EA888 engines can suffer from rough idles and misfire's due to how they're built and the nature of the engines. The most common problems with the engines are spark plugs or coil packs that can overheat and fail. This is usually only after 20,000 miles+ anyway. Spark Plugs and Coil Packs should be service items as well which can rule these out of being problems. 

Cam Magnets can be a major cause of rough idles and misfire's too. This is due to the fact that the camshafts are electronically controlled and pulsed by this magnet. The ECU determines how to best manage and control this and therefore if the magnet is malfunctioning or starting to fail - you may experience periodic misfires. You can monitor the values of these from VCDS or OBD11. Find the part numbers for these here.

If you have replaced spark plugs, coil packs and the cam magnets then you may have a problem elsewhere. Diagnostic tools can generally tell you components of the car which may fail or are starting to fail. Oil Level and Oil Temperature sensors can sometimes be this failure and will throw a code on the ECU to give a definitive answer. 

Coolant leaking form your car can cause serious issues. This can cause a skid rid for yourself and other people as well as possible overheating for your vehicle. The most common problems for coolant leaks and the coolant level to drop on the EA888 cars is usually because of a leaking water pump/thermostat housing. If this is leaking then you will notice white coloured marks on the right hand side of the engine, all the way down to the bottom of the engine. If you go under the car yourself anyways. This is plastic and is prone to fail. Failure often occurs at any point in time from new ownership of a brand new vehicle or the fitting of a brand new replacement part. If this is not the problem, then you may have a coolant pipe leaking within the engine bay. Visual inspection of leaks must be taken out to check for any signs. If there is no signs of a coolant leak then further investigation may be required for a possibly leaking head gasket or other major concerns. However that is not common on the EA888 engines. 

Inside of the Engine bay you may notice that there can be some strange and weird noises coming from the EA888 engines. 

Common noises to hear after driving the car can be ticking, beeping and some whining noises. 

The majority of these noises you will hear are coming from the engine for various reasons. Not limited to, the engine block cooling down, the fuel pumps shutting down, your injectors shutting off, valves shutting and various other technical jargon that VW included within their engines. 

All of these noises are nothing to worry about unless they become excessively loud or out of the ordinary. 

Some failures that can happen in the engine bay due to noises can be;

Hissing - This may indicate you have a leak somewhere. This could be fuel or coolant. Check all your lines and pumps and make sure nothing is being sprayed out or dripping anywhere.

Grinding - This can indicate a few things like a belt rubbing against something. It can also be a problem with a timing chain if the car is older. A very common problem seemingly is that the alternator bearings can wear out and make a noise. These can be changed and regreased to fix/stop the noise they produce. 

Lumpy Idle - We cover this above in the 'Car Running Rough/Misfire' section.

Exhaust drone is usually due to the car being too loud or that the car has little to no back pressure. Lack of back pressure can be a bad thing but also a good thing in mediation. The majority of EA888 cars will run 1 silencer from any custom exhaust manufacturer. Having 1 or more silencers can also reduce the amount of drone received within the car's cabin. Drone is usually only evident from low boost situations or low load situations when at higher speeds. For example when on the motorway in 6th gear and you are between 50-70mph. Above 70mph you may realise the drone softens, but for obvious reasons - is not a solution to the issue. Decat's will also cause more drone due to the increase in flow. If you wish to have little drone as possible then a sports cat is recommended. Either setup will allow you to tune your car still, so don't be afraid of that. 

A small amount of exhaust smoke can be normal on the EA888.3 platform cars. Decats on these engines can make this worse. Hot gas from the engine and turbo into the exhaust will naturally create condensation.

White Smoke - This is mainly and usually moisture evaporation. If you get White Smoke on acceleration once the car is warm however, this may be a result of a coolant leak. Meaning a blown head gasket, warped head, cracked block, or possibly damaged radiator/hoses. Investigation into this would be ideal to be resolved sooner rather than later. Keeping an eye on your engine temperatures, coolant tank level and visually inspecting the engine bay are the most ideal starting points.

Blue Smoke - Usually a sign of your car burning oil. This is what happens when fuel and oil burn together and then comes out the exhaust. Some causes of Blue Smoke can be Worn Pistons and Piston Rings, Damaged Valve Stem Seals, Faulty PCV Valve, or just Worn Engine Seals. Most of the above problems are generally heavily involved with removing the head of the engine and inspecting all the seals and re-sealing it to then test if the problem has stopped. The most simple test first would be advisement to replace the PCV valve location on the top of the engine. You can find the part number and torque specs for this here.

Black Smoke - Fuelling problems are usually related to Black Smoking issues. This could be down to either a mapping issue, faulty injectors or the intake valves getting stuck. In rare circumstances, you could also have a problem with one of your fuel pumps or fuel lines - not being able to regulate pressure well enough. Injectors can be removed by yourself or a garage and can be flow tested. This will tell you if they need to be replaced or not. When refitting them though, be sure to buy new baskets for them as they are a one time use on the EA888 cars. You may want to simply take your car to a tuner or different one from which you used initially to log what the car is doing. This can be on their Dyno Cell or on the road.  Fuel leaks you would be able to obviously smell but always ideal to check too. 

Brake fluid, brake pads and brake discs are a major component on slowing your car down on the road and track. Sometimes you may run into issues on track due to heat, which in turn will cause you to lose brake pressure. The resulting of the brake pressure loss will be down to heat being put through the brake pads, into the caliper - therefore warming up your brake fluid and causing it to hit its boiling point. 

High temperature brake fluid is always recommended for your track car. You can find out what brake fluid may suit you here. 

Correct bleeding procedure can also result in a soft brake pedal. The correct way to bleed any VAQ vehicle stated in the OEM manual is as follows;
1- Front left brake caliper

2 - Right front brake caliper

3 - Left rear brake caliper

4 - Right rear brake caliper

Please bare in mind that the above order of bleeding is in the VW manual and should be adhered too. However a mechanic from a professional trade may bleed in a different way due to generational knowledge. This sequence would be as follows (Provided for UK cars with the ABS module on the passenger side);
1- Right rear brake caliper

2 - Left rear brake caliper

3 - Right front brake caliper

4 - Front left brake caliper

If you still suffer from any brake fade on track after performing a full bleed on your system with high temp brake fluid - you may then have air in the ABS system. You can only bleed this system by activating the pump whilst bleeding your brake calipers. You can do this on any coding device of which we advise on here.

To do this you will need to plug in your coding tool and navigate to "Control Units - Brakes 03 - Output Test - Hydraulic Pump"
If you do not hear your ABS pump activate then please try the other method of "Control Units - Brakes 03 - Basic Settings - Bleed Brakes"
Furthermore, if you still do not hear your ABS pump activate - you may have a faulty coding utility or ABS pump.

The ABS pump will only activate for around 30s to 1m which will only give you time to bleed 1 caliper or nipple, at a time. Please bare this in mind when performing this operation.

Please always check for leaks in your brake lines, bleed nipples and caliper seals as well. This will cause braking issues, be unsafe and can cause fires. This will also cause your brake pedal to be soft.

Uneven tyre wear can be due to multiple factors of which need to be considered on your vehicle. The most common problem with a vehicle which has uneven wear is due to lack of a alignment as per recommended by the manufacturer. These settings should be adhered to to get the maximum tyre life from your vehicle. However with more performance orientated cars like the MQB range, this may naturally just wear quicker. 

Tyre alignment based off camber gains or toe gains to make your vehicle faster on track or down backroads, may negatively effect your tyres life as well. This is due to the fact that you will be wearing the tyres out more for maximum cornering capability. 

If your alignment has been checked and setup properly then your cause of uneven tyre wear could just be down to tyre pressures. If you are experiencing excessive or even wear then you may need to adjust what pressures you run the car at. Remember to adjust these cold before starting a journey as adjusting them afterwards wont be an indicator of what they will go back to. When your tyres warm up, the pressures raise. When they cool down, they will drop. However your tyres will more commonly on the road be colder rather than warmer. You should be able to find your manufacturers recommended pressures within the door jam on either the front driver or front passenger sides depending on the vehicle and brand. For performance cars, this generally is lowest, 32psi.