Tsi engine problems?

I never ever in my life heard of a piston that shrunk and make a cylinder loose compression. I think your mechanic took you for a ride. OE manufacturers use Hypereutectic piston that has more silicone to prevent expansion and contraction with heat and cool down cycles.

No way in hell a piston can will ever "shrunk"

No pistons definitely wont shrink, perhaps what the mech meant was that the bore or more likely the rings were worn due to prolonged inadequate lubrication or such.
 
I had a 2010 Golf 6 Tsi.. bought with 58k on the clock.. no issues until:

1. Chain was very noisy on a cold start.. Common issue with the TSi engine. Their cam tensioner tends to fail ( or wear out prematurely) this was around 70-80k on the clock when it started becoming noisy.

2. At 108k on the clock, car had extreme misfiring issues and starting problems. Turned out Piston nr1 has shrunk a bit causing loss of compression. --mechanic said to overhaul the engine at R40k minimum.

I traded in the car for something without a turbo.
Not sure how the newish TSi engines are like, but the old ones are very problematic.

I bought my 2013 Mk7 1.2 TSi at 64,000km on the clock.

It's on around 96k now and I haven't had a day's trouble with the engine. Starts on 1st turn even when it was -22C here last winter.

Only issue so far has been a broken bulb that I had to replace. That said, we have to get our vehicles EU-controlled (so like an AA roadworthiness assessment + approval) every 2 years. Oh and the low oil light typically comes on a month before my annual service, so I usually add a pint out of pocket.

That being said, my next car will be something with higher clearance and 4WD. This snow and ice nonsense is giving my little car a run for its money.
 
Yeah just be careful with a DSG gearbox.

I had a 1.4TSI MK7 Golf DSG that I purchased brand new in 2016 and the mechatronic unit started to fail on 28000km. But no engine problems
 
as stated before, we have a combined 250 000kms on those getrag dry clutch boxes, not a single hickup. then again, it takes one failure out of warranty :p

Yeah note I said NOT the dry clutch ones.
 
Mine had the DQ200 fitted which was a dry clutch. Maybe I was just unlucky.
Sold the car shortly after.
 
I bought my 2013 Mk7 1.2 TSi at 64,000km on the clock.

It's on around 96k now and I haven't had a day's trouble with the engine. Starts on 1st turn even when it was -22C here last winter.

Only issue so far has been a broken bulb that I had to replace. That said, we have to get our vehicles EU-controlled (so like an AA roadworthiness assessment + approval) every 2 years. Oh and the low oil light typically comes on a month before my annual service, so I usually add a pint out of pocket.

That being said, my next car will be something with higher clearance and 4WD. This snow and ice nonsense is giving my little car a run for its money.


I think the 1.4 in the Mk7 does not have as much ( or any? ) issues

I had the mk6
 
I have a 58 plate VW 1.4 TSI engine. Bought second hand 19 months ago from the first and only previous owner in excellent condition (66,000 miles at time of purchase). Great car up until 3 weeks ago when it suddenly started misfiring on cylinders 1 and 3. We checked the compression, which was fine, so we swapped the coil packs over to different cylinders with plugs, but it still misfired. We diagnosed a fault on the timing chain, which had slackened. Replaced the timing chain with a new one, after which the timing chain fault disappeared, but the engine still misfired on cylinders 1 and 3. We then thought it could be the high pressure pump or tappet. Replaced them both, which showed a slight improvement, but still misfires on cylinders 1 and 3.

Any suggestions on what the problem may be? It would be greatly appreciated, thank you.
 
The Tsi engines are hit or miss, some go to 200k+ km with hard driving and no issues others barely crack 50k before they lose compression/chow oil and need R80k rebuilds at Vw. Even worse if you add Dsg to the mix, another pricey system that could randomly fail.

Buy one if you can afford it if it all goes t1ts up in the engine or gearbox, if you can't afford for that to happen then find a vehicle that's well known to be reliable and cheaper to maintain.

I have seen more than a few instances of these vehicles nearly bankrupting people, a relative has one that's low mileage, out of warranty and chowing oil, low compression found in some cylinders... Time to forgo 2-3yrs worth of holidays
 
Yeah just be careful with a DSG gearbox.

I had a 1.4TSI MK7 Golf DSG that I purchased brand new in 2016 and the mechatronic unit started to fail on 28000km. But no engine problems
So what can a person do when they have that mechatronic unit fail? As I have mine at the dealer as we speak and it has that problem. Just got the car last year September it hasn't done even 6 months.
 
I have a 58 plate VW 1.4 TSI engine. Bought second hand 19 months ago from the first and only previous owner in excellent condition (66,000 miles at time of purchase). Great car up until 3 weeks ago when it suddenly started misfiring on cylinders 1 and 3. We checked the compression, which was fine, so we swapped the coil packs over to different cylinders with plugs, but it still misfired. We diagnosed a fault on the timing chain, which had slackened. Replaced the timing chain with a new one, after which the timing chain fault disappeared, but the engine still misfired on cylinders 1 and 3. We then thought it could be the high pressure pump or tappet. Replaced them both, which showed a slight improvement, but still misfires on cylinders 1 and 3.

Any suggestions on what the problem may be? It would be greatly appreciated, thank you.
Dirty injectors maybe?
 
I have a 58 plate VW 1.4 TSI engine. Bought second hand 19 months ago from the first and only previous owner in excellent condition (66,000 miles at time of purchase). Great car up until 3 weeks ago when it suddenly started misfiring on cylinders 1 and 3. We checked the compression, which was fine, so we swapped the coil packs over to different cylinders with plugs, but it still misfired. We diagnosed a fault on the timing chain, which had slackened. Replaced the timing chain with a new one, after which the timing chain fault disappeared, but the engine still misfired on cylinders 1 and 3. We then thought it could be the high pressure pump or tappet. Replaced them both, which showed a slight improvement, but still misfires on cylinders 1 and 3.

Any suggestions on what the problem may be? It would be greatly appreciated, thank you.
The comment came a bit late but i am glad I didn’t take the car.
 
So what can a person do when they have that mechatronic unit fail? As I have mine at the dealer as we speak and it has that problem. Just got the car last year September it hasn't done even 6 months.

Nothing other than cough up the money for a new one, that's part of the brains of the gearbox and is normally sold as a unit with the valve body, hence the insane cost.

What have they quoted you?
 
...continuing from my post yesterday; I can smell fuel when I start the engine, which shakes and rattles whilst it's ticking over. But when I put my foot down to give it higher revs, it runs ok.
 
VW problems always sounds complicated and expensive, I wonder with all the volumes that they have to produce for the SA market if their quality controls aren't being compromised.

A car at 66k kms is still at the prime of it youth and should not be giving such issues.
 
VW problems always sounds complicated and expensive, I wonder with all the volumes that they have to produce for the SA market if their quality controls aren't being compromised.

A car at 66k kms is still at the prime of it youth and should not be giving such issues.
Apparently many of the Tsi engines are tuned for higher octane fuel and have higher compression than our local fuel can handle, hence they have issues with detonation and that eventually destroys what is otherwise good engines.

Why Vw don't do something about it is anyone's guess, its not like all these engine failures is doing VW any favours.
 
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