6.2-6.5k, Main dealers 7-7.6k)So I guess I should work with that price in terms of feasibility for repairing.
I genuinely have not felt this 'sick' in my life over anything.
Who would have thought a 4.5 year old VW with full service history would pack it in
Should I approach Volkswagen UK with this problem ? How would I go about structuring the letter/email ?
History ; Registered and bought new in 2010, serviced for 4 years through mobility at a main VW garage. I then purchased the vehicle in 2014 and have had it for 1 year with a full service from an independent VW specialist.
I have had the timing chain fail, there was no pre warning, engine lights or unusual sounds, it has yet to be recovered to my mechanic but the local recovery garage said its not a pretty sight and the chain has failed and the work is major. His opinion is that the engine is destroyed.
I had traveled 70 motorway miles, parked the car on a steep gravel drive facing upward, on switching off the ignition the car jerked forward and there was a 'clunk' from the engine compartment, on re-starting the engine all hell broke loose with metal screaming, sounding like a tractor, I immediately turned the engine off and contacted my mechanic.
I have read online about 2009-2010 petrol VW tiguan, golf and sirocco's having timing chain failures but nothing on the polo 6R with it being a newer model. There are reports of similar stories with SEAT and Skoda 1.2 engines, albiet TSI's
Its my understanding that there is no maintenance plan or service schedule for the timing chain because it is a life time part and should last the life of the vehicle.
If the vehicle was fitted with a timing belt, and it had a service schedule at 60k to replace, then this would have been carried out as part of looking after my car, costing £300-400. The chain failure has potentially cost me 1-6k for an engine (reconditioned or new)
The car is very well looked after and its soul destroying for this to happen, I'm not sure yet what my options are moving forward from here. A realistic low ball private value before this problem was 5k (independents listing similar @ 6.2-6.5k, Main dealers 7-7.6k)So I guess I should work with that price in terms of feasibility for repairing.
I genuinely have not felt this 'sick' in my life over anything.
Who would have thought a 4.5 year old VW with full service history would pack it in
Should I approach Volkswagen UK with this problem ? How would I go about structuring the letter/email ?
If its out of warranty then you're out of real luck. Things break.
Also, ignore the model the engines are in - engines are designed regardless of the vehicle to reduce engineering.
You could try VW UK but they have no obligation to help you. You out might get lucky. Typically a OEM will only do 'courtesy work' if the issue is causing them to have significantly bad press.
Also, ignore the model the engines are in - engines are designed regardless of the vehicle to reduce engineering.
You could try VW UK but they have no obligation to help you. You out might get lucky. Typically a OEM will only do 'courtesy work' if the issue is causing them to have significantly bad press.
anonymous said:
[redacted]
I guess they call them 'stealers' for a reason. It's the 70PS version with a higher level trim, but yes I have seen them listed at VW dealers for that price within the last 8 weeks. I guess I can only hope that VW UK will hold the opinion that a youngish engine shouldn't pack it in, and a fundemntal non-serviceable part fail.
Go to a broker and see how much a new engine would cost you. I've done this twice with my own first car (VW Polo!) and my brother's Panda since he decided to fit the wrong oil filter during a service then go a motorway run...
Would be VASTLY cheaper than what you are trying to achieve.
Would be VASTLY cheaper than what you are trying to achieve.
Maybe worth a call to VW, on the seat forum they're was a similar story with Leon, the guy didn't have full seat service history but the car was only 4 years old, from what I recall it was with seat for a few month and they made a contribution, total list price was £6k, I'm sure it was over 50% he got off, he did spend many month pursuing though.
Sorry I can't find the link for you.
Sorry I can't find the link for you.
C. Grimsley said:
Surely it will just be some bent valves and a new chain kit?
Carl
This-from what the OP says the chain failed at low engine speed, meaning the damage will hopefully be limited to valves, guides and a chain. Worth removing the cylinder head first before getting all soapy about needing a new engine.Carl
OP-if you want to approach VW about the issue, you'll need the car at a franchised dealership while authorising them to take the head off so VW have a full list of what's needed, before they'll even consider any sort of contribution.
VW are not known for being generous on goodwill - I'd think this was iffy even if the OP was the original owner and the car had full dealer service history. As it is, I'd say no chance.
Even if VW did contribute, they'd probably want to put a complete new engine in, so the cost would be immense. Even 50% on an immense bill would still be a lot of money.
Even if VW did contribute, they'd probably want to put a complete new engine in, so the cost would be immense. Even 50% on an immense bill would still be a lot of money.
lxm said:
Its my understanding that there is no maintenance plan or service schedule for the timing chain because it is a life time part and should last the life of the vehicle.
AFAIK That is only true if you can guarantee that it's never been run low on oil. Unfortunately with any used car, you can't. Even if you can / bought it new, I believe 100k is a general "preventative maintenance" milestone.Edited by vtecyo on Monday 30th March 12:27
I have heard of this problem happening alot to different models of VW. Mainly those fitted with the TSI powerplant. If you look through the classified alot of Golf GTI's have had a new engine because of poor design. I assume yourself is a non-tsi model ?
If i were in you're position i'd claim my insurance as the car is not economical to repair. They will write it off and give you a settlement figure back for the claim. Yes you lose one years NCB and yes the premiums will increase (not by alot) but by doing it this way will allow you to recoup money and put this down to a bad experience.
If i were in you're position i'd claim my insurance as the car is not economical to repair. They will write it off and give you a settlement figure back for the claim. Yes you lose one years NCB and yes the premiums will increase (not by alot) but by doing it this way will allow you to recoup money and put this down to a bad experience.
UK345 said:
If i were in you're position i'd claim my insurance as the car is not economical to repair. They will write it off and give you a settlement figure back for the claim. Yes you lose one years NCB and yes the premiums will increase (not by alot) but by doing it this way will allow you to recoup money and put this down to a bad experience.
Errr...claim off insurance for a mechanical issue? Not how it works!anonymous said:
[redacted]
Maybe it slid down the gravel drive and crashed into something?Or push it into a ford.
We had the same engine in SEAT Ibiza years ago and they were well known then for jumping teeth on the timing gear. I'd be amazed if it isn't possible to get a replacement engine for not too much money.
As for dealer servicing - the Ibiza was replaced with a Golf and after the 3yrs included servicing was used up it goes to an indie. It's the only car in our family fleet that isn't dealer serviced, such is my disdain for the dealer (and VW). I am currently wetting myself in case the cambelt breaks early, though.
Edited by Sheepshanks on Monday 30th March 12:39
I would try VW and see what happens but I wouldnt say its going to be fruitful.
I would be scouring the parts sites for the correct engine, this may or may not be the right type but as an example it is £595 (inc delivery) and you can make an offer.
http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/2013-VOLKSWAGEN-POLO-1-2...
I suspect your original engine will cost more to repair than to buy one like the above and get a tame mechanic to fit it, which would be a days work and somewhere between £250 and £400 (wild guess).
So, you may be able to get it replaced for less than a grand, I dont think 1.2 Polo engines are massively in demand as generally they don't break that often so I expect that there is a decent supply of engines from crashed examples, always more difficult to find a good unit in cars with known engine problems.
Good luck with it.
I would be scouring the parts sites for the correct engine, this may or may not be the right type but as an example it is £595 (inc delivery) and you can make an offer.
http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/2013-VOLKSWAGEN-POLO-1-2...
I suspect your original engine will cost more to repair than to buy one like the above and get a tame mechanic to fit it, which would be a days work and somewhere between £250 and £400 (wild guess).
So, you may be able to get it replaced for less than a grand, I dont think 1.2 Polo engines are massively in demand as generally they don't break that often so I expect that there is a decent supply of engines from crashed examples, always more difficult to find a good unit in cars with known engine problems.
Good luck with it.
J4CKO said:
I would be scouring the parts sites for the correct engine, this may or may not be the right type but as an example it is £595 (inc delivery) and you can make an offer.
http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/2013-VOLKSWAGEN-POLO-1-2...
Just be careful that they'll accept your broken engine in exchange.http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/2013-VOLKSWAGEN-POLO-1-2...
Seems odd to be selling a non-reconditioned engine on an exchange basis though?
The sensible thing to do is source a good used engine from a breaker, it will cost around £350 to swap the engine if you find a good local small garage.
A 2nd hand 1.2 engine is going to be somewhere between £300 and £700 depending how rare/how recent that version of the engine fitted to your car is.
It worth a try with VW but its out of warranty and done 60k, even if they offer to help eg with labour costs its still going to cost far too much based on their ridiculous pricing.
A 2nd hand 1.2 engine is going to be somewhere between £300 and £700 depending how rare/how recent that version of the engine fitted to your car is.
It worth a try with VW but its out of warranty and done 60k, even if they offer to help eg with labour costs its still going to cost far too much based on their ridiculous pricing.
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