Engine durability

[hadleybuff]

Does anyone have any experience of the durability of the 3 cyl 999cc turbocharged engine over an extended period or high mileage (say, over 100,000 miles)?

[TerFar]

Try this article on VAG 1.0Tsi reliability issues. Mostly they seem no better or worse than other small engines. However, the Japanese and Koreans have a better record for small engines snd longevity. 

 

https://www.motorreviewer.com/engine.php?engine_id=130

 

[hadleybuff]

Thank you very much indeed; I found that most interesting.

[RickW]

'The best thing you can do to prevent that problem is just using good fuel (super unleaded at RON 95). But the mechanical cleanup process at least every 50k miles will keep the engine in top condition'. 🤔

[hadleybuff]

'mechanical cleanup process'........does that involve removal of the cylinder head..........every 50k miles?

That, if correct, sounds remarkably like the old 'decoke' process necessary for side valve engines. Progress?

[Ootohere]

Super Unleaded as sold in the UK is 97 is 99 ron minimum and E5.    (Sainsbury, BP 97 ron,   Tesco Momentum 99, Shell V-power nitro +, Esso 99 octane.)

 

95 Ron Unleaded in the UK is not Super Unleaded and is E10 since last September.   Asda, Tesco, Morrisons, Sainsbury, Shell. BP, Gulf, Esso etc etc, all E10 if 95 ron. 

 

........................

Super Unleaded / E5, as you get it in the UK since September 2021.

Edited 5 April, 2022 by roottoot

[Ootohere]

Lost in Translation and German and other Foreign Languages & term do not always match English or American English terms.

VW often forget that the UK has differences from Continental Europe. 

 

This bit on 95 ron Super Unleaded really means that anything else in this article needs questioned or taken with a pinch of salt / detergent which is sodium.... Simplified science / error...

(Super is what VW Group have on Filler Flaps for 95 ron but that is not Super Unleaded in the UK.)

 

 

 

Edited 5 April, 2022 by roottoot

[hadleybuff]

You are, of course , absolutley right about the petrol point and Skoda do not recommend (ie require) the use of 'Super'.........not many manufactureres do. So, I have ignored that point in the article.

My concern is the stated need for a 'mechanical clean up process at least every 50k miles......'

I take 'mechanical' to mean head off; how else would access to the ports and valves be attained?

Surely, it is not suggested that a (fairly) modern engine cannot run for 100k miles or more without MAJOR mehanical work?

I would value your views and comments upon this.

[Breezy_Pete]

20 minutes ago, hadleybuff said:

how else would access to the ports and valves be attained?

Inlet manifold removal would give you some access, probably sufficient to remove gross contamination, but I would suggest that the 'at least every 50k miles' is a bad guestimate.

 

There shouldn't be a lot of soot about in the intake of a modern petrol engine anyway. I doubt the 1.0tsi has external EGR?

 

Edited 5 April, 2022 by Pete_Ex-Wino

[JGrindel]

2 hours ago, Pete_Ex-Wino said:

Inlet manifold removal would give you some access, probably sufficient to remove gross contamination, but I would suggest that the 'at least every 50k miles' is a bad guestimate.

 

There shouldn't be a lot of soot about in the intake of a modern petrol engine anyway. I doubt the 1.0tsi has external EGR?

 

I always thought and have seen evidence of the TSI engines having quite a considerable carbon build up on the back of the intake valves after even 10k miles. - So driving the car HARD and revving it out creates more airflow over the valves helping to a certain degree in reducing the build up of carbon build up. From what I have read online the modern direct injection engines have a high nox level at ignition so circumvent some of the gases back into the intake which intern creates the carbon build up... also because of the direct injection the fuel and air mix doesnt clean the back of the valve like they used to on older intake injection engines. 

 

Here is a great video from Aaron from TheHumbleMechanic showing the build up on his Golf R. (Same direct injection used on all TSI modern VAG engines) - WATCH HERE

 

Most garages now can do walnut blasting to remove the carbon build up on the back of the valves, AwesomeGTI and other specialists will do this but it comes at a price because of the labour (£500+ sometimes)

 

Valvoline did a good article on what carbon build up is.

Truth behind carbon build up - https://team.valvoline.com/diy/truth-behind-carbon-buildup

 

 

EDIT

 

But dont take this whole thread saying the tsi 1.0 engine is unreliable! IT IS NOT and is a very good engine, the carbon build up effects lots of modern cars not only VAG due to direct injection being the favoured injection to meet emissions. 

Edited 5 April, 2022 by JGrindel

[Breezy_Pete]

I thought recent engines did something more like 'exhaust gas retention' via valve timing tweakage, rather than recirculation.  

Exactly how a 1.0 TSI does it, I have no idea.

 

Thinking about it some more, I guess even if it does done by retention, opening an inlet valve into a cylinder with deliberately retained exhaust gases is going to tend to make the back of the valve and exposed area of stem dirtier than if the exhaust stuff had moved on already.

 

 

Edited 5 April, 2022 by Pete_Ex-Wino

[Breezy_Pete]

Ah, maybe a lot of the soot comes via PCV system rather than EGR?

 

Kinda glad I probably won't ever need to own a car with direct injection.

Edited 5 April, 2022 by Pete_Ex-Wino

[hadleybuff]

Removing the exhaust manifold sounds like a load of fun but having done so how do you stop the gunge getting down the cylinder bores and also this does not give access to the valves.

[Breezy_Pete]

Inlet mani was what I mentioned, and the inlet ports lead to the valves. The 1st video that JGrindel posted shows some cleaning done this way, as far as a quick glance showed me.

[hadleybuff]

I stand corrected; removing the exhaust manifold might be a bit challenging!

But, having seen the video of the Golf engine at 10k miles, I can't see many private owners undertaking that job and I shudder to think what a garage would charge, assuming they were safe to be let loose on it.

Maybe long term a Morris Minor is a better bet.

[rum4mo]

@hadleybuff,  remember that these engines are turbo charged so it will take a lot more clogging up before you notice the power drop, in the modern VW Group world, the worst offender of GDI engines is the non turbo'd ones they tend to be fitted into higher performance cars which it seems leads to double trouble, first the drop off in max power gets noticed sooner, and that type of owner/driver just can not put up with that, most people with a 1.0TSI or a 1.2TSI will probably just put up with it a lot longer, maybe even never needing to get it cleaned up - or so I'm hoping!

[hadleybuff]

I am grateful for all the comments upon my original post.

However, these engineshave been around for a few years now and I was hoping to hear from owners who had driven or owned cars which had covered 100k miles or more along the lines of 'Mine has done x miles and has had no major problems' or 'Mine has done y miles and at z miles I had to replace the t widget twice' etc.

Between 1966 and 2005 I always drove more than 35k miles a year with a high of 69k miles in 1990 and I drove over 50k miles a year from 1989 to 1997; in all that time I had only one breakdown when the drive to the oil pump sheared but the engine was saved the the car having an oil pressure gauge which alerted me ; that shows remarkable reliability of cars as diverse as Ford, Volvo, SAAB, Peugeot but the engines in most of those cars were unsophisticated by modern standards hence my concern for the 1.0 turbo Skoda engine.

[JGrindel]

2 hours ago, hadleybuff said:

I am grateful for all the comments upon my original post.

However, these engineshave been around for a few years now and I was hoping to hear from owners who had driven or owned cars which had covered 100k miles or more along the lines of 'Mine has done x miles and has had no major problems' or 'Mine has done y miles and at z miles I had to replace the t widget twice' etc.

Between 1966 and 2005 I always drove more than 35k miles a year with a high of 69k miles in 1990 and I drove over 50k miles a year from 1989 to 1997; in all that time I had only one breakdown when the drive to the oil pump sheared but the engine was saved the the car having an oil pressure gauge which alerted me ; that shows remarkable reliability of cars as diverse as Ford, Volvo, SAAB, Peugeot but the engines in most of those cars were unsophisticated by modern standards hence my concern for the 1.0 turbo Skoda engine.

I don't do the miles you do BUT I do own the 1.2tsi (similar engine just one less piston) and I do 14k a year (mainly motorway) its been absolutely fine for the time I have owned. I have also not seen or heard of any failures of any of the 1.2 or 1.0 engines in the time they have been around via here, and the fabia facebook groups. 

 

Keep up with oil servicing ie every 8-10k and not the 20k most car manufacturers are advising today and using good quality fuel (E5 premium) will yield better performance and economy. These little 1.0 engines have been used in Skoda's SUV early on. 

 

Might be worth asking on the Mk3 Skoda Fabia Owners UK on Facebook this same question and you might get a better response perhaps. 

[hadleybuff]

Thank you; due to age (79 next month) and the Pandemic I don't do even 10k a year these days; I just had a bit of a battle to get the oil changed after 12 months in my little Skoda.

"Ah, Sir, not needed. You are wasting your money. We use 'long life oil'. Good for2 years" I got the oil and filter changed in the end. I believe in long life engines rather than long life oil!

[Warrior193]

I agree with your opinion on the " wasting your money - long life oil" quotation - the issue with low annual mileage is that the engine often does not get up fully to temperature - resulting in higher wear and oil contamination. Clean oil essential, especially for turbos.