Update: blown turbo Cupra 280 repaired and failed again

Raven

Active Member
Mar 10, 2014
223
11
6000 almost exactly when it went.
Ok, I was under The false impression that IF You had a faulty turbo, it would go boom within The first 0 - 3000 miles tops... Obviously i cant relax yet... Mine has done roughly 6500miles.
 
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mbk72

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Feb 21, 2015
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I work in a Merc main dealership on trucks and vans as a 24hr tech and have seen lots of turbos let go in a big way. You need to keep a eye on the amount of oil that has passed through or is still laying in your exhaust cat and intercooler, in the past with haved had fires in the exhaust box and engines run away due to oil being sucked out the intercooler and fired into the engine. I know this has been on large diesels, but your dealership should beaware.

Ok thanks that is useful to know. They did mention quite a bit of oil around the turbo today, hopefully they know what they are doing.
 

mbk72

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Feb 21, 2015
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Ok, I was under The false impression that IF You had a faulty turbo, it would go boom within The first 0 - 3000 miles tops... Obviously i cant relax yet... Mine has done roughly 6500miles.

The only sign of this failure I can think of in hindsight were some strange wooshes and whirs, sucking and gurgling sounds from the turbo just before it let go. There were no warning lights or any other signs and being new to the car these weren't enough to suggest a problem. Right up until the failure the power delivery and engine behaviour were completely normal.
 

mbk72

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Feb 21, 2015
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Ok well let me know, by PM if you wish, if you think there is anything I need to know. For example if it suffered an earlier similar failure that would be useful to know as I'm within the exchange period.
 

Richoscos

Richoscos
Apr 7, 2014
452
0
Hertfordshire
Just read this thread mate. Gutting to go through all this with something you love. Glad it's been diagnosed and potentially sorted. I'm intrigued as to who the previous user was...

Anyway, I'm a massive believer in letting any turbo car warm down after spirited driving and before turning the engine off. Do we think that start/stop had anything to with it? Repeated quick heating and cooling of turbine fins stressing out the material?
 

mbk72

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Feb 21, 2015
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Thanks, nothing more to tell you today some turbo gaskets were unavailable/didn't arrive so the repair has not begun, hopefully tomorrow.

The stop start wasn't activated at all on the day the turbo failed, it was just slow motorway traffic.
 

Mattias

Active Member
Apr 9, 2014
97
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Sweden
Is it a 702N turbo?. Mine has almost 11000 miles now and just feels its a ticking bomb?:(. I was planing on remap but i want to put 15000 miles on it first.





Thanks, nothing more to tell you today some turbo gaskets were unavailable/didn't arrive so the repair has not begun, hopefully tomorrow.

The stop start wasn't activated at all on the day the turbo failed, it was just slow motorway traffic.
 

Raven

Active Member
Mar 10, 2014
223
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Mattias, will you join me and Anri the 25th of April at Björkvik airfield? Sorry for offtopic.
 

Snah

Active Member
Jul 7, 2014
250
1
Netherlands
If you have been giving it plenty of beans for an extended period, and then let the stop/start operate, the turbo can get too hot. I always let the car have a bit of slower running before I allow the car to turn off, or if too close to some traffic lights/junction I turn off on dash before it stops the engine and make sure it always has a min or two at idle before allowing normal s/s to operate again. Failure to do this may end up with what you have experienced.

That is exactly the reason I disabled Start/Stop with VCDS.
Although current turbo is watercooled it doesn't mean the bearings on the exhaust side are not getting frakking hot. They will be with normal driving and even hotter when driving it hard.
I drive 90% of my milage on the German Autobahn with speeds easy exeding 120 Mph and even yesterday drove it round topspeed clocked on GPS at 161,5 Mph for at least 10 mins straight on.
When you love your turbocharged car always let it run 30 to 60 seconds in idle before turning it off and after driving it hard slow down for at least last mile to get rid of the excessive heat buildup.
Your turbo will thank you for that and Start/Stop can be a killer for the bearings.
Every repected engine specialist will tell you the same story!
Oh and I drove since receiving the car last August 19K Miles with it without any trouble at all
 
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mbk72

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Feb 21, 2015
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Cutting to the chase - the repair lasted 5 minutes and 3 miles...then AA very very nice man in a van rescued me from the side of the M4 once more. Looking for the silver lining at least it was sunny rather than raining today. Traffic Wales (emergency phone peeps) and the AA once again get 10/10 for efficiency and service.

I know the dealer, Sinclair SEAT Swansea, is reading the thread which doesn't affect what I say at all, and I've had an apology from them, the Service Manager in particular. In my world an apology goes a long way so this was much appreciated. So despite all that has happened, and I know the thoughts on some dealers mentioned on here I'm giving them 9/10 for their work so far (didn't like the contaminated fuel explanation theory one bit so that is where the point was lost). Despite the problem they couldn't have done any more and ultimately it's not their fault either. The diesel FR 150 I have as a loan car is a fine car too, quite impressed. Most of all the dealer wants want me to be a happy customer so we are on the same page.

So here is the fully sorry tale for those interested:

The Cupra was repaired, turbo replaced, and ready to collect last night but I didn't want to fight the traffic. I'm so glad I didn't now, the Cupra's first attempt to kill me during rush hour was enough.

After collecting the car I drove about a mile on a 30mph A-road with no drama. I then joined the M4 on a nice wide open slip road with no traffic so used a bit of boost. So far so good everything feeling smooth at motorway speeds. Then about 1 mile later the exact same loss of power, no warning lights on the dash, I lightly reapply the throttle and the engine starts juddering. Now the EPC and one other warning light appear on the dash. Then the message 'Stop Start Error' appeared on the DIS - stop start at motorway speeds?? Then the engine stopped once more just as before. Rather than try to restart the car I coasted to the next emergency phone. Once on the hard shoulder I tried to restart the car and there was nothing, no turnover, no reaction at all.

About 30 minutes later the AA arrived and hey presto the Cupra started first time with no warning lights on the dash...mysterious. The AA patrol suggested that as the car was running we return to the dealer via A roads with him following me. This was without question one of the the most nervous 3 miles I've driven in a while with some big traffic islands on the way. The Cupra ran just fine on a mix of very short motorway stretch, 30mph and 60mph roads - it even boosted up quite nicely on this stretch and felt as normal. Then 1 mile from the dealership we had to stop for an island. The Cupra was ticking over fine then as I went to pull away all I got was a whole load of juddering from the engine and no power. Then it cut out, no warning lights, nothing. Thankfully the AA patrol was right behind me to help prevent any incidents. This time after a short delay the Cupra started again.

We arrived at the dealer. Again top marks because the Cupra was whisked straight in to service and a new set of faults diagnosed. Possibly something to do with the intercooler but this is still being worked on. The dealer is keeping me updated this afternoon.

So now we negotiate the future of the car. They'd seen my comments about rejecting the car under the 30 day scheme and that is what we are discussing. Much as these problems are disappointing I actually still really want a Cupra if we can find a way to make that work. Took me ages to decide on the car and it's still the one I want.

That's the story so far, I know my Cupra wasn't the first of the latest 2.0TSI engines to suffer the turbo failure but I hope for all of you it is the last and no one else has to go through this inconvenience.

Oh and one final thing, the new turbo was silent (other than a tiny bit of whoosh like any turbo car - on throttle with no sound on in the car), it didn't make any of the weird fluttering / metallic whirring noises that the original made so if you have any of that I'd recommend you get your car checked out that might be the indication things are not quite right.

As before I will keep you updated once I know more.
 

JMAC

Active Member
Feb 18, 2015
652
3
What are the chances of you being able to reject the car and what is the procedure if you do manage to successfully reject it, like for like replacement or full refund?

If the dealer is reading this then I'm sure they want to keep you happy and are already in the process of sourcing you a brand new Cupra with a few toys and your first service cost covered by them and obviously a tank of fuel… :whistle:
 

mbk72

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Feb 21, 2015
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Well that would be nice, especially if the toys include the Sub 8 pack and sticky Cups! :D

We'll see, just a similar spec Cupra that works would be a good start. Maybe if SEAT UK are also reading they can sort that out quickly.
 

JMAC

Active Member
Feb 18, 2015
652
3
I hope they do. It puts the snags I've had with my ST into perspective as at least I've not had to put up with a catastrophic failure in a dangerous situation. I hope you get it satisfactorily sorted.

Sounds like the dealers are doing a good job of keeping you informed and happy. Don't hold your breath about Seat UK expediting anything. I'm still waiting for one of their CS Managers to call me back about the problems with my car. I'm on day 8 now and I'm not phoning up again to chase.

I would never recommend Seat to an enemy. Almost 10 years of VAG ownership and Seat have a lot to learn from their cousins, in terms of build quality but more importantly about customer service - especially where their dealer network is concerned.

I hope to have the cash to pay mine off and get rid of it ASAP.
 
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Ocularis

Active Member
Jan 2, 2015
492
0
Northampton
Not good... hope they just give you another Cupra. Now you have me worrying about sounds from my car... mine makes a strange noise at start up first thing in the morning a strange whiring type fan noise that never comes back until the next morning.... now im gonna worry :S
 
Mar 13, 2011
697
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Curious how a Seat UK car used in the Milton Keynes area ended up for resale in Swansea? Or did you go there looking for a specific spec and they sourced it from UK second hand stock?

Not relevant, but I went to Sinclair Swansea for a test drive when the Cupra was first released. They would have got my business too if they weren't so unrealistic with respect to discounts. As it was I still opted for a new Cupra but my money went elsewhere. At least they appear to be treating you decently, which goes a long way in my book.
 

JMAC

Active Member
Feb 18, 2015
652
3
Curious how a Seat UK car used in the Milton Keynes area ended up for resale in Swansea? Or did you go there looking for a specific spec and they sourced it from UK second hand stock?

Not relevant, but I went to Sinclair Swansea for a test drive when the Cupra was first released. They would have got my business too if they weren't so unrealistic with respect to discounts. As it was I still opted for a new Cupra but my money went elsewhere. At least they appear to be treating you decently, which goes a long way in my book.


Mine is ex-Seat car. KP registration but ended up in the dealer network and I purchased in Suffolk. There were two identical ST's one ended up in Watford which was the same one that was reviewed on this very forum and is in the majority of press shots and magazine reviews. I opted for the other one which was apparently just a 'managers car'.

I think Seat have auctions that are only open to franchised dealers?

EDIT: the lad who sorted my alignment out this morning said his house mate works for VWFS in MK and he has a pool Leon which he can use for a few months before it will be sold on, to a dealer...
 
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Ocularis

Active Member
Jan 2, 2015
492
0
Northampton
My next door neighbor works for VW/Audi (possibly in MK) and has a new car every few months... so think they get them on super cheap leases/company cars and then just change them in for new ones when they fancy.
 
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