Performance upgrades for the 118TSi engine without effecting warranty

[ohhbugger]

Hi all, I just wanted to find out if there is any performance upgrades on the market for the new beetle 118 TSi engine without effecting the new vehicle warranty.

[Mylotian]

Personally I would leave well enough alone until your warranty expires, so if anything does go wrong the dealer can't use your modification as an excuse for voiding the warranty

[team_v]

This is a very iffy area and has been covered in the tuning section multiple times.

Generally, anything that increases performance can cause warranty issues for the engine/drivetrain etc.
For example, if you put a tune on and then you lose a coil-pack they can argue it was caused by the tune and not warrant the replacement if they feel the need.
However it won't be able to be linked to the power windows failing or the sunroof not operating properly.

Some tuners claim to warrant their own modifications and any issues it can cause to your car.
Other's claim to be undetectable so won't be an issue getting your warranty claim.

[ohhbugger]

Ok fair enough. I think I will stick to wheels and lowered suspension for future mods. How is vw with catback exhaust systems ? Has anybody had any trouble with warranty with an exhaust system fitted ?

[tigger73]

Most tuners are fairly conservative when tuning this motor due to the higher than average failure rates of this engine.

So if you do tune it, you won't see massive gains over stock and you'll be putting your new car warranty at risk.

If it was me I'd be keeping it stock.... but that's just looking at it logically

Re the exhaust I think you should be fine if you're just modifying the rear seciton for a bit more engine note.

I have no idea on the layout/arrangement of the exhaust on these but you may be able to remove the rear muffler and just retain the resonator. However best to do some research and go from there. Listening to youtube clips is very hard to determine volume - best to hear the exhaust in the flesh. You may just have to experiment a bit until you get something that you like the sound of as exhaust notes/noise are very much a personal preference thing.

[ohhbugger]

Is there a bit more of a story regarding the 118TSi engines ? Have I bought a dud that is going to blow its guts all out over the road on me ?

[team_v]

Is there a bit more of a story regarding the 118TSi engines ? Have I bought a dud that is going to blow its guts all out over the road on me ?

The 118TSI's are the 1.4L twincharged motor.
They had oil consumption and dsg issues as they were running pretty close to the maximum constraints of the system.

[tigger73]

Is there a bit more of a story regarding the 118TSi engines ? Have I bought a dud that is going to blow its guts all out over the road on me ?

Let me put it this way. There are numerous people who have bought these cars and never had a problem. Touch wood you're one of these.

There unfortunately a reasonable number of engine failures requiring complete replacement. I'm sure VW won't be telling anyone exactly how many but if you have a look on this site you will see a number - particularly Golf but that's also because this is where the largest number of cars/sales are also.

They are a great engine. Though if it was me I'd be keeping it stock ( apart from perhaps some cosmetic mods) and investing in a genuine factory extended warranty for as long as you're going to keep the car plus a bit.

I wouldn't like to foot the bill for a new engine in one of these. That's why I'd keep it stock, maintain regularly and only keep it while it is still coveted by a manufacturer warranty.

But this is just how I would handle this personally.

It's a pity these didn't come out with a GTI spec engine..., then you could create a real superbug

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[Guy_H]

If you have a new New Beetle with a Twin Charger 118TSI in it (Engine code starting with CAV) then I wouldn't be concerned.

This is second generation that seems to have none of the issues of the first generation.

Read about problems on the internet & then take that as about 1.5% of the actual problems on numbers of vehicles sold, people seek out the forums to complain (and rightly so) but the 98.5% who are having happy, trouble free motoring do not seek out the forums to say how great their experience is.

There are 10's of thousands of 118TSI's running around perfectly fine.

[Ryan_R]

I've had my 118TSI since Aug 2010 and had APR Stage 1 since Dec 2010. If you've got some mechanical sympathy it won'tinduce any faults and you'll have loads of fun with it. APR offer a 6 hour free trial of their tune.

I turn the tune off and enable security lockout when visiting the dealer. They may know about it but it's never been mentioned, even when having warranty work done. Might depend on how nice your local dealer is.