2016 MK3 Octavia VRS Diesel 'Chuffing' Noise From Engine

[cheezemonkhai]

If you get the belt done, definitely get all tensioners and pulleys done. The water pump is a must as it’s not a simple item any more and can fail. Doing it later is a cambelt off job on diesels.

Edited 16 January, 2020 by cheezemonkhai

[simonds3135]

28 minutes ago, cheezemonkhai said:

If you get the belt done, definitely get all tensioners and pulleys done. The water pump is a must as it’s not a simple item any more and can fail. Doing it later is a cambelt off job on diesels.

 

Will do 👍 Thanks guys

[simonds3135]

Hey guys, am finally getting the chance to post an update. So the short version of the story is that my local Skoda dealer confirmed that the noise was a timing belt tensioner and I asked them to replace all pulleys & tensioners, timing belt and water pump and the noise has gone! Boom. Longer version is below for those who are interested 😛 ...

 

So after my local Skoda dealer had looked at the car, they phoned me to tell me that the noise was a timing belt tensioner. They said they had contacted my warranty company (I was given a 6 month warranty with the car when I bought it, I didn't take it out myself or pay anything for it) and they didn't want to know about it, which I fully expected - useless! Then they told me that they had spoken to Skoda, incase there was any goodwill contribution available there, but they told me this was not an option because the recommended timing belt change interval on my car was 5 years or 50k miles, and my car has currently gone over that mileage (62k). I said I didn't' think 50k miles was correct and he assured me that the average motorist does 10k a year (I also don't think that's correct!) and therefore over 5 years that's 50k. So anyway, they quoted me £549 all-in for the whole job (including water pump) and I actually thought that was very reasonable because of someone earlier in the thread saying it had cost them around £900, so that's the price I'd got in my head. So later on in the day then I contacted Skoda UK who confirmed that the timing belt change interval on my car is actually 5 years or 140k miles. I told my dealer that later on when I went to pick my car up and they said there's always confusion in this area because what they actually recommend now is a 5 year interval irrespective of mileage. Now that I can actually understand, but then why did they say to me there was no goodwill from Skoda purely based on the fact my car had done over 50k miles.... if mileage is now irrelevant?? 😖 So yeah, I've paid for the job, got my car back, happy days, and Skoda UK are investigating this further for me as they agree that I shouldn't have had an issue yet and they seemed positive there might be some form of compensation / contribution available. So I'm waiting for them to contact me at the moment.

 

At the end of the day I'm not too bothered about the whole thing because it's a 2016 car that I planned to keep for 5 years, so I would have had to change the timing belt at some point during my ownership anyway. It's just I wasn't obviously expecting it to happen this soon after buying the newest and most expensive car I've ever bought 🙄 I bought the car in November last year, so in my head I was buying a 2016 car in 2019 so it was 3 years old.... I knew the timing belt would need to be done at 5 years (so in 2 years time), but here I am only just over 2 months into owning it and I'm changing it already! 😩 Oh well, could have been worse!

 

Thanks for everyone's help along the way, it's hugely appreciated. I will update back here once I hear from Skoda UK 😊

[Settol]

Really glad you got it sorted, not so glad you had to pay for it. Hope skoda make an offer. Thanks for the update. 

[simonds3135]

Hi guys, just wanted to post a bit of an update. Well, it's not much of an update because nothing much has really happened. Skoda UK did get back to me though, and said pretty much no they can't offer any goodwill etc and I said I wasn't very happy with that and had a bit of a moan at them, which resulted in me being put on hold and then told that they might be able to offer me something like a free service or something else 'within the network', but paying for the job wasn't an option as such. Better than nothing I suppose. But they said I wasn't showing as the registered owner of the vehicle on the Skoda network system or whatever they called it, so I would have to go into my dealer with my V5 etc to put my details onto the system before they could do anything further. I will do that on Friday after work. Skoda UK are phoning me back next week after I have done this, so I will update again then.

 

In the meantime I have been doing some research, and I highly doubt any of it is going to get me anywhere but I did find some interesting things along the way. So I went on this 'ErWin' website where I had to pay 7 euros for an hour's access to all sorts of technical documents etc. I've attached a screenshot of the website below that I thought was interesting. As you can see, in the 'Whats New' section, there is a document over on the right hand side of the screen called 'Noises from the timing belt area while idling (2044201/10)'. I've attached a PDF copy of this below (Electronic Service Information System (ERWIN - ERWIN).pdf) and on page 1 near the bottom there is a heading 'Production Change' and then it says 'Introducing an optimised tensioner pulley of the toothed belt since engine production date 03.10.2016'. So to me, this means there must have been a known problem with this tensioner for Skoda to introduce an optimised version?? So I checked the production date on my engine (see attached image below) and it is 21.07.16. So to me, this means I've got the older, problematic tensioner, before they started producing engines with the new improved one from 03.10.2016 onwards? The other thing I find interesting about this document is that it was released (or probably updated) on 31st Jan this year, so literally only a few days ago.

 

So some people on here were initially saying that this is a known issue so Skoda should cover it, but I find it weird that if you Google it, nothing seems to come up and there don't seem to be many people with the same issue. My dealer said it definitely wasn't a known issue and they'd never had a VRS in for this problem. Skoda UK also don't seem to be acknowledging it as a known issue, having spoken to them about it, although I didn't directly ask the question. BUT.....these documents that I've found seem to confirm that is IS a known issue? Or rather it WAS a known issue, which resulted in them having to update the design on the tensioner from 03.10.2016 onwards. I guess I don't really fully understand what I'm looking at, but it seems that way to me!

 

Skoda-Erwin-Screenshot.pdf Electronic Service Information System (ERWIN - ERWIN).pdf

Edited 5 February, 2020 by simonds3135

[Ecomatt]

Mine has that noise when cold and is still under warranty from the garage. Will go and speak with them and get this changed.

[simonds3135]

8 hours ago, Ecomatt said:

Mine has that noise when cold and is still under warranty from the garage. Will go and speak with them and get this changed.

 

Definitely! 👍

[KenONeill]

11 hours ago, simonds3135 said:

'Introducing an optimised tensioner pulley of the toothed belt since engine production date 03.10.2016'. So to me, this means there must have been a known problem with this tensioner for Skoda to introduce an optimised version?

OTOH the tensioner is a replacable wearing component.

[simonds3135]

1 hour ago, KenONeill said:

OTOH the tensioner is a replacable wearing component.

 

This is the awkward thing about it all. My feeling is that it shouldn't have worn out this quickly though. I would expect to be able to get nearly right up to the recommended timing belt interval change and then think to myself "ooh, I need to get that changed". Not end up having to take it into the garage with a failing part making a noise at nearly 2 years and 78k before the recommended change date! 🤨

[simonds3135]

Hi guys, just to post a final update - I went to my local Skoda dealer on the weekend with my V5 document and asked them to add my details to their systems as I wasn't showing as the registered owner of the vehicle on there etc, which they did for me no problem. Then Skoda UK rang me back yesterday, as they said they would, and they have basically put a note on the system that my next service is going to be free. They said whatever the car needs for it's age and mileage at the time of service, will be paid for. Anything additional such as tyres needed or whatever, will obviously be at additional cost. That's not a bad outcome I don't think. Much better than a kick in the teeth anyway!

 

Thanks again for everyone's help on here 😊👍

[Settol]

That's fantastic news. Not a bad outcome after all

Heres to many more happy miles

[DaveDaveDave]

Have you looked into the vacuum pump. I had an issue with my mk3 fl and skoda showed me a technical bulletin regarding tolerances in a shaft creating a metallic noise. 

[simonds3135]

On 11/09/2020 at 07:24, DaveDaveDave said:

Have you looked into the vacuum pump. I had an issue with my mk3 fl and skoda showed me a technical bulletin regarding tolerances in a shaft creating a metallic noise. 

 

Hi Dave, I did look into the vacuum oil pump issue a while back, and I'm certainly no expert but from what I read it's a noise that it makes due to its design and it doesn't actually affect the function of it, so Skoda won't do anything about it? That's my very vague understanding of it anyway, as in there is no point in getting it replaced as even a new one would make the same noise I think. Someone with more knowledge about it will hopefully either confirm or correct me on that now