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Golf 7 TSI 1.8 reliability

GeorgeTDI

Ready to race!
Location
EU
Car(s)
Golf Mk6 TDI
Hello everybody, I'm thinking about buying a used Golf TSI with the 1.8 EA888 gen 3 engine, manufactured in 2014 or 2015, with a 5 speed manual transmission. Is there any info on the reliabiliy of this engine / model ?

Specifically, I read somewhere about a bad batch of turbos on early production engines, but I'm not sure if that was for the 1.8 in the TSI, or for the 2.0 in the GTI ? Any other major problems with this engine, such as the timing chain etc. ? Thanks for the info.
 

MeltedSolid

Autocross Newbie
Location
San Francisco Bay Area
Car(s)
'15 Golf, e36 328i
The turbo issue was for early 2015 GTI's, and it only affected a small number of them. I have yet to hear about any reliability issues for the 1.8.
 

GeorgeTDI

Ready to race!
Location
EU
Car(s)
Golf Mk6 TDI
Thank you very much for the info. Any other problems, I think I read somewhere about timing chain deformations, although it didn't entail additional damages and seemed to be detectable, so not a major issue. Also I read about "carbon build-up" and recommendations to have the engine (valves) cleaned every ~50k miles, again not a major issue for me since I won't do more than 10k a year (but they will be hard earned miles) :)
 

MonkeyMD

Autocross Champion
I'm at almost 70k miles, tuned for all but 3k of those. No issues at all so far. Don't have any symptoms of carbon buildup but won't know for sure until it goes under the boroscope.
 

sherbet

Ready to race!
Location
Bay Area, CA
My buddy is a tech at a Euro Specialty shop in my area and one of the regulars they see monthly has a 2016 Jetta 1.8TSI that he bought new. He uses it for Uber and, I’m not joking, just ticked over 200,000 Miles. He is religious about oil changes and I believe has done plugs a few times but otherwise it’s bone stock, auto, and has had ZERO issues. Never had a carbon clean, and has done no unplanned repairs or maintenance. VAG has had a lot of time to perfect the 1.8/2.0 based direct Injection motors and I feel they have finally produced a very reliable and mostly trouble free platform. God knows how utterly terrible the early Audi and VW 2.0Ts were, with several potential major issues, carbon buildup, oil consumption, camshaft issues, etc...I don’t worry one bit about pushing my car hard every day.
 

chillax

Drag Racing Champion
Location
Wi
Car(s)
18 GTI SE plaid
The turbo issue was for early 2015 GTI's, and it only affected a small number of them. I have yet to hear about any reliability issues for the 1.8.

That is good to know. I heard about the early revision turbo troubles and was wondering if it applied to the TSI.
 

Subito

Ready to race!
Location
USA
Leaking thermostat, and less frequently, bad water pump. Otherwise very solid as far as I have been able to tell.
 

chillax

Drag Racing Champion
Location
Wi
Car(s)
18 GTI SE plaid
Leaking thermostat, and less frequently, bad water pump. Otherwise very solid as far as I have been able to tell.

Almost every CPO GTI in my area with more than 30K miles had the thermostat replaced. I have yet to see that listed on a CPO Golf.
 

ReadTheBook

Autocross Newbie
Location
Bay Area Smoke Hell
Car(s)
DVP Spektrm, MK4 R32
Almost every CPO GTI in my area with more than 30K miles had the thermostat replaced. I have yet to see that listed on a CPO Golf.

My Wife's '15 Golf (early build made in mid '14) had the thermostat leak beginning pretty early. 3-4 years ago they claimed to pressure test it when I told them I had to top up the coolant, I think I even had it in twice for that to be checked, and they found nothing. Then mine was leaking slowly in the GTI as well (never could see it but coolant was going down) and both cars were tested and found to have leaks at the thermostat.

Mine went in again a week ago for a repeat issue 4 months later.
 

chillax

Drag Racing Champion
Location
Wi
Car(s)
18 GTI SE plaid
I have a 1.8t and had my waterpump and thermostat replaced around 50k

My Wife's '15 Golf (early build made in mid '14) had the thermostat leak beginning pretty early. 3-4 years ago they claimed to pressure test it when I told them I had to top up the coolant, I think I even had it in twice for that to be checked, and they found nothing. Then mine was leaking slowly in the GTI as well (never could see it but coolant was going down) and both cars were tested and found to have leaks at the thermostat.

Mine went in again a week ago for a repeat issue 4 months later.

Interesting I suppose I should keep a close eye on my coolant level then. I am still under warranty until next April.
 

GeorgeTDI

Ready to race!
Location
EU
Car(s)
Golf Mk6 TDI
Can a leaking thermostat be repaired ? It looks like mine is leaking too. How much is a thermostat going for in the US (without the water pump) ?
 

Subito

Ready to race!
Location
USA
Can a leaking thermostat be repaired ? It looks like mine is leaking too. How much is a thermostat going for in the US (without the water pump) ?

It can certainly be repaired, mine was recently replaced under warranty, but no price was listed on the service order so I don’t how much the part costs.
 

GeorgeTDI

Ready to race!
Location
EU
Car(s)
Golf Mk6 TDI
Do you mean repaired or replaced ? :) I was quoted about 500$ for the new part oem, so I'd rather repair it if the control unit and valve are running fine and it just leaks fluid somewhere.
 

Subito

Ready to race!
Location
USA
Ah, sorry for the unclear wording. It’s replaceable, I have no idea if it’s repairable/rebuildable.
 
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