word of warning - cam chain tensioner failure = engine stuffed

[Earl-J]

Hi all interested 2.0 tfsi owners.
For various reasons we recently decided to part with our 2009 A3 s-line 2.0 tfsi quattro.
Very sad to see it go, still in mint condition, loved the drive etc etc.
Exchanged it with a local car auction business and paid the difference on our new car and thought that would be the last of it.
Two days later got a phone call from them saying the car had failed to start after being taken home for the night by the salesman. Thought it was broken cam belt but subsequent check showed the chain has jumped due to the hydraulic cam chain tensioner failure.
A huge surprise to me and a massive dodged bullet for us (although we did have a mechanical warranty that would have covered us) considering the car had a full service history over it's 113000km.
Out of curiosity I have had a quick look on-line and it spells out a scary design weakness for this particular engine from 2008 to 2012-13 when VW Audi fitted a redesigned adjuster to sort this fault. There is even talk of a class action in the US against VW Audi for this issue.
So I got away with it by the skin of my chin but but as a word of warning to many owners still out there, my advice would be to pay up for the upgraded part to be fitted now - as the old saying goes - a stitch in time saves nine

 

[SootySport]

This has been mentioned on ASN before and one or two members have had a failed chain. What was the engine code of your car?

 

[Gazwould]

Why did they bother phoning you up ?

 

[Retroman]

Do VAG make a reliable engine which hasn't got a chain tensioner problem, pistons & rings that don't self-destruct and guzzle oil after 20k miles, oil pumps that don't either block with sludge and/or blow up and cylinder heads that don't absorb water?

 

[Gazwould]

No .

As said on another forum , VAG is Germany's British Leyland , lol .

 

[Earl-J]

Sorry Sootysport, I don't have any info on the engine code.
Regarding the VAG product, this is the same engine as the mk6 GTI and lots of other VW, Audi, Skoda, Seat, etc. I'm not aware of significant reliability issues or am I just not aware ?
Turns out the auction dealer think they will "undo" the sale !
Yeah right. I don't think so.

 

[leshkin]

As said above, cam chain tensioner failure can occur on the TFSI engines and is one of the more common problems. Most owners who notice increased noise from the cam chain area tend to get rid of the car or perform preventative maintenance by replacing the chain, tensioner and, in some cases, chain guides. I would say that this is a design flaw with the engine, but one that is not as common as you might think if you take into consideration the total number of tfsi engines out there, used by the VWG manufacturers.

Bare in mind that similar problems exist with other manufacturers, like BMW with the Mini. Search 'Mini death rattle' to see more cam chain tensioner horror stories.

I guess the moral of the story here is to not take full service history as the ultimate guarantee that the car will be fault-free when buying a car and always listen out for strange noises or engine running issues when buying a used car.

They sure don't make them like they used to...

 

[kash_v]

2.0D in the 1 series, 3 series e90 etc has the same issue. But thats an engine out job lol.