Volkswagen Passet

swiftblade

Got a few problems. Im posting on behalf of someone, its not my car.

First of all it was due for an NCT. It passed on everything except for emmissions. We took it to a Volkwagen dealer and got it checked out. Turns out its burning oil in two cilinders. Havent a clue what that means Im not a car person. Long story short is, is this normal? We also rang Volkswagen but they refused to extend the warenty. We have been told by the Volkwagen dealer that it will need a new engine. No joke :eek:

Its a 1.6 Petrol
2004
About 50,000 miles (which i think isnt much)

Any help appreciated guys

colm_mcm

not surprised they won't cover a 2004 car.

Sounds a bit more serious than a head gasket etc. if it needs a new engine
Just get the engine somewhere else other than main dealer and it won't hurt as much.

swiftblade

Well i thought needing a new engine in a 2004 car is a bit crazy. There had to be an underlying problem

colm_mcm

well, they're not exactly bulletproof those engines.

swiftblade

Right so, we were quoted about €1,900 for a new engine. I really dont think its worth spending that on an 04 car.

colm_mcm

it's not worth much without an engine though.

weould've thought you'd be able to get one for under a grand.

04 petrol Passat worth maybe 3.5k on a good day with the mileage. replacement engine likely to have more miles than original one though.

cantdecide

Prone to getting sludge in the oil uptake thingies. Irish people prone to not changing oil. FSH, people.

cantdecide

swiftblade wrote: »

Right so, we were quoted about €1,900 for a new engine. I really dont think its worth spending that on an 04 car.

Why not? It's YOUR car.

swiftblade

I know but trying to get someone to fit it, and right. Let me go find the garrage report and i'll give you some more details.

swiftblade

Its been serviced at least every 12 months in a VW dealer. I can't see it being a problem with not changing the oil.

mullingar

How long ago was the last service??

Also, what does the NCT report say for the value of the emissions? (Give exact numbers!)

swiftblade

Before the problem arose? About 6 months ago.
Low Idle CO 0.19 vol%
HC 41 ppm

High Idle CO 0.48 vol%
HC 45ppm

mullingar

What are the Fail limits?

jimmyw

50000 miles is nothing on an engine . It cant be normal. What way do they drive the thing? wheel spins? rev the crap out of it? Probably rings or valve seals.Burning oil obviously, is there much smoke? Could it not be repaired, or is this a no-go too?

jimmyw

swiftblade wrote: »

Got a few problems. Im posting on behalf of someone, its not my car.

First of all it was due for an NCT. It passed on everything except for emmissions. We took it to a Volkwagen dealer and got it checked out. Turns out its burning oil in two cilinders. Havent a clue what that means Im not a car person. Long story short is, is this normal? We also rang Volkswagen but they refused to extend the warenty. We have been told by the Volkwagen dealer that it will need a new engine. No joke :eek:

Its a 1.6 Petrol
2004
About 50,000 miles (which i think isnt much)

Any help appreciated guys

Oil is been burnt in the cylinders along with the fuel instead of lubrcating the engine.

Cant blame them for not extending the warranty.

dunsandin

swiftblade wrote: »

Its been serviced at least every 12 months in a VW dealer. I can't see it being a problem with not changing the oil.

I love this one - if you look at the car for sale adds, you see people crowing about how the car has been serviced "every year". Well done, every year you say? Thats deadly. What if you do 20,000 every year and the book says 3.5-9K service interval? In other words, the service schedule has been ignored, and replaced by"once a year wether it needs it or not". Deadly. I love used cars, they are such fun to buy. You get a crash course in mechanical maladies every time. And, the newer they are, the bigger the bills. Common rail diesels, what a leap forward, dirty fuel should have no effect surely, those thousands of a mil clearances should be able to cope with buttered filters no problems. And the leap to complex Ecu's/mappable/indexed sensors is a great step forward, Main dealer only anybody?

swiftblade

jimmyw wrote: »

50000 miles is nothing on an engine . It cant be normal. What way do they drive the thing? wheel spins? rev the crap out of it? Probably rings or valve seals.Burning oil obviously, is there much smoke? Could it not be repaired, or is this a no-go too?

Well im not driving it. Its my mothers car. And i hope to god shes not doing wheel spins in it

The garrage said it was unusual too. They offered to buy it off us in the current state, which i thought was a bit suspisious. But hey that just me....

EPM

That engine is one of the most common VAG units around. They should be plentiful secondhand. They usually give very, very little trouble when looked after so this is suprising

colm_mcm

dunsandin wrote: »

I love this one - if you look at the car for sale adds, you see people crowing about how the car has been serviced "every year". Well done, every year you say? Thats deadly. What if you do 20,000 every year and the book says 3.5-9K service interval? In other words, the service schedule has been ignored, and replaced by"once a year wether it needs it or not". Deadly. I love used cars, they are such fun to buy. You get a crash course in mechanical maladies every time. And, the newer they are, the bigger the bills. Common rail diesels, what a leap forward, dirty fuel should have no effect surely, those thousands of a mil clearances should be able to cope with buttered filters no problems. And the leap to complex Ecu's/mappable/indexed sensors is a great step forward, Main dealer only anybody?

It's a 50000 mile 6 year old petrol car though.

swiftblade

Im currently trying to source an engine for it. I may end up selling it in its current state. We were going to sell it before all this happened so, im not sure if its worth spending a ball of money on it. Chances are it will need a new Catalytic converter as well

crosshair1

Hold on a second,
the dealer told you its burning oil? did you notice a loss of oil between services or did the oil light come on?? If you hadnt to add any oil then this I wouldnt worry about.
The emissions readings you have are not way off the mark, however you will need someone who knows their stuff to fix the problem.
Without seeing the lambda values and ideally a 4 gas emission test Its difficult to call but I'd put my money on the cat being the problem.
I'd bring it to a reputable garage and ask for an emission test to be done and an opinion onwhat is at fault, btw some main dealers and independant garages do NOT have the equipment for emission testing so are no good to you.

swiftblade

Yup i have noticed it losing oil. At first i actully thought it might be a leak. Also about 2 months ago a coil went in the Cat. I think. A coil went somewhere in the exhaust line. Im not great on mechanics. Im guessing its been burning oil for a while.

Now what is p**sing me off is the fact it was servied before the NCT and none of this was picked up. They said they "changed" the spark plugs. Well they charged me anyway. Correct me if im wrong but if they did change them shouldnt they have noticed oil in them or around them? Im not going to mention the garrage for fear of ruining their brilliant reputation :rolleyes:

crosshair1

These engines are prone to using some oil, I wouldnt worry about that ,say 1ltr to more than 1500mls is ok and wont cause you to fail the test on emissions.
The garage that checked it before the nct only routine serviced the car and maybe the plugs were clean, maybe they didnt test emissions( I wouldnt) so thats neither here nor there.
At the minute you are looking for and engine which I dont think is your problem so the cheapest and most cost effective thing to do is get it to a garage that can measure your emissions, do a proper diagnostic scan, advise you what they think is at fault and what it would approx. cost to repair.

swiftblade

When we took it back after the NCT they did do an emmisions test, and reported back that it was buring oil in 2 cilinders.

Henry Ford III

swiftblade wrote: »

When we took it back after the NCT they did do an emmisions test, and reported back that it was buring oil in 2 cilinders.

An emissions test wouldn't tell you that. It would analyse the exhaust gasses ok but couldn't tell you if were burning oil in one cylinder, or all four.

swiftblade

They then removed the spark plugs and said there was oil present. Which leads me back to my other question. They they really change the spark plugs before the NCT? I think not :rolleyes: