Hi all

 

I only bought this car around 15 months ago, the engine has just died due the failing time chain, is this a common problem for these engines? I expected this car to last 3-4 years, is it normal that the engine has failed after only doing 55k miles?

 

SKODA FABIA SE TSI S-A 2010 automatic 1.2, 55k miles, petrol engine

Edited 15 January, 20197 yr by googlefast

Sorry to hear that.

 

So what engine and what has killed it, and who did you buy it from.

 

EDIT, 

i see your edit now.

Sadly yes it is getting to be more common, it has been an issue for several years and why there were Timing Chain Tensioners and Chain Updates.

Edited 15 January, 20197 yr by Skoffski

5 minutes ago, Skoffski said:

Sorry to hear that.

 

So what engine and what has killed it, and who did you buy it from.

Thanks, it's such a let down.... I bought it thinking it'd be reliable since I had heard it has a VW engine, the seller is a small company that operates from his house in south London, I don't think he'd accept any responsibility even though the ad described the car as being in "excellent condition". I'm so gutted, that's £4k down the drain....

 

The engine is 1.2 automatic btw, I've added the details to the initial post now.

Edited 15 January, 20197 yr by googlefast

Sorry missed the 15 months, so ignore what i posted below.   Too long since you bought it. ? Did you have servicing done in the 15 months, 

and how many miles have you done in that time>

 

 

 

*Not relevant after 15 months.*

Best go to Citizens Advice and they might refer to Trading Standards, they might be interested as might be a Solicitor, 

or Small Claims Court might be where you need to go to. 

 

That is if he is a Trader selling cars as a Business? 

 It hardly matters what he thinks if he should be paying Tax to the HMRC on profits and should be keeping records of vehicles bought and sold and expenditure on advertising, repairs etc.  The Overheads.

'He' needs to be selling cars fit for purpose even if he buys bad ones and a seller rips him off, or a car at auction he buys or takes as a trade in is gubbed.

 

The gearbox is a DSG.  One that maybe should have had Service Campaign '34F7' sometime since May 2014, but that does not matter much now.

Edited 15 January, 20197 yr by Skoffski

Yeah it was serviced at a Skoda/VW garage last April, they said it was in good condition. It has only done 5k miles during the 15 months that I've had it. I'm disappointed that they didn't suggest to change the timing chain when it was serviced at the Skoda centre....

Common problem with the 1.2tsi camchain engine built before 2012, usually picked up at servicing before its too late. I expect you heard loud rattles on cold starts, or other engine rattling, you shouldn't have ignored it as that was the stretched chain and loose tensioner. Both bad designs revised heavily in 2012. Many people had them replaced free of charge or with goodwill by Skoda.

 

If however you had been experiencing intermittent Red Oil Light warnings when the engine was running, that indicates an incorrectly fitted Oil filter which can also lead to the camchain self destructing. A problem caused by whoever serviced your car last.

 

The 1.2tsi camchain engine needs regular servicing at 10k miles/ 1 year max. Also when buying any second hand car that is not from a 100% trusted source, ALWAYS have a mechanic check it and service it straight away. This applies to ALL second hand cars regardless of make or model.

 

There is a recent post on Briskoda of someone with maybe Fabia, Yeti or Roomster who got a new 1.2tsi engine free from Skoda when it happened to him even though the car was way out of warranty. Probably had full dealer service history though and exceptional dealer. Search it out, contact Skoda UK customer service, mention that the camchain is a known issue, see if they will help.

 

 

I have the TPI for this case but its probably to old. A lot of Audis had the same problem - from 1.2 to 2.0 TFSI. 

 

It isn’t the camchain itself that is the problem but the tensioner that doesn’t get oil pressure quick enough upon engine start. And over time the chain gets to much wear and jumps with total failure as a result. 

2 minutes ago, xman said:

Common problem with the 1.2tsi camchain engine built before 2012, usually picked up at servicing before its too late. I expect you heard loud rattles on cold starts, or other engine rattling, you shouldn't have ignored it as that was the stretched chain and loose tensioner. Both bad designs revised heavily in 2012. Many people had them replaced free of charge or with goodwill by Skoda.

What disappoints me the most is that I had the car serviced at a Skoda centre last year, and even though this problem seems to be common, they didn't recommend replacing the camchain which I would have happily paid for instead of having the whole engine break down. The red oil light never came on so I don't think that relates to this problem. Luckily, I have full dealer service history, I'll give them a ring tomorrow to see if they can help, do you have the link to that post by any chance?

 

 

 

 

22 minutes ago, googlefast said:

Luckily, I have full dealer service history, I'll give them a ring tomorrow to see if they can help, do you have the link to that post by any chance?

 

 

 

DensYeti  2010 Yeti 1.2tsi posted 17th June 2017

 

My 2010 1.2 Yeti engine was replaced entirely free of charge when the chain fault wrecked the engine at 40,000 miles in early 2016...... as the second owner I was well out of warranty but using the TPI as evidence and having a full Skoda service record "persuaded" them it was a design fault and unfit for purpose.

Print out the relevant TPI as evidence. It is on one of these forums (it was a trade service advice about the problem sent to all VW/Skoda main dealers/approved service agents).

Good luck.

Edited 15 January, 20197 yr by xman

I do hope Skoda offer some sort of recompense... But, at that age and possibly use/abuse and a few owners, the mileage could make no real difference APART from the fact that it seems to be the ball park mileage for this issue. 

 

I have a 1.4 diesel engined (09) Fabia Greenline, from new and my engine was replaced at around 50,000 miles, under warranty. This was an oil pump chain issue, where I was told, the chain broke, the pump stops and the engine is then starved of oil. 

 

The dealer said it is uncommon and they only see one or two a year that need the engine replacement. Add that up across the dealership though and it will still be quite a few!

They did replace it without quibble and it was only with about three months left of the warranty so I kind of felt glad it happened then, rather then later. 

This was shortly after having the turbo replaced, too. 

So, it was like having a new car again, to a degree. 

 

The one funny thing around this was that, on my very first service, the guy asked if I had topped up the oil and I said no, as I checked the level and it seemed high already. 

It had apparently had FAR too much in. Of course, from then on, it was correct but I did and still wonder, if that contributed to the life expectancy of these components!

 

Had everything failed a year later, I would most likely had been left with a pelican of a car!  (Huge bill).