10 VW Polo - timing chain stretched

Toyotafanboi

I understand that but sure the flip side is if dealers were advising timing chains on Polos every second or third services, peoples "mechanic friends" would tell them chains are for life and VW are gouging for work. There's very little winning.

That and while i'd be the first to say they are a very populr fail item on those Polos, i'd say for every one that fails, dozens dont.

VW have seen a bit of sense and went back to belt on their newer stuff anyway.

wholesome19

Toyotafanboi wrote: »

I understand that but sure the flip side is if dealers were advising timing chains on Polos every second or third services, peoples "mechanic friends" would tell them chains are for life and VW are gouging for work. There's very little winning.

That and while i'd be the first to say they are a very populr fail item on those Polos, i'd say for every one that fails, dozens dont.

VW have seen a bit of sense and went back to belt on their newer stuff anyway.

I get that they can't win, but surely they should offer some help. Like I was told that if the garage can't repair...I have to take responsibility for that which is shocking!

Like if this was a straight forward fix, I wouldnt be giving out ya know. I'd just do it, like a clutch or whatever those things..

I just think Volkswagen need to take some ownership to this...or am I nuts thinking that?

greasepalm

All those 3 cylinder engines gave issues even burning oil as top of piston would be wet and plugs partially fouled+ different badge on another maker like seat etc

FGR

Am I right in saying that many of these newer engines were designed and introduced in order to improve emissions for Europe and other markets?

I know it's probably not the best analogy but, like when introducing the CO2 tax system; why couldn't the powers that be look further into the future and see the benefits of maintaining tried and tested engines? The naturally aspirated petrol engines and 1.9 TDIs may have become boring in the scheme of things but they definitely did their job and did it well in terms of reliability. Had things been more gradual I have no doubt advancements would have been a little better tested and not resulted in these long term issues with stretching chains, dieselgate etc.

Not to mention no longer having the need to swap out engines in so many Polos/no doubt relegating many to the scrapheap.

Detritus70

Toyotafanboi wrote: »

I understand that but sure the flip side is if dealers were advising timing chains on Polos every second or third services, peoples "mechanic friends" would tell them chains are for life and VW are gouging for work. There's very little winning.

That and while i'd be the first to say they are a very populr fail item on those Polos, i'd say for every one that fails, dozens dont.

VW have seen a bit of sense and went back to belt on their newer stuff anyway.

If that was Toyota, it would be tens of thousands...

Toyotafanboi

20 years ago, probably.

TheW1zard

I didnt think timing chains were lifetime parts? Is that true? I thought maybe double a belts mileage so 150kmiles or so.

bazz26

They are supposed to be designed to last the lifetime of the engine which is sort of true in that when the chain lets go or snaps that's usually the end of the engine too.

wholesome19

bazz26 wrote: »

They are supposed to be designed to last the lifetime of the engine which is sort of true in that when the chain lets go or snaps that's usually the end of the engine too.

Lol, I guess 10 YEARS is a lifetime in Volkswagen land... (I still can't get over that this is acceptable/allowed in this day and age!)

FGR

wholesome19 wrote: »

Lol, I guess 10 YEARS is a lifetime in Volkswagen land... (I still can't get over that this is acceptable/allowed in this day and age!)

'lifetime' 'limitless' and 'unlimited' are terms that really should be banned unless the literal meaning is used - the consumer agency and comreg (for 'unlimited data') should come together and outright do this.

And ban these '39.99 for 6 months' adds where the smallprint shows the payments double/triple for the remainder of the contract.

As regards cars - they should clearly state what they intend the lifetime of an engine to be in order to use such a term.

Toyotafanboi

wholesome19 wrote: »

Lol, I guess 10 YEARS is a lifetime in Volkswagen land... (I still can't get over that this is acceptable/allowed in this day and age!)

What is your expectation though, just our of curiosity? That a manufacturer should stand over every product failure for every product they've every supplied for an indefinite period of time?

How are you getting on with the situation anyways, have you been pricing around with other repairers?

Never understood why chains became popular again.... A timing belt is a reasonable job on most 3 & 4 cylinder cars.

wholesome19

Toyotafanboi wrote: »

What is your expectation though, just our of curiosity? That a manufacturer should stand over every product failure for every product they've every supplied for an indefinite period of time?

How are you getting on with the situation anyways, have you been pricing around with other repairers?

Just for VW to offer some support or help, considering that I can't prevent this from happening and I bought my car with them/serviced with them every year.

Like I don't mind paying for the cost of replacing the timing chain etc...its the damage that it has caused to the pistons and cylinders that my problem is, because I have to pay the guts of potentially 2k-3.5k worth of damage when there was literally no way of me preventing this in the first place ya know what I mean.

Is that really unrealistic of me to expect help from them? Maybe it is, I don't know ...it just doesn't feel right...that this can happen when I haven't done anything wrong.

I got a quote from another guy for €1200 but not sure that will work, as there might be more damage than he is thinking. So at this stage, I'm thinking better the devil you know. It's heartbreaking all of this tho.

wholesome19

FGR wrote: »

'lifetime' 'limitless' and 'unlimited' are terms that really should be banned unless the literal meaning is used - the consumer agency and comreg (for 'unlimited data') should come together and outright do this.

And ban these '39.99 for 6 months' adds where the smallprint shows the payments double/triple for the remainder of the contract.

As regards cars - they should clearly state what they intend the lifetime of an engine to be in order to use such a term.

Yes agreed, these things are so misleading. If they were honest and just said lifetime means 8 years - then we recommend to replace it that would be grand, instead of this guessing game stuff where your car ends up in bits.

Also agree then need to do away with small print.

krissovo

wholesome19 wrote: »

Is that really unrealistic of me to expect help from them? Maybe it is, I don't know ...it just doesn't feel right...that this can happen when I haven't done anything wrong.

Yes it is unreasonable, the warranty period is clear by the manufacturers and 10 years is a long time.

greasepalm

Even after 4 years all you will get is 2 fingers as they dont want to know.

mickdw

Some here will say you have cover for 6 years but easier said than actually get it.

Detritus70

If something fails unexpectetly after ten years and it's kind of unusual, I wouldn't expect any manufacturer to stump up anything for that.
I dare say, like the BMW 2 liter diesel engines, this is a bad design, destined to fail and not fit for purpose. There should have been a recall.
This is just the manufacturer trying to save a few quid by denying the problem and refusing to do anything about it and f*ck the customer.
If there is no goodwill forthcoming for this turd of an engine (in general, not just in this case), all people in the know can do is to warn absolutely anyone they know who is thinking of buying a car with this engine.
It is a disgrace that manufacturers these days can think "we have a good reputation, so we just design and sell turds and the thousands that fail won't overly affect us, because people will buy them anyway".
Let's just hope that this will eventually catch up with German "Premium" brands, who seem to order their parts of Wish and Ali Baba.

Pasteur.

colm_mcm wrote: »

Dealership has no liability or aren’t obliged to do anything on a 10 year old car.

Cheapest option would be to get an independent mechanic to do a replacement engine.

This is not an uncommon issue on these sadly.

Whatever you do, don’t do the €1500 trade in option.

Is that because you're not actually getting 1500 off?

Or what's the reason

Timing belt

wholesome19 wrote: »

Just for VW to offer some support or help, considering that I can't prevent this from happening and I bought my car with them/serviced with them every year.

Like I don't mind paying for the cost of replacing the timing chain etc...its the damage that it has caused to the pistons and cylinders that my problem is, because I have to pay the guts of potentially 2k-3.5k worth of damage when there was literally no way of me preventing this in the first place ya know what I mean.

Is that really unrealistic of me to expect help from them? Maybe it is, I don't know ...it just doesn't feel right...that this can happen when I haven't done anything wrong.

I got a quote from another guy for €1200 but not sure that will work, as there might be more damage than he is thinking. So at this stage, I'm thinking better the devil you know. It's heartbreaking all of this tho.

It’s a known issue and 5 years ago VW did subsidise part of the cost. But on a ten year old car there is no hope....if the car has been serviced by vw all its life then the timing chain should have been replaced at some stage.

The reason for the cost is because no-one knows how much damage has been done till the look inside. You never know you might be lucky and chain just jumped a few teeth.

Timing belt

Timing belt wrote: »

It’s a known issue and 5 years ago VW did subsidise part of the cost. But on a ten year old car there is no hope....if the car has been serviced by vw all its life then the timing chain should have been replaced at some stage...........

This is the OPs point ........... 10-year-old VW polo (107 thousand km).............bought it from VW approved garage, and serviced it all the way through with VW approved dealer. .................

It sounds like they were never advised to replace the chain and first they hear of an issue is catastrophic failure.

It's unfortunately a case of tough sh1t really.

lawred2

wholesome19 wrote: »

Thanks for coming back to me, so even though I have been with them from the start - they still aren't obliged to the car.

Do you think it would be worth asking them to match a quote from an independent mechanic? I would like to keep it with VW if possible.

Also definitely not doing trade in...do you know if car still valuable if independent mechanic was to fix it (apologies for the millions of Qs)

It's nearly eleven years old.

Timing belt

https://www.google.co.uk/amp/s/amp.theguardian.com/money/2018/aug/11/engine-failure-left-vw-owners-picking-up-a-surprise-6700-bill

colm_mcm

Timing belt wrote: »

https://www.google.co.uk/amp/s/amp.theguardian.com/money/2018/aug/11/engine-failure-left-vw-owners-picking-up-a-surprise-6700-bill

Username is spot on!




(OPs car has a chain though!)

Timing belt

colm_mcm wrote: »

Username is spot on!

I had a similar issue with my 08 Golf but luckily no damage done as I caught it early due to car giving out a error code so it was just a case of a new chain etc...

I came on here at the time looking for advice hence the user name :-)

wholesome19

Augeo wrote: »

This is the OPs point ........... 10-year-old VW polo (107 thousand km).............bought it from VW approved garage, and serviced it all the way through with VW approved dealer. .................

It sounds like they were never advised to replace the chain and first they hear of an issue is catastrophic failure.

It's unfortunately a case of tough sh1t really.

Thats my point exactly - I was never advised to change it, didnt even know it existed and then I get left to deal with the mess.

If I had of known I would of been watching out for it and would have got it replaced

lawred2

wholesome19 wrote: »

Thats my point exactly - I was never advised to change it, didnt even know it existed and then I get left to deal with the mess.

If I had of known I would of been watching out for it and would have got it replaced

What would you have been watching out for?

Timing belt

lawred2 wrote: »

What would you have been watching out for?

The first sign of it giving is the engine getting out of tune rough sounding engine or a increase in fuel consumption.

As the chain can jump a sprocket when started cold due to the chain loosening and the low oil pressure on the tensioner at start up.

colm_mcm

The big problem is that that 1.2 engine sounds like a bag of spanners at the best of times.

Timing belt

colm_mcm wrote: »

The big problem is that that 1.2 engine sounds like a bag of spanners at the best of times.

lol very true