Busted timing chain? 2.5? 70,ooo miles? Huh?

[Champ6]

My wife was driving out 2005.5 Jetta 5 speed today. She was driving up a rough gravel drive (if either of us expected that, she'd have taken my old 95 Passat). It had been running perfectly, and she said without warning, no noise, lights, vibration, nothing...it died. And would not start. Her description was that instaed of cranking normally, it just clicked. My thought was that she stalled it, and because of the heat, coincidentally, the battery died.

I rescued her (and the dog) and when I tried to start it, it sounded odd....not a dead battery sound. so I tried to roll start it, and had the same tick-tick sound. Honestly, it it were a timing belt engine, I'd guess the belt broke. It sounds like no compression and a valve hitting a piston.

This is just a regular car, it's not driven hard, it always gets regular service, always either VW oil changes (back when under warranty) or Liqui Molly synthetic, VW or Mann filters, and has been trouble free.

Could it really have tossed a chain in 70,000 miles? Broke a camshaft? done something else stupid like that? Right now it's been towed to the dealer (ours is actually good and honest, and I've not found a decent independent) and awaiting them to open in the AM to assess, because I don't have the time now, nor have I yet bought my CAN-bus cable, dammit.

Any ideas so I can maybe sleep tonight?

Ron

[PhAyzoN]

Broken upper timing chains are certainly not unheard of on older 2.5's with >60K miles

[Champ6]

Why? I of course assume this is an interference engine. But 70K on a timing chain? Really?

[lessthanalex]

Why? I of course assume this is an interference engine. But 70K on a timing chain? Really?

Its a known issue with the 06s for the upper timing chain to go. A quick search in this forum should show you a bunch of threads of people with similar issues.

Sent from my GT-P7500R using Tapatalk 2

[PhAyzoN]

Why? I of course assume this is an interference engine. But 70K on a timing chain? Really?

Unfortunately. 05.5-06 had a fair number of problems, a bit less prominent in 07s, fixed entirely for 08+. I can hear the chain rattling a bit in my 07, I'm going to have the dealer look at it when it goes in for service soon though.

The "good news" though, is once it is replaced it's fixed forever.

[DerekH]

Unfortunately. 05.5-06 had a fair number of problems, a bit less prominent in 07s, fixed entirely for 08+. I can hear the chain rattling a bit in my 07, I'm going to have the dealer look at it when it goes in for service soon though.

The "good news" though, is once it is replaced it's fixed forever.

I wouldn't go as far as saying it is fixed forever, i have heard stories from my mechanic about 08+ failing as well. I would say the good news is that 99% of the time it is the upper chain that goes. So if you get to it before it fails its not too expensive.

[Champ6]

Never had a rattle in this engine...and BTW, I did search timing chain, and did not see this in the first 10 threads....

Anyway, since mine apparently did break, I'm guessing I have at least one bent valve, right? How bad is this cost wise compared to say the 2.0T? And wouldn't you know it, this was bought 2 years and 28 days ago as a VW CPO, with 2 year 24K mile warranty. Anyone want to take odds on if they will cover at least part of the costs since it's only 28 days out of warranty?

[Doc TwoPointFive]

I see you're in Asheville, I would get a quote from the dealer, if they won't do it, it would probably be worth it to you to have the car towed to BFI in Cary. I know it's a good deal away but they are quality and are very reasonably priced. A service the dealer wanted to charge me $550 for I paid $320 there and had a few other things done as well. Get an idea first of what is going on of course, good luck man.

[Champ6]

So far, Harmony Motors (used to be Deal Motors) has been good to us. Others have had less stellar experiences. So we'll see what the quote is, and if VoA might pick up some of teh tab since it's only 28 days out of teh CPO warranty.

[A1an]

Good luck with that. Lately it seems VWoA just wants to give out a small slap in the face credit towards your next new VW as opposed to helping out with the problem.

[tay272]

Deffinately not liking all the people that are posting lately about having this problem. Seems to be growing in number of cases. Not good.

[classicjetta]

Deffinately not liking all the people that are posting lately about having this problem. Seems to be growing in number of cases. Not good.

It's still not a guarantee that your car will have problems. As others have said, nobody posts "Hey I've got 120,000 miles and my timing chain is great!" and I've not seen more than one car on True Delta with a reported issue. I'm at 61,000 miles and doing OK (knock on wood).

[alwaysdutch]

Many of us have been there. I suggest to not look over the last few days, but do a search about timing chain in the forum....

In my opinion the #1 problem for that engine.

[LampyB]

no one else has mentioned this yet, but generally the failure is a result of the chain guides wearing down, not the chain itself.

[kitten_puncher]

no one else has mentioned this yet, but generally the failure is a result of the chain guides wearing down, not the chain itself.

x2... keep us updated on the results please, as I currently have a pending issue with my 2.5 that could be the timing chain as well and have a thread going. The more threads that post actual solutions (etc. estimate, repairs, what shop used) and just dont go to the grave with no answer, the better off we as a community are. This timing chain issue is absurd though reading about it is simply frustrating enough.

[Champ6]

It turns out the chain did not break, however the tensioner and guides failed (I've not yet seen the parts myself) and it jumped time. The chain did not break. at least 6 bent valves (machine shop to verify), no piston damage, and apparently we were fortunate and the valve heads did not break off and smash the seats. Orincally, only a week earlier, I had changed the oil and sent a sample of the old oil out to be analyzed. It showed an excessive amount of iron and chromium...was this an early indicator of this failure, or is something else going wrong?

'Round and 'round we went with VW. Since the car was only 28 days out of warranty, and because of said warranty we let the dealer do all maintenance, and because we've been long time VW owners (at least one continuously since 1968...yep we're not kids) they offered us $2,000 towards parts or $1500 for a new VW. A few more rounds with the dealer, we finally found out what parts and labor would be, and it looks like we will be about $1800 out of pocket. Sigh. I've heard others being treated worse, but I've lost my faith in the VW brand...in fact the Germans in general seem to have lost their way. My 95 Passat has always been a garage queen, but only because I could handle it's woes, we kept it.

So anyway, the Passat is leaving due to just plain being worn out (17 years and 270K miles), and sadly it won' be replaced by another VW. The Jetta will have to work to restore our faith in it, but will probably remain for a few more years. Maybe by then VW will get their act together again.

[classicjetta]

That's too bad; it seems that VW is denying/ignoring this problem rather than being proactive. It's quite possible there will be a class action lawsuit, and if that happens there's some possibility you may get your money spent on repairs back. But I wouldn't hold my breath.

[fierostetz]

have you tried to source a low mile used motor? just wondering... I've done it before to keep a daily driver running. Then the original engine goes onto an engine stand for some hi-po rebuilding

I personally used an engine failure in my old autocross car (fiero) as an excuse to swap in another engine (cadillac v8)

[nickbeezy]

have you tried to source a low mile used motor? just wondering... I've done it before to keep a daily driver running. Then the original engine goes onto an engine stand for some hi-po rebuilding

x2
swapping the motor might be easier and cheaper than doing repair work.
btw, was it the upper tensioner and guide that went bad?

[A1an]

Sourcing a used motor would be a bit cheaper, but $1800 out of pocket for the dealer to handle it is not that terrible considering the gamble you take sourcing a used motor.