2012 Volkswagen Tiguan: check engine light

Filed Aug 25, 2025 · Engine · 135,000 miles · CA

The contact owns a 2012 Volkswagen Tiguan. The contact stated that the vehicle was experiencing excessive oil consumption. Additionally, while driving at 65 MPH, the vehicle stalled. The contact was able to pull over to the side of the road. The vehicle was able to restart. The check engine, EPC, and TPMS warning lights were illuminated. The contact stated that the failure had been recurring while driving. The vehicle was taken to an independent mechanic, where it was diagnosed with engine failure. The contact was informed that the engine needed to be replaced. The vehicle was not repaired due to the cost. The manufacturer was not notified of the failure. The failure mileage was approximately 135,000.

Filed Dec 31, 2024 · Engine · CO

The engine could not be started after 13 years and 103,000+ miles. I had to get the car towed to my garage at night, after several prior trips same day. There were no check engine lights or any other indicators. The engine had newer spark plugs, ignition coils and pcv valve installed as well as chain checked a year prior to this. Had a mobile mechanic come by and inspect the car. He determined that the engine has lost compression and that the oil was low. The spark plugs were soaked in gas because engine could not properly compress and ignite the fuel. After adding oil the problem did not go away. He performed the compression test and confirmed his suspicion about engine not being able to compress the fuel. The most likely cause was the timing chain issue but he could not inspect the chain to confirm due to difficulty of doing it. The engine valves were not moving as expected as well. He could not read any meaningful codes from the car computer. There were no electrical or starter issues, just that engine has lost compression. The car had regular oil changes, break fluid changes and tire rotations. Just two weeks prior to car breaking down it passed emissions test. As far as I know, these vehicles have had issues with timing chains stretching out and VW has sent out a recall about these issues a while back. I don't believe my vehicle was under this recall. This vehicle has had all recalls addressed. At this point I will have to get rid of the car because the cost to fix this issue will be the same or more than the car is worth.

Filed Jul 30, 2024 · Engine · CA

I was accelerating on the highway when my engine started making a rattling sound and the check engine light came on. I took my car into a specialty European auto shop and they determined my timing chain and tensioner needed replacing. The price is going to be over $5k and there are only 113,763 miles. I’ve always taken my car to a VW dealership for scheduled maintenance. As others have mentioned I never received a notice about this problem earlier from VW.

Filed Sep 26, 2019 · Driver assistance, Electrical · 89,000 miles · TN

While riding on the expressway with my wife driving, everything on the dashboard as well as the radio started flickering on and off then we lost power steering. Just about every code lite up from the engine light, brake light and got a message saying epc & ABS failure.

Filed Jun 7, 2019 · Engine, Fuel system · 81,000 miles · MO

Vehicle engine suddenly began idling roughly while stopped at city street intersection. While driving the engine still felt rough and would occasionally stop running. After getting it to a vw service mechanic it received the following diagnostic - "check engine light: found camshaft spool valve has come apart. Found cam shaft bearing bracket oil screen damaged." at 81,000 miles this car should not exhibit such problems. There appears to be a recall on 2015 vw tiguan engines related to the same part, cam shaft. I reached out to vw for any info about this, and have not received any response.

Filed Mar 28, 2019 · Fuel system · 80,000 miles · MA

For almost two years, intermittently but consistently, the car will lose power after a warm start. Ignition turns over appropriately and starts, but after pulling out of parking spot in a lot or into traffic, the car just loses power. Battery light goes on and you have to put car back in park and start it again. The second time it starts it struggles but restarts and typically does not lose power or stall again. Sometimes the car will start to lose power and as you prepare for it to stall it regains power and shoots forward regardless of how lightly you're gassing it. I have gone for service multiple times. They ruled out battery, connections, alternator, etc. And say they can not replicate the problem even after keeping the car for days and driving it around, yet it has literally happened when I have been leaving the dealer. Sometimes the epc light goes on after this occurs but never the check engine light. This happens more often when the weather is mild and when the car has already been running for some time. Never hesitates on a cold start.

Filed Feb 13, 2019 · 47,773 miles · NH

At 36,100 miles my engine light came on and I was told I needed a new turbo unit at the vw dealer/service center where I purchased the car. I couldn't afford it so went home and took it to the local dealer and spoke with a couple of other vw mechanic folks, including one of the local dealer's mechanics who off line said it was a common problem and to not worry about it. They would just reset the engine light. At 47,773 the resetting wouldn't work and when inspected, it didn't pass and I am once again told I need a new turbo unit. From what the service tech says, the waste gate is worn out. This hadn't come up before. I'm now in the process of having it repaired. I contacted vw customer care and they were not willing to help with the cost of the repair which is $2,200 or more. In addition, in august 2016, I had a major problem with the fuel injection. The part had to be made in germany. Vw rented a car for me for several months. They also paid the entire bill. At one point they offered to sell me a new car with a reduced price. Needless to say, I greatly appreciated this and I kept the car. I love the car make and model, it has not been a smooth road, however. The car is six years old with 47,773 miles. Obviously, the warranty ran out after three years or 30,000. I had my last car, a honda accord coupe for 13 years, over 125,000 miles, with no major problems. In any event, in the process of getting quotes on replacing the turbo unit, I have learned that many local foreign car service centers have been very busy replacing other tiguan owners' turbos! Sounds like vw should have done a recall on this issue long ago!

Filed Nov 18, 2018 · Engine · 47,000 miles · CA

I was driving my tiguan when it stalled out at the end of the street. I was able to turn the car off and then on again and it started just fine. I was able to drive my car up the street when it started jerking, sputtering, and lurching, like it did not want to go forward. The check engine light came on at this time. I was able to drive about 1000 feet to the nearest gas station. The check engine light remained on. We started the car again this morning, and it did the same thing: lurching, jerking, and sputtering. It was able to drive about 500 feet. Again, the check engine light is still on.

Filed Aug 25, 2018 · Electrical · 52,000 miles · GA

On this july 4th holiday, the engine of our 2012 tiguan (less than 52k miles, first owner) began to stutter on the freeway and the check engine light started to flash. This occurred at 70 MPH in the fast lane of a 6-lane freeway at a merge (I-85 at the merge with ga-400 southbound). Even as the vehicle dramatically lost speed, we were fortunate enough to be able to pull over into the slower lanes safely. Traffic was light and fast that afternoon. I promptly scheduled an appointment with the vw dealership (nalley vw of roswell) for the following morning, anxious to fix the problem. The service technician ran diagnostics on the vehicle and advised me that I needed to replace all four ignition coils and spark plugs. I was informed that cylinder 2 was misfiring. I was surprised to find that coils would fail at as low a mileage and had created an unsafe situation for us. It appears there are numerous instances of coil failure for this vehicle. I contacted and informed vw of the issue. They declined to take any action to compensate me for such premature component failure, let alone acknowledge that the failure made for an unsafe condition on the road. The vw service center replaced all four coils and spark plugs the following day, correcting the problem.

Filed Aug 15, 2018 · Engine · 94,657 miles · OH

Tl* the contact owns a 2012 volkswagen tiguan. The contact stated that the check engine warning indicator illuminated. The vehicle was repaired per an unknown the federal safety agency campaign number by import service center (122 sunset ln, cleveland, tn 37312, (423) 478-5766), but the check engine warning indicator remained illuminated after the recall repair. The manufacturer was not notified of the failure. The failure mileage was 94,657.

Filed Sep 14, 2017 · Engine · 62,000 miles · OH

Check engine light came on and triggered code reflecting misfires. Dealership checked out and it is a carbon buildup on intake valves. I am told this is a widespread problem with direct injection sytems especially on volkswagens, bmws, audis. The suggested fix is to have a shop or dealer remove manifold and use a media blast of walnut shells to remove the carbon. This will only last until the buildup comes back. This SUV has approx 62,000 miles on it. The cost of getting the valves cleaned ranges anywhere from $400 to 1200. This problem is an inherent issue with design and there is nothing a consumeer can do to prevent it. As one repair shop said, it is inevitable and all direct injection engines will suffer this problem. I am appalled that there is no recall on this issue and when the dealer says it is a maintenance type item it really makes no sense to me. Proper maintenance should never include walnut blasting of carbon deposits on valves!!! Manufacturers need to step up and admit their mistakes and take responsibility for their design flaws. If I had been told when purchasing the car that you will need to do the media blasting at 60k, I certainly would not have made the purchase.

Filed Aug 31, 2017 · Engine · 89,000 miles · WA

My check engine light came on, indicating code p0341. I took the car into the shop and they replaced the camshaft position sensor in an attempt to fix the problem. The car was returned to me with the check engine light off. Two drives later the check engine light was back on, and while driving the epc light would intermittently light when a nasty rattle became audible. This typically happened upon acceleration, near 2k RPM. I have not driven it over 30 MPH since this issue started, only accelerating very gingerly. I took the car back into the mechanic, at which point they informed me the cam chain tensioner and guides had failed or were in the process of failing. They informed me that repairing the timing chain components would cost $4000, but that the engine is also burning oil. They recommended a total engine replacement for $5400. I purchased the tiguan used from larson vw in tacoma, wa november 2015 (just under 2 years ago) with 59000 miles on it. It currently has ~89000 miles.