VW Touran Common Problems: What to Check Before You Buy

The Touran is a Golf underneath a taller, boxier body with three rows of seats, and it ages much like a Golf: mechanically ordinary, well supported by parts and independents, but with a handful of specific weak points worth hunting for before money changes hands. The two that catch most owners out are water getting into the cabin through blocked drains — which then causes electrical faults that look like a dozen unrelated problems — and the timing chain on the twincharged 1.4 TSI petrol in the first generation. Diesels are the volume seller and are fundamentally strong, but the emissions hardware (EGR, DPF and, on the newer cars, AdBlue) does not enjoy a life of short school runs. None of that makes the Touran a bad buy; it makes it a car where a proper inspection pays for itself several times over.

Which Touran is in front of you, and does it have a belt or a chain

There are two generations. The first, Typ 1T, ran from 2003 to 2015 on the PQ35 platform it shares with the Golf Mk5, and it was facelifted twice, in 2006 and 2010. Both facelifts moved the mechanical goalposts, but in different ways, and it is worth being precise about which. The 2006 update dropped the naturally aspirated FSI petrols in favour of the twincharged 1.4 TSI. The 2010 update replaced the pumpe-düse diesels with common-rail units and added a 1.2 TSI. The second generation, Typ 5T, arrived in 2015 on the MQB platform and shares its engines with the Golf Mk7.

This matters because fault lists follow the engine code, not the badge on the tailgate or the year on the plate. The three-letter code is stamped on the engine and usually recorded in the service book; get it before you read anything else about the car. Timing arrangements in particular vary engine by engine:

• Timing belt: every diesel. The 1.9 TDI and 2.0 TDI PD engines, the 1.6 and 2.0 TDI common-rail engines from the 2010 facelift, and the 1.6 and 2.0 TDI in the second generation.
• Timing belt: the early naturally aspirated petrols — the 1.6 8-valve, the 1.6 FSI and the 2.0 FSI.
• Timing belt: the second-generation EA211 petrols — the 1.0, 1.2 and 1.4 TSI and the later 1.5. The water pump is driven from the same timing assembly behind the cover, so it is not a bolt-on-the-front job.
• Timing chain: the first generation's 1.2 TSI and 1.4 TSI, both from the EA111 family, and the 1.8 TSI offered on the second generation in some markets, which is an EA888. The EA111 chain is the one with the reputation; the later EA888 is a much less troubled design.
• Treat every one of them as an interference engine. A snapped belt or a chain that jumps a tooth bends valves, so documented belt history with a date and a mileage is not optional — and neither is replacing the water pump with it.

Diesel engines: PD before the facelift, common-rail after

Pre-facelift cars use pumpe-düse diesels — the 1.9 TDI and the 2.0 TDI — where injection pressure is made by a cam-driven unit injector in each cylinder. Three faults define them. The tandem pump, which handles both fuel and brake-servo vacuum, can leak and push engine oil into the fuel or fuel into the vacuum circuit, giving hard starting, a lumpy idle and a brake pedal that feels wrong. The injector wiring loom that runs inside the rocker cover chafes and causes misfires and juddering. And the camshaft and its followers wear, which starts as a top-end rattle and ends as a large bill, so listen carefully on a cold start and look at the oil.

On top of that, the variable-vane turbo mechanism sticks with soot and gives underboost and limp mode, the EGR valve cokes up, and glow plugs are routine wear on a car used for short trips.

From the 2010 facelift the diesels are common-rail: quieter and smoother, but with their own list. The intake manifold swirl flap motor is a known failure, and the EGR cooler and DPF both need looking at. These are EA189-family engines, so they fall under the emissions service action — ask what was done and how the car drove afterwards. Second-generation diesels add an SCR system with AdBlue, where the NOx sensors are the usual weak point. Do not treat an AdBlue or NOx warning as something to ignore until the next service: the emissions strategy on these cars can eventually restrict the car to a limited number of restarts rather than simply nagging you.

One useful piece of scepticism: the balance-shaft oil pump drive failure that gets attached to "2.0 TDI PD" as a blanket warning applies to specific engine codes fitted with a balance-shaft module, and not every Touran diesel has one. Identify the code on the actual car before treating a forum post as its diagnosis.

Petrol engines: naturally aspirated FSI, the twincharged 1.4, and the MQB turbos

The early petrols are naturally aspirated, and the 1.6 8-valve carried on alongside the turbocharged cars until 2010. That 8-valve is the simplest engine offered in the Touran and injects into the port, which is exactly why it avoids the problem the others have: the 1.6 FSI and 2.0 FSI are direct injection, so no fuel washes over the inlet valves and carbon builds up there over time, showing as a rough idle, misfires and hesitation. Cleaning it is a manual job with the manifold off. The 1.6 FSI is also known for intake manifold flap trouble and coil packs. All of them feel slow with seven people and luggage aboard.

The 1.4 TSI needs a careful eye. Every one fitted to the first-generation Touran is twincharged — a belt-driven supercharger for low-rev response with a turbocharger on top — and every one is chain-driven. The chain tensioner is the known weak point: it can allow the chain to jump, which announces itself as a rattle for the first couple of seconds after a cold start, or as an engine that runs badly and will not restart. There was also a well-known run of piston and piston-ring failures showing as misfires and heavy oil consumption. The supercharger clutch and the plastic thermostat and water pump housing are the other regulars. Buy one with evidence of the chain and tensioner having been addressed, or budget for it.

The 1.2 TSI added at the 2010 facelift is the genuine contrast: turbocharged only, with no supercharger. It is still an EA111 with a chain, though, so give it exactly the same cold-start listen.

Second-generation petrols are the easiest ownership proposition here. The EA211 engines — the 1.0, 1.2 and 1.4 and the later 1.5 — are turbocharged and belt-driven, so the EA111 chain worry disappears, but the plastic water pump and thermostat module weeps coolant and sits behind the timing cover, making it a proper job rather than a quick one. The 1.4 uses cylinder deactivation. The later 1.5 had a widely reported hesitation and judder at low revs on light throttle that was addressed with software updates — check they have been applied, and drive the car in slow traffic rather than only on an open road. The exception to all of this is the 1.8 TSI sold in some markets, which is a chain-driven EA888 rather than an EA211.

One variant that is easy to overlook: the Touran was also sold in CNG EcoFuel form. Those cars carry gas tanks with their own inspection and certification requirements, so check the paperwork before you commit to one.

Gearboxes, clutches and flywheels

Most Tourans are manual, and the manual is the simpler thing to own. On diesels, the dual-mass flywheel rattles at idle with the clutch up and quietens when you dip it; a clutch that judders as you pull away usually means both are due together.

If it has two pedals, establish which automatic it actually is, because the first generation had more than one. The naturally aspirated FSI petrols could be ordered with a conventional six-speed Tiptronic — a torque-converter box, and a different and generally less fussy device than what followed. Everything else automatic in that generation is a DSG: a six-speed wet-clutch unit with the torquier engines, and a seven-speed dry-clutch unit on some later smaller-engined cars. The second generation uses DSGs in both dry-clutch and wet-clutch forms, in six- and seven-speed versions depending on the engine and the year. They are good gearboxes when healthy and unpleasant when not, and the mechatronic unit — the valve body and control electronics — is the expensive part.

Test one properly rather than on a single motorway slip road. Pull away from a standstill repeatedly, drive it in stop-start traffic, and rejoin roundabouts where it has to pick a gear quickly. What you are feeling for is shudder from rest, a pause and then a bump as it engages, flaring between gears, jerky low-speed shifts, or a warning and limp mode. A dry-clutch car that has spent its life doing short school runs is the one to be most careful with. Wet-clutch boxes need their oil and filter service — ask for evidence, and note that clutch adaptation values can be read out, which is the quickest honest measure of how much life is left.

Water ingress, body and interior

This is the Touran's signature fault and the reason a cheap one can be a false economy. Water gets in through the scuttle drains under the windscreen when they silt up with leaves, through a hardened pollen filter housing seal, through blocked panoramic roof drain tubes, and occasionally through door membranes, tail light seals and boot floor drains.

Once inside, it soaks the footwell carpet and underlay and then reaches the connectors and control modules that live low down in the car, the comfort and convenience module among them. Corroded pins produce faults that look completely unrelated to one another: central locking doing its own thing, windows forgetting one-touch, wipers behaving oddly, the alarm triggering, warning lights coming and going. Replacing modules without finding and clearing the drain is money burnt, and the carpet underlay has to come out and dry properly, not just the carpet.

Signs to look for are a musty smell, windows that mist up persistently, damp under the mats or under the boot floor, rusty seat rails, condensation inside the light units, and a heater blower that roars because it has been eating leaves.

On the body, check the tailgate wiring grommet where the loom flexes, the tailgate around the handle and badge, and the bottoms of the doors and rear arches on early cars. Inside, if it is a seven-seater, confirm all the seats are actually there and that every one latches, folds and slides as it should — the folding hardware and rails take a lot of abuse in a family car, and missing third-row seats are surprisingly expensive to replace.

Steering, brakes, suspension and safety systems

Both generations use electromechanical power steering: the assistance comes from an electric motor and control unit on the steering assembly rather than a belt-driven pump, and there is no hydraulic fluid reservoir to check — which is itself the quickest way to confirm what you are looking at when you open the bonnet. When the motor or its module fails you get a warning light and very heavy steering. The car still steers — the mechanical connection between wheel and rack remains, and it does not lock — but it takes real effort, particularly when parking, so treat it as a fix-now item rather than something to live with. Steering angle sensor faults are also common and often appear after battery work, alignment or a rack change, usually bringing the ESP light with them.

The clock spring in the steering column wears out and takes the airbag warning light, the horn and the steering wheel buttons with it. An airbag light means the system may not deploy in a crash; it is not a cosmetic fault and should never be dealt with by removing the bulb.

On the first generation the ABS control unit is a known failure. It typically shows as ABS, ESP and traction control lights on together, sometimes with the speedometer dropping out. It can equally be a single wheel speed sensor, which is a far cheaper fix, so have it read rather than assuming either the worst or the best.

Suspension wear is the usual list for the platform, made worse by a car that often carries seven people: front lower arm bushes, anti-roll bar drop links and strut top mounts causing knocks and rumbles at the front, rear multilink bushes and rear wheel bearings, and tired rear springs on cars that live fully loaded. On first-generation cars the rear handbrake cables seize on anything that lives outside, so check the lever travel and that the car actually holds on a slope.

Fault codes that commonly turn up on a Touran

The OBD-II standard covers emissions-related data from the engine controller, which is a small share of what is actually on a Touran. Airbag, ABS, comfort and central locking, steering and DSG all live in separate control modules with their own stored faults, which is why one of these cars can report "no faults" through the OBD port and still have a list as long as your arm. VAGPULSE reads every module in the car, shows live measuring blocks, and lets you code and adapt, which is the practical way to check a Touran before you buy or to work out what a wet footwell has actually damaged. Read stored history as well as current faults, and be suspicious of a car whose memory has clearly just been cleared.

The codes that come up most often on this model:

• P0016 — camshaft and crankshaft correlation. On the chain-driven TSI petrols this is the stretched chain or jumped timing code. Do not keep driving it.
• P2015 — intake manifold runner position. The classic on the common-rail 2.0 TDI; usually the flap motor or a broken linkage.
• P0299 — turbo underboost. Sticking variable-vane mechanism on the diesels, or a split boost hose or intercooler pipe.
• P0401 and related EGR flow codes — a coked EGR valve or cooler.
• P2463, P242F and other DPF codes — a soot or ash loaded filter, almost always on a car doing short journeys.
• P0087 — fuel rail pressure too low on common-rail diesels; low-pressure supply, filter, or the high-pressure side.
• P20EE and P229F, plus NOx sensor codes — second-generation diesels with AdBlue, where the sensors are the usual culprit.
• 00778 — steering angle sensor, often with ABS and ESP lights, often after battery or steering work.
• 00588 — driver's airbag igniter, which is frequently the clock spring rather than the airbag itself.
• 01435 — brake pressure sensor, which can point at the ABS unit itself rather than at anything bolted to a wheel.
• Low supply voltage codes appearing in several modules at once. That is usually a tired battery or a poor earth, and it should be fixed before you chase anything else.

The test drive and pre-purchase check

Insist on a genuinely cold start. Almost everything worth catching on a Touran shows itself in the first minute or in slow traffic, not on a smooth run down a dual carriageway.

• Cold start a chain petrol — that is a first-generation 1.2 or 1.4 TSI, or a second-generation 1.8 — and listen hard for the first two or three seconds. A rattle that disappears as oil pressure builds is the warning you came for.
• Cold start a diesel and listen for a top-end rattle, watch the mirror for smoke, and check the brake pedal feel once running.
• Lift every mat and press the carpet with your knuckles, front and rear. Lift the boot floor and check the spare wheel well. Trust your nose for damp.
• Open the bonnet and look at the scuttle area under the wipers for packed leaves; on a panoramic roof car, check the drains and the headlining around the front corners.
• Sit in, latch, fold and slide every seat, and confirm the third row is present with working belts.
• If it is a DSG, drive it in traffic: repeated pull-aways, roundabouts, low-speed shuffling. Feel for shudder, hesitation or flaring.
• Run a diesel long enough at a steady speed to allow a regeneration, and confirm no DPF or AdBlue warning appears afterwards.
• Full-lock both ways at parking speed and listen for knocks; note whether assistance is even and no steering warning appears.
• Watch the warning lights come on and go out at ignition — airbag and ABS especially. A lamp that never lights has usually been dealt with the wrong way.
• Ask for belt evidence with a date and mileage on it, not a verbal claim, and check the VIN for outstanding recalls with a franchised dealer.
• Scan every module, not just the engine, and read stored faults as well as current ones.

Common questions