2.5 TDi Engine Failure

aclowes · Oct 15, 2014

My 2008 2.5 TDi California's engine has just seized on a trip back from Cornwall. :cry: The No 2 ports and cylinder seem to be completely mashed. It has done 64000mi and been dealer serviced most recently 2 months ago. They do not seem to have an explanation for this failure and are suggesting a new engine at £7300 plus VAT!. Has anyone found a more reasonable quality alternative to a VAG engine?
I'm more than a little disillusioned with VW, I expected to have significantly more life from an engine than this!

TwentyOneThirtyFive · Oct 15, 2014

I''ve been using these guys for parts for the rebuild of our 2.4D. Think a new cylinder head was around 800 and a re-engineered engine was around 2k on an exchange basis. The 2.4 is simpler version of the inline 5, so maybe the 2.5 is a little more.

http://vwenginerecon.co.uk/#

You'd still need to find someone to do the work.

Andresz · Oct 15, 2014

Was the coolant pump replaced in your engine? They are suppose to be replaced every several years no matter what mileage. Otherwise it may end up in catastrophic failure.

If you manage to remove the engine you may send it to Poland, I can recommend you a garage where to make the repair.
Or you can send the whole Van on a lorry. I did it when got engine oil on the cooling circuit. It is cheaper there and your van will have a good attention received.
Regards
Andrzej

aclowes · Oct 16, 2014

Hi folks
Thanks for the link but he was not able to help.
The piston and bore are trashed and apparently they are difficult to reline. The head is off and it is not a pretty sight . It is beyond repair. No 2 port has a valve that has sheared off and the top of the piston looks like someones has used it for a barbecue. The other valves and pistons seem OK. The water pump and turbo appear to be fine .

The cause of this is obscure given the mileage and service history. :headbang

. Not quite what I was expecting from my 4th VW

Tangle Foot · Oct 16, 2014

Think I'd be onto VW...

That's no mileage to expire!!

TwentyOneThirtyFive · Oct 17, 2014

Sounds very much like what happened to mine. Valve broke on #3, fell into the cylinder and locked the engine (on tick over). Thought we'd just(!) totalled the cylinder head, piston and con rod, but have since found issues with the crank case.

That was on a 2.4D coming up to 190k, pretty much full VW service history with a couple of gaps.

Shame they couldn't help, they have a good reputation. If you don't want new, there are many places out there that sell recon engines, but find out what has been replaced/reworked - not all re-engineered engines are equal.

dfps · Oct 17, 2014

Really sorry to hear about your engine issues.

There are loads available on ebay from broken T5's and at various prices.Try www.ebay.de as well.
The T5 2.5 engine has been around a long time and I believe is fitted to other vehicles in the VAG group range ( eg : Audi 2.5Tdi's )

I think I would be trolling the salvage yards before paying over £7K for an engine. !
That's an extortionate price for an engine.

Best of luck with it.

lewisnoble · Oct 17, 2014

Sorry to hear your news - what a pain.

And a worry to others as well - my Cali is 2008 model, 69k miles!

If I remember rightly, on previous versions of the 5 cyl engine, replacement of the water pump was recommended at intervals of ?80k? miles - but then VW changed the design or construction material of the pump, and this was removed as a regular replacement / service item.

Anyone here know what the position is??

Lewis

Andresz · Oct 17, 2014

lewisnoble said:
Sorry to hear your news - what a pain.

And a worry to others as well - my Cali is 2008 model, 69k miles!

If I remember rightly, on previous versions of the 5 cyl engine, replacement of the water pump was recommended at intervals of ?80k? miles - but then VW changed the design or construction material of the pump, and this was removed as a regular replacement / service item.

Anyone here know what the position is??

Lewis

That is right. The old design had plastic propeller. But I would replace it every 80000km no matter which, or every 4 years. Cost is not high.
Cheers
Andrzej

aclowes · Oct 19, 2014

Hi
Thanks for the useful advice and commiseration .
I dont think the waterpump was to blame , there was no sign of overheating. The garage says it could possibly have been a head gasket which "hydraulicked"? no 2 cylinder.
I tried a number of remanufacturers The most promising of these seemed to do all versions of VW engines except the 2.5TDi, which along with other conversations outlined above seems to point to some particular problem in rebuilding these engines. My knowledge ends here!