vRS engine destroyed - any advice?

[Si66]

My 2006 petrol vRS developed a slightly odd (but not loud) noise under load the other day. After speaking to Skoda servicing at my local dealer they told me there was a recall on the ignition coils that might cause the problem I described so I duly booked it in. Job done I thought.

However, I took it out for a little while today and a red oil warning light came on with a message saying "turn engine off immediately" which I did. After getting it towed to the garage I was informed that metal parts had been found in the sump which were assumed to be from the timing valves (looked like very small spring fragments and a thin strip of metal) and have been told the engine is most likely a write off. The car has been serviced on time all the time with the correct parts and fluids so I am at a loss as to what has happened.

There appear to be a few options to pursue:

1. have the dealer remove the cylinder head, see what the damage is and repair it, then put it all back together and flush the whole engine to remove any other particulates (likely cost no less than £1000 at dealer rates)

2. have a "new" engine fitted by the dealer at approximately £4000

3. sell it as a non-runner

I have my own opinion on the best way to go, but wondered if anyone else had a similar experience. Given it is a 2006 car with 58k on the clock spending £4000 seems a non-starter given that the value is probably somewhere in the region of £6000 on a good day anyway. There is always the option of taking it to an independant garage (i.e. with lower hourly rates) to get it fixed. It did seem that no-one had seen this problem before (which is good for everyone else) but at the moment I am pretty devastated. Any advice would be gratefully received.

[black-fabia-1.2-htp-2006-]

my personal opion would be to stick it in a back street garage get it repaired for as cheap as possible and sell imidiatly cut your losses and move on because you will loose alot more if you sell it as a running car thats just my opinion let us know what you are gona do tho good luck all the best

[skippy41]

See my post, on starting, could be similar

[TsvRS]

If you are the first owner especially with a full service history you could still have a case under the Sale of goods act in which case the vendor might see an out of court settlement as an easier option. You would probably still be paying a part of the cost but a lot less. On the other hand if you are paying yourself then I would lean towards an engine specialist rather than a main dealer which I think would be a better choice technically and economically. I would imagine they have trade prices which you might be able to access through a friendly independent but even their list prices will be better than the main dealer's.

Really feel for you by the way, really bad luck, hope you can find a way through it.

Edited 7 January, 2012 by TsvRS

[dainott]

Sorry to hear the bad news fella

I think you will be struggling to get Skoda to except responsibility for the damage, but worth asking them what they are willing to do about it. Whats the mileage on the car?

If i wasnt going to change the engine myself i would be looking at no more that £1500 to get an engine and fitted. Before everyone shoots me down for that price, just think how many VAG models have the FSI lump and im telling you that the breakers wont be selling that many of them as not exactly common for them to blow up, so plenty of room to be cheeky and haggle (nothing to loose as can just move onto the next breaker). You dont need a gearbox or any other components so its basically the complete block (extras would be nice to sell on to earn a bit back). I would say £750 - £900 for the engine and then between £600-750 for a backstreet garage to fit it!

PS If you have any mechanical knowledge then have a general chat with the mechanic about what they think of the engine etc to suss out if they have a decent knowledge of what they are doing!

Im in the trade mate so not just a random pulling figures out the air and remember there aint many garages in January with people offering £600 cash! Cash being the big thing here and remember to mention that you will pay cash (if you can?) for the engine and fitting. Have i said cash enough times lol

Hope you get it sorted and one last thing is that some of the early mk5 golf gti's had the AXX engine which aint as strong as the latter (no real biggy, but be nice to get something 07 plate on to be sure).

[Guest liverpoolphil]

if you have the time, and can be bothered, there's money to be made in parting it out and selling on ebay

[Si66]

Thanks for the replies so far - food for thought at least.

dainott - the car has 58344 miles on the clock, and will be 6 years old in March. I have owned it from approx. 2 years old and it has been meticulously serviced it that time (the car has been serviced 7 times in total, the first 3 at Skoda garages, the next 3 at an independant VAG group specialist and the last time at a large garage chain in the East Midlands).

[Micky 32]

It's possible the cam follower may have worn through and sent it's bits around the engine.

[Si66]

It's possible the cam follower may have worn through and sent it's bits around the engine.

What would that look like? The fragmants I was shown were of what looked like small spring fragments (about 10mm long and maybe 5mm diameter) and a thin strip of metal (probably 1 x 5 x 60mm). Wondered if it could be oil pump internals as one of the error messages flashed up was low oil pressure?

[Harry_vRS]

Buy an S3 engine and fit that for £300

[summerof44]

my personal opion would be to stick it in a back street garage get it repaired for as cheap as possible and sell imidiatly cut your losses and move on because you will loose alot more if you sell it as a running car thats just my opinion let us know what you are gona do tho good luck all the best

Please remind me never to buy a secondhand car off you!

[Harry_vRS]

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/MK5-GOLF-GTI-2-0-TFSI-BWA-ENGINE-COVERED-64-659-MILES-/170736162247?pt=UK_CarsParts_Vehicles_CarParts_SM&hash=item27c0ab15c7#ht_1355wt_1203

[cjb]

I'd get a secondhand engine from a breakers and take it to a good independent myself.

[Neily03]

I'd get a secondhand engine from a breakers and take it to a good independent myself.

+1

[silver1011]

+1

+2

[dunc69]

+2

+3, but like the idea of a more powerful engine (S3?) so you end up with a better car than you had before!

[furn]

ive had an engine off these in the past good company to deal with and a great engine(re manufactured by vega), a remanufactured engine would be cheaper than a new one from skoda and guaranteed for 12 months unlike a second hand engine whos history you dont know. pick a good independent garage to fit it and you have a good car again.

engine

company

[martziniuk]

This guy may still have this new engine for sale.

http://www.mk5golfgti.co.uk/forum/index.php/topic,22011.0.html

[Mute]

Is the engine definitely dead? A wee bit of swarf in the oil wouldn't put me off finding out if it can be made to run again - provided it's not seized of course I'd give them a bell and get the list of fault codes - doesn't cost anything to get a second opinion on them and might save you some mullah.

I wouldn't remove the head without a possible diagnosis to give a reason to do it. Use a boroscope through the spark plug hole and through the intake manifold for a cheap look-see.

[dainott]

There is an BWA FSI engine on Ebay now starting at £350 and covered 42k.

Item number: 280801731139

or if this has to be removed then title is Audi A3 SE S Line FSI (2006) 2.0 litre engine (1968cc)

Hope this helps

[rustyGT]

Option 1 from your first post seems as cheap/expensive as a replacement engine from a breakers after labour charges. At least all the numbers would match if your going to sell it. A replacement engine might put people off.

Sent from my GT-I9100 using Tapatalk

[Harry_vRS]

Go for the s3 engine like I did. Stronger bottom end and it runs lower compression. Combined with my k04 it is awesome.

[martziniuk]

Harry what was the fitment like on the S3 engine, was it just plug and play as you already had the Dv relocation or did it need lots of ECU recoding etc?

[B33fy]

If there is metal in the engine regardless of source, if its not stripped fully and cleaned thoroughly then you'll end up with

further damage.

The stealers price will start at £1000 and no doubt escalate as they scratch their chin and umm and arr

Fitting the S3 lump will no doubt incurr extra cost to make it work where it doesn't normally live.

Second hand engine? could be as shagged as the one you have

For me its a no brainer, my moneys on the new one

[dainott]

If there is metal in the engine regardless of source, if its not stripped fully and cleaned thoroughly then you'll end up with

further damage.

The stealers price will start at £1000 and no doubt escalate as they scratch their chin and umm and arr

Fitting the S3 lump will no doubt incurr extra cost to make it work where it doesn't normally live.

Second hand engine? could be as shagged as the one you have

For me its a no brainer, my moneys on the new one

You will have a garantee with a 2nd hand engine though and once fitted you would be aware pretty quickly if there were major issues. The cost of a brand new engine would be astronomical and for the value of the car would not be worth doing! Would make more sense to break it for parts as said earlier in the thread instead of a new engine.

The a3 one I found earlier has only covered 42k.

If it was me I would be fitting an s3 lump also as would be willing to do it myself and replace the other parts required for the swap as hunting decent power and would be the cheapest way instead of replacing an engine and then tuning it later but it totally depends on how much and what u want from the car.