In reply to Hoondavan :
I don't mean the tensioner, I mean the chain itself. They're prone to stretching beyond the tensioner's ability to do it's job, leading to a bunch of bent valves. The tensioner design between the older and newer EA888s is different, but the rest of the timing chain assembly is identical to earlier iterations of the engine going all the way back to the mk5 GTIs (I checked the part numbers to verify).
It's unfortunate that Volkswagen didn't just stick to a belt with a defined service interval, because their chain design doesn't last much longer in terms of overall mileage and costs a good bit more to service. On top of that I have to openly wonder how many EA888s have died due to chain stretch and mechanically totalled the cars they were installed in.
I'm informed on this because I poke around on the forums, but the average CC or Tiguan owner probably has no idea. Those folks probably also follow the factory recommended oil change interval of 10k miles, making the issue even worse.
Update: the turbine wheel came off the shaft outside of Seymour TX while I was driving my 2015 GTI from Michigan to California. It cost $4200 to get the blower and all four injectors changed in Dallas. I still like the car but I'm hoping that auto production can match demand soon so that I can get a different vehicle. I wish I'd kept my Ford!
Just a quick update: Nothing new to say on the car. Now at 47k miles but no issues at all so far. I did just get new tires, though. I got 46k out of the BFG Comp 2 A/S's and they probably still have 5k before the wear bars on them. That's pretty amazing since my WRX never got more than about 25k out of any tires I had on it.
That said, the Comp 2 A/S's started to get pretty noisy by about 30k miles, and for the last 10k or so it became almost an unbearable howling sound from the rears that had me checking the rear wheel bearings more than once. I just replaced them with Conti ExtremeContact 6's (A/S) and the car is back to being silent....and no howling.
While the wheels were off, checked the brake pads. I'd say they're still around 50% after 47k miles, which is pretty impressive seeing as how big these brakes are and how much I like hard braking. With all the dust these factory pads put out , I figured I'd be at the backing plates by now, but not the case.
And yeah, I took the tires in loose because I hate tire shops touching any of my cars......
Bringing loose tires in is 100% the way to go. Quicker, less hassle, don't have to wait around, the shop doesn't get a chance to cross thread your studs, etc.
Although someday I'd like to just have my own tire mounting and balancing machine. I just need to add on to my garage first....
In reply to BA5 :
When I brought them in the guy working the counter punched in my phone number and was like "whoa, You bring a lot of tires in here in a lot of different sizes" lol. I don't think he realized that about dozen of those sets were rally tires for the E30, plus a couple sets of all terrains for my trucks and another set for the trailer, and like five trailer tires. And that stuff doesn't even include this stuff that the previous manager used to do for cash. Thinking back I fully agree that a tire machine would have been a great investment 15 years ago. Probably would never make it up at this point.
Incidentally these Contis definitely have a better ride and are virtually silent compared to the BFGs. The sidewalls feel a little bit softer but not much and they definitely have easily as much grip.
So I'm happy I decided to change.
