Mk3 Ibiza Cupra Blown Engine Advice - With Pictures

[wazo]

ok guys i thought id write a little advice here for people with vag 1.8 20VT engines and the warning signs of when your car might blow up as mine did
unfortunately this is quite a common problem with the above mentioned engine
in the respect that the oil pick up pipe from the turbo does and will get clogged up over its life im not saying they all will but some as i know and have been told will
the first sign is that about 2 weeks prior to the car blowing i had the oil sensor light on the dash flash up but this was intermitently then the light went out while i was still driving so i let the car cool down bb checked oil and all ok as i thought never thought of the oil pick up pipe as if i would any way im not all that mechanically minded
the day it went bang the oil light came on and instantly the pressure dropped on oil gauge and almost instanly after it dropped it went bang not enough time to do anything other than slow down but to no avail

so the second piece of advice is get an oil gauge if you have a turbo`d car

i never thought this would happen to an engine like this but ive been told by many people that this is a common problem and not recognised by who it matters to the most one person i spoke to said they just had the same problem with the same car but had only done 30000 miles
hope this can be of use for someone in the future
cheers
nick

[Old Webmaster]

Cheers Nick I will make this a sticky!

[Slim Slaney]

And get a turbo timer and set it to idle for 2mins or so after you finish your trip.

[wazo]

id say at least five minutes mate

[shonka]

On a similar note, if you are getting your turbo changed for the same type or a bigger / better one. Get a new oil pick up pipe aswell.

[Forbez]

Hmm, is the oil pick up pipe easy to get to? Maybe worth checking it periodically.

Also someone posted a thread the other day, regarding fitting an oil pressure gauge !

On the downside, from what i've read the cars dont work with turbo timer.
Where you leave and lock your car, but i see no reason why you couldnt fit one, and sit with the car until its done.

Any idea's?

Cheers Wazo, its a shame it happened mate, any news on the new engine??

[marcd]

instead of getting a TT, just drive the car off boost for 5 mins at the end of your journey, i had a TT on my 200sx and always sat with the car until the engine shut off, also think it is illegal to leave an unattended car idling ( well some strange law like that)

[badger5]

common problem? not ever heard of this on 1.8T
blocked with what exactly? foreign debris?
what was the oil condition like?

very odd.
have seen an ibiza (AYP) engine which had a failed oil pump gear drive (it tried to come off) and rattled like a pig... rubbing against the sump pan. this old lump is now my new engine, so it sounded bad, but had actually been ok on all bearings and journals otherwise.

unlucky dude.

[wazo]

im only telling what ive been told not all the 1.8 t in this country are on these web sites and when you talk to people who deal with these engines and not just the dealers there are a alot of cases of this happening
the oil i use in my car is an approved vag engine oil around £15 a litre

[Martin CUK]

Can someone point out where this oil pickup pipe is on the engine?

How many miles had yours done Wazo? Was that related?

Hope you get it sorted soon dude.

[shonka]

Get underneath the car and you will see it on the back of the sump, goes upwards towards the turbo.

[Craig!]

Wazo - Bill isn't just on these forums, and doesn't just work on SEAT's. I'm pretty sure hes on quite a few large VW forums, plus many other smaller VAG sites. And from what I gather he works on all ranges of VAG cars.

I too have never heard of that been a common problem either!

[badger5]

im only telling what ive been told not all the 1.8 t in this country are on these web sites and when you talk to people who deal with these engines and not just the dealers there are a alot of cases of this happening
the oil i use in my car is an approved vag engine oil around £15 a litre

Its just that I have'nt heard this "common" failure, and I do talk to a lot of 1.8T tuning peeps in the business I'm in.

Wondered what clogged the mesh tho... did you get to see it?
Sumps, for example are assembled and sealed on with silicon type gasket material.... get carried away and when you clamp it all up, the excess extrudes out..

For the mesh to clog, something had to clog it surely? unless the pickup pipe itself had come loose and dropped down onto the base of the sump, blocking its own pickup.

Weird failure, with modern oils for oil to be the cause.

Did you see what had blocked it up? What was it?

just re-read your post...

..."in the respect that the oil pick up pipe from the turbo does and will get clogged up over its life "

The oil feed pipe to the turbo is off the filter housing assembly.. the one into the back lower part of the sump is the drain.

Which bit was clogged?

coking of the bearings can occur on hot shutdowns, prolonged oil service intervals, poor quality oils etc, so yea I can see how it can get coked up over time. Quality oils, regular changes, cool downs before switch off, all prolonging this coke up which can indeed, restrict flow to the point of warning... however the warning pressure switch (low pressure) is also on the filter housing, at the feed into the turbo oil feed pipe. (ie the opposite end)

you will only know when the debris is found, whatever and where it is. If low oil pressure alarm came on, it would inidcate the problem was before the turbo with the pressure relief valve assembly or pump itself.

Hope you get it sorted.

[Rabbitman83]

instead of getting a TT, just drive the car off boost for 5 mins at the end of your journey, i had a TT on my 200sx and always sat with the car until the engine shut off, also think it is illegal to leave an unattended car idling ( well some strange law like that)

Some obscure bit of legislation from 1986 says so. Only relates to being unattended - which is unlikely to include being at the front under the bonnet.
Wonder how many Police Officers know that?

[wazo]

Its just that I have'nt heard this "common" failure, and I do talk to a lot of 1.8T tuning peeps in the business I'm in.

Wondered what clogged the mesh tho... did you get to see it?
Sumps, for example are assembled and sealed on with silicon type gasket material.... get carried away and when you clamp it all up, the excess extrudes out..

For the mesh to clog, something had to clog it surely? unless the pickup pipe itself had come loose and dropped down onto the base of the sump, blocking its own pickup.

Weird failure, with modern oils for oil to be the cause.

Did you see what had blocked it up? What was it?

just re-read your post...


The oil feed pipe to the turbo is off the filter housing assembly.. the one into the back lower part of the sump is the drain.

Which bit was clogged?

coking of the bearings can occur on hot shutdowns, prolonged oil service intervals, poor quality oils etc, so yea I can see how it can get coked up over time. Quality oils, regular changes, cool downs before switch off, all prolonging this coke up which can indeed, restrict flow to the point of warning... however the warning pressure switch (low pressure) is also on the filter housing, at the feed into the turbo oil feed pipe. (ie the opposite end)

you will only know when the debris is found, whatever and where it is. If low oil pressure alarm came on, it would inidcate the problem was before the turbo with the pressure relief valve assembly or pump itself.

Hope you get it sorted.

like i said before im only stating on what i was told in the search for a new engine that its a "common problem " and in the respect that my car had 94000 miles on the clock probably had nothing to do with it having being told that the same thing happened to a leon with 30000 miles on it
i will know more on saturday about the root cause when the engine is completely stripped down after the new engine has been put in