What have we learned about EA288 diesel maintenance & longevity?

[JohnTso]

As the owner of AHU and ALH Vw's I'm curious as to what owner's and guru's have learned about maintaining - including preventative - this new TDI.


I aware of VW's maintenance schedules for lube and fuel systems. I've learned to keep an eye on the Def injector leaking issue and to keep the Def tank full.


Will the intake manifold need periodic cleaning like the older TDI's?


I've read the a 2 micro fuel filter is recommended. Is that an additional inline filter, or an upgraded filter element?


I will be using a fuel additive to increase lubricity.


Just wanting to start a discussion to learn from those with EA288 experience. Best practices kind of thing.

 

[Strider17]

From the looks of it.....nothing

 

[JohnTso]

JohnTso

Well I suppose no news is good news in this case? Time will tell.

 

[740GLE]

ULSD and more advanced EGR has taken care of most intake clogging.

Emissions system will be the big unknown, failure of the DEF system will render the car unstartable.

Luckily if you're open to removal of those systems once they fail, then it'll be same maintenance items, TB and fuel filters.

 

[madmedix]

I'm watching for info too: gave up a CVCA for mine..however I've had no issues yet.

 

[jrm]

740GLE do you notice this since you own both CKRA and EA288 cars? Myself and 2 others I know who own 15's with the EA288 all notice that it sounds strange, like a bad bearing in a AC pump or something but everything checks out just fine. Very noticeable in a drive threw. Other than that, all 3 of us are getting 50+ MPG

 

[bizzle]

I think I know what you're talking about in regards to my '15, but my '12 made a weird noise under the hood and I believe another '12 owner has a similar sound he's been trying to get the service department to resolve. They've replaced a few things and concluded it's normal noise. My general conclusion is it seems these CRs tend to have some scrubbing-type of noise but I've not come across an explanation yet.

 

[oilhammer]

The 2015s have a variable displacement water pump that routinely breaks the little plastic collar off and makes a rubbing sound. Some of the replacements do away with this trouble prone part.

 

[bizzle]

Is it a problem that needs to be addressed right away or can it be left until its scheduled replacement? I don't know how I'd argue this with the dealership. One customer has had his CR in the shop at least three times I think.

 

[oilhammer]

Well anything that could prohibit proper cooling system function should probably be addressed. I certainly would.

 

[740GLE]

740GLE do you notice this since you own both CKRA and EA288 cars? Myself and 2 others I know who own 15's with the EA288 all notice that it sounds strange, like a bad bearing in a AC pump or something but everything checks out just fine. Very noticeable in a drive threw. Other than that, all 3 of us are getting 50+ MPG

We only had our '12 and '15 at the same time for about a month and a half. I did notice the cold idle a bit louder on our '15 especially after phase 2 fix. I'm not marking that up to anything abbynormal.

 

[740GLE]

Is it a problem that needs to be addressed right away or can it be left until its scheduled replacement? I don't know how I'd argue this with the dealership. One customer has had his CR in the shop at least three times I think.

Scheduled maintenance is close inspection at the TB internal (130K), and per the book a dealer will only replace if it's leaking, so yeah kinda a gray area.

Question to Oil Hammer, has he noted that need of replacement from sound alone, before visual leaking was detected?

 

[oilhammer]

The dealers have replaced them under warranty due to a brushing sound, yes. I cannot speak for them, however, I just know that a couple have been through here that did.

 

[turbobrick240]

It's a lot cheaper for them to warranty a water pump than a long block, so you'd think they'd have no issues replacing the noisy failure prone pumps.

 

[bizzle]

Well, if only service writers thought like that but I haven't met one that does so far

I think the main issue is that unless I can show someone a broken part or leaking part, I'm going to have a difficult time explaining what the issue is and how to resolve it. My experience is that they're going to want to diagnose the issue themselves regardless of what I point out/suggest and that linking a scrubbing sound to an unseen broken part isn't likely to get them to replace it. I don't even know how to confirm it for myself that this sound is that issue

 

[oilhammer]

The service writers do not make this determination.

I would not want a water pump replaced under warranty anyway, as they will likely just M&P the timing belt anyway. I'd just pay to have it fixed properly. But that is me. There is no reason they should not be able to hear and diagnose and replace the water pump properly, however.

 

[bizzle]

Excuse me for coming across as dense, but I'm totally confused at this point.
Can you please give us a very basic step by step on how to diagnose and resolve this?

There's a few of us experiencing some non-locateable scrubbing type noise under our hoods.

Are we supposed to just go down to the dealership and tell them about the noise and they'll figure out it's the water pump? And if they do, they're supposed to fix a part on it and not replace the pump?

Because I have to say that nothing has ever been that easy at any dealership I've been to but I'm willing to give it a shot if that's what you guys are saying.

Or is it along the lines of, "there's a problem and here's a TSB for it?" Because that might gain some traction based on my previous encounters, but it's still a tough road.

Or are we talking like 3rd party only, pretty much on our own, similar to an RCV fix (if I'm thinking of the correct analogy where the dealership will only replace the entire a/c instead of a simple valve replacement)?

 

[oilhammer]

The three "Cs":

Complaint

Cause

Correction

Complaint: my car makes a funny noise

Cause: [determined by technician investigating said noise] water pump collar.

Correction: replace water pump (the new one will not have the collar).

The first C is all you need to bring to their attention.

There is no TSB for this (yet). There IS, however, one for the RCV (finally )

 

[JohnTso]

The three "Cs":

Complaint

Cause

Correction

Complaint: my car makes a funny noise

Cause: [determined by technician investigating said noise] water pump collar.

Correction: replace water pump (the new one will not have the collar).

The first C is all you need to bring to their attention.

There is no TSB for this (yet). There IS, however, one for the RCV (finally )

Well I tried to search for the "RCV" TSB and no luck. What is it?

 

[oilhammer]

The TSB for the RCV failures on VAG products that use clutchless compressors.

I've shared this info here before, but all it really entails is what we already knew: no need to replace the compressor, just replace the RCV.

2044165 is the number. You can google that if you like.

 

[JohnTso]

JohnTso

When you mentioned RCV that was the first thing that came to mind, but I didn't want to assume.


Is the TSB applicable to 2015 Passats. FWIW - unless you're a dealer the TSB's listed on the web aren't much help. Most don't include a description/definition just a number.

 

[oilhammer]

All 4 cylinder NMS Passats through 2017 are listed.

Alldata has all the information.