Octavia 1.9TDI conrod problems?

[Clashcityrocker]

I had my No. 4 come through the block last Thursday also damaged gearbox. '57 Octavia 83k on the clock. Still in talks with Skoda & dealer. Previous car 1.9TDi with 220k on clock & not 1 problem. I've only had the car 15 months, not very happy

[Clashcityrocker]

Just had Skoda on the phone, not interested as car was 5yrs 2MONTHS old, less than 100k on the clock. They would have only offered 10% towards ne engine & gearbox. What a rip-off. I'll get 2nd hand engine & gearbox fitted, still looking at £3k by the look of it. Dealer says they have never seen anything like it. Think this will be my first & last Skoda or indeed any VAG car.

[tiggytico]

If anyone else has a conrod problem with a BXE engine, please, please, please can they report and complain to the following: VOSA, SEAT/VW/Skoda/AUDI as appropriate and then also contact Watchdog. VOSA took my complaint seriously, but unfortunately there have been no other reports to them of such a failure and my prints out from websites such as this are “unsolicited” and therefore they are unable to take them into consideration. Thank you.

This is my story:

I am the owner of a SEAT Toledo and on 1^st July, it broke down whilst driving on my local bypass. The AA recovery service diagnosed a conrod through the engine block and towed it to a local AA approved service repair centre.

Whilst talking to family and colleagues (mainly Engineers) about this unfortunate incident, they have been very shocked and surprised that a car which is only 4 years old should have such a problem. I am upset that this has happened being as I bought the car last year for nearly £7K, thinking that I was buying a quality car that I would be able to use for my commute to work. The car has FSH up to the purchase date and has since been regularly serviced by my father, who is a qualified engineering fitter. My father has been maintaining vehicles all of his professional working life and has spent the last 35 years as the Workshop Manager for XXX, maintaining a fleet of HGV’s. All I’m trying to point out by that background information is that my car hasn’t been serviced by someone who doesn’t know what they are doing and just “tinkers” with vehicles in their spare time! I’m sure that you can appreciate that when you have a professional in the family, it doesn’t make sense to continue having my car serviced by an expensive main dealer.

I had assumed that maybe this incident, whilst unfortunate, was perhaps “one of these things”, but on researching the internet, I understand that this is a common fault with this type of engine. Please find attached a significant quantity of forum reports from others who have experienced the same problem. Some have been fortunate enough to have the manufacturer give a “goodwill” payment; others have not.

Whilst I understand that the SEAT warranty is only 3 years and I am now out of that period, I believe that this fault causes the car to be “unfit for purpose “under the definition of the Sale of Goods Act. I understand that owning a car which is 4 years old carries a risk, but I believe that SEAT should be acknowledging this as a defect in their manufacturing and should be resolving the issue for me. You will understand that I find this financially devastating.

The customer service I have received from both the SEAT Head Office and the SEAT dealership has been superb – I cannot fault either for politeness, helpfulness and responsiveness, however it is the decision made by SEAT Head Office to not resolve this issue for me at their cost which I am aggrieved about. They had agreed to a “goodwill gesture” of 50% if the dealership would match this. The dealership wouldn’t and to be honest I don’t blame them; I didn’t purchase the car from them in the first place (purchased from XXX), therefore it is not really their concern. As the dealership wouldn’t offer a goodwill payment, SEAT Head Office will also not offer me anything. Incidentally XXX aren't interested in helping me either as I purchased the car 15 months ago.

The SEAT dealership stripped down the engine and reported the following:Carried out investigation into engine damage. unable to start vehicle to lack of oil within engine. Carried out gff and checked for any relevant TPI's all ok. Carried out visual check, found hole in engine to oil cooler, new engine required. Stripped engine and found hardly any oil left in the engine this has caused the conrod to go through the engine.

The above simply isn’t true. Having previously owned a car which drank oil, I religiously check the oil level in my car - once a fortnight. I had checked the oil on 28th May before making a trip to Great Yarmouth (4.5 hr drive) and again on the 1st June before leaving for Birmingham airport as part of my normal holiday routine. (1 hour drive) It was parked at Birmingham airport for a fortnight, so I did not check it again before the engine seized - in the year I've owned the car, it's never been heavy on oil-infact I really can't remember if I've even had to top it up. I don't believe that my car was suffering an oil loss for two reasons - the first being that we've just had (in June 2012) a new block paved driveway built and if the car was leaking oil, I would have been well aware and upset about it. I can also categorically confirm that no oil warning light came on (even though I don't rely on this to tell me that I need to top up the oil).

The engine seized whilst driving down the bypass in XXX and managed to get it into "Homebase" car park so it was safely out of the way (approx 1/4 mile). My dad told me off for this, but the AA man said that I couldn't have done anymore damage by driving it, as the engine was as bad as it gets anyway. Both the car and the road were covered in oil (you can still see the trail of oil stain on the road now). So it's no wonder that there is NOW hardly only oil left. But that's the reason -the conrod threw causing the hole which caused the oil leak. Not that there was no oil which caused the conrod to throw.

In addition to the various information I’ve found regarding others having the same problem with this engine code – BXE, I’ve also enclosed photographic evidence that there is no sign on the engine bearings of the engine seizing. If the engine had of seized due to lack of oil there would be scoring/damage to the bearings.

A catastrophic engine failure such as this is dangerous. Luckily we were driving on a relatively quiet piece of road, albeit with my two young children (aged 1 and 2) in the back seat. If I have been driving down the motorway when this occurred, this could have led to a fatal accident.

In summary, I believe that there is a manufacturing defect with the conrods on engine code BXE and I believe that the financial cost of putting this right should be met by SEAT. I also believe that from a safety perspective a recall on these engines should be considered.

I have just had the car repaired at my own cost (£2,400) by purchasing an engine from a salvaged car and it's been fitted by SEAT. I've asked them to save me the conrods out of my old engine incase there is any need for me to get them independently tested.

I’ve since parted company with the car as I need a safe car to drive – I cannot take the risk of owning a dangerous car, but I still aggrieved at the injustice.

[Joellesonjia]

If anyone else has a conrod problem with a BXE engine, please, please, please can they report and complain to the following: VOSA, SEAT/VW/Skoda/AUDI as appropriate and then also contact Watchdog. VOSA took my complaint seriously, but unfortunately there have been no other reports to them of such a failure and my prints out from websites such as this are “unsolicited” and therefore they are unable to take them into consideration. Thank you.

This is my story:

I am the owner of a SEAT Toledo and on 1^st July, it broke down whilst driving on my local bypass. The AA recovery service diagnosed a conrod through the engine block and towed it to a local AA approved service repair centre.

Whilst talking to family and colleagues (mainly Engineers) about this unfortunate incident, they have been very shocked and surprised that a car which is only 4 years old should have such a problem. I am upset that this has happened being as I bought the car last year for nearly £7K, thinking that I was buying a quality car that I would be able to use for my commute to work. The car has FSH up to the purchase date and has since been regularly serviced by my father, who is a qualified engineering fitter. My father has been maintaining vehicles all of his professional working life and has spent the last 35 years as the Workshop Manager for XXX, maintaining a fleet of HGV’s. All I’m trying to point out by that background information is that my car hasn’t been serviced by someone who doesn’t know what they are doing and just “tinkers” with vehicles in their spare time! I’m sure that you can appreciate that when you have a professional in the family, it doesn’t make sense to continue having my car serviced by an expensive main dealer.

I had assumed that maybe this incident, whilst unfortunate, was perhaps “one of these things”, but on researching the internet, I understand that this is a common fault with this type of engine. Please find attached a significant quantity of forum reports from others who have experienced the same problem. Some have been fortunate enough to have the manufacturer give a “goodwill” payment; others have not.

Whilst I understand that the SEAT warranty is only 3 years and I am now out of that period, I believe that this fault causes the car to be “unfit for purpose “under the definition of the Sale of Goods Act. I understand that owning a car which is 4 years old carries a risk, but I believe that SEAT should be acknowledging this as a defect in their manufacturing and should be resolving the issue for me. You will understand that I find this financially devastating.

The customer service I have received from both the SEAT Head Office and the SEAT dealership has been superb – I cannot fault either for politeness, helpfulness and responsiveness, however it is the decision made by SEAT Head Office to not resolve this issue for me at their cost which I am aggrieved about. They had agreed to a “goodwill gesture” of 50% if the dealership would match this. The dealership wouldn’t and to be honest I don’t blame them; I didn’t purchase the car from them in the first place (purchased from XXX), therefore it is not really their concern. As the dealership wouldn’t offer a goodwill payment, SEAT Head Office will also not offer me anything. Incidentally XXX aren't interested in helping me either as I purchased the car 15 months ago.

The SEAT dealership stripped down the engine and reported the following:Carried out investigation into engine damage. unable to start vehicle to lack of oil within engine. Carried out gff and checked for any relevant TPI's all ok. Carried out visual check, found hole in engine to oil cooler, new engine required. Stripped engine and found hardly any oil left in the engine this has caused the conrod to go through the engine.

The above simply isn’t true. Having previously owned a car which drank oil, I religiously check the oil level in my car - once a fortnight. I had checked the oil on 28th May before making a trip to Great Yarmouth (4.5 hr drive) and again on the 1st June before leaving for Birmingham airport as part of my normal holiday routine. (1 hour drive) It was parked at Birmingham airport for a fortnight, so I did not check it again before the engine seized - in the year I've owned the car, it's never been heavy on oil-infact I really can't remember if I've even had to top it up. I don't believe that my car was suffering an oil loss for two reasons - the first being that we've just had (in June 2012) a new block paved driveway built and if the car was leaking oil, I would have been well aware and upset about it. I can also categorically confirm that no oil warning light came on (even though I don't rely on this to tell me that I need to top up the oil).

The engine seized whilst driving down the bypass in XXX and managed to get it into "Homebase" car park so it was safely out of the way (approx 1/4 mile). My dad told me off for this, but the AA man said that I couldn't have done anymore damage by driving it, as the engine was as bad as it gets anyway. Both the car and the road were covered in oil (you can still see the trail of oil stain on the road now). So it's no wonder that there is NOW hardly only oil left. But that's the reason -the conrod threw causing the hole which caused the oil leak. Not that there was no oil which caused the conrod to throw.

In addition to the various information I’ve found regarding others having the same problem with this engine code – BXE, I’ve also enclosed photographic evidence that there is no sign on the engine bearings of the engine seizing. If the engine had of seized due to lack of oil there would be scoring/damage to the bearings.

A catastrophic engine failure such as this is dangerous. Luckily we were driving on a relatively quiet piece of road, albeit with my two young children (aged 1 and 2) in the back seat. If I have been driving down the motorway when this occurred, this could have led to a fatal accident.

In summary, I believe that there is a manufacturing defect with the conrods on engine code BXE and I believe that the financial cost of putting this right should be met by SEAT. I also believe that from a safety perspective a recall on these engines should be considered.

I have just had the car repaired at my own cost (£2,400) by purchasing an engine from a salvaged car and it's been fitted by SEAT. I've asked them to save me the conrods out of my old engine incase there is any need for me to get them independently tested.

I’ve since parted company with the car as I need a safe car to drive – I cannot take the risk of owning a dangerous car, but I still aggrieved at the injustice.

 

Hi, we've been amazed at the amount of stories found on forums concerning the BXE engine. Ours went last week, the con rod breaking then the crankshaft blasting it through the bottom of the engine, the jolt of the engine broke the exhaust brackets and the turbo is screwed too, all this whilst driving in the outside lane of the M40 on a Friday afternoon! Sales and service staff at our local Skoda were very unhelpful, offering us £1000 for our 2009 Octavia estate, bought from them at a year old and serviced regularly by them!! One of the mechanics came and spoke to us on the side and mentioned that he has seen this problem before, but never quite as bad as ours. If I can figure out how to post a photo I will. Anyway we shall be making a formal complaint and as Skoda want 6k to fix it we shall be looking for an engine ourselves and getting somebody else to do the job. Being faithful to Skoda has got us nowhere. I can say we'll definitely be getting in touch with DVSA to report this and can only urge others to do the same.     

[Fatboy40]

Another one to add to the list I'm afraid.

 

Mine went two weeks ago whilst on the commute home, started with the whole car shaking (as if a tire had burst) so pulled into a petrol station and got the car towed home by the AA. Left it with a VAG specialist, and whilst they were examining it No 4 conrod burst out of the sump. My car is an 07 Octavia Elegance 1.9 TDi, with approx 102,000 on the clock, which is now useless as to install a new engine from Skoda would be around £5,600 and only £1k less for a recon, I'm not doing either as if the engine was OK it would only be worth around £3,800 or so.

 

So now I'm stuck with a well looked after Octavia Elegance with a shot engine that I need to get rid off :( (I'd like to try and get some money for it as it's in good condition, only had new rear disc last year).

[Nikonite]

There are guys advertising recon engines on ebay including fitting for 1400. I saw them last week but don't know if still there . hope you get it sorted out

[Phil-E]

Ah buggar!

 

Sorry to hear that. It is worrying the number of failures you hear about.

 

Was yours a BXE? Fixed or variable servicing?

 

Phil

[Fatboy40]

Ah buggar!

 

Sorry to hear that. It is worrying the number of failures you hear about.

 

Was yours a BXE? Fixed or variable servicing?

 

Phil

 

Ah, I forgot to add that, yes it's a BXE and fixed servicing I think.

[Fatboy40]

There are guys advertising recon engines on ebay including fitting for 1400. I saw them last week but don't know if still there . hope you get it sorted out

 

Of course the VAG specialist garage would rather make as much profit as possible, whilst retaining their good reputation, but they really did try and put the fear of God into me regarding bargain basement recon engines being fitted. I'm twitchy about spending £1.5k with a potentially dodgy business and ending up with a engine that's more trouble than it's worth (not a true recon, just spat on and polished).

[Nikonite]

Where about are you, maybe get a short engine block and diy it. Maybe someone local could assist? If anywhere near me I would be happy to help out but am no expert. Any engine swaps I have done have been on CVH Ford's and A series minis. Hopefully someone with a bit more knowledge could help.

[Phil-E]

I really am worried about mine.

 

It's a 57 plate BXE with 45,000 on the clock.

 

Phil

[Nikonite]

You are worried Phil? I have 160k on mine

[Faz4]

I have had the same issue BXE engine 1.9 tdi 105bhp.. Conrod punched a hole in the block... i switched off the engine soon as i felt something go.... Luckily the head was fine so the mechanic i used changed the block to one bought second hand and put in new top end and bottom bearings ... Cars back on road ... He advised the top end bearing had failed, hence replacing them with new ones when instaling the second hand block.

[Phil-E]

Milage? Car age? Servicing schedule and oil used?

 

Phil

[Faz4]

Milage? Car age? Servicing schedule and oil used?

Done 90,000, 06 plate, oil service every 10k, 5-40w quantam long life ...

Car had been serviced 600miles prior to engine failure... oil was still in the engine after it went bang so nothing seized...

Cars a skoda octavia mk2