Golf 118 TSI Engine Failures and Service Campaign 24S4

[Mk R]

Oh wow really?? Can't they rebuild the engine.

What is the 24s4 campaign?? The car has only done 57ks. I think this should be covered by the manufacturer. This car is not even half way through its life. Should I prepare myself for a fight with vw. Seriously what the hell?

If the cylinder has been damaged by the cracked piston scraping through it, it would need to be bored out to be smooth again (say 76 to 77mm diameter), however the VW pistons would then not fit so their only option is to change the engine block. Thats good and bad. Good because it's a whole new engine but bad because it may take a while.

I can't find an official link to the 24s4 campaign but it exists and is applicable to that engine. The service centre that does the work would be the ones to talk to about the software update.

At 57k km you should not be paying for the repairs or new engine.

[blower]

Oh wow really?? Can't they rebuild the engine.

What is the 24s4 campaign?? The car has only done 57ks. I think this should be covered by the manufacturer. This car is not even half way through its life. Should I prepare myself for a fight with vw. Seriously what the hell?

The 24s4 service campaign was a big drive in October 2010 to get dealerships worldwide to perform an ECU update to all 2009 onwards 118KW twincharger engines, in order to correct a flaw with the knock sensor calibration.

Many engines, especially in Australia, were cracking pistons - VW found that the knock sensor was not properly detecting knock conditions due to an error with its calibration and as a result the pistons were prematurely failing. The hot conditions and more importantly poor/inconsistent fuel quality in Australia meant the frequency of failures was very high, it was all these failures in Aus that brought the fault to VW's attention.

Any car that has had a VW service from October 2010 onwards should have had the update applied when it went in for its normal service. A sticker was then put on the car to indicate it had this service - usually its under the boot covering, where the spare wheel is. Your service book should have also have an entry for this 24s4 service.

Unfortunately this update only went so far, undetectable knock can still occur under certain conditions (high temperature, poor fuel quality, consistent short journeys, clogged fuel injectors etc) - that combined with the chocolate pistons that are in this engine is a recipe for disaster and not a month (sometimes week) goes by where I don't hear of another twincharger throwing a piston.

I believe most of the piston failures since 24s4 are the result of LSPI - low speed pre-ignition. I surmise this is occurring due to carbon deposits building up on the piston crowns (more prevelant with earlier injector revisions), and high cylinder temperatures resulting from the supercharger nature of the engine producing high boost at low RPM.

Driving only short journeys or sedate motorway driving is going to exacerbate the issue, with more carbon build up - and its only going to take an event where some of this carbon is glowing from the last combustion cycle, and your going to cause a pre-ignition event - hammering the weak pistons and eventually they crack, right on the ring land area where they are weak.

The later revision engines have better pistons, better injectors and different ECU software - all of which seem to have resolved the problem, I have not heard of a 2012 CAVD / CTHD throw a piston.

[Waz]

If the cylinder has been damaged by the cracked piston scraping through it, it would need to be bored out to be smooth again (say 76 to 77mm diameter), however the VW pistons would then not fit so their only option is to change the engine block. Thats good and bad. Good because it's a whole new engine but bad because it may take a while.

I can't find an official link to the 24s4 campaign but it exists and is applicable to that engine. The service centre that does the work would be the ones to talk to about the software update.

At 57k km you should not be paying for the repairs or new engine.

Thank you.

I couldn't find a sticker in the boot. Do u think I will be successful in fighting this considering I am the second owner. I believe I should be able to as manufacturers have a duty to ensure that their products meet the standards and quality they advertise.

[Waz]

Thank you, you seem to know a lot. Great to have this info on hand when I talk to vw next.

[Mk R]

Thank you, you seem to know a lot. Great to have this info on hand when I talk to VW next.

Call the ACCC and ask what your rights are as a consumer before you get back to VW. https://www.accc.gov.au/

As a consumer, you would normally expect a car engine to last more than 60,000km. If you see below from the ACCC website (even though your car is from 2010, a similar requirement would apply):

Consumer guarantees on products and services

Since 1 January 2011, the following consumer guarantees on products and services apply.
Products must be of acceptable quality, that is:

• safe, lasting, with no faults
• look acceptable
• do all the things someone would normally expect them to do.

Acceptable quality takes into account what would normally be expected for the type of product and cost.

EDIT: Thanks should go (in no particular order) to Lucifer, Blower, Rawcpoppa, Hawk, Lucas, vRSy and others who on various forums taught me pretty much everything i know about these cars. There's not too much you can't learn from all the things other people have shared online.

[blower]

EDIT: Thanks should go (in no particular order) to Lucifer, Blower, Rawcpoppa, Hawk, Lucas, vRSy and others who on various forums taught me pretty much everything i know about these cars. There's not too much you can't learn from all the things other people have shared online.

Yay, I made the 1.4 TSI hall of fame!

[Waz]

Call the ACCC and ask what your rights are as a consumer before you get back to VW. https://www.accc.gov.au/

As a consumer, you would normally expect a car engine to last more than 60,000km. If you see below from the ACCC website (even though your car is from 2010, a similar requirement would apply):

Consumer guarantees on products and services

Since 1 January 2011, the following consumer guarantees on products and services apply.
Products must be of acceptable quality, that is:

• safe, lasting, with no faults
• look acceptable
• do all the things someone would normally expect them to do.

Acceptable quality takes into account what would normally be expected for the type of product and cost.

EDIT: Thanks should go (in no particular order) to Lucifer, Blower, Rawcpoppa, Hawk, Lucas, vRSy and others who on various forums taught me pretty much everything i know about these cars. There's not too much you can't learn from all the things other people have shared online.

Everyone is soooo helpful on this forum. Thank you to all for sharing your knowledge. Vw have been really helpful so far, they gave me a loan car for 10days so hopefully I get an answer by then. But not happy with VW castle hill service centre, they have been really unhelpful so definitely not doing my service with them. But VW Australia have so been good, we will see what happens when I put in the goodwill. If it all goes well, definitely buying another vw in the future. Mk R, I contacted ACCC and they kinda said that I don't have any rights which I hard to believe. As a manufacturer, VW is responsible to provide a reliable product, even though I bought the car privately it's still a VW product which means that they should still be liable for quality. I have had about three different cars from different manufacturers but never had a problem with engine even though those cars had a lot more Ks on them. I think the guy from ACCC was not too experienced. Well I am hoping anyway.

[Mk R]

Everyone is soooo helpful on this forum. Thank you to all for sharing your knowledge. Vw have been really helpful so far, they gave me a loan car for 10days so hopefully I get an answer by then. But not happy with VW castle hill service centre, they have been really unhelpful so definitely not doing my service with them. But VW Australia have so been good, we will see what happens when I put in the goodwill. If it all goes well, definitely buying another vw in the future. Mk R, I contacted ACCC and they kinda said that I don't have any rights which I hard to believe. As a manufacturer, VW is responsible to provide a reliable product, even though I bought the car privately it's still a VW product which means that they should still be liable for quality. I have had about three different cars from different manufacturers but never had a problem with engine even though those cars had a lot more Ks on them. I think the guy from ACCC was not too experienced. Well I am hoping anyway.

Yeah, don't worry too much about that. Push as far as you can being nice, then hit social media, then if you still get nowhere have a lawyer write a letter. The more noise you make the more motivated they'll be to throw money at it to shut you up. In the end it all depends how long you're willing to fight, how much it costs and what you think your time is worth. That's why i just paid the $3k for a used engine install and got on with life

[Nicho]

My VW Golf problems never felt so good right now. They have still not got back to me regarding good will on the clutch but we traded it in on the weekend for a Kia. Never been more desperate to be rid of a car and the changeover experience with Kia simple and pleasant. Loved the Golf....just couldn't live with the constant problems...

[nperkins]

Guess what, I had exactly the same issue yesterday also ! I took it to a workshop and they charged by $461 to put some new plugs in, but told me that the engine would ned rebuilding, to cost thousands.

I have read up a little about this and there are issues of 'Satatutory Warranty' that need to be raised for an engine only done 58K kms.

I will be calling VW today and seeking full compensation for this.

10 mins ago I was driving on my way home and I heard a rattle sound from behind the firewall (from the engine bay) and a plume of unburnt fuel spewed from my Golf's exhaust.

This has happened before only this time the engine warning light AND EPC light came on. 30 seconds after the rattle the engine's running became VERY rough and uneven. Lucky I was close to home.

I rang VW assist, but of course being 5:50pm the workshops are closed & nothing can be done about it until Monday.

So the car is at home, but parked on the street (for fear it will break down & be difficult to remove from the garage).

I've read about 118TSI engines "blowing up" in Golfs in Sydney... but fortunately for me this was a gradual meltdown. I unfortunately won't be able to drive this weekend and take chickie babes out for a ride

Thanks VW.

I had this rough idling before from my 2.0FSI and in that instance it was a defective magnetic coil used to trigger some kind of engine internals. This may account for the 118TSI rough running, but the rattle suggests a supercharger issue as well.

We'll see what VW have to say on Monday, but in the meantime I'm going to stew without the car & start thinking about whether I want to follow Tommy's path.

Sorry for the bad news folks