Golf 118 TSI Engine Failures and Service Campaign 24S4

[pinzvidz]

Sounds like a coil pack to me. Same thing happened to the wife's GTI a few weeks back, started running (like a bag of crap) on 3 cylinders, EPC light on etc. etc. One new coil pack later and back to normal.

It's certainly an inconvenience, but luckily I was right near my work when the coil pack failed. Left it in the workshop, took home a car off the lot, had to wait a couple days for a new coil pack to be flown up from Sydney.

C'mon VW, get your act together! If you want to replace Toyota as the world's no.1 car manufacturer, you need to sort the reliability issues first.

[cktsi]

Rattle from behind the firewall might suggest a faulty catalytic converter.

Did you experience 1) Engine light flashing. 2) Power loss?


This could be caused by a couple of things but the main culprits would be ignition coils/ignition leads/spark plugs. If raw fuel is unburnt, it would lead to the catalytic converter to go superhot and will melt away and cause a blockage.

The funny thing when this happens is that people tend to keep driving the car. Flashing Engine Light means it should be parked and get a flatbed truck and get it looked at straight away.

On point 2 above with power loss, most people would depress the accelerator pedal to WOT. This should not be done as more unburnt fuel will enter through the cat converter and might cause the exhaust pipes to overheat as well. This might also cause some of the plastic parts around the exhaust outlet to melt away.

I don't think your engine has blown. Please let the community know what did go wrong with your car so that we could at least know what to expect.

I'm a track addict and catalytic converters are not made for constant track use. Looking back, I should've bought that No-cat midpipe.

On that note, my track car is running like new.

Ohhh... I bought a diesel, so no ignition coils/spark plugs to worry about.

The tow truck driver this morning is from a company that tows prestige cars. From his experience it seemed like a blown coil pack (one of the things I suspected).

It doesn't explain the rattling sound though... kinda like hearing shirt buttons tinkle inside a tumble dryer.


Yes, the lights did flash. I didn't have noticeable power loss... the engine was running so rough it was hard to tell, but the car wasn't struggling to move or anything.

So today we'll know what's happened.

i still love the car, but it is disappointing.

[cktsi]

With any luck it hasn't really blown up. Probably a zillion things could bring on the EPC light and rough running. The fact that you were able to keep driving it sounds promising. Also the fact that "This has happened before.." and it apparently cleared itself sounds like it is not terminal. When I read blew up I was thinking of my old holden firing 2 conrods going through opposite sides of the block and expiring instantaneously. Doesn't sound like anything serious like that. Fingers crossed hey...

Nah... it hasn't blown up. A little story telling is always entertaining . But I do think there are multiple problems going on and it's not just the coil pack.

The car was driveable and able to be driven onto the tow truck. The only thing was when it started an incredible amount of bluey grey smoke was expelled. Same thing happened on Saturday morning - so this points to a blown coil pack.

The tow truck driver has seen lots of VW's with blown coil packs. My mark V 2.0FSI had that around 2 years into my ownership - but I didn't have a problem since (well... i only owned it for 3 years!!)

[cktsi]

I won't get the car back today. They've only diagnosed the fact that there is "low compression in cylinder 3". They don't know why & will have to investigate further tomorrow.

I was hoping for a simple coil pack replacement

[eestison]

I won't get the car back today. They've only diagnosed the fact that there is "low compression in cylinder 3". They don't know why & will have to investigate further tomorrow.

I was hoping for a simple coil pack replacement

hi,

long time lurker - rare poster. heh.

the blue smoke that you describe is usually associated with burning oil.. if your mechanic is talking about low compression in cylinder 3 it could very well mean shot piston rings (compression rings)... this may also explain the "buttons bouncing around in the dryer" sound.

please keep us posted.

thanks.

[Spec83]

Failed ring land I'm betting

[cktsi]

hi,

long time lurker - rare poster. heh.

the blue smoke that you describe is usually associated with burning oil.. if your mechanic is talking about low compression in cylinder 3 it could very well mean shot piston rings (compression rings)... this may also explain the "buttons bouncing around in the dryer" sound.

please keep us posted.

thanks.

If it is due to the piston rings, isn't that bad? During the run in period, the rings are adjusting to the piston chamber, so new rings means having to go through all that again?

I just hope they know how to reassemble the engine properly given it's not at factory.

[x_rotary_rasp]

Does VW replace a faulty engine during warranty period?

Hope it gets sorted out soon!

[cktsi]

The VW service centre phoned me for an update. They ran a "dry compression" test which revealed that there was insufficient compression in the 3rd cylinder chamber. Today they ran a "wet compression" which seemed to indicate everything was fine.

So the conclusion from running both tests is that it's possibly a defective fuel injector. They have to ship the part in from Melbourne and will receive the part tomorrow at the earliest.

The fuel injector sits outside the engine block, so there's no disassembling at this stage.

The service centre rep didn't seem to know what these tests were exactly. For the wet test all he said was they inject oil.

If anyone knows what these tests are, i'd be interested !

[gerhard]

Hmmm - dry test #3 has no compression, adding the oil for the wet test restores compression to normal.

In the olden days that would indicate the rings are shot. Not sure how the injector can be the problem.

Maybe it's different nowadays, but the pistons still have rings like in the past.