Timing Chain and Engine Replacement

[wenz]

Hi,

I have a 2013 Passat 1.8 Petrol which I took to a mechanic 2 weeks ago due to my engine sounding louder than usual. Initial diagnosis was timing chain that needs to be replaced, expensive but had to be done. Several days later, I was told there were parts that will need to be replaced, again this had to be done so I said yes to proceed for another few hundred dollars.

A week later, more bad news, they said they found a piston is damaged and there's no other recourse but to replace the engine. They have an engine available with over 140K mileage on it, not only will this cost me around 6K but I'm guessing the timing chain on this engine won't last as well.

I am being told now that regardless of whether I replace the engine or not, I still need to pay them roughly 3K for the work that was done on my engine, work on something that literally will be thrown away.

They said they only found out about the piston damage after replacing the timing chain, so my question is :

Would you not be able to detect the piston damage during initial diagnosis ?

I have agreed to get work done per their recommendation but now I am being asked to pay for work based on wrong diagnosis ?

I'm just trying to get a better understanding of this and see if anyone else has a similar experience.

thank you,
wenz

[Transporter]

Except the louder than usual (I don’t know what you consider usual?), was the engine running smooth and with normal power or was it struggling, running rough like on 3cylinders, before they replaced the timing chain?

[IanPGonzaga]

Depends on what they did to diagnose and what their procedure is

You can't really detect piston damage unless you do a compression test or get a camera down there and look.

but usually workshops will do the easiest fix then go from there

i would be asking their warranty policy. if something's broken days later - obviously they didn't fix it correctly. a week later more news? again, ask why their diagnosis was not thorough enough the first time around.

You're the customer - you went in there to get your car fixed - and you're paying good money for it, it's not fixed - i think you need to have a bit of a talk to them to work something out.

I can see that work is work, but then again, if something is broken a day/ a week later then they've not done the job right.

Anyone else agree?

[Transporter]

The compression test takes almost no time and every mechanic should have a borescope by now (they’re cheap enough).

[wenz]

Engine was usually quiet, i.e. I don't hear it when I'm driving but when the problem began, it was sounding like a diesel engine and can definitely hear it while inside the car, the "EPC" and engine symbol indicator on the dash also turned on, it was still running smoothly.

[wenz]

I haven't actually taken the car yet, they called me to say that after replacing the timing chain they found that the piston is damaged. It was maybe like 3 days after they replaced the timing chain, I got a call from them which I thought was for me to pick up the car, unfortunately, it was to tell me that piston was bad and engine had to be replaced.

I'm just trying to understand why they were not able to detect the piston damage straightaway. When you're diagnosing an engine problem, isn't this something that needs to be checked ? Not just the piston, but all major components ?

[grtuned]

I have never seen one piston Damaged on the 1.8 or 2.0 motors unless a valve rocker has come away and usually the valve comes off second best and the piston will need to be inspected but usually ok.
If the chain has jumped more than one valve would of been damaged not only one cylinder
Sounds like you to it to joe blow who wouldn’t know eff all when it comes to these motors. I will not speculate on what may have caused Piston damage but I hope your not getting ripped off
Don’t get me wrong you will be paying around 4-5k to fix these motors when something serious occurs. This includes full rebuild with most new parts.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[brad]

Have you gone to "any old workshop" or a dealership?

The issue would have been the timing chain tensioner which has a revised part and is a known issue. There's a possibility that VW would have covered part of the cost under "goodwill".

Regarding the ever increasing bill, there's a point where the workshop needs to take responsibility for their inability to diagnose properly. I really doubt the timing chain was stretched. It would have been the bad tensioner and I'd guess the valves have hit the piston. Generally the valves come off 2nd best so i'd be wondering why there's no head work happening.