Damn.. I have a VW.. Now I feel like VW.. Very Worried..

I have a 2003 Golf TDI ( bought new ) I put 270,000 miles on it so far, with regular maintenance I do myself it’s never not started or left me stranded anywhere. It still gets fantastic fuel mileage and still runs perfect 👌 I enjoy your channel.

Great, now I'm paranoid...

My favorite is the rear main seal! Great reminder that it could cause a vacuum leak. Great work.

Great video! I think you are spot on with all this info. I ve read up on the forums and you have got it all covered in this short summary. I ve got an early 2.0 TSI engine in my 2009 golf gti and i ve needed 1,3 and 4 you mentioned. Intake manifold, timing chain tensioner and water pump. It still loses water but doesnt use any oil. No oil leaks so far. I hope i dont get carbon build up issues soon...... We ll have to see.

8 Years with my golf tsi engine and 130.000miles. -No timing chain fail -No Oil leaks -No Water leaks -No check engine lights -No electric fails ...... Just fine! ....ok.

I am missing the excessive oil consumption of the these engines in your list.

My wife 2009 Tiguan went through 6 yes 6 water pumps the last time I told the mechanic to have the fan stay on after the engine shuts down. It’s going on three years now without water pump failure. All credit goes to you Sir not sure which video it was , but it worked Thank you very much..still getting misfire 2# cyl. fault runs rough when starting but after that it seems fine. Gotta other set Bosch ignition coils coming in and new plugs,some how I feel I just did this..THANK YOU again 👍👏👏👏☝️

Thank you for creating this video. It's time for me to learn how to replace the intake manifold & water pump. I changed the water pump & coolant reservoir on my 2004 Jaguar XJR before, it was an interesting experience 😂

Well done my mechanic brother you have nailed it in this one, great vid

Oh man, so accurate. My 09 tiguan has had an engine from a 2011 put in it because of the timing chain. Tensioner was done at the same time. That was previous owner, since I've owned it I've had rear main seal, balance shaft seal, AND the water pump and housing all replaced.

Very happy to have found this channel. Good stuff sir.

Great video. Would be great if you could include approximate prices of the repairs (parts+labour) as well.

I'm a professional that deals with VWs at a non-german dealer, so I deal with VWs but have no 'insider information' when doing so. I've dealt with problems you mentioned on a few of these engines, and it really stoked my hatred for modern VW engines. I was a die hard VW guy who felt left behind by the change in direction the company took in 99-00. Dealing with modern VWs had become sickening. They are supposed to be a "people's car", an economy car still feels good on a highway like the Autobahn. What they've turned unto is a car that uses parts under the hood as expensive as BMW, but underbody of the car on a lift looks as if it's built like a Chevy Cobalt. I remember a 2006 Jetta had a CEL that failed inspection that the radiator fan was causing. The fan technically did what it was supposed to do and 'worked' fine, but made a code and had to be replaced for a cost of $1100 installed!! People's car my ass! Talk about losing grasp on reality. Big surprise VW has recently been able to exceed the level of public disgrace that Chrysler has achieved.

Current owner of a MK6 with 165k miles, I can say that this review is spot on. I’ve had to do just about every work mentioned intake manifold, water pump, carbon build up, fuel injectors, and camshaft cover replacement. I will say that besides the intake manifold, the rest of the major work came up after 100k miles.

I just bought a 2020 VW Jetta. It's my third Jetta and love it. It has the new 1.4 turbo engine with 8 speed auto. Keep up the channel man! Fellow bearded brother!

Ford Ecoboost owners have the same problem with carbon buildup. It's crazy how manufacturers are throwing reliability out the window for a few extra mpg's.

i have a 2.0 TSI engine. and its perfect. never had a problem.

Great info. My daughter just got a really nice mk7 gti and I need to get up upto date with these tsi EA888 engines. I've been an original mk4 R32 and like the differences between them

Nice another reason to "love" me money pit. Damn near hurt myself getting the rear main seal replaced. Good looking money pit.

I was seriously considering a new VW until I saw this video. Keeping my Lexus instead. Not ONE problem with it in 11 years, not one. Thanks for the great videos. Very well done.

Great video, Really helped my start trouble shooting a misfiring GLI! Thank you!

Hey man recently just found your Channel and started to watch. I'm a mechanic in the UK. Going into the TSI and FSI engines in relation to the misfire with carbon build up, I'm 22 and I've had to replace piston rings on these engines due to them seizing from build up of carbon. And that's a complete engine rebuild lot of work. Also had a few of the tensioners fail which also big jobs never had an easy one where it's just a new chain and tensioner which sucks! One I have had which was very strange is the tensioner failed which bent some valves and when I replaced the valves and rebuilt the engine ect ,it came down to timing up the engine all of the marks lined up but when I turned the engine over by hand it was clunking and all sorts, turned out that where the exhaust cam sprocket is pressed onto the end of the camshaft that actually turned on the end of the cam so that when it came to timing the engine it gave me false timing! Replace the cam was all good but very strange problem if you've ever heard of that happen! Great vids I enjoy watching!

What would be you choice as a reliable engine from 1.8 to 3.0 L?

Thanks for the info. My 2008 Jetta 2.0 was something else. I've replaced Coils, Water Pump, Crank Sensor (twice), removed the manifold and cleaned carbon 3 times so far, overhaul the secondary air solenoid, replaced the PCV 3 times, and burns oil like, now troubleshooting an OIL LEAK!!!! I really love the car but a piece of crap when comparing it to my 1990 Nissan 240SX with no issues other than regular maintenance.

I am German and I say: the 's' in TSI stands for schrott (= scrap) better watch out for one of those good ol' 1,8T

Man your videos are saving me thousands of dollars rn. Thank you so much.

I just did a upper timing cover, cam bridge, pcv/rear pcv hose and rear main on a 2011 gti with the tsi engine. Not a terrible job overall but the bottom two timing cover bolts were a little tight. Oh and stripped out triple square flywheel bolts; they were fun...

I worked at a VW dealership, and the shit I saw going on.... VW gets in trouble for having dirty diesel engines, yet everyone who buys these cars seem just fine with their cars falling to pieces in less than 100,000 miles..... At one point, we had 4 Volkswagen CC cars, roughly the same age and mileage, in the shop at the same time, for the same issues. 3 were having their turbo chargers replaced, one was getting a whole new engine. These cars were only a couple of years old and had less than 75,000 miles on them. Cars soaking their intake tubes to the intercoolers with oil on both diesel and gas turbo engines, at maybe 50,000 miles? How in the hell has VW stayed in business this long, building this shit quality is beyond me. At one time, they made a halfway decent car, but now, you could not give me a VW. If someone tried, I would go get cash value for it and just put that money into my 269,000 mile 1992 Honda Civic DX that I paid $700.00 for. I hated working for VW, I can not back a car company that finds it acceptable to build shit like this. I can't even honestly recommend anything US made either, seeing as all the car companies are starting to take after VW. What a hell of a time to live in when new cars are not even built to last as well as a car built 20+ years ago.

Waching this 3 days after buying a 2008 Passat 2.0. Im getting nervous.

I have a TFSI 2litre (CDNC) A4, so far PCV was passing, weak coil (changed to R8 coils), and diverter (changed it to a GFB one (amazing!)) Now just need a 034 PCV delete kit :D

Yep...I had an intake manifold replaced under warrantly thankfully. I also had the carbon buildup on the valve, so i ended up taking off the intake manifold myself and cleaned it. I believe i have the first year for the TSI year so now youve got me concerned about the timing chain tensioners now.Got 120K on my wolfsburg Jetta now. I may have to get that looked into now...

I'm not a VW owner and i think i just watched a 7 1/2 minute video on reasons why i should never purhcase a VW.

I have 1.9TDI one of the best engines indestructible! 300,000+ with ease.

First carbon clean I did was on an Audi 3.2 FSI. I agree the chemicals do not work. I pull the manifolds and walnut blast the intake ports and valves. See many RMS failures due to the AOS failing on the 2.0 TSI's. Heh, did A LOT of FSI HPFP's a few years back(ones that were out of the extended warranty). TSI, seems to happen a lot less due to the improved design. Great video, definitely a good list for top failures on that engine platform.

Interesting! I was just looking at a 2016 GLI and I ran a Carfax which unveiled a rear main seal replaced! Thanks for this video!

Do you think the gen 3 TSI engines have corrected these problems or will it be a whole slew of new ones? I have a new golf r so I'm interested.

My 2010 GTi had 2 intake manifolds replaced (only one under warranty), 3 fuel injectors replaced (two under warranty), several oxygen sensors (some under warranty), carbon cleaning, and then I was charged to replace a cam shaft which I suspect was actually the cam tensioner. Oil was changed every 5K miles, if you leave oil change for 10K mile intervals then it will be replace turbo time guys. I love the quality of the interior and the driving dynamics of my GTi, but I cannot see myself spending over 3K in repairs ever again on any vehicle something this video leaves out ($$$$$). My wallet is hurting ha! Its time to visit a Japanese dealership son !!!!! Only German car I buy next is a Porsche GT3 if I win the lottery hahaha My GTi currently has over 135K miles and fingers are crossed since you cannot go more than 30K miles without throwing an error code. Good luck to the newbie VW owner. This is not a BS post its true VW ownership. No one else will share their stories becasue of embarrassment $$$$$$ Again I like this car, but the truth hurts $$$$$$

I have owned 2 VW golfs one was a 1986 it was a great car so I bought a newer 1995 golf it spent more time broken than it did running and from people I know that own newer VW cars they say they are terrible and not very reliable will never own another VW after that car Not a VW fan as you may of guessed but like your videos keep up the good work Charles

Hey bud. Thanks for the free education. My brothers 2012 cc just had the tensioner take a crap.. He got EXTREMELY LUCKY. I ordered the chain kit from DAP and replaced all 3 over the weekend. Good as new... just an idea, why not mention in a future video, using a cylinder leakage tester will let others with this issue know how much they are about to spend before committing to any decision on repairs.

All of those fails can be rolled into one fail - corporate greed. Maximizing profits by cutting development, testing and manufacturing costs.

Quick question when you mean early years what exactly all those years

I was one of those lucky timing chain tensioner failure guys where nothing else gets damaged. It was in my mk6 GTI. I had just bought it and was taking it home from the dealership, but then it started idling roughly and threw a check engine light. Luckily I never left the dealership so it was fixed free of charge

Hello ! great video! what about the CDL engine ? would love to see more information or teardowns over mi 2010 S3 engine !. Cheers!

19 year old me, buys first car. Buys CPO 2014 MK6 GLI. 2 years later engine blows up due to faulty timing chain tensioner. Volkswagen won’t recall this part. Currently still paying on a 5 year loan for a car that doesn’t drive sitting in my driveway. Great. Wants to die.

I personally experienced the first three issues mentioned on my 2012 GTI. After the water pump failed catastrophically leaving me and my family stranded 200 miles from home, I swore off VW forever. I would not recommend their products. The 2.0T is becoming the standard for most manufacturers, and VW seems to do them very poorly.

Good greif i've experienced 4/5 of these problems on my 2012 CC Lux plus within the last year at 112,000 miles and car is currently in the shop for intake manifold. I've spent so much money this past year on my CC getting these exact issues fixed. I hope this is it for a while. Great video

I am glad I found this video. I wonder how the MK8 R will turn out.

He is right, my next car is going to be Toyota. German cars are disposable. I had a beetle timing belt broke on the highway. Now I have Tiguan pretty new only 70 K and throttle stopped responding on the highway. Turbo engines in general are problematic, no wonder why Toyota is always hesitant to make turbo engines

So I am going to start by saying that I am a avid Vw owner I was a Vw tech for 13 years and that was how I supported my family I'm not sure if you have a family or not but If you keep putting videos up like this one you will put yourself out of a job.

subbed instantly for the bttf Delorean hot wheels in the background

I just rebuilt my top end on my free 09 Wolfsburg 2.0tsi. Got the car for free because of a failed tensioner and bent valves. Surprisingly, this car had 171,000 miles on it with all original timing chain, chain guides, and original tensioner, etc. All had the year 2008 marked on the date codes. It also still has the original intake manifold, water pump, and cam bridge on it from that time too. First time the timing cover had ever come off this car too. Pretty insane this one lasted this long without any of that failing. Now have put 1000 miles on it after replacing the valves, and all timing components.

I love the tfsi/tsi, they were my job security while i was with Audi. I rebuilt 4 or 5 a week. Water pumps were the best, i had them down to 20 minutes.

Couldn't all that crud and carbon buildup be prevented by installing a catch can? That is a must for direct injection engines. Is there an aftermarket aluminum replacement for those failing water pumps? PS: I have never owned a VW and I have no experience with them but that is what my common sense tells me: if something does not work then fix it instead of just replace it with the same failing part.

Great vid, thanks! I already had to take care of a couple of these issues, like the intake manifold replacement. I don't think they did the carbon cleaning when they took it off though. Bummer. Might not have been that bad yet though, my 09 GTI only had 35K on it. I get to look forward to the rest of these issues. Yaaaay. ...or i could trade it in for a Golf R. :)

Had to replace the rear main on one of these the other week. Floundered for a bit trying to diag. the lean code and terrible running. Eventually sprayed carb clean at the rear main and voila haha. Great vid man, keep 'em up!

Has VW fixed these issues in 2017 or 2018 models?? 2019?? Or do they just continue making a less than great product? Note: Wards gives the EA888 a best engine award WAT?

can you use your beard as a small tool holder ?? I thought about putting magnetic beads in mine so I could use my beard to hold bolts and things wile i work

Totally convinced me not to buy another GTI, thanks man.

Dang, never thought I would be so happy to own an FSI.... (A4 Quattro). Of course it's got it's known issues too. Keeping up on the maintenance it's been a great.

I've always wanted a GTI until I watched this lol 😂

Dude do you blink :D

Is there a chart or summary of what things to look for on specific engines, such as the CDNC engines?

Hi Charles, great video. I am thinking of buying a 2019 Jetta 1.4T with 6MT or a GLI with 6MT. Would you say the 1.4T engine is a bit more reliable than the 2.0T? Thanks a lot!

Water pumps using plastic parts? Joke

literally every one of these failures have happened on my 2.0t

I love my 2003 Golf VR5 with 170PS Horsepower....man, what a sound with the Bastuk-Exhaust.....

My goodness! So many of these things shouldn't even be problems. Shows where VW allocates its resources. I had a Mark V Golf (Rabbit NA) with the 2.5L I5 5-speed, and its main issues were electrical followed by a transmission seal that blew (covered under warranty), a failed steering rack (warranty replaced) that began making "graunch" noises when turning the wheel, and flimsy dash HVAC dash vents knobs. EVERY SINGLE ONE BROKE except for the one I used the most. I'll have to junk it soon because it's melting away, but I sure do miss driving my Great Grandma's old K car. Very simple and durable. Comfortable, too. I currently drive a 2016 Corolla S CVT (couldn't get heated seats and 6-speed like in Canada) bought NEW March 2026 and currently over 48K Miles! Sure, it doesn't drive anywhere as nice as my old VW and it's missing those delightful VAG surprise and delight features that enhance daily use, and it's missing the touch-point quality of many VAG products (Mark VI Jetta excepted; yuck. What a disappointment.) but the reliability and efficiency has been excellent. My main complaint is the rear cabin road/wind noise and how easily the dust from my dirt road infiltrates the cabin even with fan set to high and recirc with a/c on. I was sorely tempted into a Mark VII 2-door GTI 6-speed, but I felt that I wasn't masochistic enough to subject myself to VW real world quality, reliability, and dealership bull again unless I became rich. Especially when the nearest dealer is over an hour's drive away! If only they were really as good as they FELT.

I really don't understand the love for Volkswagens, As a technician I can say they are one of the poorest made car's. Keeping us in a job is a plus I guess, but I will stick with my Honda thanks 😉

what can I expect from a used 2011 vw gti with 54k miles?

Great info at least I know what I have to look forward to!!! Got the 2015 code already so planning on doing the intake swap this weekend! But it’s also leaking coolant it never runs hot but resivoir gets low I hope it’s the flange w the thermostat but may be water pump

so would you say that the FSI is worse then the TSI? great info here, thanks!

either u really love VAG, or just walk away from these vehicles

Pass on buying a vw.....the engine seems to be a basketcase of problems. Buy a vw and enroll at your local auto mechanics school.

Rear main seal at 118k messed up the driveway. Full throttle Orlando did a great job fixing.

Can you please make a video about the problems of the 1.4 tsi engines (especially the older tsi engines from golf mk5) ?

I don't know if you are talking about a 335i e90 or a TSI 🤣🤣🤣

Soo.... these 2-3 year old vw's are in worse condition than my 21 year old corolla? And people say vw is good cars ._.

WolfsBurg Jetta's got the TSI as well. Only Failure I had in 80k miles was the little (assuming) wastegate valve that is part of the intake.

I had an Audi come in with a waste gate that had rattled so much it wasn't closing anymore. It wore the rod hole oval. Got a low boost code. Bought the special clip and put it on, ground slots in the waste gate actuator mounting holes and tightened up the slack in the linkage using the slotted bolt holes. Been fine for a couple years.

So they paid clowns to design the engine...

So what is the advantage to owning a VW product? these cars seam to have so many problems due to bad design and cheap materials...

No beer of the day! Better make it 3 on next weeks show. 🍺🍺🍺

Do you have a video of common modes of failure for the VAG 2.0 TDI engines? Did a search but could not find such a video.

so many rice lovers in this comment section

No dude they are really reliable

Has VW ever managed to make a chain drive system that lasts? Perhaps excluding the oil pump drives on the 2000s cars.

We have a 2012 audi a5 in are shop right now that jumped timing. Pulled the head to inspect and no issues or bent valves. The carbon build up found inside keeps me far away from owning a direct injection engine.

VAG 😢 Honda Toyota 👍

I h a t e d every second of owning a Tsi in my CC. I had every single oil leak, intake manifold, timing tensioner, brake vacuum pump, turbo diverter and a fucking shit ton of other stuff. I spent 6k in parts and labor on this motor in one year at 100k miles.

Hey, what are the differences from the 09-11 2.0T engines to the newer (12 and on) versions?

I had a couple of 2.0tsi engine but only on tiguans where one of the main crankshaft bolts would snap in half and cause a loud engine rattle under load. It was usually on cylinder 4

there is no such thing as a reliable vw engine

Who would buy a TSI engined VW? Just asking for punishment to your wallet. No thanks.

got a question for y'all, so I got a 08 Audi a3 with the timing chain engine paired with the Dsg. When driving last night going home after 1 hour of cruising the oil pressure warning came on twice both under 2k rpm. When I push the accelerator above 2k rpm the warning goes away. I did replace the sensor/switch 4 months ago. And did do a recent oil change. Any suggestions how I can troubleshoot this? And no metal debris in the oil either when I did the oil change. Any help will be appreciated thanks!

I have a 2012 gti and all was great until carbon buildup started. Have 144k miles and some days it uses half a quart to drive 60 miles. Some days uses no oil. Doesn't smoke but will sometimes puff black smoke. Thought oil smoke is white? Any ideas? Would appreciate some advice and would like to know how to check suspension and when vw recommends changing that. Love your videos!!

A complete piece of shit of an engine.

my mk6 gti has had the water pump issue, the injector issue and timing chain issue with only 50k miles chain tensioner issue cost me a fortune, bent valves and cracked piston

I’m doing a complete engine rebuild on my TSI that was in my CC. So much stuff is melted internally and it started with a coolant leak lol

I think I did pretty well playing "TSI-failure Bingo". My 2009 Golf Mk VI GTI was, IIRC, one of the earlier models to receive the new engine (my Mk V still had the older, timing-belt 2.0 turbo) and I got: 1. Busted water pump. Started with constant low coolant level in the reservoir and upgraded to seepage on the engine. Took my dealer multiple attempts to figure out there was a failing water-pump in the car. Car had been out of warranty for a year or so at the time, so VW only agreed to cover 50% of the cost. Which were quite extensive I might add. I saw the car in the workshop and they basically had to take off the whole front-end of the car to get to the water-pump. 2. Ignition coil failure. Not sure when exactly it happened, but the car was definitely out of warranty at the time and I had to pay it all. By sheer "luck", the coil on cylinder 3 gave out about 1km from my dealer and I was able to limp the car there on three cylinders. 3. Not an engine issue, but, naturally I also had a malfunctioning AC-compressor (known issue on the MK6 Golf IIRC) which I also had to pay for myself. 4. ... and finally, the big one. Luckily it didn't happen to me, but to the guy my Mazda-dealer (who had taken the Golf in on trade for an MX-5) sold it to. I didn't get all the details, but from what they did tell me, I'm pretty sure the engine's chain-tensioner failed and the head/valves was/were ruined when one or more pistons got to know the valves a bit more intimately. According to the Mazda-dealer (who had to cover the repair under used-car-warranty), that job was around €2,500.