VW Engine Piston Failure

The VW 118 TSI 1.4-litre engine in the Golf and Jetta is both a supercharging and a turbocharged engine. This is to help deliver the torque of a 2.0-litre with the economy of a smaller-capacity engine and has been voted international engine of the year, twice. Unfortunately, despite the praises, the TSI engine has a critical weakness with the pistons and ECU software.

Common symptoms are a rough idle, engine misfire fault codes and lack of power when accelerating. A compression check usually shows one- or two-cylinder compressions to be very low. It is only by disassembly of the engine that you find pistons have cracked or broken around a ring land. Luckily in our experience the piston bores are still serviceable.

VW Engine Piston Failure

Modified pistons are available. We re-hone the cylinder bore to help the new piston rings bed in. We recommend replacing the timing chain kit as these do suffer from stretching. Continued driving with this fault can cause more internal damage to your vehicle.

Volkswagen Australia has issued a “service campaign” for all owners of affected vehicles. A software upgrade is available to adjust the engine sensor parameters. We offer a Quantum ECU remapping upgrades to give better drivability, engine torque and fuel consumption.

Contact us if you think this fault might be in your car: