Anyone know about Skoda 1.0 turbo engines?

[Mississippi Bullfrog]

Our daughter's Toyota Aygo has finally died. She's done 140k in it. It's still running but the heater fan motor has gone and it's a huge job replacing it. Just not worth doing given the mileage on the car.

 

So she's borrowed a Fabia 1.0 turbo which she says drives very well. It's the 95bhp version.

 

I'm a bit old fashioned with engines, preferring capacity to turbocharging, but so many cars these days run tiny engines producing high bhp numbers.

 

Do they last? I know there's an issue with some of the Ford ecoboost engines, but the Skoda unit seems to get good reviews.

 

Just wondered if anyone on here has any experience of these engines?

[Mr Fro]

The smaller turbo engines are generally more highly strung than ye-olde bigger displacement units.

 

From what I've read, a lot of failures come down to poor maintenance rather than inherent faults in the design. 10+ years ago it didn't really matter if you went well over the service milage but with turbos you really have to stick to the book to avoid gumming them up.

 

I've rebuilt a fair few turbos over the years and it's easy to see which ones come from poorly maintained motors as they're chock full of gak from where the oil was well past it's best.

[Mississippi Bullfrog]

9 hours ago, Mr Fro said:

The smaller turbo engines are generally more highly strung than ye-olde bigger displacement units.

 

From what I've read, a lot of failures come down to poor maintenance rather than inherent faults in the design. 10+ years ago it didn't really matter if you went well over the service milage but with turbos you really have to stick to the book to avoid gumming them up.

 

I've rebuilt a fair few turbos over the years and it's easy to see which ones come from poorly maintained motors as they're chock full of gak from where the oil was well past it's best.

That makes sense. But I change her oil every 5k anyway which why her Aygo has got to 139k with no engine issues. The air pump screeches, it's had a new alternator, the tailgate leaked from the high level brake light as usual, but otherwise it's been a good little car considering she drives like Verstappen in a bad mood.

[DuRavary]

My turbo Golf has recently passed 175,000 miles with no issues. It’s the torque that the turbo provides that makes it such a great car not so much the power. It’s been serviced since new but oil changes have usually been at about 20,000 mile intervals, no need to change before then. The smaller turbo engines do seem to be the way forward. 

[Bender]

29 minutes ago, Mississippi Bullfrog said:

That makes sense. But I change her oil every 5k anyway which why her Aygo has got to 139k with no engine issues. The air pump screeches, it's had a new alternator, the tailgate leaked from the high level brake light as usual, but otherwise it's been a good little car considering she drives like Verstappen in a bad mood.

If she drives like that in the 1ltr turbo she's going to be putting a lot more fuel in it than the Aygo

[Mississippi Bullfrog]

19 minutes ago, Bender said:

If she drives like that in the 1ltr turbo she's going to be putting a lot more fuel in it than the Aygo

That's probably true, her commute is 30 miles each way but it's mostly A roads and once you're behind the wagon in front you're stuck there anyway so hopefully the turbo won't be on song all the time. But it's her money she's burning if she keeps being so heavy footed.

[Mississippi Bullfrog]

44 minutes ago, DuRavary said:

My turbo Golf has recently passed 175,000 miles with no issues. It’s the torque that the turbo provides that makes it such a great car not so much the power. It’s been serviced since new but oil changes have usually been at about 20,000 mile intervals, no need to change before then. The smaller turbo engines do seem to be the way forward. 

Good comment about the turbo providing torque - that's what the smaller capacity engines lack. My wife has a 1.0 Citigo which she loves, but there's no low end grunt at all.

 

I'm old school about oil. I know synthetics lubricate fine for galactic mileages, it's the detergents that get exhausted long before the oil stops lubricating. I used to run the 2.2 Vauxhall engine which was notorious for eating timing chains. Mine did over 130k with no problem and when a mate lifted the engine out to replace the chains as a matter of precaution the interior of the engine was as clean as a whistle. He took photos of it to use in his teaching apprentice mechanics about keeping the detergents fresh.

[Stu]

Fantastic little engines and they are pretty reliable 

 

The mother in law has the fabia with the 1.2 turbo and has no issues whatsoever 

[rennie]

We make the VW/Skoda crankshafts for the small turbo engines! 

[fifthwheel]

Your Toyota will sell very well if you do part with it even with the repairs needed they are well thought of. Personally I would repair it what year is it?

[Mississippi Bullfrog]

1 hour ago, fifthwheel said:

Your Toyota will sell very well if you do part with it even with the repairs needed they are well thought of. Personally I would repair it what year is it?

It's a 2011. Under normal circumstances it's probably beyond economic repair but with the current situation it's going to auction. Someone will buy it and fix it who is willing to spend the time needed to dismantle the dashboard. Toyota quote six hours for the job. The part is about £100. 

 

I'd do it but she needs a car for work and I just don't have the time to get it fixed before Monday morning. 

[fifthwheel]

7 hours ago, Mississippi Bullfrog said:

It's a 2011. Under normal circumstances it's probably beyond economic repair but with the current situation it's going to auction. Someone will buy it and fix it who is willing to spend the time needed to dismantle the dashboard. Toyota quote six hours for the job. The part is about £100. 

 

I'd do it but she needs a car for work and I just don't have the time to get it fixed before Monday morning. 

I'm interested in your car when you decide to sell it. Just as it is on a trade sale basis. Whatever is wrong with it is down to me. Could you pm me more details? Thanks john.

[Mississippi Bullfrog]

1 hour ago, fifthwheel said:

I'm interested in your car when you decide to sell it. Just as it is on a trade sale basis. Whatever is wrong with it is down to me. Could you pm me more details? Thanks john.

Sorry, I think she's made an arrangement already. 

[Fozzie]

I think it was Ford who brought 1 litre engines back into fashion with a turbo model. The Fiesta that came out about 10 years back had 125BHP on tap apparently, and the engine was also used in the much heavier Focus. A friend at work has had the Focus for years as a family car, it has over 100k on it and still going well. The latest generation of Fiestas put out 140BHP, and I've not heard of any going bang. 

 

The VAG group have recently gone the same way. So that Skoda engine is also likely the same version that is installed in the Up GTI, which outputs 113BHP in top spec. So I'd expect the 95BHP version to be less strung and more durable as a result. 

 

I believe Suzuki also do a 111BHP turbo 1 litre in the Swift, but they've discontinued this to pursue hybrid models.

 

As an alternative, I recently helped my girlfriend buy a car, and I haggled a good deal on Mazda 2, with the 1.5 skyactiv engine. There is a 115 BHP version (weirdly popular output looking at the others), but we have the 90BHP version. You have to rev it more, but it's quiet, goes well and being a Mazda is likely to be very bulletproof. 

[Mississippi Bullfrog]

26 minutes ago, Fozzie said:

I think it was Ford who brought 1 litre engines back into fashion with a turbo model. The Fiesta that came out about 10 years back had 125BHP on tap apparently, and the engine was also used in the much heavier Focus. A friend at work has had the Focus for years as a family car, it has over 100k on it and still going well. The latest generation of Fiestas put out 140BHP, and I've not heard of any going bang. 

 

The VAG group have recently gone the same way. So that Skoda engine is also likely the same version that is installed in the Up GTI, which outputs 113BHP in top spec. So I'd expect the 95BHP version to be less strung and more durable as a result. 

 

I believe Suzuki also do a 111BHP turbo 1 litre in the Swift, but they've discontinued this to pursue hybrid models.

 

As an alternative, I recently helped my girlfriend buy a car, and I haggled a good deal on Mazda 2, with the 1.5 skyactiv engine. There is a 115 BHP version (weirdly popular output looking at the others), but we have the 90BHP version. You have to rev it more, but it's quiet, goes well and being a Mazda is likely to be very bulletproof. 

I've heard mixed reports about the Ford small turbo engines. I know some workshops refuse to work on them. But the VAG version seems to be generally ok from what I've heard so far.

[Fozzie]

28 minutes ago, Mississippi Bullfrog said:

I've heard mixed reports about the Ford small turbo engines. I know some workshops refuse to work on them. But the VAG version seems to be generally ok from what I've heard so far.

 

The main issue is the timing belt, it's an enclosed wet belt that is lubricated by an oil bath style system. The theory was it would never need to be replaced as the engine would expire first, however they've found that the belt does degrade over time. Worse so on cars that are poorly serviced, which also tend to have lower oil levels, with higher contaminants slowing up the flow of that oil, allowing the belt to heat and degrade more quickly. 

 

There have been cases where the belt degrades, a fibrous material is released, and as it is using the cars oil system to lubricate, it can jam up the galleys. 

 

Ford suggest a replacement at 150,000 miles, or 10 years, and it requires a lot of specialist tools as it's a job that was never originally designed in to the operation and maintenance of the vehicle. So I can see why a lot of shops turn them away. I think other than that there was an issue with a failing coolant hose, which was rectified with a recall. 

 

I'm told by someone in the industry that the little 1 litre turbos from the German and Japanese markets are very solid. The worst at the moment are the more luxury brands like Merc A-classes and BMW's, some of their lower capacity engines seem to chew through timing chains like no tomorrow.

[Old-codger]

The first eco boost ford engines had a plastic/metal part cooling the egr valve if I remember right and this part used to fracture dumping all the coolant and trashing the engine. It took ford a while to sort the fault and a lot of garages refused to work on these engines due to the design of the engine and specialist equipment needed to repair it. So for those still in warranty at the time a new engine would be installed.

[Mississippi Bullfrog]

19 minutes ago, Fozzie said:

 

The main issue is the timing belt, it's an enclosed wet belt that is lubricated by an oil bath style system. The theory was it would never need to be replaced as the engine would expire first, however they've found that the belt does degrade over time. Worse so on cars that are poorly serviced, which also tend to have lower oil levels, with higher contaminants slowing up the flow of that oil, allowing the belt to heat and degrade more quickly. 

 

There have been cases where the belt degrades, a fibrous material is released, and as it is using the cars oil system to lubricate, it can jam up the galleys. 

 

Ford suggest a replacement at 150,000 miles, or 10 years, and it requires a lot of specialist tools as it's a job that was never originally designed in to the operation and maintenance of the vehicle. So I can see why a lot of shops turn them away. I think other than that there was an issue with a failing coolant hose, which was rectified with a recall. 

 

I'm told by someone in the industry that the little 1 litre turbos from the German and Japanese markets are very solid. The worst at the moment are the more luxury brands like Merc A-classes and BMW's, some of their lower capacity engines seem to chew through timing chains like no tomorrow.

That sounds like the issues I'd heard of. That's a helpful summary - thanks.

[fifthwheel]

12 hours ago, Mississippi Bullfrog said:

Sorry, I think she's made an arrangement already. 

Ok thanks, good luck with the new car