T5 2014 engine ceased due to piston failing & damaging cyclinder head

[Maudalina]

Help, our 3yr old T5 California Ocean has just ceased up outside a campsite - rescued, van at VW garage but found engine ceased up due to piston failure & damaging cylinder head - poss due to faulty moulding. No one can believe it has happened - 2 mths outside warranty, VW customer service with persistence has offered to pay half the bill but we don't think it is enough.
Any ideas or has anyone got experience of this - desperate for help please?

 

[Meoncoast]

Not good
also what millage have you done and have you been given a price

 

[2into1]

It can't be a T5 and an Ocean can it?
I'm assuming it's an SE, so will have either the 140hp or the 180hp engine, and we could do with knowing which.

 

[reserves]

It can't be a T5 and an Ocean can it?
I'm assuming it's an SE, so will have either the 140hp or the 180hp engine, and we could do with knowing which.

It says 2014 180 DSG in their profile, for some reason it doesn't show when viewing on mobile.

It's not an Ocean, but I think this is easily confused with SE

 

[2into1]

for some reason it doesn't show when viewing on mobile.

Thanks. I had a fish around but couldn't find the info via my mobile, as you suggest.

 

[Max-Felix]

Another iffy 180? If literally two months outside warranty (presumably with full VWSH) I would hold fire and seek strong legal advice.

 

[Maudalina]

Sorry, it's SE 180 DSG, only done 43,000. They have quoted it willcost £5k for a new engine - they have offered to pay 50%.

We are trying to speak to the auto ombudsman for advice.

Can't believe after all our research to buy the best we could afford and this happened!

 

[pjm-84]

Hold out for more and look at rejection under the sales of goods act. Quite common for Landover engines to go bang and persistence seems to payoff assuming you have a full VW service history

 

[sidepod]

Was there much oil in it when it sh@t itself?

 

[MickyTwoPints]

Gulp! Picking my new T5 180SE Auto tomorrow. #nervous

 

[WelshGas]

Gulp! Picking my new T5 180SE Auto tomorrow. #nervous

Why? These things happen unfortunately. Now on 52,000 and going strong.

 

[MickyTwoPints]

Why? These things happen unfortunately. Now on 52,000 and going strong.

Only joking I'm just getting excited about picking up my Cali tomorrow.

I appreciate these things happen. Hopefully it's a rare occurrence.

 

[Borris]

Ask to inspect and keep the faulty parts. The crucial thing in your thread is your statement, "poss due to faulty moulding". If that turns out to be true then at the very least, VW should be paying the whole cost and giving you a replacement vehicle whilst the work is being carried out. The fact that they have readily agreed to pay 50% of the cost suggests that they know it's faulty and therefore their fault. However if the engine has been manufactured correctly but has undergone some event like running out of oil or severe overheating that would be a different matter.

Seek legal advice.

 

[Grumpy Mike]

I bought a brand new Range Rover Evoque at near £50K The gear box got very klunky and dangerous I had to go through the stupidity of being recovered twice by Landrover before thy agreed there was an issue. Then I kept shouting safety... Safety... They still "investigated" the gearbox and agreed?????? to pay for it??? Can you believe that... it was a year old....... Serviced by them....

So I was peed off and annoyed and wanted rid of it... These things do happen and you have to stand up to them.... I am trading my RR in on Friday for my Cali and am still nervous.... All cars have issues... All manufacturers seem to try their hand........ As Borris says get your ducks in a row and stand up to it... Unless you have been negligent in allowing oil to be low or similar then it is not reasonable for a purchase of that cost to fail just out of warranty.....

I hear all the stuff on the forum... some not nice, I havent got my Cali yet, but I am sure it will be the best vehicle I have ever owned and yes I will have some sort of issue with VW at some point... But hey ho...

 

[sidepod]

Pistons are either forged or cast, not moulded.

What you need to establish is if it's lubricant based i.e. the ongoing oil issue with this engine.

 

[j3ggo]

email KUNDENBETREUUNG@volkswagen.de

Customer service + VW

VW direct in Germany should deal with it for you.

 

[soulstyledevon]

2014, 180bhp, bi-turbo.
Weird...???

Really sorry O/P. Do some homework. There is some info around and as Sidepod has said. You need to get some solid facts together and proper checks.
Volkswagen should be coughing up for this work.

 

[Annik]

Why does the 180 suffer from so many problems? Most of the failures I have been reading about on other forums have all nearly been 180's

 

[Ryemslie]

The EGR cooler internals corrode, get passed into the cylinder bores & i believe with the mixture of heat & compression turns into a solid material & starts destroying the pistons/rings & bores. What I've read from many forums including this one anyway & appears to only affect the 180 bi-turbo

 

[Max-Felix]

There is without a doubt a risk in buying one of these engines. How big that is is debatable but it is there.

I for one would not take that risk but the vast majority of buyers never read forums or have any knowledge of potential issues. And dealers although some may be aware are similarly ignorant or chose to be and consequently values do not seem to be affected.

 

[WelshGas]

The EGR cooler internals corrode, get passed into the cylinder bores & i believe with the mixture of heat & compression turns into a solid material & starts destroying the pistons/rings & bores. What I've read from many forums including this one anyway & appears to only affect the 180 bi-turbo

Pure supposition. There is no Class 1 evidence. The few, and it is only a few compared to the numbers of engines sold, aggrieved owners have been vary vocal on Facebook and elsewhere but evidence is anecdotal not fact. There was a manufacturing problem with some engines built in 2010/11, now fixed since MY 2012, according to VW , that produces high oil usage at about 50/60,000 miles. Commercial vehicles were fixed under warranty. Problem was, many privately owned vehicles e.g.: Californias were low mileage and only now reaching 60,000 miles.

 

[steve and lisa]

We would not purchase another 180, we have had so many engine problems and any work seems to be more expensive than if it was a 140. Also all our problems started as soon as it went out of warranty!!! It now also drinks oil like there is no tomorrow

I just hope this does not reflect in used sales as we are looking to sell at end of the season.

 

[kave]

I don't know about UK, but here in Sweden every 5 cars is a transporter of some kind and quite a alot of them are always the top engine spec. Usually Transporters are bought by the wealthier carpenters etc, the more cheaper ones drive Renaults and Peugots etc. If there where such high failure rates we would have heard of them already. Further, this engine is used in many many other cars as well. It is probably the most used high power engine on the planet.

 

[Maudalina]

Was there much oil in it when it sh@t itself?

The oil level was fine ...

 

[Maudalina]

Thank you all for your responses and email details.

We have been offered 50% reduction on the bill (a new engine) as a good will gesture by VW Customer Service UK, they admit there is a fault with the engine that we have not caused plus it has a full serviced history with VW

So once we have the proper details from our VW garage of what exactly went wrong we are contacting the Motor Ombudsman. We have contacted Germany VW and await a response from them.

If you can recommend anything else, please let us know - many thanks again for all your help