Early 180bhp engine problems - is this still 'a thing' in 2020?

[2into1]

I'd also advise those reading this and wanting to be aware of the risks... That VW's measure of when oil consumption becomes unacceptable is something like 1L per 1000km (620 miles). They seriously say that is you are doing 650miles to the L of oil then you are fine!
So with that ridiculous 'rule' in mind, there is a risk that their 'acceptable' compression levels might (might... I don't know) be equally ridiculous.
I'd want to see how the compression levels of 'my' engine compared to real world examples of healthy engines, not to a figure VW have chosen to be acceptable.

(to those getting lost, the theory is the EGR cooler fins corrode and deposit diamond hard particles in the engine sump. Those particles get stuck in the piston rings and wear the cylinder bores terribly. (shows as low compression). Oil then passes the rings and is burnt (consumed) in combustion.... Which causes the dpf to fill too quickly... Which is the other warning sign).

 

[AndrewBye]

As a 2011 plate 180 owner I now have concerns after seeing these and other posts I have checked the sticker for prefixes bot have no A,B or D how do I investigate further​

 

[2into1]

As a 2011 plate 180 owner I now have concerns after seeing these and other posts I have checked the sticker for prefixes bot have no A,B or D how do I investigate further​

View attachment 54902

Yours is 'pre suffix' so aligns with your early van. Any suffix is on the end of the long number starting 03L....
They went 'yours', then /A, /C (I don't think there was a B...or very small numbers) then /D which is the one everyone is hoping is better.

There's no need to panic, but now you've started the reading, I guess you'll want to know everything. Perhaps join the facebook group so you can get some more feel of the potential problem, although that inevitably concentrates on the problem engines.

 

[Goss]

You’ve done all the right things so I’m not wanting to raise fresh concerns....but I wondered what ‘normal readings’ mean? Is that just verbal reassurance that the levels were fine or do you have the print out? My understanding is there is both a minimum figure that has to be achieved on each cylinder but also that (whatever the readings are) you want them all to be similar......
Eg if vw say the minimum is 17, you don’t want 21, 20.5, 17.5, 20.2 and 20.8....that’s technically a pass but....

I have requested the readings from the VW Dealer but have been assured that they were perfectly normal for the engine. I have rebuilt many engines myself so would expect readings to be similar on all 4 cylinders. PO said no oil consumption so fingers crossed.

 

[2into1]

on all 4 cylinders

Oh yeah, in my example I was still with 5 cylinder engines!

 

[willwander]

As a 2011 plate 180 owner I now have concerns after seeing these and other posts I have checked the sticker for prefixes bot have no A,B or D how do I investigate further​

This highlights one of the main issues I had with owning a 180, even if there is nothing wrong with yours, once you become aware of the potential oil consumption problem you become somewhat paranoid and OCD checking your oil

 

[soppelsa]

What do you think exacerbates the corrosion is it short journeys,driving hard or not using high octane fuel with all the so called additives in.

 

[AndrewBye]

Yours is 'pre suffix' so aligns with your early van. Any suffix is on the end of the long number starting 03L....
They went 'yours', then /A, /C (I don't think there was a B...or very small numbers) then /D which is the one everyone is hoping is better.

There's no need to panic, but now you've started the reading, I guess you'll want to know everything. Perhaps join the facebook group so you can get some more feel of the potential problem, although that inevitably concentrates on the problem engines.

Does that mean it has a faulty egr or are the pre suffix models reliable??

 

[Legin]

I'd also advise those reading this and wanting to be aware of the risks... That VW's measure of when oil consumption becomes unacceptable is something like 1L per 1000km (620 miles). They seriously say that is you are doing 650miles to the L of oil then you are fine!
So with that ridiculous 'rule' in mind, there is a risk that their 'acceptable' compression levels might (might... I don't know) be equally ridiculous.
I'd want to see how the compression levels of 'my' engine compared to real world examples of healthy engines, not to a figure VW have chosen to be acceptable.

(to those getting lost, the theory is the EGR cooler fins corrode and deposit diamond hard particles in the engine sump. Those particles get stuck in the piston rings and wear the cylinder bores terribly. (shows as low compression). Oil then passes the rings and is burnt (consumed) in combustion.... Which causes the dpf to fill too quickly... Which is the other warning sign).

Just a minor point of clarification, the Aluminium oxide particles go into the intake not the sump. I would also be concerned about any Alumina already in there before the EGR is swapped to the D variant.

 

[2into1]

Just a minor point of clarification, the Aluminium oxide particles go into the intake not the sump. I would also be concerned about any Alumina already in there before the EGR is swapped to the D variant.

Yep.... I was trying to summarise.

 

[2into1]

Does that mean it has a faulty egr or are the pre suffix models reliable??

It has the 'faulty' egr... But yours might be in perfect condition. You can't check without removing it and cutting it in half. You can however do an oil analysis at a modest cost which will alert you to the presence of nasties in your oil.

 

[AndrewBye]

It has the 'faulty' egr... But yours might be in perfect condition. You can't check without removing it and cutting it in half. You can however do an oil analysis at a modest cost which will alert you to the presence of nasties in your oil.

Ok thanks

 

[Goss]

You’ve done all the right things so I’m not wanting to raise fresh concerns....but I wondered what ‘normal readings’ mean? Is that just verbal reassurance that the levels were fine or do you have the print out? My understanding is there is both a minimum figure that has to be achieved on each cylinder but also that (whatever the readings are) you want them all to be similar......
Eg if vw say the minimum is 17, you don’t want 21, 20.5, 17.5, 20.2 and 20.8....that’s technically a pass but....

Readings back and less than 0.5bar between all 4 cylinders, 22.6, 22.5, 22.9 & 23.0 bar. Normal tolerance would be no more than 10% so all good

 

[2into1]

Readings back and less than 0.5bar between all 4 cylinders, 22.6, 22.5, 22.9 & 23.0 bar. Normal tolerance would be no more than 10% so all good

That's great news and a very useful reference for others with this worry. Reading back your van is a 2012 with 45k miles on a pre '/D' cooler (I don't think you told us what was on it before the change... But obviously wasn't a /d).
If others are worried they could get their compression checked against these ratings. It will help them decide if a pre-emptive change of cooler would be worthwhile (and might even be better than money in the bank when it comes to resale).

 

[Goss]

I don’t know what was fitted on there as I did not have a chance to check seeing as the bus was at the dealers VW workshop. What I really wanted was the best chance of avoiding any future problems which was taken care of by the campervan company. Hopefully as claimed the d version has been ceramic coated inside which should do the job.

goss