[Raion]

For general chit-chat about European cars.

[Irinikus]

Two years ago my Audi TT Quattro's engine broke and cost me $4000 to fix, all because of this failure! (I only decided to take a close look at the failed part now)







Notice the cracked "teeth" on this hydraulic timing chain tensioner!

That's German engineering for you! :(

WHY OH WHY DIDN'T THEY DESIGN THE PART TO HAVE A "LINEAR RATCHET" ON BOTH SIDES OF THE HYDRAULIC RAM?

An important thing to note here is that the car threw a cam position sensor warning a year earlier, which the technicians at the Audi service centre were able to reset!!! (Unbeknown to me at the time, that was in fact the first tooth that had broken. THEY AUGHT TO HAVE KNOWN THOUGH!!!!!!!!) The second failure was catastrophic to the engine!!!!

The moral of the story here is: WHENEVER AN FSI OF TFSI ENGINE GIVES YOU A CAM POSITION SENSOR WARNING THAT'S RESETTABLE, BEWARE, AS THE SENSOR ISN'T FAULTY (THERE'S ACTUALLY A PROBLEM WITH THE CAM'S POSITION), AND YOUR CAM CHIAN TENSIONER IS MORE THAN LIKELY IS ABOUT TO FAIL!!! 

(Which if left unchecked, it will cause damage to your engine that will cost you an unnecessarily large amount of $$$$$ to fix!!!)

In my case: 8 valves were bent and the valve seats in the head were damaged as a result.

This part now serves as a paperweight on my desk, as it in fact cost me $4000!!!!

[Raion]

Ok, sorry about me meddling with that, the post tags got mixed up and it triggered my OCD hard.

My first car was a 1995 BMW 530i with the M60 V8. My father, unwisely, bought it off the wife of a wannabe gangsta who hacked it up. I can't find any pics of the car, unfortunately, but it was:

Alpine Weiss with a tan interior, 5-speed automatic, 218hp M60 V8, had the M5 upgraded suspension and was lowered by the previous owner. What we didn't know was the transmission cooler was leaking, and caused all sorts of problems. PS pump, belts, and all sorts of stuff had to be replaced in the first month of ownership. A/C never worked in the car, and being a high school/college student I unfortunately abused the car, then my little brother had it when I was in Florida, and he ruined it some more. I don't hate my brother, mind you, but he:

Slammed the driver door so hard the door check broke free and tore up the door and window/regulator.

Slammed the trunk constantly, breaking both lights in the trunk.

Smoked cannabis in the car which ruined the headliner

Etc. Lots of things. What did the car in for me when I got it back is when the coolant hose got slashed by the clutch fan. I REALLY REALLY want to eventually get another like it, and then take care of it.

IMHO, the E34 and E32 BMWs are the perfect balance of old school style and new school engineering. Still old enough you can wrench on them etc.

I'm still pissed at myself though for what happened to the car.

[Irinikus]

The 2002 Z3 is also an excellent balance between old and new school technology! It's a fantastic little car! (I really love the fact that there are no turbo's involved!!!)

I love the view of the road it offers!!! (I really love looking over that long bonnet!)

You have to learn how to drive a TT, as the view out of the car is rather limited, making it difficult to gauge the physical limits of the car!!! (That being said, it’s a surprisingly good drive!)

[jan-jaap]

An important thing to note here is that the car threw a cam position sensor warning a year earlier, which the technicians at the Audi service centre were able to reset!!! (Unbeknown to me at the time, that was in fact the first tooth that had broken. THEY AUGHT TO HAVE KNOWN THOUGH!!!!!!!!) The second failure was catastrophic to the engine!!!!

That's evil. The problems with the TFSI timing chain tensioners are well known, especially the 1.4 TFSI units. I think there was even a 'coulance' program where VAG would pay (part?) of the damages.

It helps to have a knowledgeable, trustworthy garage. You clearly didn't have one. My previous VW Passat (2.0 TDI engine, the cheating type) had a known issue with the oil/fuel combi pump where a design flaw could let fuel get into the oil or vice versa, or you would loose oil pressure. My garage replace the pump with one from an older generation which didn't have this problem. Before the problem could leave me stranded by the roadside with a ruined engine. In nearly 300.000km that car never had any serious problems so I bought another one (current type) which has given me zero issues in the nearly 150.000km it's done so far.

Talking about design flaws: My first 'big' car was a 2003 Renault Laguna. We foolishly thought that, this being the new millennium and everything, really bad cars weren't being built anymore. Shortly after we bought it (2nd hand) a turbo failure caused severe engine damage resulting in a EUR 4500 rebuild. By then I did my homework and learned that the oil feed to the turbo was 'problematic'. So from then on I changed the engine oil myself at half the service interval, we always warmed it up and gave it opportunity to cool down before switching it off -- and despite all of that it did it again after ~ 1000.000km! By then it was 2012, construction of my computer annex was nearly complete (and over budget), nearly every electrical gizmo on the car plus the airco had failed and the other repairs to the thing had largely eaten up the budget for it's replacement. That car forever cured me of buying French cars.

NB: to the best of my knowledge current VAG TFSI engines no longer have problems with timing chain tensioners

[Irinikus]

An important thing to note here is that the car threw a cam position sensor warning a year earlier, which the technicians at the Audi service centre were able to reset!!! (Unbeknown to me at the time, that was in fact the first tooth that had broken. THEY AUGHT TO HAVE KNOWN THOUGH!!!!!!!!) The second failure was catastrophic to the engine!!!!

That's evil. The problems with the TFSI timing chain tensioners are well known, especially the 1.4 TFSI units. I think there was even a 'coulance' program where VAG would pay (part?) of the damages.

IT'S CRIMINAL, IN MY OPINION!!!! It was the official Audi dealership, and one that has won many awards, at that!!!!

They know the weak points of their products well!!!! (They're intentionally designed that way!!!)

If I had designed that engine, I would have built a failsafe into the firmware disallowing you to turn the engine over if there was a cam position fault! (As it's definitely not a free-running engine!!!)

I would also have designed the hydraulic timing chain tensioner with a dual liner ratchet!!!!

I would probably be fired though!!! (You can't design things too well, as things have to brake you know!!!)

I'm going to keep the TT as a reference car, as it's a very good car (when it goes!!), and it's in immaculate condition, but I won't buy another Audi again!!! (I don't trust their engine design!)

As far as I know, they installed the updated tensioner when they fixed the car! (Too little too late though!!!)

I'm going to give Jaguar a try next.

[Trippynet]

Some cars can be a bit hit and miss, it all depends. My first proper car was a 2000 VW Bora (1.9 TDI engine). I loved that thing, got it when it was 8 years old with 78,000 miles on the clock and paid £3.2k for it. I then had it for a further 8 years and put another 80,000 miles onto it. It was a solid motor and never broke down to the point I was stranded.

Had a few odd niggles over time with it, couple of suspension coils broke, the alternator needed changing, plus the garage that I bought it from had changed the timing belt and hadn't done a good job, so it started very poorly in cold weather. After I took it to a 3rd party VW specialist garage however, they re-did the timing belt properly and it ran perfectly after that. In the end, I had to let it go because the power steering developed a major leak. The garage told me it was a good 5 hour job to fix (entire front axel had to be removed to get at the power steering system) and due to the age of the car, it just wasn't worth the cost.

I did sell it though rather than scrapping it, apparently the 1.9 TDI VW engines are very highly regarded so I managed to sell it for twice its scrap value.

Currently driving a Seat Leon (2L TDI). It's quite a nice car, but I have experienced repeated gremlins with the ECU on it. It's behaved itself OK for the past 2-3 years, but I did have issues with the ECU randomly crashing whilst driving the car (a myriad of warning lights lit up, and all the displays including current gear, parking sensors, cruise control stopped working). Had it checked out numerous times by garages and several bits changed and it is a lot better now. For my next car, I'm also considering a Jag. Not sure yet. I'll run this current car into the ground first :-)

[Irinikus]

For my next car, I'm also considering a Jag. Not sure yet. I'll run this current car into the ground first :-)

Nice!

I absolutely love their styling!!!

[jan-jaap]

For my next car, I'm also considering a Jag. Not sure yet. I'll run this current car into the ground first :-)

Nice!

I absolutely love their styling!!!

They've got style, but how's the reliability? The older Jags (XJS etc) had an absolutely terrible track record, the newer ones seem to share a platform with e.g  the Ford Mondeo, which is less than stellar if you are to believe the ADAC Pannenstatistik.

In general, if you want no problems, buy a small Japanese car with few options. I've got a Suzuki Swift as a second car, mostly use it to commute (8km one way). For my Passat that's not even enough to properly warm up the engine, but the Swift has been doing it for 14 years now and other than regular oil changes and the odd brake maintenance, the only thing that ever broke on it was a Lambda sonde. It's got a total of just over 100.000km now.

OTOH, I would hate to do 30.000km/year, mostly highway, in a Swift, which is roughly the annual mileage of our VW Passat

[Irinikus]

I currently only do about 10000km per year and that distance is split between 2 cars, when I get the Jag, it will be split between 3 cars! There's basically just a short strip of highway between my home and work! (So the twin supercharged 4.5 litre V8 won't be a problem!!! )

I love cars, but hate driving!!! SO I don't spend a second longer than I need to behind the wheel of a car!!! (Other people on the road tend to irritate me in ways I can't really describe!!!) The funny thing is I never get irritated when I fly though!!! But people in that environment usually know what the hell they're doing!!! (Students do tend to try and kill you from time to time, but ignorance is bliss so they say, and it's also part of the job!)

As far as I'm concerned people live their lives in the same way as they drive their cars!!! So if you drive badly then your life is probably the same!!!! (And boy oh boy do people drive badly!!!).

What I've noticed about people in general, is that they don't tend to look ahead of them when they drive. If I'm driving down a road with multiple sets of traffic lights ("Robots" in South Africa!) I take note of which phase each one of them is in as I approach, and drive accordingly. The average person just ends up coming to a screeching halt at a red light, as they don't tend to manage their cars energy properly! Either that or they just end up by getting in the way!!! (I really hate it when slowcoaches hog the fast lane!!!!!)

I've got my mind set on an F-Type Jag, but only plan to get one at the beginning of 2024, If I haven't died or the world hasn't ended before then! (Everything I do is planned and strategised!)

The TT breaking wasn't part of the plan though!!!!