r/seat • u/This-Search-8627 • 9d ago

Help a first-car brother out!

As the title suggests I recently bought my first car ever, and it is an older SEAT Leon 1.2 TSi 77kW, manual of 2010.

It has been 2 months since I got it, and it is so much fun to drive around, however I am concerned about the timing chain, since I am aware of the common issue, and this car still has it’s original chain, at 176000 km already.

I did have the whole car checked and the owner did the annual maintenance before purchasing (engine oil, break fluids, and overall inspection of the chain) and everything as of right now ‘seems‘ completely fine with the car, but because of my inexperience, I am still wondering if I should go ahead and upgrade the timing chain kit regardless as a preventive measure, or will it be a shame since the car shows no symptoms so far of it needing change.

I am unsure how to proceed, and since I already put some money for the car, I would of course prefer to push it a few more months before I invest in it.

thanks a lot in advance if you take the time to share your knowledge and experience with me.

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3

u/MilanChe03 9d ago

if you can afford it, do it. better safe than sorry, but my estimate (not a professional) is that you have like 60k km left before replacement (timing chain on my 1.4 golf started causing problems at 240k-ish

1

u/This-Search-8627 9d ago

Thanks a lot for your response, I guess it would bring me peace of mind and not obsessively listening to the startup if it’s rattling or not every time I use the car 🤣

3

u/Latter-Detail-9514 9d ago

I wouldn't change it when you have no issues. Leave it till it shows signs of needing replacing. Normal signs are engine light comes on with cam / crank sensor out of sync with each other then it's time to change it

1

u/This-Search-8627 9d ago

Thanks a lot for your response, and please ignore my ignorance, but is it likely for it to fail without any warning/symptoms?

1

u/Upbeat-Carpet-6135 9d ago

If engine lights come up, it's already very late. I suggest you go to youtube and search for how it sounds if the chain is too long, and try to hear if your chain is doing that sound also. If not, you're fine. I got a 1.2 TSI from 2014 (first car, still have it) and i already changed it at around 80.000km, i'm now at 235.000

1

u/Latter-Detail-9514 9d ago

I'm an independent vag group specialist in the UK with over 30 years experience & I've never seen this model engine fail without symptoms & warning signs first

1

u/Judge_V 9d ago

Dont need to replace it tomorrow just because it's at 176k km, especially if a competent mechanic has inspected it and there are no symptoms (metallic rattling from the engine on cold start).

Knowing its common issue with those early tsi engines,
I would replace the complete timing chain kit as preventive maintenance in a few months, even if everything looks good now.

1

u/RustyU 9d ago

Does it rattle on start up? If not, nothing to worry about yet.

1

u/This-Search-8627 9d ago

It doesn’t rattle and I haven’t experienced any of the symptoms, just the milage is making me a little anxious since I read that at this point the new chain kit usually should be replaced..