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Long term reliability question

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fastandfurious

Ready to race!
I have a 2013 GTI, bought new.

This spring, I had a dead turbo which needed to be replaced. Luckily for me it happened 1 month before the warranty ran out. My car has been fairly reliable so far other than that, the only other part that failed was the ventilation inside the cabin.

My car is bone stock, I do the recommended maintenance, etc. It has 65,000km (40,000 miles) so needless to say that the stock turbo failing this early kind of worries me a bit now that it's out of it's warranty.

So I was wondering how is the long term reliability of this car and what kind of part should I expect to fail? How much would they cost if so?
 
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riceburner

riceburner

Autocross Champion
Look up water pump and intake manifold flap issues for the 2013
 
MrFancypants

MrFancypants

Autocross Champion
As I understand it a turbo failing is pretty abnormal on these. We have a few well documented sore spots on these cars, but if I were you I wouldn’t worry too much. I’m the original owner of mine and have 131k miles on it and while I’ve needed a few repairs, it’s all been reasonable.
 
M

mraaf

Passed Driver's Ed
I have 178 000 km (110 000 miles) on it, been 25 times on track. Never have major issue except water pump leak at 120 000 km.
 
bigtim3727

bigtim3727

New member
The turbo in my 2012 GLI needed to be replaced in Sept 2015 at 34K miles. I had just bought the car in July of 2015 with 31K miles, and the turbo started to make a squealing sound once I returned home from taking it on vacation.

Took the dealer a month to fix, and they found out that the noise was being caused by the turbine rubbing the housing. I don't know what could have caused it, but my theory was, the previous owner prob never rev'd the thing above 3k rpm, it built up more carbon than usual, and once I drove it from NY to VA and back, the heat/high boost that it previously didn't often see, loosened up the carbon and hit the turbine wheel, causing an imbalance. Who knows? I could be very wrong.

A month later, at 38K the HPFP went bad. at that point, i figured the car would give me nothing but headaches, and heartache....It didn't bother me that much, because I loved the car, but it was becoming slightly irritating having to keep bringing it to the dealer.

I added Unitronic S1+ at 42K miles, figuring that I was having these problems stock, and it wouldn't make a huge difference if I had a tune, so why not? If it continued to give me problems, I'd just dump it for something else.

It's been solid ever since, and I just hit 97K miles a few days ago. I decided I'm going to keep it long term, and just hope I can make it to 150K without a major repair. From what I read, I'll prob have to change the timing chains soon--not just the tensioner.

I think ultimately, these cars/engines like to be operated with some vigor, and regular driving at ~80MPH with the RPMS at 2500-3k for a constant period. Proper oil, and change interval is key also.
 
P

pamatt

Passed Driver's Ed
255,000 miles. Still drive it every day. Pm me if you want specifics.
 
F

fastandfurious

Ready to race!
bigtim3727 said:
The turbo in my 2012 GLI needed to be replaced in Sept 2015 at 34K miles. I had just bought the car in July of 2015 with 31K miles, and the turbo started to make a squealing sound once I returned home from taking it on vacation.

Took the dealer a month to fix, and they found out that the noise was being caused by the turbine rubbing the housing. I don't know what could have caused it, but my theory was, the previous owner prob never rev'd the thing above 3k rpm, it built up more carbon than usual, and once I drove it from NY to VA and back, the heat/high boost that it previously didn't often see, loosened up the carbon and hit the turbine wheel, causing an imbalance. Who knows? I could be very wrong.

A month later, at 38K the HPFP went bad. at that point, i figured the car would give me nothing but headaches, and heartache....It didn't bother me that much, because I loved the car, but it was becoming slightly irritating having to keep bringing it to the dealer.

I added Unitronic S1+ at 42K miles, figuring that I was having these problems stock, and it wouldn't make a huge difference if I had a tune, so why not? If it continued to give me problems, I'd just dump it for something else.

It's been solid ever since, and I just hit 97K miles a few days ago. I decided I'm going to keep it long term, and just hope I can make it to 150K without a major repair. From what I read, I'll prob have to change the timing chains soon--not just the tensioner.

I think ultimately, these cars/engines like to be operated with some vigor, and regular driving at ~80MPH with the RPMS at 2500-3k for a constant period. Proper oil, and change interval is key also.
Click to expand...

Volkswagen told me that it's very important to follow the recommended maintenance with these engine. In fact this should apply to every car.

Personally, I don't want to tune the engine, this car has plenty of power already and want to keep it as reliable as possible. Rear brake are starting to wear down so within 1 or 2 year max I will have to replace those. I will likely upgrade the brakes at this time.
 
PhthaloType

PhthaloType

Go Kart Champion
fastandfurious said:
Volkswagen told me that it's very important to follow the recommended maintenance with these engine.
Click to expand...


Very very true, and for some items you probably want to exceed it, even. For example, the official oil change interval is 10k, but just about every enthusiast will tell you that's not sufficient for long-term reliability, as these motors are very sensitive to oil issues. I think most will say 5k is better as a preventative measure.
 
F

fastandfurious

Ready to race!
PhthaloType said:
Very very true, and for some items you probably want to exceed it, even. For example, the official oil change interval is 10k, but just about every enthusiast will tell you that's not sufficient for long-term reliability, as these motors are very sensitive to oil issues. I think most will say 5k is better as a preventative measure.
Click to expand...

I don't track the car but if I was, I would do it more often for sure. Other than, I do the recommended maintenance at the dealer for these reasons, a bit more expensive but his service is good won't try to rip me off, and the extra maintenance that does not requires dealer involvement is done at another mechanic
 
M

mraaf

Passed Driver's Ed
I think most of reliability problems are depending on how we treat the car. Few cases I've seen:
1. The new owner of my friend's car cracks his turbo after few months of ownership - drive hard but never bother to cool it down before shut off engine.
2. DSG6 slipping and vibrate not even one year of ownership - always drive hard at "D" even with full load on it.
3. A friend reaches 200k km without major issue even drive it hard but he always warm it up and cool it down properly.
 
bigtim3727

bigtim3727

New member
fastandfurious said:
Volkswagen told me that it's very important to follow the recommended maintenance with these engine. In fact this should apply to every car.

Personally, I don't want to tune the engine, this car has plenty of power already and want to keep it as reliable as possible. Rear brake are starting to wear down so within 1 or 2 year max I will have to replace those. I will likely upgrade the brakes at this time.
Click to expand...

Yea, I felt the same way when I first got the car, but after reading through the forums, I couldn't help myself. It's very fun stock, and I remember being SHOCKED at how powerful it felt when I took it on a test drive.

I'm thinking "hmm, this thing will probably have some pep, but 200HP/207lb/tq aint that much"..rolled on the throttle hard in 2nd gear during the test drive, and said "holy shit, this thing has power!"

Going to stage 1+ was an eye opener though. Got a speeding ticket within the 1st week of having it:D

Maintenance is key. These engines love the proper spec synthetic oil, with the black mann filter, and keeping it at the proper levels.. The 10K interval is a little high; I like changing it around ~7500k.........

If you have the DSG, the fluid is easy to change, and they say to change it every 40k, which sounds a little ridiculous--and probably is--but better safe than sorry. I've changed the expensive syrup twice already at 97K.......

I just changed the front and rear brakes..nothing special, just OEM Bosch pads.....the rear calipers are the annoying twist down style, which you need either the cube, or the proper tool that makes it much easier lol.......
 
MrFancypants

MrFancypants

Autocross Champion
mraaf said:
I have 178 000 km (110 000 miles) on it, been 25 times on track. Never have major issue except water pump leak at 120 000 km.
Click to expand...

I have a theory that the drivetrains in these cars hold up better if you rev the engine out often. I don't know if the idea has any merit, but I seem to be one of the few original owners that hasn't gone through a dozen water pumps and intake manifolds. I also made it to about 90,000 miles before getting a valve cleaning because that's when my original intake manifold finally failed and they gave me a cleaning at a very reduced price.
 
zrickety

zrickety

The Fixer
I have 153k miles and no carbon cleaning yet! Run over 3000rpm for 30 min to burn off carbon, Audi has a patent for it. I would recommend 5k oil changes, and I'm in a hot climate running 10w-40 mobil 1. Original water pump, original timing chain.
 
bigtim3727

bigtim3727

New member
Short Bus said:
I have a theory that the drivetrains in these cars hold up better if you rev the engine out often. I don't know if the idea has any merit, but I seem to be one of the few original owners that hasn't gone through a dozen water pumps and intake manifolds. I also made it to about 90,000 miles before getting a valve cleaning because that's when my original intake manifold finally failed and they gave me a cleaning at a very reduced price.
Click to expand...

I have the same theory, but it could be more subjective than objective in the real world. I just think VW don’t like to sit unused for any extended time period, and when they are driven, it’s important for the engine to be hot enough, for long enough period of time; short trips aren’t good either I don’t think

zrickety said:
I have 153k miles and no carbon cleaning yet! Run over 3000rpm for 30 min to burn off carbon, Audi has a patent for it. I would recommend 5k oil changes, and I'm in a hot climate running 10w-40 mobil 1. Original water pump, original timing chain.
Click to expand...

That’s good to read; I do the same thing, and because I’m reaching 100k, I thought I would definitely need a carbon cleaning soon. I almost pulled the manifold off this summer and did the cleaning, because I didn’t want to be stuck doing it in the winter. This gives me more evidence that the 3k rpm for 30 mins is effective when it comes to keeping the valves clean
 
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