PCP Car died after 1 year...

Desmond_Hume

ididgetwhereiamtoday said:

daveyjp said:

Another example of the significant downside of buying a used vehicle with no manufacturers warranty on PCP.

My MSE advice is don't do it.

Yeah but the horse has already bolted. 

My next car will be Korean!

Umm…

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/6498528/rejecting-new-car-due-to-dealer-misfuel#latest

Ganga

Goudy said:

This sounds like the high pressure fuel pump (HPFP) has leaked.

Modern fuel injected petrol engines supply the fuel to the engine in a similar way to modern diesel engines.

They use a lift pump in the fuel tank to supply fuel to another pump ran off the engine that runs at really high pressure.
This fuel is then delivered to the injectors from a common fuel rail at this high pressure.

The injectors then fire a high pressure mist directly into the cylinders to mix with the air entering via the throttle body and inlet valves and you get your BANG.

HPFP's on the most engines are ran off the cam shaft (as my Renault does).
As the cam shaft rotates it drives a roller/piston in the pump that pressurises up the fuel to the rail and injectors .

If this pump has a problem, it can leak petrol past the roller/piston in the pump as it only has a simple O ring seal and into the cylinder head, where is makes it's way down to the sump and mixes with the engine oil.

Apart from over filling the sump/engine up with what appears lots and lots of thin, smelly engine oil, the petrol also acts as a solvent so the engine oil can't lubricate anymore and the engine is ruined.

It's not unheard of that the VAG TSi engines can suffer with HPFP problems, it's by no means common but they have been known to suffer.
It's usually a solenoid problem but some have been known to leak like this.

You would need the dealer to confirm that this is the problem and then discuss with them if the HPFP should fail within 4 years (which it really shouldn't).

Also, they should have realised it was (a possible) problem before they gave it you back after the original diagnostic work, when they changed the plugs and PCV valve.
In fact if they had the PCV off, they would have seen it was blowing something more than engine oil vapour.

They are the experts and I'm just some numpty off an internet forum, but it's where I would have started with a modern petrol engine filling up it's sump with anything other than water/coolant.

Obviously said tongue in cheek ,your knowledge of the internal combustion engine is first class .As an aside i have worked on engines all my working life but they were just fitting high pressure fuel injected diesel engines into the plant i worked on and can say i do not miss them now retired.

mac1fm

Thanks for the further comments... To be honest I haven't done any servicing to the car as was planning to have a full service at the end of the year (had jut been serviced at 6000 miles before I bought it) at the same time as it went in for its MOT. I am for the Skoda mechanic to phone back so I can ask him about things like possibility of replacing engine, etc... He was supposed to ring me 2 days ago and normally I'd be desperate to hear from him but I was given a courtesy car on Monday so they could examine my own car and I am happy for them not to get in touch so I can get more days of using that!!

mac1fm

Goudy said:

This sounds like the high pressure fuel pump (HPFP) has leaked.

Modern fuel injected petrol engines supply the fuel to the engine in a similar way to modern diesel engines.

They use a lift pump in the fuel tank to supply fuel to another pump ran off the engine that runs at really high pressure.
This fuel is then delivered to the injectors from a common fuel rail at this high pressure.

The injectors then fire a high pressure mist directly into the cylinders to mix with the air entering via the throttle body and inlet valves and you get your BANG.

HPFP's on the most engines are ran off the cam shaft (as my Renault does).
As the cam shaft rotates it drives a roller/piston in the pump that pressurises up the fuel to the rail and injectors .

If this pump has a problem, it can leak petrol past the roller/piston in the pump as it only has a simple O ring seal and into the cylinder head, where is makes it's way down to the sump and mixes with the engine oil.

Apart from over filling the sump/engine up with what appears lots and lots of thin, smelly engine oil, the petrol also acts as a solvent so the engine oil can't lubricate anymore and the engine is ruined.

It's not unheard of that the VAG TSi engines can suffer with HPFP problems, it's by no means common but they have been known to suffer.
It's usually a solenoid problem but some have been known to leak like this.

You would need the dealer to confirm that this is the problem and then discuss with them if the HPFP should fail within 4 years (which it really shouldn't).

Also, they should have realised it was (a possible) problem before they gave it you back after the original diagnostic work, when they changed the plugs and PCV valve.
In fact if they had the PCV off, they would have seen it was blowing something more than engine oil vapour.

They are the experts and I'm just some numpty off an internet forum, but it's where I would have started with a modern petrol engine filling up it's sump with anything other than water/coolant.

Thank you - this is very helpful and I will definitely bring some of these things up with mechanic when I speak to him.

Goudy

Ganga said:

Goudy said:

This sounds like the high pressure fuel pump (HPFP) has leaked.

Modern fuel injected petrol engines supply the fuel to the engine in a similar way to modern diesel engines.

They use a lift pump in the fuel tank to supply fuel to another pump ran off the engine that runs at really high pressure.
This fuel is then delivered to the injectors from a common fuel rail at this high pressure.

The injectors then fire a high pressure mist directly into the cylinders to mix with the air entering via the throttle body and inlet valves and you get your BANG.

HPFP's on the most engines are ran off the cam shaft (as my Renault does).
As the cam shaft rotates it drives a roller/piston in the pump that pressurises up the fuel to the rail and injectors .

If this pump has a problem, it can leak petrol past the roller/piston in the pump as it only has a simple O ring seal and into the cylinder head, where is makes it's way down to the sump and mixes with the engine oil.

Apart from over filling the sump/engine up with what appears lots and lots of thin, smelly engine oil, the petrol also acts as a solvent so the engine oil can't lubricate anymore and the engine is ruined.

It's not unheard of that the VAG TSi engines can suffer with HPFP problems, it's by no means common but they have been known to suffer.
It's usually a solenoid problem but some have been known to leak like this.

You would need the dealer to confirm that this is the problem and then discuss with them if the HPFP should fail within 4 years (which it really shouldn't).

Also, they should have realised it was (a possible) problem before they gave it you back after the original diagnostic work, when they changed the plugs and PCV valve.
In fact if they had the PCV off, they would have seen it was blowing something more than engine oil vapour.

They are the experts and I'm just some numpty off an internet forum, but it's where I would have started with a modern petrol engine filling up it's sump with anything other than water/coolant.

Obviously said tongue in cheek ,your knowledge of the internal combustion engine is first class .As an aside i have worked on engines all my working life but they were just fitting high pressure fuel injected diesel engines into the plant i worked on and can say i do not miss them now retired.

I'm not for a minute saying it's the right reason, I couldn't as I've not seen the car but there's only certain areas to check and certain ways to check.
Ok modern cars are complicated but they run on the same principal as they have always done.
In some ways it's easier to check these areas on a modern car without lifting a spanner. 

Problems create symptoms and you need to be sure you've treated the cause rather than just treated the symptoms.

By the sounds of it the dealer treated the symptoms.
Sounds like they found oily plugs and blamed the PCV rather than diagnose any further to work out why the PCV was throwing so much oil into the combustion chambers that it fouled the plugs.

If they did check the oil they might have considered it had been over filled by the owner but they should have checked, with both the owner and the level and state of the oil.