Catastrophic engine failure

[exdgw]

Hi

My Passat SEL 2.0 TDI 170 BHP bought new last September has had an engine failure.
Last weekend when driving at 70 the engine raced to 4000rpm, there was a loud clicking sound and a large exhaust cloud was formed. After stopping the problem seemed to have resolved. I took it to the dealer last Wednesday who on testing experienced the same problem. This time the engine failed totally. The garge believe the conrod detached which punched a hole in the engine block. A new engine is on order.
The dealer has informed VW as apparently this has happened on several other occasions.
Clearly this could have had far more serious consequences. Has anybody else had a similar problem and should I reject the car?

Thanks

David

[Lex Luthor]

The conrod failure is a result of the engine running away probably because of a failure of the turbo oil seals.

Is this an automatic ? If so, runaways are hard to control and that may be why the garage failed to control the engine speed.

I cannot see how, when you where driving at 70 mph that the engine revved to 4000 rpm unless you allowed it to by declutching ?

[exdgw]

Hi Lex

The car is manual.

The mechanic thought the nuts attaching the con rod had worked lose possibly due to the manufacturing failure.

I was told that the engine racing was due to oil getting into the combustion chamber and the engine trying to burn it off.

Any thoughts?

Cheers

David

[Lex Luthor]

I was told that the engine racing was due to oil getting into the combustion chamber and the engine trying to burn it off.

And the most likely source of the oil would be.....the turbo.

The conrod failure is secondary and caused by the runaway.

[Quatrelle]

Very common occurrence with Renault dci engines, unfortunately. Engine revs its nuts off (literally here!) whilst eating the engine oil due to turbo failure, as has been said. Not much fun in the outside lane of the motorway, or when overtaking anywhere - life-threatening in fact.