[hareshjethwani]

Not sure if this could be a one off or have there been regular issues like this earlier. But whatever it might be, VW/Skoda should be replacing the engine swiftly specially with the Kushaq just launched. Will inspire confidence rather than add more doubts in the minds of people who are just in for the purchase of the Kushaq and the upcoming Taigun.

[agambhandari]

Originally Posted by Tgo

This re-affirms my position that the % LOCALIZATION quoted by manufacturers are figures which are mere eyewash. They seem to follow the formula

# of localized parts * 100
________________

# of total parts

The play is on the definition of parts to improve the percentages to paint a positive image in minds of the masses.

I bet they follow the calculation in which the 3-4% of NON-localized part list goes like this

-Engine (complete assembly)
-Gearbox (complete assembly)
-ECU (Complete assembly)
-Infotainment system (complete assembly)
-Turbo (complete assembly)
-Radiator with fan (complete assembly)

That is why child parts of these assemblies have delayed availability from factory, more importantly - never at "localized" prices.

As a result, all that is available and at reasonable prices are components which never need replacement (seats, wiring harnesses, seats, panels).

The 1.0 tsi engine itself has been localised. Something seems fishy either with the company or the consumer as to why the parts are taking so long.

[androdev]

My Fabia 1.2 Petrol (May 2010 purchase) had an engine repair at 14K KM within 2 years into the ownership (Dec 2011). Cylinder head, etc. was replaced under warranty. That was Christmas time so things moved frustratingly slow. I asked for two additional years of warranty and they obliged. When I made a scene about the delay, they offered to reimburse taxi expenses, etc. I had a spare car to use so I didn't take up their offer. The car has been running trouble free since then.

I wish VW learns to be more empathetic and proactive. I don't know just how long it is going to take them to learn that simple lesson. I doubt they will entertain a request for a new engine after 25K km of usage. I feel he can ask for a loaner car if the repair is taking too long. He can also ask for additional warranty on the repaired engine to have more confidence. .

I would not be too alarmed by this incident. 25K km in 7 months is a lot of usage and I don't know the driving pattern of the owner. If I have such a high usage, I would be very careful about warming up the engine at the start, periodically checking coolant and oil levels, taking breaks during marathon drives, avoiding excessive high revs, etc. I am not suggesting the owner is at fault - but this is not a typical ownership where the engine failed within 7 months and I would not judge the reliability of TSI engine based on this one off incident.

[Raghu M]

Originally Posted by abhi9044

I just came back from reading Audi India's pathetic response to the oxidizing seats in a Bhpian's A4 and saw this post.

Seems like from upholstery to the mechanicals, nothing can be said to be reliable in these VAG cars. But what really boils my blood is the attitude with which they are tackling these issues. Seems like their entire India staff consists of people who frequently visit places like Sarojni(New Delhi) where they have picked up their bargaining skills.

Why would you bargain from a customer when his car has failed under warranty? And it's not even Extended Warranty ( Ahm ahm Audi India) where you can brush off things by saying that we don't include it in the extended warranty.

You know why Maruti still tops the sales charts? They sent INR 90,000 cheques to their customers who bought the S-Cross before it's price got slashed.

Totally agree with you. No wonder Maruti still tops the charts and will give the VAGs a run for their money any given day. There can be hope that MSIL will have premium offerings in the future but all hope is lost on these brands. On one side you have these quick cars and people swearing by their performance. On the other, you have the infamous gearbox issues and now this. I find it difficult to understand how this problem can't be fixed under warranty.

[NevGin]

Originally Posted by androdev

My Fabia 1.2 Petrol (May 2010 purchase) had an engine repair at 14K KM within 2 years into the ownership (Dec 2011)...

I immediately went back to my records from the same year. I had a Fabia 1.2 Petrol at the time that was delivered 25-May-2011. My first service was on 12-May-2012 with the odometer at 9,246 kms. Apart from the first service I had taken it for loss of power and the instrument cluster was lit with lights. Eventually they needed to change the cylinder head along with the exhaust manifold. The car was with Skoda for about 8 weeks. When I went eventually to pick the car up, it was scratched all over the paint and I mean all over. It was so bad that I had tears in my eyes I recall so clearly.

I had them repaint whatever I could negotiate with them and sold the car within 2 months of getting it back. Since I have owned multiple vehicles (including 4 VWs) but this incident will forever be etched in my memory as the worst experience I have had thus far.

To the gentleman whose 1.0 TSI has been impacted - Putting back together a complex engine like this at the service center is not a commonly done job. I would agree that a new engine should be put in. To a person who puts their heart and soul and time and money into their cars, such things hurt very badly. For the service center its just another car.

[Turbohead]

Is anyone planning to post this link to Zac Hollis on Twitter?

There needs to be some proper RCA and assurance from the VAG group on the issue and it's correction.

Currently, it doesn't look like the company has done any investigation on why it has happened. They seem to have gone ahead with the parts change

The earlier they own up and fix these issues, higher the chances of their 2.0 plan to succeed.Just like how Swift diesel was a phenomenal hit because Maruti proactively fixed all the initial engine issues way back in 2007.

The 1.6 TDI fuel injector failures unfortunately plagues customers even today and they're shown no mercy. Many have sworn never to own a VAG product after that.

High time customer service/trust is taken seriously.

[venkyhere]

VAG attitude in india has been -> "hey customers of a developing country, we are doing you a big favour by bringing in the famed german automotive technology to poor souls like you who have been brought up on ambassadors, padminis and maruti 800s ; so stop complaining and suck it up. More technology, more costly repairs, take it or leave it" -> in a nutshell.
Naturally, this percolated down to dealerships and we know of the massive money-con that happened with super-inflated service bills at VW and skoda dealerships. Still, impressed with the safety and build quality of the car, many indians (esp IT folks with more disposable income and more widespread methods to research their car purchase rather than just word-of-mouth) decided to take the plunge and buy VAG. However, the attitude of the dealerships and VAG themselves, went from bad to worse, until the complaints and negative feedback started hitting their "not-bad" sales.

I am led to understand that the above is the prime reason VAG 2.0 came into force, with new leadership and handing over the "primary candidate" reigns to Skoda. Honestly I didn't expect an engine failure to be dealt with in the manner that the OP has posted, on a 7 month old 25k run car. This is on par with VAG 1.0 and seems like reverting to old habits. It doesn't matter what they say, even if someone wanted to, it's hard to break the cylinder head of an engine from "driving" - how to do it ? bad fuel ? wrong fuel ? hit the sump on a protruding manhole and not bother with oil pressure light and check ECU light (in which case cylinder/rods may come out of the engine itself, rather than a damaged head) ? Shift from 120kph at 5th into 1st or 2nd ? How ?

[Kosfactor]

In the past we have seen the tensioner giving up, is this happening again due to a thinner oil grade and hot weather? Or is this a modded engine?

[Altocumulus]

Wow !! An average of 120kms per day everyday for 7 months. But a lot of cabs here do it, so this alone is not excuse for any failure.

This is scary to say the least, especially owning the same engine and in love with it. However saying that, this award winning engine is known to be reliable and it's pretty well accepted outside India.

One of main reasons for engine failure is not properly warming it up and flooring it. That would ruin any engine over time especially the cylinder heads. We need more information before concluding it is a manufacturing defect causing the premature failure.

With regards to the engine oil, its Castrol Magnatec Professional Fully Synthetic 5W40 that is used for these engines. I noticed the engine oil level a little above halfway in my car, so I went to the Skoda SC to get a liter of oil for top-up. Cost was INR 650 for the same.

[landcruiser123]

Sad to see the issue on a brand new car. I really hope VW gives OP a new engines and compensates him for his trouble.

The first image of the invoice reads 25,631 km; There is no typo as suggested by a few members.

Originally Posted by venkyhere

VAG attitude in india has been -> "hey customers of a developing country, we are doing you a big favour by bringing in the famed german automotive technology to poor souls like you who have been brought up on ambassadors, padminis and maruti 800s ; so stop complaining and suck it up. More technology, more costly repairs, take it or leave it"

Interestingly, VW participated in the bidding process when GoI was looking for a foreign collaborator for Maruti. Imagine how different our car scene would have been had they beat Suzuki to win the contract.

[sandeepmohan]

Strange behavior by VW India. For a car under its original factory warranty, it should be an eyes closed engine replacement, for a failure like this. VW India cannot use the customers car as an investigation base. They should get the customer back on the road as quickly as possible.

I have been nervous about these little boosted engines. Quite a number of manufacturers offering these little power monsters. Lots of power, fun to drive and unproven for longevity.

The 1Tsi has been sold globally for almost 5 years. If there are inherent problems with it, VW need to act fast.

[GTO]

Small mercy! But I would still want a brand new engine.

Rajesh shares the following update:

Volkswagen informed me that they are planning to replace the complete engine head.

[dingolphie]

TBH - EVM sucks. They dominate the dealership of 'upper' brands in Kerala and make full use of their domination. They dont retain knowledgeable staff, they are high handed in sales, overcharge and do all sorts of shenanigans. They are one of the key reasons I havent bought a car yet.

I would start dealing with VW directly and keep the dealer interactions in paper and to a bare minimum.

[Hayek]

Obviously not a great position for anyone to be in - and am glad VW decided to replace the entire head rather than just some parts. Without having a chance to understand the issues, don’t think we are justified expecting an engine replacement. I do hope they also give an extended warranty on the engine to assuage the customer.

The bigger issue is why this happened, and whether this is going to turn into a recurring issue like DSG failures. I see some of our members have gotten worried about a 1 litre powerful engine - but this has been used around the world for a few years now and I have not heard of problems on this.

So there could be three reasons for the problem as I see it:

1) Just randomness - even Toyota engines fail occasionally and this may be a rare issue. In which case we won’t see such failures too often again
2) Something to do with Indian fuel quality. To run 25,000 km in 7 months during the lockdowns, the OP must be driving on highways in a big way. We all know, Petrol quality on highways could be erratic. This would affect people who have high rural usage but not the rest of us
3) Poor manufacturing - either during engine assembly in India or worse at a vendor. What worries me most about increasing local production is that it takes time for any production facility to stabilise quality - and I presume tolerances would be tighter for a TSI engine than for a normal MPI engine. If there is a problem at a vendor, we may see more such issues - either due to problems with one lot, or a more fundamental issue.

Let’s see how this pans out.

[MartinVirage]

My two cents - Well if you believe VW has created the 1.0 TSi just so that its more reliable then the DSG, or the Diesel Injectors, Dieselgate and their other failing spare parts, then The jokes on You. It was just to confer with the BS6 norms.

To see things from VW's side, I agree the weather conditions of India are bad, stop and go traffic conditions, rodent problems and pothole infested roads make problems worse and getting European developed products is a good step - You get really goo driving characteristics (IMHO) . The way I see it, Their testing is also done quite well (Pune folks can confirm this).

The problem lies in the After Sales front. As I have already mentioned in my other posts, on raising a complaint to VW the escalation matrix will redirect it to the nearest dealership. This requires a lot of time to address and the dealer will try and diagnose something that is not a run-of-the-mill problem. He will communicate this with his half knowledge to the technicians at VW, and depending on your LUCK the problem will be solved. As per my experiences VW fixes work but, they would replace the engine the first time. They would first fix the springs, make you test the car on your expense and then if it fails within the warranty period you shall get a Engine replacement - To do that it would take over a couple of months. Believe me, they will have to send an approval for each and every spring to be replaced. On asking they would say -"SAAR, standard procedure!"

If you have the time, you will need tremendous patience to follow up. Ask for a loaner car to make your life easier and wait till they at least try to cover for a new engine. There shall be one guy who processes warranty claims, in a subtle and cordial way try not to lose your cool - Doesn't work anyways.

On an ending note, Mechanical Failures happen, Localization sucks but is inevitable. But, having a good aftersales service, competent escalation matrix and a company that listens to its customers is all I am asking for.