Camshaft Adjuster Bolt Fault - Polo SE 1.0 TSI Auto

[e186701b7b]

Hi all,

I am new to the forum and a fault with camshaft (exhaust) adjuster bolts has brought me to seek advice.

My Polo was acquired as a used car from VW and a few weeks ago when I heard ticking noise I had it checked out by VW who told me there was a problem with the adjustor and it would cost £1k to repair.

VW are being very coy as to how the fault was caused and have said its wear and tear - the car has 58,000 miles on clock. After much pushing they mentioned a component failure and thats what has brought me to searching if there have been other VW owners who have had a similar issue.

VW Group has flatly said the car is out of warranty so there is nothing they can do to help and garage has offered me £100 off the bill.

Would anyone have any advice for me? I bought the car in Sept. 2020, had it serviced and Mot'd by VW in Aug 21 and I cant believe this fault is now going to cost me £1k to fix.

Thanks
e186701

[RUM4MO]

VW Group across the marques do tend to be quite fair (on their money chest) when it comes to unusual failures like this, this sort of thing did happen on the earlier 1.2TSI EA211 engines, but they only had a variable inlet cam timing pulley - bolt/bolts unscrewed and fouled the cylinder head casting and of course oil pressure was dropped or lost due to the oil escaping through the pulley body. They did recall a few cars, mainly in other sales areas.

Must be a few ex East Germany secret police working for VW Group in their warranty areas, no reasoning allowed.

Edit:- these engines seem to only get built in Skoda engine plants.

[e186701b7b]

Thanks RUM4MO,

Is the view that i have to suck it up and pay for the repair?

Should i seek an independent garage to assess the issue and if need be get the repair done by a non VW repairer (would save on labour).

The other compromise VW offered was to replace the cambelt at the same time as the cambelt adjuster - as they have to work around the part anyway and mine is due for replacement in 6 months. Even more money to layout for me £1.3k

Regards

[e186701b7b]

Thanks RUM4MO,

Is the view that i have to suck it up and pay for the repair?

Should i seek an independent garage to assess the issue and if need be get the repair done by a non VW repairer (would save on labour).

The other compromise VW offered was to replace the cambelt at the same time as the cambelt adjuster - as they have to work around the part anyway and mine is due for replacement in 6 months. Even more money to layout for me £1.3k

Regards

[Steve_2019]

If your planning on holding on to the car for a while I would just pay VW do the work. But that's just me.

[RUM4MO]

Thanks RUM4MO,

Is the view that i have to suck it up and pay for the repair?

Should i seek an independent garage to assess the issue and if need be get the repair done by a non VW repairer (would save on labour).

The other compromise VW offered was to replace the cambelt at the same time as the cambelt adjuster - as they have to work around the part anyway and mine is due for replacement in 6 months. Even more money to layout for me £1.3k

Regards

Sorry for the delay in answering, if I were you, I would contact a or some Independent VAG workshops, if this is a known issue, they will have heard about it and know how to stop this happening again, will use VW Group genuine parts and VW trained techs, but will not charge extra as they don't need to feed VW UK with some of their cash.

This as you no doubt know, it NOT a wear and tear issue, it is either a design issue or an assembly issue so should never have happened, a bit the fuel rail securing screws that lose their heads on a batch of the earlier 1.2TSI EA211 engines, and yes, same Skoda engine plants build both these engines!

Edit:- on the issue of "cam belt" it probably would not have been due for replacement for many years and miles, but as it will probably get removed or might already have been damaged slightly by this failure, I'd just get it replaced at the same time along with whatever else is in the "cam belt kit".

[jhibbs93]

Hi all,

I am new to the forum and a fault with camshaft (exhaust) adjuster bolts has brought me to seek advice.

My Polo was acquired as a used car from VW and a few weeks ago when I heard ticking noise I had it checked out by VW who told me there was a problem with the adjustor and it would cost £1k to repair.

VW are being very coy as to how the fault was caused and have said its wear and tear - the car has 58,000 miles on clock. After much pushing they mentioned a component failure and thats what has brought me to searching if there have been other VW owners who have had a similar issue.

VW Group has flatly said the car is out of warranty so there is nothing they can do to help and garage has offered me £100 off the bill.

Would anyone have any advice for me? I bought the car in Sept. 2020, had it serviced and Mot'd by VW in Aug 21 and I cant believe this fault is now going to cost me £1k to fix.

Thanks
e186701

This sounds identical to the problem I've just had - my partner's 2018 Polo made a horrific noise (like a pneumatic drill), immediately switched off and taken to a trusty VW specialist garage (not main dealer). A new adjuster and belt is needed, as the belt has been damaged. Good news is though that the engine is not damaged in any way.

Fortunately we opted to extend the warranty past 3 years with a Peter Vardy warranty when we bought it, and it's covered under that. I think the bill will be around £950 though.