2009 Tiguan timing chain

[ileanbe]

The timing chain has broken on my 2009 Tiguan. It only has 60,000 miles. Wondering if anyone else has had any problems. I have been researching this with my mechanic and online and this seems to be a problem for many Tiguan owners. Wondering if anyone has heard anything about this.

[acgator]

Nope. That's the first time I've heard of that happening.

[NZTIGUAN]

I'm surprised you're suggesting it's common ?? Yours is the first I've heard of breaking in four years !!! I did hear of one that jumped a tooth but that was a tensioner issue !!

Cheers

[DUSlider]

What they said. Hopefully covered under powertrain warranty though.

[nitroscope8]

If dealer won't cover it call vw and tell them how you feel. Harder you complain more they give for free. That repair should be 100% free to you

[Ocelot82]

Have you been driving it hard?Being rough with gear selections or switching from D to R (vice a versa) when Your vehicle is not at a complete stop? - These can cause to chain to jump a tooth, wear it earlier, and other sorts of problems in the long run.Well, I hope You got covered by VWOA.

[nitroscope8]

Not at all. Driving hard or banging gears has no affect on timing chain. What causes a chain to jump time is tension. When the tensioner fails to apply adequate pressure on the chain it can jump time. Also, when the engine is turned off the engine may momentarily move backwards due to compression. This rotation will cause the chain to compress the tensioner and skip the chain. VW designed a "one way" limiter on the tensioner so when oil pressure is lost, it cannot loosen up. This one way device fails and causes the chain to loosen up and skip time.

[RentonTDI]

Hey all,

I'm new to the forum, previous Jetta TDI owner and current Subaru owner, looking to upgrade to a Tiguan.

Found the link below; it details a VW owner's experience with an ' intermediate sprocket' failure which caused his timing belt to fail at 52,000 miles. He believes this sprocket failure, is because it was 'not properly hardened or heat treated'.

http://www.reesphotos.com/VW/

Your thoughts/comments would be great.

[nitroscope8]

Good thing that engine hasn't been made in years. Your tiguan will have a 2.0T engine chain driven if you live in the states. If I searched the internet ill find catastrophic failures from all manufacturers. With the story you posted in particular, you don't know the WHOLE story. Did that guy use the PROPER oil?? What was is use like? What filter did he use? Maybe he threatened Volkswagen and was obnoxious and rude to them. Maybe he never spent a dime through VW and vw felt like they owed him nothing.

[ileanbe]

I don't think I would ever by another Tiguan. I have had to replace the water pump on my 2009 Tiguan(only 60,000 miles) and now the timing chain has broken. I have not had a good experience with this vehicle. My mechanic doesn't like even changing the oil because it is such a pain.

[NZTIGUAN]

Sounds to me more like your mechanic is "the pain" !!!

Cheers

[chadhargis]

As has been mentioned, every manufacturer has horror stories posted about them.

Take EVERYTHING you read on the internet with a grain of salt. The internet is an awesome tool. It truly gives everyone a conduit to voice their concerns/opinions, however, it's awfully easy to only get one side of the story.

I'm willing to bet if you contacted VW and asked them what happened, you'd probably get a different version of the story.

The car was 2,000 miles out of warranty. I've seen many manufacturers (VW included) apply some warranty grace. But when you start taking pictures, asking for the defective parts, and emailing CEO's that screams "litigation" and you are likely to not get any help beyond what is absolutely required by law.

I've owned vehicles that were supposed to be "unreliable" that I never had problem one with, and I've had "reliable" vehicles that I've had issues with. It's a machine. Things break.

[brodiew]

Maybe I bring this topic back to life for a bit... But I too had a Timing Chain break on my 2009 Tiguan. I am now looking at $7000 repair bill that includes a new engine. The mechanic said he had never seen anything like this... He was very surpirsed that it happened. Of course my Tiguan is also "out of warranty".

[NZTIGUAN]

Maybe I bring this topic back to life for a bit... But I too had a Timing Chain break on my 2009 Tiguan. I am now looking at $7000 repair bill that includes a new engine. The mechanic said he had never seen anything like this... He was very surpirsed that it happened. Of course my Tiguan is also "out of warranty".

Whatever you do MAKE SURE you contact VW direct as they may well cover at least part of this as it's not something that should happen (always assuming the car has "normal" milage and has been fully serviced to date).

Cheers

[ileanbe]

So we took the Tiguan in and it was the timing chain. Volkswagon agreed that this shouldn't have happened at 60,000 miles and agreed to pay for 30% of repairs. Still was going to be $3000-$4000. Larry Miller Volkswagon(Lakewood, CO) service manager spoke with Volkswagon and got them to pay for 70% of repairs. Better, but still cost $1300 to fix the problem. We had them fix the timing chain and immediately traded the Tiguan in for a different car.

[NZTIGUAN]

So we took the Tiguan in and it was the timing chain. Volkswagon agreed that this shouldn't have happened at 60,000 miles and agreed to pay for 30% of repairs. Still was going to be $3000-$4000. Larry Miller Volkswagon(Lakewood, CO) service manager spoke with Volkswagon and got them to pay for 70% of repairs. Better, but still cost $1300 to fix the problem. We had them fix the timing chain and immediately traded the Tiguan in for a different car.

I would have kept the Tiguan without a doubt, after all its just had a new timing chain !!!!!!! I'm always amazed at how people expect mass produced mechanical parts that whizz around at thousands of revs per minute to be 100% bulletproof. To think my Dad used to give his car a valve grind and new rings and bearings every 20,000 miles !!!

Cheers

[acgator]

Maybe they replaced it with a VolkswagEn!

[brodiew]

Well $7000 later, I now having a running Tiguan again. 77k miles and a broken timing chain equal too much damn money.

If course VW did say if I had the vehicle towed to a dealership they would look at it and all of my "Maintenance Records" from an authorized service facility... If all looked in order they would consider paying a portion of the repairs.

1. Just towing alone would costs me another $250-$300

2. Maintenance Records?? Cannot do an oil change yourself, you have to have it done at the dealer for $150 or it does not count.

Needless to say VW did not help out with repair costs and will never see another penny from me ever again.

[DUSlider]

Well $7000 later, I now having a running Tiguan again. 77k miles and a broken timing chain equal too much damn money.

If course VW did say if I had the vehicle towed to a dealership they would look at it and all of my "Maintenance Records" from an authorized service facility... If all looked in order they would consider paying a portion of the repairs.

1. Just towing alone would costs me another $250-$300

2. Maintenance Records?? Cannot do an oil change yourself, you have to have it done at the dealer for $150 or it does not count.

Needless to say VW did not help out with repair costs and will never see another penny from me ever again.

There is nothing that says that you have to have routine maintenance done at a dealer. Can you provide all maintenance records?

Where are you located? $150 for an oil change is extreme. My dealer charges $65.

That said, people bitch about dealer service prices, get there service done somewhere else to save money, then bitch when the dealer won't help them out on an out of warranty repair.

Let me ask you this, would you spend another penny on a VW even if they did fix it for free? I would bet the answer to that would be no.

Did you attempt to contact your insurance to see if they'd cover it? How far away is the dealer?

Correct me if I'm wrong but it doesn't even sound like you took it to the dealer to get it repaired.

So you don't have the dealer do your service, don't provide any maintenance records, don't take it to the dealer so they can investigate the failure and get mad that they won't cover anything on an out of warranty repair?

250 for a tow? You must live several hours from the dealer and don't have AAA.

[chrisell]

I know this has been an issue in Europe for a while - I believe they've issued a recall about it there (tensioner failure causing skipping, causing engine failures). From the US TSB it seems like this still hasn't been fixed - note this applies to 2008-2013 models.

I suppose the real question is : VW know about this so why are they charging customers when this fails even out of warranty?

2010 Volkswagen Tiguan (pws) Service Bulletin 343306
NHTSA: Action Number: 10045560
Service Bulletin Number: 343306
Report Date: Jul 23, 2012
Component: (pws)
Summary: Volkswagen: all models experience the timing chain slipping, rattling noises of the engine after starting, and engine fails to start. 2008-13 all models. *pe

Source : http://www.automd.com/tsb/bulletin_b345457/

I have a scan of the TSB if anyone wants it. Can't post it on the forum though because of the VW terms.

Alternatively you can look it up yourself on this site : http://www.bbbind.com/tech_database.html
When you get to the search look for 2010 -> VW -> Tiguan -> Gasoline engines. There's three TSBs. This is one of them.