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How many chain tensioner failures on here?

Posted: Tue Oct 14, 2014 7:52 pm
by matty1664
Hi all

I'm sure everyone has heard of the 2.0L TSI chain tensioner issues on the roccos. I'm just wondering if this has affected anyone on here and if it is actually common or rare as a local VW indie told me today that it's a 'ticking time bomb waiting to happen'!

I'm slightly concerned that this may be a scare tactic to pressure me into getting work done that doesn't necessarily need doing to replace the tensioner for an upgraded one.

If this is a sensible thing to do then how much money should I be looking at parting with to do the job. They said ball park figure 'upwards of £1000' but haven't yet rang back to confirm a quote.

My Rocco is a 58 plate (registered dec '08) on 57,000 miles so I'm guessing by it being an early model it may be more at risk?

Any advice much appreciated.

Cheers

Matt

Re: How many chain tensioner failures on here?

Posted: Tue Oct 14, 2014 9:11 pm
by skippy
I think one has been recorded, but in all honesty, I think you would be desperately unlucky to get a failed tensioner.

There have been quite a few recorded on the Golf GTI site, but that is down to the greater number of cars. That said, I believe VW still pay goodwill on older cars with a failed tensioner ( so long as it has been properly serviced). In all honesty it is not something I am unduly worried about.

Re: How many chain tensioner failures on here?

Posted: Wed Oct 15, 2014 7:50 am
by shshivji
I replaced mine a few months ago as it had the dreaded cold start rattle! The tensioner cost me around £50 and took my about 4 hours to complete, so well worth doing :-)

Here's a link to my previous post

http://www.sciroccocentral.co.uk/forum/ ... =2&t=17060

Shak

Re: How many chain tensioner failures on here?

Posted: Wed Oct 15, 2014 12:14 pm
by matty1664
shshivji wrote:I replaced mine a few months ago as it had the dreaded cold start rattle! The tensioner cost me around £50 and took my about 4 hours to complete, so well worth doing :-)

Here's a link to my previous post

http://www.sciroccocentral.co.uk/forum/ ... =2&t=17060

Shak
Thanks for the replies guys, very useful to know. Shak unfortunately I don't have the mechanical knowhow to be able to do this myself unfortunately but good effort! :yes:

I called Volkscraft in Exeter and they have quoted me £780 to replace the whole lot which includes the cam chain, guides, tensioner and some other chain (guide chain I think but I can't remember).

I am very tempted to get the work done for peace of mind. Got no reason to suspect that something is wrong with my car right now but I will sleep easier knowing that bombshell isn't going to land on me in the future. The plan is to keep the Rocco for as long as poss so I don't mind spending some money on it to ensure it remains reliable.

Does £780 for the job sound reasonable?

Cheers

Matt

Re: How many chain tensioner failures on here?

Posted: Wed Oct 15, 2014 2:14 pm
by salsajoe
Think £780 seems steep. Quoted £490 by my local stealers for just the tensioner replaced but wanted to replace the water pump as well as said they are prone to go. That put the price to near your quote. Should be able to find a good indie to do the job for less.

Re: How many chain tensioner failures on here?

Posted: Wed Oct 15, 2014 4:31 pm
by shshivji
salsajoe wrote:Think £780 seems steep. Quoted £490 by my local stealers for just the tensioner replaced but wanted to replace the water pump as well as said they are prone to go. That put the price to near your quote. Should be able to find a good indie to do the job for less.
Tbh £780 is quite reasonable for the whole job including chain guides and tensioner as its labour intensive, we would charge around £350 for just replacing the tensioner :)

Shak

Re: How many chain tensioner failures on here?

Posted: Wed Oct 15, 2014 7:25 pm
by Ajlcomputers
I'm thinking of getting a scirocco, can anyone point me to more details about this issue and what years are affected?

Thanks.

Re: How many chain tensioner failures on here?

Posted: Wed Oct 15, 2014 9:11 pm
by skippy
Ajlcomputers wrote:I'm thinking of getting a scirocco, can anyone point me to more details about this issue and what years are affected?

Thanks.
Have a check of this for more info, http://www.sciroccocentral.co.uk/forum/ ... er#p146739" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

I think 2012 models and onwards have the revised tensioner.

Re: How many chain tensioner failures on here?

Posted: Wed Oct 15, 2014 10:37 pm
by shshivji
skippy wrote:
Ajlcomputers wrote:I'm thinking of getting a scirocco, can anyone point me to more details about this issue and what years are affected?

Thanks.
Have a check of this for more info, http://www.sciroccocentral.co.uk/forum/ ... er#p146739" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

I think 2012 models and onwards have the revised tensioner.
Yeh i think it's from build date may 2012 cars should have the revised tensioner :-)

Shak

Re: How many chain tensioner failures on here?

Posted: Thu Oct 16, 2014 6:59 am
by bushfrog
I have a 58 Plate 2.0tsi and had a failure at 75000 miles last week.

My advice is get the tensioner replaced .. My bill was 1.9k and No goodwill but thankfully the dealer cut bill to 1.3K (still ££££).
It could have been ALOT worse and at one point they were talking about a new engine if there had been engine damage.

Re: How many chain tensioner failures on here?

Posted: Thu Oct 16, 2014 4:15 pm
by Ajlcomputers
As I'll likely be buying a 2010 or 2011 model, do you think it's a reasonable request to ask the dealer to do it prior to purchase? What's the chances of them agreeing?

Re: How many chain tensioner failures on here?

Posted: Thu Oct 16, 2014 7:20 pm
by skippy
Ajlcomputers wrote:As I'll likely be buying a 2010 or 2011 model, do you think it's a reasonable request to ask the dealer to do it prior to purchase? What's the chances of them agreeing?
Chances are zero. They won't even admit there is a problem, to be fair it would still be highly unlikely to go, but they may well provide some goodwill should you be unfortunate enough to experience this.

Re: How many chain tensioner failures on here?

Posted: Sun Feb 01, 2015 10:13 am
by ROODY
Hi Guys & Gals
My boy owns a 2010 2.0 TSI and has just had to have a complete engine rebuild costing £5872 at one of the VW main dealers, the problem was on start up from cold and would seem that the initial oil pressure did not push the tensioner over sufficiently to tension cam chain . Then a whole heap of stuff went. Through different threads found that on the 1.4 and the 2.0 TSI this has happened across Europe on these two engines. Bare in mind these are not just fitted to the Scirocco. It would also appear that the wear on the tensioner was sufficient to overcome the initial start up tension. We questioned VW UK and unfortunately got no where with them so ended up having to foot the complete bill.
Car has done 72k and been serviced as required at all intervals. One of the lads in work who owns a 1.4 TSI Golf has now taken out an extended VW power train warranty to cover this issue as he has also been doing some googling and threading and came up with the mind set , could it happen to me !!!!!. Have a look around and make your own minds up. But unfortunately we didn't know until it was too late.

Re: How many chain tensioner failures on here?

Posted: Sun Feb 01, 2015 9:06 pm
by matty1664
Thanks for the heads up. Such a shame to have to worry about this issue as the scirocco is such a lovely car.

Re: How many chain tensioner failures on here?

Posted: Sun Feb 01, 2015 9:13 pm
by Jace
I had a stretched chain, VW coughed up the parts cost, I paid the labour charge, still a wedge to lay out though.

Mines a 2010 & running APR STG2+

Re: How many chain tensioner failures on here?

Posted: Tue Feb 10, 2015 1:32 pm
by denono
I have a 2010 plate scirocco. Timing chain slipped causing catastrophic damage to engine. New engine courtesy of VW's good will. I will have to pay labour cost of £2,000.

Re: How many chain tensioner failures on here?

Posted: Tue Feb 10, 2015 6:51 pm
by ROODY
HI YA
Did yours happen on start up !!! as I said in my thread they ( VW UK ) Denied any knowledge of a possible problem. How long ago did yours happen and how many miles on you Rocco.

Roody

Re: How many chain tensioner failures on here?

Posted: Mon Feb 16, 2015 9:34 am
by denono
Hi

Yes. It happened on start up.

All parts were paid for out of good will.

But, I did have to pay the labour cost of £1500 plus VAT

Re: How many chain tensioner failures on here?

Posted: Fri Feb 20, 2015 5:50 pm
by ROODY
Hi ya
How many miles had yours done when tensioner failed !!!!

Re: How many chain tensioner failures on here?

Posted: Sat Feb 21, 2015 9:19 pm
by leericho
Wow wasn't aware the 2.0tsi had these issues!
I had lucky escape in the summer when a mk6 golf 1.4 tsi I had traded in spat the dummy out literally days after I traded it in....