Crankshaft Failure: Common at 220k km / 7 Years

Hello.

Has anything like that ever happened to any of you?
The crankshaft on my Passat TDI 66 kW, manufactured in December 1994, broke apart between the oil seal and the bearing on the timing belt side! This, of course, completely destroyed the engine.

I highly doubt I'll be able to get anything covered under goodwill at VW.

Best regards, goro.

goro wrote:

I probably won't have any chance of getting anything covered under goodwill at VW!

You will hear from VW: "... the planned lifespan of the engine ends at 180,000 km and 8 years of operation..."

I don't think there will be a single penny of goodwill in that!!

I also don't think you'll get a single cent.



Regarding my initial request for leniency, it was already rejected. At that time, the car was less than 5 years old and had only 56,000 kilometers on the odometer.


I wrote another letter to VW myself, and according to the workshop foreman, this is more effective than a request from a dealer, because those are immediately dismissed with the comment, 'You're a VW dealer, you should know how things work...'



As I said, please write a letter to VW. Mine has been gone for 4 weeks, and I still haven't received a response, but I'm expecting one every day.
You can try it.
I have heard from many different people that a personal letter often achieves more than a request from a workshop.





Best regards,
Ingo

Hello.

Has anything like that ever happened to any of you?
The crankshaft on my Passat TDI 66 kW, manufactured in December 1994, broke apart between the oil seal and the bearing on the timing belt side! This, of course, completely destroyed the engine.

I highly doubt I'll be able to get anything covered under goodwill at VW.

Hi goro

Hello!

A friend of mine experienced this: it turned out that the workshop hadn't tightened the crankshaft pulley enough. There was a missing torque of 50 Nm, which caused the crankshaft to break in that area (the shaft started vibrating).
If you can prove this through a material analysis, the workshop that worked on it must provide compensation.

Normally, letters to VW are usually ignored, and they take a very long time to respond. What usually works is sending faxes from VW dealerships directly to VW. These are usually answered within a day. I experienced this myself when I had an engine problem. There was also a goodwill gesture, but the car was only in its 3rd year. However, the goodwill percentage increased from 50% to 80%.

I cannot confirm your experience with the letter.
My local VW workshop called the factory directly, and the warranty claim was immediately rejected. I haven't received a final answer yet, but I hope to get at least a portion of the damages covered. For affected Lupo models and similar cars, the warranty still covers up to 50% of the damages for vehicles up to 5 years old or 100,000 km. If I receive that, I can be somewhat satisfied. However, I've lost my trust in the car and in VW in general.


They're always incredibly busy there! Especially now, with all the Polo and Lupo engines failing due to the cold.




I would write a letter to everyone, even if it takes longer. They can't possibly reject us all!

It's only a problem if you need the car or if you've already bought another car in the meantime, because then the (late) goodwill gesture is useless.

Julian wrote:

A friend of mine experienced this, and it turned out that the workshop had not tightened the timing belt pulley sufficiently. There was a missing torque of 50 Nm, which caused a fracture of the crankshaft in that area. (The shaft went into vibration). If you can prove this through a material test, the workshop that worked on it must provide compensation.

Hi Julian,

Just out of curiosity:

How was it determined during the material testing that the screw was too loose ? Doesn't the crankshaft break in the area where the thread of the crankshaft screw is still located ?

I'm more inclined to think that the screw might have been overtightened (using an impact driver). JanB mentioned something like that before. A loose KW (KW = Kardanwellen, driveshaft) screw would more likely cause engine problems through the valve timing adjustment, right?

Best regards, Christian.

Hi!

Your assumption is correct. It was about the KWS screw and its failure. Using an electron microscope, the fracture structure could be examined very precisely, and it became clear that the screw was not too tight, but rather too loose.
In a simplified explanation, the screw was moving back and forth within the threads, which initially caused hairline cracks in various directions, and eventually led to a complete fracture.

Julian wrote:

Your assumption is correct. It was about the KWS screw and its failure. With an electron microscope, the fracture structure could be seen very precisely, and it then became clear that the screw was not too tight, but too loose. Roughly speaking, the screw wobbled back and forth within the thread, which initially caused hairline cracks in various directions, and then led to a complete fracture.

Hi Julian,

aaaaah, so the crankshaft bolt came loose and wasn't broken, the crankshaft itself wasn't broken, if I understand correctly .

At what mileage was this screw replaced? It's also possible that the threads were damaged by the old screw when it was removed (someone described this happening in a forum) and that's why the new screw loosened.

I still don't understand why the crankshaft sprocket didn't slip, even though the screw already had some play in the thread. However, with extremely small play, the forces are likely no longer transmitted through the crankshaft stub, but through the screw itself, which would cause even a 12.9-grade screw to break.

Best regards, Christian.