1.6 TDI VDO Injector failure root cause analysis

[Engineer Bob]

Unfortunately, windsweptofwyke, my experiences with my Caddy Maxi Life are virtually identical to your own. I'm now on my 9th replacement injector and have only done 46k miles. The most recent failure was on the A1 south of Alnwick. Being a member of the AA I called them and one of their patrols, who carries replacement injectors because of the regular failures that they encounter mainly with VW 1.6 TDI injectors, attended and fitted a replacement for £699!! The failed injector had been previously replaced in Dec 2021 and my Caddy had only travelled 5522 miles since the replacement.

I now carry a replacement injector (purchased from PF Jones for £317) as well as stretch bolt, seals etc, as well as a torque wrench and relevant hand tools and a copy of the relevant pages from the VW service manual. When I break down again I can either do the change over myself or ask the AA to do it. It is a straight forward process providing that you have the mechanical knowledge and confidence to do it and that the injector is not stuck. I don't have an ODB 11 coder to do the recode so would rely on the AA to do it.

I have communicated with VW Commercial Vehicles Head Office in the UK on numerous occasions as well as the vehicle safety authority, none of them are interested since my Caddy is out of warranty, in fact the vehicle safety authority consider that the Caddy is safe since it will go into 'get you home mode' when an injector fails, they do not take into consideration danger that could be caused to the driver, other occupants or other road users.

I am bitterly disappointed with VW, it turns out that the prematurely failing injectors have been known about since 2011 yet vehicles were continued to be sold for a further 5 years without the problem being fixed. The engine is no longer fitted to VW vehicles thus the problem has disappeared! Why don't VW at least discount the price of replacement injectors, their mark-up is an insult.

Every time that I come across another Caddy owner who has the 1.6 TDI engine I ask the question regarding failed injectors, I have not found one person who has not had to replace at least 1 injector.

I have bored many friends on this topic over the past few years, suffice it to say that I really like the Caddy when it is working properly but because of the reliability will not take it out of the UK. We actually purchased it and had it professionally converted to a camper van to tour Europe, what a waste of money!

[jackel]

The reason I sold my 1.6 and bought a 2 ltr but I agree VW are shirking there responsibility on this .

[windsweptofwyke]

Thank you for your helpful replies, I really appreciate it. 

I do a lot of short journeys, so that would make sense and I’m wondering if I shouldn’t have diesel at all on that basis. I’m a careful driver mostly because I’m permanently worried that getting up to any kind of high revs might cause another injector to fail. But perhaps that isn’t helping me?

Basically I need a car better suited to short journeys or to drive further every time. I only go out once or twice a week. Are petrol vehicles any more suited to short journeys, or dare I risk going to a 2.0 litre Caddy? 

I’m looking at alternative vehicles but due to a house move I was either need to stick to pretty close to trade in value or have to wait till next spring, but that means every 60 mile round hospital trip I'm scared I'll break down again. Motability is such an expensive way to lease a car, because they charge way over the odds if you want to buy it at the end, even main dealers won’t buy from them for that reason. 



So the vehicle has to be automatic and have long flat boot eg where back row of seats would be. Plus I have to pay for someone to re wire the hoist & buy an expensive fixing plate for it as they are vehicle model specific. So it’s not that easy to work out what would be suitable, a van type or even a van would be perfect. I can change to a smaller wheelchair instead of scooter but still have to have a hoist. So changing vehicles for a disabled person isn’t such an easy thing. But I am trying to work it out.

Getting a spare injector to carry in the car sounds very sensible in the meantime. I really appreciate the info on an identical cheaper version. 

It is horrid situation for any of us to get stuck in, I am sorry I’m not the only one, but at least I can learn from all your experiences. I will try writing to VW but I don’t hold out much hope. If that fails I think I’ll try the media, like Rip Off Britain on BBC1. It seems like media attention might just be my last resort.

[windsweptofwyke]

The reason I sold my 1.6 and bought a 2 ltr but I agree VW are shirking there responsibility on this .

Wise move!

[Doc]

@Engineer Bob
Let me be the first person you have encountered who did not have injector issues on my 1.6TDI. There are several on this forum with the same story.
I ran my 1.6TDI for 25,000 miles without issue, it was on 82,000 miles and 6 years old when I removed it. The engine is now in a mk6 Golf and to my knowledge has not had any issues.

[windsweptofwyke]

Congratulations….. good to hear you have had none of this hassle. Nice to know it’s not uniform

[Engineer Bob]

I wish you luck in contacting BBC Watchdog etc about this issue. When I first realised that there was a recurring issue with failing injectors on the 1.6 TDI Caddy engine I joined this forum to try and find out more information as well as how many people had experienced the problem. The most informative post was from Ben T to which I responded. I was somewhat disappointed to find that the general opinion was one of acceptance of this problem as well as not wishing to knock 'dear old' VW.

At the time I contacted VW Commercial Vehicles, the local VW approved commercial vehicle garage, the motoring departments of various daily newspapers, Honest John, BBC Watchdog, the Motoring Ombudsman and the government Vehicle Safety Department, I received responses from VW Commercial Vehicles, Honest John and the government Vehicle Dept. all of which were standard 'cut and paste' responses, basically saying that since the vehicle was out of warranty I was on my own.

I offer my support to any communication that you make to the press etc. but my feeling is that there is really no interest.

[nathanjones916]

Apologies to drag up an old post but out of interest those that have had multiple failures was that using reconditioned injectors or the more recent 's' model?
Recently had 2 replaced by the aa but debating wether to change the last 2 as got some long journeys planned over the summer months but just trying to work out if anymore reliable, obviously always get failures with anything mechanical nothing is guaranteed but was just curious as to experiences. Thanks

Sent from my SM-G970F using Tapatalk

[windsweptofwyke]

I replaced with new but not VW parts. I’ve tried replacing just the failed ones, and more recently the whole lot. But of the 4 new injectors 2 failed and the manufacturer said was a fault with the parts. So they were replaced free of charge. I was also told that there was too much fuel being burned so that was changed. It’s too recent to know if that is a long term solution. Sorry not sure that helps much.

[nathanjones916]

Appreciate any information so always helpful thank you. When I brought the van a few years ago was made to believe they'd all been replaced with the latest model but after having 2 done by the aa and comparing them believe they were probably reconditioned. Was thinking of ordering 2 from pf Jones as seen a lot of reviews on here for them. I dont do a great deal of mileage in the van try and avoid many short trips as I know that's not great for them and until last September hadn't had an issue with the injectors but with foreign trips coming up I'm now feeling rather cautious and trying to decide best route to take.

Sent from my SM-G970F using Tapatalk

[windsweptofwyke]

I found I had a problem every 2 years pretty much, even when replaced single one. So you’re possibly fine but like you it makes me not trust the van. I’m also low mileage user but all bar one incidents came on a longer journey when going up hill. So I now try and take it easier up long hills especially if you’ve just been down a hill too …. May be coincidence but I’ve broken down in same place twice, both after long downhill then going up. Which is not easy to avoid in my hilly area of the UK! What I have become attuned to are early warning signs, slight missing power briefly, knocking etc. but now I phone the breakdown service and can tell them what it will be! Take a spare with you?

I’d look at getting international breakdown cover whatever you do. It will just be peace of mind. And you may be absolutely fine anyway but depending on your language ability and flexibility of your plans it might be a wise move. Good luck

[BenT]

I think all we can really do is carry at least one spare injector, and the tools, and just replace them as and when they go. Or have good breakdown cover. Engine replacement's another possibility, but this in itself might cause reliability issues...

Funnily enough, when one of mine failed, it was going up an incline at 70 mph on a motorway in a hilly part of the west country. But, we'd need more data points to confirm a link.

In the previous analysis, I found that the piezo stacks short out internally, possibly due to crack formation in the stack. I've been wondering recently whether blockages in the mechanical part of the injector could jam it up, preventing the stack from expanding and causing it to crack. But we'll probably never know.

[nathanjones916]

Was thinking of replacing the 2 that are left and keeping them as spares incase get caught out.

Yeah will definitely look at European breakdown, used it a couple of years ago in France through the AA but they were not very helpful. Had the slave cylinder go whilst on holiday the aa basically just arrange recovery and then leave you to arrange things. The garage that they had me recovered to insisted on new clutch, slave cylinder then when they couldn't bleed it, a new master cylinder. On the plus side got an extra 4 days holiday though.

Find the analysis of the injectors very interesting. Was really hoping that by changing them that may be more reliable.

Sent from my SM-G970F using Tapatalk

[axtx]

This is such an interesting read! One of the main reasons for not getting a little 1.6!

[robblowen]

Injector no.1 failed on me in July 2019, going up a fast incline, duel carriage way coming out of North Wales, with less than 23,000 on the clock, I considered using reconditioned but after reading into them only having the mechanical part reconditioned I decided a wouldn't be able to trust it, especially if it went again over taking up hill and a fast, busy road. I got lucky that the person I was over taking realised something was wrong and slowed which allowed me to dip the clutch and carry enough speed to throw the van over to the hard shoulder. I found a place on line called UKDieselparts and ordered 4 of the new S suffix injectors. they were the same as fitted by VW but didn't have to VW part number on only the siemens VDO part number, although this cross referenced to the VW part number. The van has now done just over 88,000 miles so around 53,000 miles in just under 5 years and hasn't missed a beat since. Fingers crossed! Hope this helps.