Beetle CTHD (118TSI twincharge) engine failure

[ohhbugger]

Hi All just wanted to know if any other beetle owners have experienced loss of compression in their late model beetle engines and required their pistons to be replaced.

I understand that the CAV series of engines in the golfs and Jetta's were prone to piston failures but i was unaware that the CTHD engine suffered from this same problem

our engine only made it to 116'000kms before it needed 4 new pistons. 1 owner from new, always filled with 98 shell or BP. religiously serviced on time and only been to one dealer.

Volkswagen would only cover the cost of the parts due to it being a 2103 model beetle which took a big chunk out of my back pocket paying for the rest of the repair. That being said it's terrible to think that the dealers consider 100'000kms a normal lifespan of an engine, so much for buying a quality product.

i guess gone are the days were you would buy a Japanese car, look after it terribly and it would still last for 300'000kms

[Lucas_R]

The Beetle to Polo/Golf ratio is much lower, so this is probably the most likely reason why you haven't seen too many Beetles with this issue.

Im convinced the engine design of the 1.4 twincharger is flawed (regardless of any updates VW might have made to the production run on this engine).

Get it fixed and sell it would be my advice.

[feenix74]

Yep, colleague at work had her Beetle 1.4 TSI engine rebuilt at VW expense about 4 months ago (it is a 2015, 1 owner from new with dealer servicing history). I helped her identify the problem by reading the fault code with my OBDII reader, spoke to my independent VW specialist mechanic, and passed on the advice to take it to the dealer, get it fixed then sell the car. She has gotten if fixed but still has the car . . .

[ohhbugger]

The Beetle to Polo/Golf ratio is much lower, so this is probably the most likely reason why you haven't seen too many Beetles with this issue.

Im convinced the engine design of the 1.4 twincharger is flawed (regardless of any updated VW might have made the production run on this engine).

Get it fixed and sell it would be my advice.

Can you elaborate on why you think it's flawed ?

It is fixed but i don't want to sell it, it's been a great car otherwise.

[Lucas_R]

Can you elaborate on why you think it's flawed ?

It is fixed but i don't want to sell it, it's been a great car otherwise.

The sheer number of engine failures - it is simply outstanding how many of these engines have failed. And its VW's fault because they designed it, have been manufacturing it for many years and have never come to the table with a fix.

It is without a doubt by far the most unreliable engine VW group has put into production in modern times (probably in all time). They are a ticking time bomb regardless of fuel used, service history etc etc.

Many people have had their engines fixed previously (new pistons etc) and they have broken again several years later. And please don't tell me its a 7 speed DSG too.....they are also a ticking time bomb (burnt clutch packs and failed mechatronics).

Sell it and just hope to god the poor person who buys it doesn't do any research on the engine before they hand you the $$

[MaverickAus]

Sorry if resurrecting an old thread is considered bad form.

My Sister bought one of these things a few years ago and is now facing over $10,000 to fix the pile of *****. It has less that 90,000 km on it and has the ring land problem ($6,000) and the DSG issue. Of course VW Australia don't want to know about it, all they can say is take it to the dealer. Naturally it has been to the dealer several times with the issue and they failed to diagnose the problem. It took an independant service center to tell her what the issue was and that it was common in these.

I can only hope the OP took the advice and sold it.

Garry

[Lucas_R]

Sorry if resurrecting an old thread is considered bad form.

My Sister bought one of these things a few years ago and is now facing over $10,000 to fix the pile of *****. It has less that 90,000 km on it and has the ring land problem ($6,000) and the DSG issue. Of course VW Australia don't want to know about it, all they can say is take it to the dealer. Naturally it has been to the dealer several times with the issue and they failed to diagnose the problem. It took an independant service center to tell her what the issue was and that it was common in these.

I can only hope the OP took the advice and sold it.

Garry

Sorry to hear mate - but these 1.4 twincharge engines and the 7 speed DSG transmissions are absolute garbage. If the engine doesn't give up on you, the gearbox will.....or visa versa. And if you are really unlucky, both will go at the same time.

You will pay top dollar the dealership, my advice would be to get the independent mechanic you have visited to source a new engine/transmission out of a wrecked car, fit it to your car and get rid of it. There are plenty of these engines at wreckers so shouldn't be too hard to source something.

[The_Hawk]

Sadly it's a brilliant engine... until it's not.

I've still got my twincharger which I was lucky enough to get repaired by VW with new pistons. I know it's likely to happen again one day, but mine is the Cabriolet and with such low km's on the body I feel like it will be worth replacing the engine with a GTI 2.0T and MQ350 out of my own pocket next time around. If I had a standard Golf/Polo I don't know that I would want to try to hold onto it so much. The Beetle... maybe, it's at least a little different to the million other hatchbacks.

All of that said, I don't know that I would ever want to spend my own money fixing a twincharger unless you really were doing it all yourself on the absolute cheap, I would be looking at a full engine transplant, although that will likely come at a higher cost depending on how much tinkering around the edges is required.