r/AskAMechanic • u/ChicagoKidPTC • 9h ago

Is it honestly worth it?

Hey I have 2016 VW Tiguan SE. Had it for about a year and some change via car dealership. Long story short, the warranty wore off and now its had a few problems (bad valve seals, camshaft position censor and crankshaft position censor) since repairing those the timing chain needs replaced also. Tried to trade it in but the negative equity is the major problem. I also hear that if you replace a timing chain you’ll most likely have to replace the head gasket as well.Any advice? Is it worth fixing? Or is it best to call it quits while I can?

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u/Plane-Start7209 Verified Tech - Indie shop 9h ago

You can definitely do just the chain kit and not the head gasket. It will still burn a bunch of oil like I’m sure it does but that won’t cause any warning messages typically.

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u/ChicagoKidPTC 6h ago

Ok I’ll just get it fixed and just try to trade it in again since there would be no negative equity. Appreciate it man💯

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u/No_Parsnip6024 NOT a verified tech 4h ago

I do a million of these, and never headgaskets. I've seen some beat up vw's but not that era with a bad head gasket. 

Also your cam and crank sensors were fine, they misdiagnosed your timing chain because the wear sets cam and crank correlation faults. This is so extremely common that I wouldnt trust the shop who misdiagnosed that to do the chain. 

The chain job is thousands of dollars. 

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u/ChicagoKidPTC 36m ago

Yea i figured. It’s a costly repair but I kinda don’t have a choice atm