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Volkswagen EA888

inline-4 · turbocharged · petrol · 2007–present

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Also known as: 2.0 tsi, 1.8 tsi, 2.0 tfsi, 1.8 tfsi, chhb, cncd, czpb, cdab, ea888 gen 3

The Volkswagen Group's volume petrol four, and the engine behind most modern TSI and TFSI badges. It spans 1.8 and 2.0 litres and four generations, which is why no single displacement is recorded here — a fact about "the EA888" is often true of one generation only, and the generation matters more than the badge.

Generation matters most in the diagnosis. Early Gen 1 and Gen 2 engines are known for oil consumption traced to the piston rings and for timing-chain tensioner failure, where a failed tensioner allows the chain to jump and the engine to destroy itself in a single event — the reason a rattle on start-up is treated as urgent rather than monitored. Gen 3 revised both areas substantially, so applying Gen 2 expectations to a Gen 3 car overstates the risk considerably.

Carbon on the intake valves is common to the direct-injected variants, and the later port-and-direct injection arrangement exists precisely to address it.

Cars fitted with this engine

43 generations, across 6 makes. From the authored catalogue — an absent car means the catalogue has not reached it, not that the engine was never fitted.

Information, not instruction

CarGeek is a reference, not a service manual. Its pages are written from public sources and from what other people have found, never from a manufacturer's own service information, so they can be wrong or incomplete for your particular vehicle. Some of what they describe carries real risk: high voltage, fuel under pressure, stored energy, hot and moving parts.

Have anything you intend to act on checked by a trained person against the manufacturer's own procedure for your vehicle. Nothing here replaces that procedure.

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  • The car — make, model, year and engine. The same fault behaves differently on each.
  • What you measured, not only what you replaced.
  • What actually fixed it — or that nothing did, which is worth knowing too.

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