Hi folks.

Briskoda has helped me out loads over the years. I'm now in a pickle, and I don't know what's for the best.

Today I found out my 63 plate vRS estate will need a new engine. I've looked after it and had it looked at when it's needed it. I've tried to look after it. It's not done 80,000 miles yet.

Not going to lie; it's gutting. It has a few stone chips and scabby alloys but Ive generally thought if I looked after the car, it'd look after me. It starts and runs but there's metal in the oil... and a mechanic I trust has told me a good refurb engine will take about £8k fitted with all the ancillary bits fiddled and fixed or £11k for a new unit from the factory. Clearly that's not worth it.

So anyway, it seems a shame to scrap and I imagine We Buy Any Car and the like would pay buttons for it. I don't have the time or expertise to part this out myself, barring odd bits of trim.

Any ideas how I might make the most of a really bad situation, folks? The engine's screwed but the rest is a straight car. The interior is particularly good.

Thanks for any advice the community can offer me.

Sorry to hear this - is this usual EA888 terminal issues?

Is this a G2 or G3 EA888 engine?

G3, I think.

Coolant sensor fault in cylinder 3.

No obvious mayo etc but swarf in the engine oil.

Oddly still seems to run fine (not that I'm moving it unless essential).

Does the mechanic know what the metal swarf is? (i.e. it's origin) Have they done any investigative work - maybe put a boroscope down cylinder 3 to see if there's anything obvious? A compression test? Checked the mains?

If it's running fine, what symptoms do you have?

Certainly metal filings in the oil is not good news. But what makes the mechanic advise the engine is toast, as oppose to repairable? Back in 2018, my then 2015 vRS TSI grenaded its turbo. The engine was flushed and the oil pump changed (amongst other items) as a precautionary measure, but the engine survived. Much younger engine than yours though and minimal swarf in the oil - most had been caught by a gauze filter.

Maybe get a second opinion if you don't have all the facts. It's a big (and unwelcome) decision for sure. Best o' luck.

Gaz

Thanks Gaz. Appreciated.

No boroscope but I think pretty sound reasoning, sadly. That said, I'd be delighted to be wrong so I'll lay it all out here. (And if someone wants to buy it as-is, I want to do it honestly and not screw the next guy over.)

The car felt fine but kept going into limp home mode on longer journeys with rev restriction to 4000rpm. I took it to my regular independent who's looked after me over the years, had it traced to oil pressure switch 3, had a coolant regulator valve fixed.

It kept happening and my usual garage couldn't find a cause. I noticed the engine oil temperature would reach 110C and the warning would be triggered.

I took it to a local independent specialist who serviced it, noticed:

"Fault found with oil pressure switch 3, p168d00, checked tpi's and none applicable. Carried thorough test plan and unable to fault and states system has no defect. Removed oil filter housing and found debris within filter. Advise oil and filter change and oil set at correct level and advise customer to monitor as fault is only sporadic".

They estimated £390+VAT to pull the engine apart to find more of a cause so I took it to a 3rd garage, another independent specialist:

"Checked fault codes found code P000A camshaft position sensor A component sluggish. This code together with the history of swarf in the oil and P168D oil pressure switch code is a sure sign that the oil pressure to the camshaft adjusters is dropping. As this is happening when the engine is at operating temperature I would suspect that components inside the engine are worn to a point where oil is leaking past excessively once the oil thins at temperature. This will be causing the oil pressure to drop and the code to log. It will also have a snowball effect as more wear happens the oil contains more swarm that causes more wear. The only reasonable solution at this point is a complete engine replacement or engine rebuild. Including a new oil pump, oil cooler and turbocharger oil feed and return lines."

So it's pretty damning.

Oddly, if it weren't for the restriction on max revs I wouldn't know- it isn't rattling and feels like it drives fine. There aren't any warning lights in between, only after it gets up to higher temps and the warnings go away when it's cooled down again.

Edited 4 hours ago4 hr by thinkblueskies

It sounds to me that the key problem is a failing oil pump, oil pressure live data from OBD port would be interesting.