Rob, hope you can offer a bit of advice.... This has just happened to my car and the dealer reckons £7.2k to replace the engine. I bought the car for just over £8k.....bugger! He has gone away to "see if they can" cover some of the cost with good will.

My car is a 2009 octavia vrs, six months out of warranty and has a full dealer service history..... Last serviced just shy of six months ago.

I suppose what I am, asking is just how much of the cost did they cover for you in good will? From what you said above i think we are in similar positions and i am shortly going to have to take some action.

Any advise, thoughts, help greatly appreciated.

Ali

Sorry to hear this, I hope you get some help from Skoda. With your service history you might be in with a shot.

Could you give us some more info...

What mileage did it fail at?

Is you car manual or DSG?

Given you've experienced this first hand, do you think that the theory previously mentioned about how it fails might me correct?

Does this problem apply to all VAG tsi engines?

I think so yes. I'm only going off what I've found on the internet. It seems to be affecting 2 litre engines worst though, and the VW Tiguan in particular for some reason. Most of the Octavias and Golfs have been 2009 cars, but it has happened on 2010, 2011, 2012 and 2013 cars. That would make replacing the tensioner no guarantee that it won't fail.

Failed at 72k miles

2009 auto octavia vrs

Theory sounds not bad. I drove it fine, parked on the drive.... In 'park' (not in gear). In the morning I turned the key and wrote off my engine.

Sounds like the tensioner is to blame.... Not sure if my car rolled back though....

But whats the odd's of this happening to either a 1.8 or 2.0 car, are we looking at say 1 or 2 in a 100 cars, i mean is this such a wide scale problem as to put people of buying Tsi's..

Don't know if this helps.....

I bought my VRS in June 2012 with 37000ish miles on it, and there was often a distinct rattle when starting from cold - not always, but often enough to be a concern. The rattle would last a couple of seconds but was very noticeable, so the tensioner was already poorly. It lasted for about another three months before the chain jumped and broke the engine.

For the last service before the warranty expired, I took the VRS to my local Skoda dealer and one of the points I mentioned was this rattle. They kept the car overnight, but claimed they could not hear the rattle or find anything wrong.

Before buying the car, I test drove a number of VRS's and noticed the rattle on one or two of the tested cars. I now know what the rattle was but it didn't worry me at the time, as I assumed it would be a consequence of a performance motor being "used". With the car I bought, I didn't hear the rattle until I had owned it for a few days, and a technician mate of mine reckoned it was nothing to worry about.

If you've got the rattle - best get the tensioner changed. If no rattle, then it is no gurantee that it won't fail so good luck in the future

I didn't know about these failures before I bought my car, but it wouldn't have stopped me buying it. You can google ANY car and find reports of problems.

I know it's no consolation if it happens to you, but I personally believe that the risk is very small. However, I have a warranty on my car that should cover this, but if I didn't I would replace the tensioner for the modified one.

Anyone who has one of these engines and can afford the 200-300 for peace of mind, then sure get the tensioner replaced. If you can't spare the cash, then try not to worry about it. It seems to be a very small percentage failure rate.

Don't know if this helps.....

I bought my VRS in June 2012 with 37000ish miles on it, and there was often a distinct rattle when starting from cold - not always, but often enough to be a concern. The rattle would last a couple of seconds but was very noticeable, so the tensioner was already poorly. It lasted for about another three months before the chain jumped and broke the engine.

For the last service before the warranty expired, I took the VRS to my local Skoda dealer and one of the points I mentioned was this rattle. They kept the car overnight, but claimed they could not hear the rattle or find anything wrong.

Before buying the car, I test drove a number of VRS's and noticed the rattle on one or two of the tested cars. I now know what the rattle was but it didn't worry me at the time, as I assumed it would be a consequence of a performance motor being "used". With the car I bought, I didn't hear the rattle until I had owned it for a few days, and a technician mate of mine reckoned it was nothing to worry about.

If you've got the rattle - best get the tensioner changed. If no rattle, then it is no gurantee that it won't fail so good luck in the future

Another 2009 car. I wonder why it's doing on these the most. As far as I've seen, the tensioner was modified mid 2010, so you'd expect to see more 2010 cars doing it.

Could you give us a bit more info...

Mileage it happened?

Manual or DSG?

Did it fail as you started it or while you were driving it?

Another 2009 car. I wonder why it's doing on these the most. As far as I've seen, the tensioner was modified mid 2010, so you'd expect to see more 2010 cars doing it.

Could you give us a bit more info...

Mileage it happened?

Manual or DSG?

Did it fail as you started it or while you were driving it?

About 38000, manual and it failed when starting, i.e. as the starter kicked in, it didn't fire up.

One thing that is interesting though, is that many failures seem to be on cars with auto gearboxes. The theory seems to be that leaving it in park, without using the handbrake, allows the car to rock back. The reverse direction of the engine puts strain on the tensioner, breaking it. I don't know whether that's what's happening but it sounds kind of plausible. I wasn't able to determine what 'boxes all the Octavia and Golfs had.

Sounds unlikely, according to Wikipedia the wheels are isolated from the engine when in 'P' mode (which is what I would expect);

DSG controls

The direct-shift gearbox uses a floor-mounted transmission shift lever, very similar to that of a conventional automatic transmission.^[10] The lever is operated in a straight 'fore and aft' plane (without any 'dog-leg' offset movements), and uses an additional button to help prevent an inadvertent selection of an inappropriate shift lever position.

[edit]"P"

P position of the floor-mounted gear shift lever means that the transmission is set in "Park". Both clutch packs are fully disengaged, all gear-sets are disengaged, and a solid mechanical transmission 'lock' is applied to the crown wheel of the DSG's internal differential. This position must only be used when the motor vehicle is stationary. Furthermore, this is the position which must be set on the shift lever before the vehicle ignition key can be removed.

New engine?

Amazing! You were out of warrenty?

What did you say? They footed the bill because it was a defective part? Did you have to argue or did they just do it?

Thanks in advance, Ali

I had to fight like no ones business!!!!

Basically the only reason I got away with it is because I caught a certain person at Skoda UK lying to me, saying the the main dealer garage that had my car was saying there was nothing wrong with my car to cause the chain to slip, even though he was telling us he reported to Skoda UK that the tensioner had failed.

Even managed to get my next service for free too!

Sounds unlikely, according to Wikipedia the wheels are isolated from the engine when in 'P' mode (which is what I would expect);

DSG controls

The direct-shift gearbox uses a floor-mounted transmission shift lever, very similar to that of a conventional automatic transmission.^[10] The lever is operated in a straight 'fore and aft' plane (without any 'dog-leg' offset movements), and uses an additional button to help prevent an inadvertent selection of an inappropriate shift lever position.

[edit]"P"

P position of the floor-mounted gear shift lever means that the transmission is set in "Park". Both clutch packs are fully disengaged, all gear-sets are disengaged, and a solid mechanical transmission 'lock' is applied to the crown wheel of the DSG's internal differential. This position must only be used when the motor vehicle is stationary. Furthermore, this is the position which must be set on the shift lever before the vehicle ignition key can be removed.

OK so it can't happen with DSG boxes then. It could still happen on a manual left in gear. So now I'm wondering whether any small reverse rotation of the engine as it's switched off would be enough to do damage, or whether this theory of how it happens is right at all. Perhaps over time it gets weakened. Or maybe in the end, it's simply that the ratchet on the tensioner itself is just a but crap.

I wonder why the majority seem to be 2009 cars with around 25 to 40k miles on. Maybe we'll start hearing about a few 10 plate ones going soon as more of them go over this sort of mileage.

Sounds unlikely, according to Wikipedia the wheels are isolated from the engine when in 'P' mode (which is what I would expect);

Have been thinking about this again. There's always some 'drive' due to the fact that the clutches are wet clutches. Not sure how significant it would be though, particularly when the oil is warm.

I've a 1.8 older 2007-2008 TSI BZB engined car so reckon if the problems with the older cam engine then i should be concerned, my car's done 55'000 miles so far..

Sounds like quite a few 2009 cars... but strangely, not that many from 2008 and older.

Thats because 09 was the engine change year 08 would be tfsi belt driven

Thats because 09 was the engine change year 08 would be tfsi belt driven

says TSI on the v5C, back of the car, and engine cover ?

My reply was in regard to 2.0

Thats because 09 was the engine change year 08 would be tfsi belt driven

Not for the 1.8 is isn't.

Rob, hope you can offer a bit of advice.... This has just happened to my car and the dealer reckons £7.2k to replace the engine. I bought the car for just over £8k.....bugger! He has gone away to "see if they can" cover some of the cost with good will.

My car is a 2009 octavia vrs, six months out of warranty and has a full dealer service history..... Last serviced just shy of six months ago.

I suppose what I am, asking is just how much of the cost did they cover for you in good will? From what you said above i think we are in similar positions and i am shortly going to have to take some action.

Any advise, thoughts, help greatly appreciated.

Ali

Hi Ali

IIRC the quoted price for a new engine is around 6k, and on mine skoda paid around 5k of that bill even though i was out of warranty - the car was less than 3 yrs old but over the mileage limit for warranty (it had about 70k miles on it at that point i think). The goodwill contribution was offered without having to ask.

From what I've read on the forum all of the failures have been either fully paid or significant contribution with the exception of the guy who'd been drag racing.

http://www.briskoda.net/forums/topic/266114-links-to-members-reports-of-octavia-ii-tsi-engine-failures/

cheers

Rob

OK so it can't happen with DSG boxes then. It could still happen on a manual left in gear. So now I'm wondering whether any small reverse rotation of the engine as it's switched off would be enough to do damage, or whether this theory of how it happens is right at all. Perhaps over time it gets weakened. Or maybe in the end, it's simply that the ratchet on the tensioner itself is just a but crap.

I wonder why the majority seem to be 2009 cars with around 25 to 40k miles on. Maybe we'll start hearing about a few 10 plate ones going soon as more of them go over this sort of mileage.

How would there be any movement when left in gear unless you put the car in gear before applying the handbrake. If you stop, apply handbrake, turn off engine then put it in gear the car hasn't moved so can't have applied any force to the chain/tensioner.

I would have thought plenty of 2010 models would be over 25k miles by now. Mine is a 2010 on a 60plate and is at 39k just now. I think it is completely random whether your unfortunate to have it fail.

Edited 28 February, 201313 yr by neil_f

How would there be any movement when left in gear unless you put the car in gear before applying the handbrake. If you stop, apply handbrake, turn off engine then put it in gear the car hasn't moved so can't have applied any force to the chain/tensioner.

I would have thought plenty of 2010 models would be over 25k miles by now. Mine is a 2010 on a 60plate and is at 39k just now. I think it is completely random whether your unfortunate to have it fail.

There could easily be movement if the handbrake either isn't applied or not applied enough, and there will be people out there that do this. And yes there will be 2010 cars with that mileage but perhaps not as many as 2009's. My 2010 has done 15k.

As for it being completely random, well that's what I'm trying to show by asking specifics about the car and circumstances of the failure. At the moment from what I've read it seems to happen far more on 2009 cars, so not completely random.

Ok, so skoda have come back to me (a week later) and offered to pay 50% of the £7.2k replacement cost.......brings it down to £3.6k. Not awful!?

I've gone back to them and they have said (Skoda, not the dealership) that they will not improve this as I've got no brand loyalty having owned the car for only six months..... But they might match any additional "good will" the dealership were willing to offer..... Which, for the same reason I am unlikely to get.

Frankly I'm buggered if I don't deal with these guys... I cant see any better options for the money.

Any suggestions, thoughts much appreciated.

Cheers, Ali

When did you buy the car, where from and how did you pay the deposit and final balance? Was it on finance? Have you spoken to the supplying dealer and how helpful have they've been? You really need to speak ONLY with your supplying dealer to claim under SOGA.

I've had concerns about this but you have to remember just how many of these engines are out there. I don't that it's a high percentage of them failing. If it does it's sheer bad luck. Put it in perspective, timing belts that have been changed as recommended can still fail.

Rather than replace the tensioner I took out an extended warranty, which has the obvious benefit of covering other components at the same time. I emailed the company first, and asked if this specific failure would be covered. They said it would be so I took out the policy.

I have the Car Plan backed Skoda policy, it excludes "inherent design faults" :/