Engine Rebuilder's view of GDI intake issues

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Originally Posted by wemay
I guess i've been lucky with the 6 i've owned.


What is the highest mileage of the 6?
 
The reason there is hate for DI is because some OE's do it well and others not so much, there was also the first generation that ironed out all the bugs using their customers as guinea pigs. Ford/Mazda for example have excellent control of their DI systems. Other OE's are anywhere between just requiring more maintenance to being absolute nightmares.

You will ALWAYS hear the bad but seldom we hear the good. Similar happens with folks afraid of flying even though you are more likely to die in a car crash. We hear about every plane crash, we don't hear about every car crash. PERSPECTIVE.
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I kept three past 100K miles.
GDI deposits typically start showing drivability issues around 30K miles:

2013 Santa Fe 2.0T - 118K miles (wife's current vehicle)
2001 Audi A4 1.8T - 180K miles (bought with 75K miles)
2008 GTI - 105K miles (bought with 60K miles)

The things that have remained constant to this day are:

Oil changes no longer than 5K miles.
Top Tier gas
 
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My DI MS3 was running fine at eight years and 158k miles when I flipped it for Horror of Horrors!!!-a 2014 M235i- another GDI turbo. Oh the humanity!
Then there's my wife's Clubman, which has a 1.6 liter GDI motor as well; it's running great at 112k miles...
 
He doesn't even mention the massive rate of turbocharger failure when these chunks of carbon begin flaking off and getting spit out through that tiny turbine wheel spinning 100,000 rpm... We began seeing a lot of early failures on several different makes and brands of turbos at my last place of employment in the turbocharger rebuilding industry.

Pallets and pallets of Eco-Boost turbos as well as the GM and VAG stuff. Coincidentally most all were GDI...
 
Originally Posted by racin4ds
He doesn't even mention the massive rate of turbocharger failure when these chunks of carbon begin flaking off and getting spit out through that tiny turbine wheel spinning 100,000 rpm... We began seeing a lot of early failures on several different makes and brands of turbos at my last place of employment in the turbocharger rebuilding industry.

Pallets and pallets of Eco-Boost turbos as well as the GM and VAG stuff. Coincidentally most all were GDI...

It's not a coincidence. There are far more GDI turbos than port-injected, so of course you'd expect most of the failures also to be GDI.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sampling_bias
 
My sister-in-law just bought a 2012/2013 Equinox with the 2.4L. I hope that car will be reliable for them as I know they're not in a position to spend a bunch of money replacing it, but it has me concerned. I wish she had asked for a 2nd opinion before buying it...
 
I have 137K on my VW GTI. It has a GDI-T engine. I did clean the intake valves and intake runners at 82K. Actually, the secondaries on the intake manifold gave out so I had to replace the intake manifold.
The valves were carboned up pretty good but the car didn't run any better after cleaning them. I think the turbo masked it.

Side notes: It isn't that difficult of a job to remove the intake manifold and clean the intake valves on most four cylinder vehicles. Surprisingly, the revised
OEM VW intake sells for $139.10 on Deutsche Auto Parts and MSRP $178 at the dealer.
 
interesting for sure + as usual buyers are the long term beta testers that can be on the short + $$$$ end of the stick!! currently no DI engines in my life + NONE planned!! girlfriend has the 2.5 DI in a 13 malibu, so far OK except the replaced leaking radiator, but its using more oil as it ages. only 57,xxx miles about a qt in 2 thou, not bad but will prolly get worse!!
 
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