VW T6 204 Bi-Turbo - Engine replacement - £12k-17k What are my options?

W

WolvesVW

Member
Hi all,

Apologies such a long one on my 1st post but was hoping someone could offer some advise re an engine replacement for my 2017 T6 204 DSG Sportline. (CXEB Engine)

Always dreamed of a camper and I bought the van privately just over 12 months ago with 100k on the clock, and obviously I understood the risks of doing that, although maybe not how expensive that could end up being, anyway to make matters worse I then immediately spent £10k+ converting it into a camper only to find after my 1st coupe of long trips out in it that it drinks oil, like a LOT of oil. Approx around 0.5lt per 400 miles on a long run and it seems to be getting slowly more thirsty, although other than that it actually drives great and doesn't miss a beat, no smoke from exhaust etc, apart from the oil usage the only other thing was the dip stick had popped our once or twice.

So I have had it looked at by a couple of mechanics and both have advised that the oil compression is sky high and highly likely engine has been damaged by past EGR issues and it will need to be replaced, as even a full rebuild would likely mean similar issues in future.

So sucked up the pain and rang around a couple of VW specialist and my local VW dealer in Wolverhampton. VW were not that helpful but could tell me the last invoice price for the same job/engine was £14,000.

I have 2 well reviewed VW specialists within 20miles, both were initially quoting around £12k as VW advise the DPF filter would also need to be replaced.

Had a more detailed quote from one of them today who advised worst case scenario it would be over £17,500!!! as they may need to change Engine, DPF, Cat Convertor, Turbo's AND Clutch/Fly Wheel?? Although they also said the CAT, Clutch/Fly Wheel and even DPF filter may well be ok in which case that would drastically reduce the bill to around 12k, but strongly advised on replacing turbo's.

Just want to understand my options and what I really need to spend the money on, I am so deep into it already and if I am going to spend that amount of money, its important thats it done right while also thinking about the resale value in the future.

  • Is there any other options other than a full replacement? What is the issue with rebuilds on this particular engine? Would removing the EGR from the equation remove the chances of future damage?

  • If I do go the likely route of full replacement, then what actually needs to be replaced without risking damaging the new engine in future? I was led to believe changing DPF (2.5k+vat) was quite critical as it may be damaged from burning all the oil?? Also another garage said turbo's wouldn't be replaced. Isn't the Turbo's, CAT, Clutch/Fly wheel is something that can be done if and when needed? The van has done 103k miles now so these are things I would expect to need replacing the next 50k miles?

  • What are the risks using the van in the meantime? I have barely used it for the last 6months apart from the odd short journey. Can I expect the engine to completely fail at some point or will the performance/oil usage become noticeably worse? Would complete failure risk an even bigger bill?

Again sorry for the long post, but I am in a bit of a pickle, albeit a self inflicted one, any help or previous experience with similar issues would be greatly appreciated.

Cheers :)
 
Welcome to the forum. There are a number of threads about this engine at higher mileages, and the interaction between turbos and DPF. Someone more knowledgeable will be along shortly, but have a search yourself as a number of people have had similar issues.

Pete
 
Thanks Pete :) just catching up on some of them now thanks! Although also trying to work out what is best for me, considering it will only cover 5000-7000 miles a year, can I maybe delay and spread the cost of the some of the jobs like Turbo, Fly mass/Clutch etc without risking damaging my nice new engine or potentially adding £1000's to the bill if and when they do need to be replaced.

Not gonna lie £17k was a bit of a shock
 
I am about to do the same on an old BiTDI 180, and have gone backwards and forwards on value of van v value to me, and in fact I have thought about chopping it in and buying a 204 but whats stopped me is in the budget area I might have I might end up with a bigger and more expensive engine (+bits) replacement/problem.

So am thinking I will put in a £10k engine, turbo's and flywheel into my perfect mechanical condition Caravelle, instead of a £17k unit in a new (to me) 204 that I have of course spent a further c£20k on the van. Hope that ,makes sense. I need a 4x4 vehicle, and a Caravelle, so I will always have a BiTDI as these vehicles in the UK are all BiTDI

For me, and maybe for you @WolvesVW its the same question, ie its not its worth at the end of the work, its what the van will be, ie a keeper for quite a few years
 
Last edited:
FerrisBFW said:
I am about to do the same on an old BiTDI 180, and have gone backwards and forwards on value of van v value to me, and in fact I have thought about chopping it in and buying a 204 but whats stopped me is in the budget area I might have I might end up with a bigger and more expensive engine (+bits) replacement/problem.

So am thinking I will put in a £10k engine, turbo's and flywheel into my perfect mechanical condition Caravelle, instead of a £17k unit in a new (to me) 204 that I have of course spent a further c£20k on the van. Hope that ,makes sense. I need a 4x4 vehicle, and a Caravelle, so I will always have a BiTDI as these vehicles in the UK are all BiTDI

For me, and maybe for you @WolvesVW its the same question, ie its not its worth at the end of the work, its what the van will be, ie a keeper for quite a few years
Click to expand...
Honestly don't feel comfortable selling the van on and breaking someone else heart. Although high mileage, its the DSG Sportline spec so van will have some value with a new engine.

More concerned about what do I actually need to spend without risking future damage to the engine tbh, is running a new engine with the same/serviced turbo's really a big risk? Or can I maybe get those done in 10-20-30k or whenever they need doing?

Newest quote is 11.5k for Engine and DPF and actually quite happy with that.
 
Presumably you had a quote from midland VW? Proper shit situation to be in. Honestly if it were me and if its still running fine I'd trade it in and cut my losses.
 
I wouldnt not tell anyone I must admit. I am thinking if I put a new engine in this van it will be good until I am told not to drive it anymore :) The rest of the van I have been through and everything mechanically is tip-top.

You could contsct a turbo re-servicing business and ask your question?
 
FerrisBFW said:
I wouldnt not tell anyone I must admit. I am thinking if I put a new engine in this van it will be good until I am told not to drive it anymore :) The rest of the van I have been through and everything mechanically is tip-top.

You could contsct a turbo re-servicing business and ask your question?
Click to expand...
Yes this is an option but depends on weather garage will consider fitting serviced/reconditioned unit,

I have spoken to 2 places that will service the unit for £250 or full recon for around £1000, but another garage said they would not fit a reconditioned unit as the Bi-tubo units should not be reconditioned.

I think is this best case scenario price wise, though starting to accept Engine + DPF + Turbo's might be necessary
 
Retro Resus have said 'we will see what state your turbo's are in first'. If they are not cracked they can recon for a £1k no issues, £2k new and worst case

Yeah I would budget worst case. I cant wait for my engine to be done. My old Caravelle currently drives amazing but I treat the engine with kid gloves, it will be fab to have some fun driving it with a new engine in. Two big trips planned this summer, one to Ventoux and the other to Corfu and back
 
FerrisBFW said:
Retro Resus have said 'we will see what state your turbo's are in first'. If they are not cracked they can recon for a £1k no issues, £2k new and worst case

Yeah I would budget worst case. I cant wait for my engine to be done. My old Caravelle currently drives amazing but I treat the engine with kid gloves, it will be fab to have some fun driving it with a new engine in. Two big trips planned this summer, one to Ventoux and the other to Corfu and back
Click to expand...
Yep also need to consider how much labour costs I am saving by getting it changed with the engine, and a new part which is 2.5k this year could easily be 3k in 2 years time.
 
WolvesVW said:
Hi all,

Apologies such a long one on my 1st post but was hoping someone could offer some advise re an engine replacement for my 2017 T6 204 DSG Sportline. (CXEB Engine)

Always dreamed of a camper and I bought the van privately just over 12 months ago with 100k on the clock, and obviously I understood the risks of doing that, although maybe not how expensive that could end up being, anyway to make matters worse I then immediately spent £10k+ converting it into a camper only to find after my 1st coupe of long trips out in it that it drinks oil, like a LOT of oil. Approx around 0.5lt per 400 miles on a long run and it seems to be getting slowly more thirsty, although other than that it actually drives great and doesn't miss a beat, no smoke from exhaust etc, apart from the oil usage the only other thing was the dip stick had popped our once or twice.

So I have had it looked at by a couple of mechanics and both have advised that the oil compression is sky high and highly likely engine has been damaged by past EGR issues and it will need to be replaced, as even a full rebuild would likely mean similar issues in future.

So sucked up the pain and rang around a couple of VW specialist and my local VW dealer in Wolverhampton. VW were not that helpful but could tell me the last invoice price for the same job/engine was £14,000.

I have 2 well reviewed VW specialists within 20miles, both were initially quoting around £12k as VW advise the DPF filter would also need to be replaced.

Had a more detailed quote from one of them today who advised worst case scenario it would be over £17,500!!! as they may need to change Engine, DPF, Cat Convertor, Turbo's AND Clutch/Fly Wheel?? Although they also said the CAT, Clutch/Fly Wheel and even DPF filter may well be ok in which case that would drastically reduce the bill to around 12k, but strongly advised on replacing turbo's.

Just want to understand my options and what I really need to spend the money on, I am so deep into it already and if I am going to spend that amount of money, its important thats it done right while also thinking about the resale value in the future.

  • Is there any other options other than a full replacement? What is the issue with rebuilds on this particular engine? Would removing the EGR from the equation remove the chances of future damage?

  • If I do go the likely route of full replacement, then what actually needs to be replaced without risking damaging the new engine in future? I was led to believe changing DPF (2.5k+vat) was quite critical as it may be damaged from burning all the oil?? Also another garage said turbo's wouldn't be replaced. Isn't the Turbo's, CAT, Clutch/Fly wheel is something that can be done if and when needed? The van has done 103k miles now so these are things I would expect to need replacing the next 50k miles?

  • What are the risks using the van in the meantime? I have barely used it for the last 6months apart from the odd short journey. Can I expect the engine to completely fail at some point or will the performance/oil usage become noticeably worse? Would complete failure risk an even bigger bill?

Again sorry for the long post, but I am in a bit of a pickle, albeit a self inflicted one, any help or previous experience with similar issues would be greatly appreciated.

Cheers :)
Click to expand...
Hi, I've got a Carravell edition 25 180 bitdi. I bought it private then realised it was using oil, so after checking the Internet I soon realised there was problems with the egr oil cooler on the CFCA engines, then I came across darkside developments at Barnsley, so had an oil analysing test done and wasn't good, but they did a conpression test and said its not the best, but not the worst by any means, so they blanked of the egr cooler and gutted the DPF and remapped it and went like a train, then the exhaust started to blow and the stock one was a ridiculous amount, so I got a bispoke stainless one for half the price and it's now 210 bhp. My oil consumption is still quite high, but a lot better since I started using millers oil.
 
What did you decide to do in the end?
If it was me I would consider this a loss.
Replace the engine with one running and sell the van.
 
I got the engine done and the turbo reconditioned, around 12k all in so a bitter pill to swallow but after 1000miles all seems well :)

I did consider the ford trick tbh!

Should I inform insurance of new engine? should van be insured for more?
 
If you replace like for like you're not modifying and it wasn't accident damage so I see no reason to notify.

If you took the opportunity to put in a different engine then that would be and you would need to.

I don't think it's ever been tested but I do wonder what removing/disabling bits of the engine counts as insurance wise. It's unlikely to change the risk but Insurance is always on the look out for a reason to limit pay outs.

Remember insurance payouts are not magic free money, they come from other driver's wallets.
 
WolvesVW said:
I got the engine done and the turbo reconditioned, around 12k all in so a bitter pill to swallow but after 1000miles all seems well :)

I did consider the ford trick tbh!

Should I inform insurance of new engine? should van be insured for more?
Click to expand...
The engine replacement just put the value back as before IMO, I’m fairly sure that the insurance company would view it that way as well. You probably need to update the V5 for the new engine number.
 
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