timrud

My mate has a Mk6 Golf GTi, which is around 18 months old. The other day he said it had begun running like a nail, struggling to start, no power etc...

I had a look and there was nothing obvious, I told him to get it plugged into a diagnostic machine and see what it says (I was expecting it to be air flow or crank sensor).

Anyhow, he took it to the garage and they say they timing chain has jumped and they are unsure of the damage. It can't be too bad as he managed to drive 50 miles like it. And in any event warranty will cover it should it require a new engine, so he doesn't really care.

What could have caused this to happen?

geordiegooner

i know oil changes can supposely do it to polo's not sure if this is the same with golfs though

tabetha

Wrong/slack tension causes this, the teeth may also be hook shaped on the sprockets involved, so need renewing also, and of course reason finding.
tabetha

botters

iTrader: (2)

ive known one jump through lack of oil in the engine

andi-p

had several 1.2 ibiza do it when i worked in the main dealer, i had 1 jump 5 teeth and run like it had a plug coil gone. Usally down to oil pressure drop over night. They should replace chain guides for thicker item and replace the tensioner. They should also check the oil pressure to see if its got a weak oil pump. Hope this helps.

Marvin_hagler_

tensioner fucking up,i have personally had one do that and the engine ran like a bag of spanners rattling around.
stuck a new tensioner on at considerable cost and it worked fine again Yo !

Cossie Sean

most modern VAG and bmws jump chains on startup or fail to start and corsa`s are common also. mostly due to bad oil/lack of servicing and the tensioners failing. Most manufacturers now provide modified tensioners, obviously they have problems.

Never admit they are faulty, hence no claims paid out from them.

i do loads of german stuff, ŁŁŁ for me and ŁŁŁŁ for the punters

Rsmat

iTrader: (2)

Lack of oil caused mine and it drove ok for 200-300 mile was just down on power...And when we finally stripped it number 1 piston was 40 thou lower than it should be.

Glenn_

iTrader: (1)

Ive done loads of 1.3 diesels corsas normaly the tensioners pack up on them and people leave them in gear on a hill and that has caused a few to jump.

timrud

Cheers lads, seems this is way more common than I thought!

The head is off the engine now, and they are saying they will send the engine back to VW to see if he can have a new one on warranty.