Seat Ibiza 1.2 TSI 2015 Turbo Actuator Fault

Apr 5, 2020
5
0
I have had an EPC and Engine Warning light come on, my local mechanic has informed me i have got an issue with my Turbo Actuator.

I am looking at replacing this, however i am having issues finding the correct rod length. I have the right Actuator, however the rod length comes in both 10cm and 11.6cm, if anyone is able to confirm which one will fit this would be great!

Seat Ibiza mk4 (6J) 2015 1.2 TSI

Thanks!
 

camelspyyder

2 SEAT-er
Jun 26, 2014
1,305
175
I' ve had this on a 1.2 and 1.0. both under guarantee. Neither was fixed by the actuator change (£483.40 on the 1.0 by the way) so both had new turbos

HOWEVER. On a variety of of VAG forums, people note that a poor battery can give rise to these symptoms, and a fully charged or new battery is a lot cheapet
 

Crossthreaded

Active Member
Apr 16, 2019
536
145
I've posted on here somewhere about the problems I had with this on my 2016 1.0litre 95hp EA211 3 cylinder. Mine went into limp shortly after starting a journey (about a mile from home) Performance was greatly reduced and the MIL was lit. The car was still in warranty so I just rang the SEAT assist number and they had a man with me pretty quickly. He seemed to know almost before he opened the bonnet what was wrong. A brief check for stored codes and a feel down the back of the engine and i was told to drive the car to the local dealer - 20 minute journey - and he would follow me and drive me home after I'd dropped it there.

There was a brief delay at the dealer whilst they checked up on the car and during this time and on the journey home I chatted to the breakdown chap about what had happened. Bearing in mind that I worked as a mechanic earlier in my career, we got pretty technical about it all but to reduce it to the basics: It would seem that the earlier engines had problems with the wastegate actuator rod end where it pivots on the lever arm at the turbo end of the rod. It seizes up and grips the spindle very tightly. So tightly in fact that in many instances it can not be removed. Of course because it seizes it stops the actuator from being able to open and close the wastegate so overboost occurs which initiates "limp". Apparently if you get it early enough sometimes WD40 (other products are available) will win you some time by temporarily freeing it up but it gets so hot it'll soon burn off and a wee while later you'll be back where you started. They seem to have sorted this by producing a modified linkage. However in many cases you'll find the seizure is so severe that you can't get the old linkage off the pivot. So thinking this can be cured by just fitting the new linkage/actuator may not be possible and that's why it's not unusual to require a complete new turbo. The new turbos are all now supplied complete with the modified linkage.

When I got home I started thinking about this - I wasn't too worried because it was being done under warranty but if you're paying for it yourself there's a big pot of cash at stake. I've "messed about" sorting wastegates on a few turbos and even replaced a few that have "expired" although turbos were pretty much only found on diesels when I was on the tools. As far as actuators go, I've seen "rattly linkages" due to wear and blown diaphragms in the vacuum units (not any real world experience of electrically driven actuators though) and I just thought this "siezed linkage" scenario sounded very unlikely so I rang the garage and asked if they would keep the old turbo so I could understand what had happened. They seemed surprised (I dare say not many customers are that interested) but agreed (Arnold Clarke Seafield). Then I thought I'd ring our local independent who confirmed this to be the problem with them and that they have done a fair few complete turbo changes because of it.

So how do you identify the new (modified) linkage. Quite easily actually. With the engine cold (It gets mega hot down there!) feel down the back of the engine for the actuator rod. follow it along to the wastegate spindle. There is a connection on the end of the rod. Is it "blocky" and square/rectangular? then it's the old type. The new one is semi spherical, a bit like a rose joint. When I went to pick up the car I had a feel down the back of a new one in the showroom - while the salesman was distracted elsewhere - it was fitted with the spherical end. My old turbo had a completely seized end. There was no way it was coming off.

Hope that helps?
 
Apr 5, 2020
5
0
I' ve had this on a 1.2 and 1.0. both under guarantee. Neither was fixed by the actuator change (£483.40 on the 1.0 by the way) so both had new turbos

HOWEVER. On a variety of of VAG forums, people note that a poor battery can give rise to these symptoms, and a fully charged or new battery is a lot cheapet

Thats interesting to note, my issue was the Actuator getting stuck, i am hoping its not the whole Turbo! Ive applied some WD40 but if it happens again i will try to replace the Actuator, i am just unsure what the length of the rod is as i have found the right Actuator, but comes with both a 10cm at 11.6cm Rod!
 
Apr 5, 2020
5
0
I've posted on here somewhere about the problems I had with this on my 2016 1.0litre 95hp EA211 3 cylinder. Mine went into limp shortly after starting a journey (about a mile from home) Performance was greatly reduced and the MIL was lit. The car was still in warranty so I just rang the SEAT assist number and they had a man with me pretty quickly. He seemed to know almost before he opened the bonnet what was wrong. A brief check for stored codes and a feel down the back of the engine and i was told to drive the car to the local dealer - 20 minute journey - and he would follow me and drive me home after I'd dropped it there.

There was a brief delay at the dealer whilst they checked up on the car and during this time and on the journey home I chatted to the breakdown chap about what had happened. Bearing in mind that I worked as a mechanic earlier in my career, we got pretty technical about it all but to reduce it to the basics: It would seem that the earlier engines had problems with the wastegate actuator rod end where it pivots on the lever arm at the turbo end of the rod. It seizes up and grips the spindle very tightly. So tightly in fact that in many instances it can not be removed. Of course because it seizes it stops the actuator from being able to open and close the wastegate so overboost occurs which initiates "limp". Apparently if you get it early enough sometimes WD40 (other products are available) will win you some time by temporarily freeing it up but it gets so hot it'll soon burn off and a wee while later you'll be back where you started. They seem to have sorted this by producing a modified linkage. However in many cases you'll find the seizure is so severe that you can't get the old linkage off the pivot. So thinking this can be cured by just fitting the new linkage/actuator may not be possible and that's why it's not unusual to require a complete new turbo. The new turbos are all now supplied complete with the modified linkage.

When I got home I started thinking about this - I wasn't too worried because it was being done under warranty but if you're paying for it yourself there's a big pot of cash at stake. I've "messed about" sorting wastegates on a few turbos and even replaced a few that have "expired" although turbos were pretty much only found on diesels when I was on the tools. As far as actuators go, I've seen "rattly linkages" due to wear and blown diaphragms in the vacuum units (not any real world experience of electrically driven actuators though) and I just thought this "siezed linkage" scenario sounded very unlikely so I rang the garage and asked if they would keep the old turbo so I could understand what had happened. They seemed surprised (I dare say not many customers are that interested) but agreed (Arnold Clarke Seafield). Then I thought I'd ring our local independent who confirmed this to be the problem with them and that they have done a fair few complete turbo changes because of it.

So how do you identify the new (modified) linkage. Quite easily actually. With the engine cold (It gets mega hot down there!) feel down the back of the engine for the actuator rod. follow it along to the wastegate spindle. There is a connection on the end of the rod. Is it "blocky" and square/rectangular? then it's the old type. The new one is semi spherical, a bit like a rose joint. When I went to pick up the car I had a feel down the back of a new one in the showroom - while the salesman was distracted elsewhere - it was fitted with the spherical end. My old turbo had a completely seized end. There was no way it was coming off.

Hope that helps?


Thank you for this very useful account here, now thinking it may be the whole turbo that needs replacing! However, for the price of a Actuator i may still give it a go, because its much cheaper than replacing the whole Turbo, i dont suppose you would not what length the rof would need to be, i have a Mark 4, 2015 1.2 TSI
 

Crossthreaded

Active Member
Apr 16, 2019
536
145
Sorry James, I only saw the offending turbo for a few minutes on the receptionists desk before it was whipped away again - I asked to keep it but was told, quite understandably, it was needed for the warranty claim. I can't see any reason why you shouldn't change just the actuator rod as long as, and it's a big "as long as" it isn't too seized to that spindle.
 
Apr 5, 2020
5
0
Sorry James, I only saw the offending turbo for a few minutes on the receptionists desk before it was whipped away again - I asked to keep it but was told, quite understandably, it was needed for the warranty claim. I can't see any reason why you shouldn't change just the actuator rod as long as, and it's a big "as long as" it isn't too seized to that spindle.


Not to worry, thank you for your help anyway you have been very informative!
 

Crossthreaded

Active Member
Apr 16, 2019
536
145
I note that camelspyyder mentions poor battery performance as being a possible issue. My other passion is for small Fiats and they are well known for problems with their electric power steering which has earned them a bit if a bad name because, of course, an EPS unit is not cheap and will often need to be electronically realigned to the vehicle with something like Multiecuscan or the dealer tool. The stop/start systems are also quite well known for coming up "not available". It's quite frequently the case that a new battery - even when the old one tests as "Ok" - completely cures the problem.

Today I've just helped an elderly neighbour with a flat battery in her elderly Jazz (strict social distancing observed). Now, sitting watching the telly out of the corner of my eye, I find myself wondering how many more will be like this after the enforced period of idleness at present (rightfully) imposed upon us. Unscrupulous traders stand to make a fortune in battery sales?
 

camelspyyder

2 SEAT-er
Jun 26, 2014
1,305
175
Thank you for this very useful account here, now thinking it may be the whole turbo that needs replacing! However, for the price of a Actuator i may still give it a go, because its much cheaper than replacing the whole Turbo, i dont suppose you would not what length the rof would need to be, i have a Mark 4, 2015 1.2 TSI

There are multiple engines labelled 1.2TSI and indeed for some VAG vehicles 2015 marks the transition between the 8V chain cam one and the 16V belt cam one. The turbo location is different on the two. I suspect this is why you have 2 options for the actuator.
 

Crossthreaded

Active Member
Apr 16, 2019
536
145
There are multiple engines labelled 1.2TSI and indeed for some VAG vehicles 2015 marks the transition between the 8V chain cam one and the 16V belt cam one. The turbo location is different on the two. I suspect this is why you have 2 options for the actuator.
'mornin camelspyyder. Perhaps you could inform me? Our extended family have run a number of Skoda and Seat vehicles over a number of years and I've looked after most of them most of the time. There's been 3 Fabias ranging from a small petrol through a 1.9PD and 1.6CR (not an engine I liked) then there was my old 1.9VE engined Cordoba and now I run the 1.0 EA211 engined Ibiza. We've never had one of the Chain Cam petrols and although I've read a lot about their problems (one of the reasons we've avoided them) with the chains themselves being a major problem but also the twincharger problems with pistons etc, I'm really very unsure as to whether a satisfactory "fix" was ever put in place - especially regarding the chain problem?

I'm also aware that the old 1.4 petrol engine - that's the one that has the little link belt between the cams - seems to have a bit of a problem with pistons I think? My neighbour across the road has an Ibiza Toca with this engine in it and it makes an alarming knocking noise every morning when she starts it up and as she drives off down the road (sounds like severe piston slap). We've nearly bought one of these a couple of times but I've always chickened out, and I notice there are some real bargains about with this power unit. Possibly one of these would make a good runabout for my Mrs

I'd welcome anyone else who wants to jump in with knowledge on any of this

Kindest regards and do stay safe everyone.
 

camelspyyder

2 SEAT-er
Jun 26, 2014
1,305
175
It's not the 1.4 twincharger ( which deserves a book by itself apparently ) but the chain 1.2 had a bad rep pre 2012 for chain issues and turbo and actuator issues. The last recall was 2012 and cars built since are supposed to be OK. But, my 2014 had the turbo replaced at only 26k

Re the 1.4 16V in the TOCA, its quite slow, but if you keep some revs on its a pleasant drive I think. Our 2015 was absolutely faultless for 4.5 years and 30+ thousand miles. I think there's a lot less to go wrong with it than on a TSi. It's not that much slower either after I adjusted my driving style.
 

RUM4MO

Active Member
Jun 4, 2008
7,784
983
South Scotland
Yes, I'd say that the old 1.4 16V petrol engines are okay, a bit vocal though, especially as VW Group removed the engine cover/air filter and replaced it with an air filter box away from the top of the engine - and SEAT don't seem to bother with under bonnet sound proofing or much in the way of firewall sound proofing.

I found the 85/86PS 1.4 16V petrol engine in my daughter's previous late 2009 Ibize SC worked quite well - seriously better than the slightly earlier 75PS 1.4 16V petrol engine in my wife's old and heavier Sept 2002 Polo SE, the lower power output and the extra weight of that version of Polo, really made that Polo an extremely annoying car for my wife, especially after her 1994 Ford Fiesta 1.6SI (or Si) with the 90PS Zetec engine! Mine you no one could ever accuse Ford for providing small cars that were not good to drive, especially when they had enough power.
 

RUM4MO

Active Member
Jun 4, 2008
7,784
983
South Scotland
@Crossthreaded, maybe my wife's 2015 Polo 1.2TSI 110PS has a different linkage to your 1.0TSI, the bypass end of the linkage is a flat section welded to the rod - I've finally got round to looking at it, prompted by your comments.
 

Crossthreaded

Active Member
Apr 16, 2019
536
145
@Crossthreaded, maybe my wife's 2015 Polo 1.2TSI 110PS has a different linkage to your 1.0TSI, the bypass end of the linkage is a flat section welded to the rod - I've finally got round to looking at it, prompted by your comments.
Hi RUM, hope you are keeping well?

I have to admit to being not so well informed about the newest engines so don't know if your's has the turbo in front of or behind the engine? Mine and the one I looked at in the dealer's showroom are the ones with the turbo behind, tucked down the back of the engine. It's very difficult to actually see the turbo linkage without a mirror but relatively easy to feel it when you put your hand down the back of the engine. Is your engine a belt driven cam? I think the 105 hp was chain and the 110 is belt?

The type of linkage you describe is much more like ones I've seen on older installations - my Cordoba's was like that - and they tended to develop rattles as they aged. Probably why they changed the design - obviously they got it a bit wrong with it's first iteration? Regarding the flat section you describe, I suppose the old linkage on mine could be described in that way but it wasn't just a thin piece of flat stock it was quite a substantial thickness. The new end is totally different though being almost spherical in shape - as I say, quite like a rose joint in appearance.
 

RUM4MO

Active Member
Jun 4, 2008
7,784
983
South Scotland
@Crossthreaded, I'm staying safe I think as I hope that you are too.

My wife's Polo is another of the same engine family that your Ibiza has, ie turbo at the rear, the diverter end of the rod is really flat/thin and it can not be disconnected from the diverter flap it is connected to so as you mentioned the rattling issue, that version sounded to me that it just clipped onto the diverter or in the case of other pneumatic actuator wastegate systems and some needed a modified spring clip to keep it on and to keep it quiet. So I'd a bit unsure if this type has any latent weaknesses, fingers crossed!
 

RUM4MO

Active Member
Jun 4, 2008
7,784
983
South Scotland

If you look on that link, but instead of looking at that one, look for the 2017 SEAT Ibiza one also offered, that is exactly what the linkage on my wife's 2015 Polo 1.2TSI.
 
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