Mark 6 GTI timing chain tensioner

Hello again all! as posted late last year, my car recently suffered a major timing chain tensioner malfunction. This caused four of the valves to bend in the engine and the total cost to be around $2500.

My question here is what should I do with the car? I purchased the vehicle for around 6000 last summer but funds are very tight right now die to the repair bill. Should i keep the car and still use it or should i sell the car for something a little cheaper and more reliable until i am able to afford owning a GTI again? any thoughts are helpful. Thanks guys!

Did you get it fixed or you still are faced with the bill of $2500?

i am getting it fixed currently so it is too late to sell it as is

Does the timing chain failure just affect the valves? Can you order a set of new valves and you're good? If so I'd honestly buy new valves ($200) and some forged con rods and heads lol

Sounds like you got a good deal on the car. Assuming it's fixed properly, you should be able to drive it for many more years. You'll be hard pressed to find a better car for the money.

**UPDATE**

Confirmed timing chain failure - engine is fried / totaled. I'll need a new engine replacement or I can scrap this car for parts. Was offered $6,600 BEFORE the engine died, so looking at a couple of thousand bucks for the car right now. Ridiculous.

Insurance will not help because it's a mechanical malfunction. So I'm SOL.

Any suggestions?

Don't mean to threadjack, but it seems OP issue is satisfied?




Hey guys,

I have approx. 90,000 miles on my car.

So today I tried to start my car and it turns over (Battery is ok, spark plugs were changed at 60k, so they are ok.

But the car doesn't start up. I'm thinking 1) there is a boost leak somewhere (PVC?) or 2) timing chain went and the injectors are bent which means that there is no compression in the cylinders. It just clicks and clicks and clicks until I turn the key off.

My question is - how did you know if your timing chain went? Does this sound like mine has gone? And thanks for the response - I'll probably be looking at 1,100 to 1,400 I guess. Why was yours $2,500? Was this at the VW dealer or specialized dealer?