I had a synthetic oil change on my 2001 vw passat, november 7,2006 at heritage vw (dealership) and then on november 22,2006 the vehicle slowed and the display showed stop with an oil icon. I immediately stopped the car and checked the oil. There was oil in the car but I called the dealership and they said do not drive the car, there is probably sludge in the car. I towed it in the dealership and they said it needed a new oil pump with a new oil screen and it did have sludge. This repair was $1267.00. I was not offered any warranty reimbursement at that time. Later I found out that this is a widespread problem with vw. Why did they not see the sludge when they did the oil change nov 7,2006?
2001 Volkswagen Passat engine complaints
Page 3 of 4: complaints 41 to 70 of 97, newest first, as owners wrote them.
10/24/06 my 2001 volkswagon passat has a stop warning light come on stating low oil pressure. Come to find out the 1.8 litre turbo engine which my car has is non to have oil sludge problems and that vw is aware of this. I never received a letter from them stating this or the fact that I should use synthetic oil. Called the huntsville, al vw dealership and they said that unless I have pristeen serve records they will not pay to fix it at a cost to me of over $1800. My husband changes the oil in my car so of course I do not have the service records vw is requiring. I hear the no longer make the 1.8 liter turbo but are not willing to honor fixing a problem we knew nothing about.
Purchased 2001 passat in may, 2005. Had same 'non-covered' oil pump problem as many on the list have. Last month, noticed a pool of oil on the garage floor after backing it out. Looked under the hood, noticed that the antifreeze overflow looked like a chocolate milkshake. Oil cooler and oil cooler seals had to be replaced. 76000 miles.
Tracking number: [xxx] date: september 09th 2006 11:24:34 am complainant: [xxx] - re: 2001 passat vws and the ongoing sludge problems!!! *jb complaint: my complaint is the same as everyone else with regard to vw passats. Sludge!!!! I just spent $2000 trying to fix the problem and it happened again 2 days later. My mechanic tells me that he did some research and that there is an inherent problems of sludge in these cars especially. I would like to file a complaint and ask if you have any referral attorneys familiar with this problem. Please let me know as soon as possible. I have to rent a car at $30 dollars a day and my insurance doesn't cover it. If this is been going on so long, why is there not a class suit? If you have a number I can call for same, please advise. Thank you, [xxx]. You can reach me by phone at either [xxx] home, or [xxx]I look forward to hearing from someone soon, and your help is much appreciated. *jb information redacted pursuant to the freedom of information act (foia), 5 u.s.c. 552(b)(6).
Dt*: the contact stated while driving 45 MPH on the highway, the engine stalled and there was a loss of all power without warning. The engine would not restart and the contact pushed the vehicle off the road. The vehicle was towed to a dealer who determined there was excessive oil sludge and the engine needed to be replaced. The manufacturer was alerted.
Dt*: the contact stated an independent mechanic determined the vehicle had oil leaks from every seal and gasket. Oil was all over the entire bottom of the vehicle. The dealership was not contacted.
2001 volkswagen passat coolant warning light illuminated and engine shut off. Once the vehicle was restarted it ran at reduced power. Upon inspection mechanic determined there was a faulty sensor in the cooling jacket. *kb moisture invaded the sensor, migrated up the wiring harness and destroyed the computer which managed all engine functions. The consumer was billed $3200. The technician at the dealer explain that this was not an uncommon failure. The consumer contacted the manufacturer but they refused to provide any assistance.
We have a 2001 passat and put about 10k miles/year. The car has been serviced about twice every year at our local vw dealership since we bought it new. We originally bought the car with safety in mind. While driving on the interstate about a week ago, the engine light came on. The car seized/stalled as I was getting off the interstate. This could easily have LED to a serious accident. I had the car towed to our dealership. Once they realized what had happened, they became very hostile. They asked us for all of our records. They had incomplete ones for us as the dealership had changed hands a few years ago. We have almost every record but this will not suffice for them. They are asking for half of the 11k repair bill (and suggested that we repair it and trade in for one of their used cars). What really bothers us is that part of the problem of missing records is due to the dealership. The other issue is that when the car had failed, the tow guy showed me that the oil cap was encrusted with sludge. When I pointed this out to the dealership and that while they probably would have seen this at the last oil change, that they are under no obligation to inform the customer of such a potential hazard. This is a major safety concern and vw/vw dealerships should be obliged to watch for this and at least suggest an engine flush. After too much trust, we are very disappointed with vw for this. They should know better.
Mechanic refuses to repair 2001 passat electronic control system. *ts the consumer stated the problem had been mis-diagnosed on more than one occasion. The vehicle had an oil hose leak.
My 2001 passat------my husband and I were driving on the freeway, the stop engine light appeared in big red lettering and proceeded to say that the oil pressure was low. We got to a gas station and checked the oil and it looked fine. Got home and looked again with better lighting, still the same. We had the vehicle towed to the dealership. There the service center had told us that this was due to "oil sludge" and will be covered under our extended warranty if documentation was provided for all oil change services. Not to mention the vehicle was purchase in 2001 with 6 miles and has only got 53000 now in 2006. I have gotten the routine oil changes up to date and they are requiring me to show proof of all oil changes. I would like to know who keeps every oil change receipt!!! This is insane. I am so fed up with the way vw is taking care of this issue, they are using this as an excuse so that they do not have to repair my vehicle. I am still in the process of trying to find all the "documentation" that is needed. I can not believe that less than 3 weeks of my last oil change vw still will not provide me with moderate service. I will never, repeat never buy another vehicle or recommend vw to anyone!! I have read all other similar complaints and I can see that vw has no remorse for the fishy service it is providing. I will take this action further. I just wonder how many people got there vehicles with the "sludge" covered under warranty??? Why even purchase the warranty if it is not covering the problem???
All bolts holding compressor in place broke.
My 2001 volkswagen passat needs a new engine because it is filled with sludge. After researching this on my own I found that this is a common problem with the 1.8t engine. Vw issued an extended warranty on that engine provided the consumer can produce oil change receipts showing the car was maintained according to the owners manual. I sent them the proper receipts showing my car was maintained properly and they still denied me. My car only has about 43,000 miles on it and I just bought it 10 months ago.
My 2001 volkswagen passat had a timing belt failure due to an internal component that caused the car to just turn off. This belt did not fail, but the component did which caused it to fail. Here is the concern: just think if you are traveling in bumper to bumper traffic and this part fails, you are all done. You lose the car, nothing is available to get you over to a safe spot. Its just a matter of time when someone is traveling and this happens. Note - volkswagen is aware of this issue and offers a upgrade kit to replace this part. Also, no where in their service guide lines will you be able to detect this part through the techs. I'm hoping by submitting this we make them accountable and to correct this issue. I do have the belt which shows that it did not fail as they pitched it.
Purchased the vehcile (second-hand) from the lexus dealership on veterans drive in metairie,la back in march 2004. Here is my complaint: my family evacuated for hurricane 'katrina' and we left the vw behind at the house. Well, it sat for about a month. Once we got back to the vehicle, we noticed it was not running good at all. Very rough. Very different than before the storm. I checked the car out and found out it was very low on oil. Yet, we have no oil leaks. I could not explain where the oil had gone. And the oil in the case of the vehicle looked "grainy" and "sludgey". We thought it was storm related and filed a claim with state farm. We then took it to the local vw dealer near my office to have to locate the problem. The vw service guy said, yes, volkswagen has identified a mechanical problem with our model vehicle where the turbo can not handle conventional motor oil. They would fix that free of charge....however, they need the last 12 month history of our oil changes. Well, at first I thought this would be no problem. We have always gotten our regular oill changes so the receipts should be handy. Well, I didn't take into account that the destruction of our new orleans home by hurricane katrina. Our house was a total loss and so were those receipts. I think we managed to get our hands on two of them. Well, that's not good enough for vw. As a matter of fact, they won't even take hand-written receipts from the oil change places. I am extremely angry that they will not fix an existing problem with their vehicle without this information. They acknowledge the fact that it's the vehicle mechanisms but they refuse to fix it without copies of receipts I can never produce. All of new orleans was destroyed. Now, my wife, who has to commute 50 miles each way to work, has to drive her unsafe vehicle and endanger her life because vw refuses to fix a problem they admit their car has. We have no recourse but to file this complaint with the federal safety agency.
Oil pump failure: the warning light turned on "stop, oil pressure low" contacted vw and was told that I needed to bring the car in for an inspection. It was determined that there was a sludge build up in the oil which caused the oil pump to fail. Recently vw has issued a new warranty for the replacement of the oil pump due to this problem, only if you have your oil receipts from day one. I wish to keep my vw for a long time and yes oil was changed on a regular basis, however receipts are difficult to find from day one. From my findings and what makes sense is that the turbo is over heating the oil and building up a sludge in the oil. As of today my pump was replaced along with the cam. The dealership did the necessary work but has not really informed me as to any future problems that will arise. Where as other oil repair shops know of vw with turbo that have failed at 20,000 miles and then again at 40,000 miles. As of today I question if the turbo was inspected for sludge or was an oil flush done.
Dt: the contact states that the vehicle is a 2001.5 volkswagen passat. There is a problem with the windows fogging. This occurs when the temperature is around 50 degrees or less. The fog will appear on the window after the vehicle is started. Sometimes the fog will appear after the contact was driving. It will occur wither or not the heater or fan turned on. The problem seems to be less severe once the vehicle was heated . The only way the fog will go away is if the air conditioner is turned on high. She has already taken it to the dealership twice, each time they did a pressure check to the heater core , but no repairs were made. She is taking it back again to the dealer. There was a previous problem with the radiator leaking. The radiator was replaced on october 4, 2005. The fog problem appears to have gotten worse since the radiator was replaced.
Engine oil sludge- I have been reading about volkswagens problem with 1.8 turbo engines creating a sludge that results in low to no oil pressure. I have one of the cars affected, a 2001 passat. Recently my "stop engine" light came on. I did stop and changed the oil and filter immediately. I called a volkswagen dealer and he said that yes my car was covered for 8 years from in service date. He did say however that trying to get everyone to "sign off" might pose some difficulty when the problem actually arises. My friend has a 2003 audi with the same 1.8 t and he has had his car in for this problem twice. I think there need to something from a government agency to document this problem and hold volkswagen accountable. I can't believe that they are still allowed to make these same engines.
The check engine light came on with a message display of "emissions workshop!" around 73k mi. The car dealer I bought it from thought it might be the o2 sensors, but it turned out not be to. I took it to the local vw dealer and they told me that it was a "recall/service bulletin" problem of some sort so they reset my onboard computer. The check engine light came on again with the same message shortly there after. I took it in to the vw dealer again and they replaced both of my catalytic converters (which were covered by the vw emissions warranty). This seemed to have resolved the problem. (the problem occurred the same day I purchased the vehicle so it would be a good assumption that this problem had occurred before I attained the vehicle).
A/c slowly stopped blowing cold air, fumes or smoke began coming out of the vents. Coolant leaked all over the passenger floorboard which is now ruined. Dealer said the heater core needed replaced which was not covered under the extended warranty. Total repair cost was $1700, all this and the car only has 35,000 miles on it. I have heard that this is a common problem according to the dealer. Eyes have been burning lately from the smoke that was being blown through the vents. Dealer replaced heater core and there is still a bit of smoke being blown out. Very displeased.
While driving my 2001 volkswagen passat on highway 95 at highway speeds, the "stop engine" light came on. The oil pressure warning light came on and indicated no oil pressure. We had to have the vehicle towed to the nearest volkswagen dealer where it took a complete engine teardown and oil pump replacement. The vehicle had only 40,000 miles on it and had been maintained well. This occurred without warning and could have resulted in stranding a woman or children alone. No deaths occurred, however complete engine failure at highway speeds could have resulted in loss of control of vehicle, leading to same.
Engine light continually goes on and off, when blinking on, the car shakes, as if it is about to stall, and a bad odor emits. When driving , the car would not exceed 20-30 MPH, even when the gas pedal was to the floor. Brought the car to vw first time, they said the light came on because the car was idle for a day or so. The 2nd time, after going to an independent repair shop and having all the plugs replaced and a complete tune-up, same thing happened the next day. Independent shop said the only other thing was the ignition coils and that they were expensive. Called vw dealership(car is on extended warranty-less than 30 thousand miles & a 2001), waited 9 days before they could look at the car, however, the engine light was out again. I explained to them the problem, and all they said was that vw does not have a recall on the ignition coils, they replaced the newly purchased plugs again, and said there was nothing wrong with the coils??? Cost me $261.00 plus a rental car, but there was nothing wrong.
'recall campaign' issued for volkswagen passat 2001, oil sludge warranty extension. *bf the vehicle broke down on the highway without any prior indications of problems, the oil and engine lights illuminated and the engine began making a screeching sound. The vehicle was towed to the dealership where they determined the engine had locked up from lack of oil. The warranty department refused to authorize the warranty coverage for the repair, because the consumer could not provided receipts from an automobile service company documenting that he had the oil changed regularly. The warranty dept. Stated the consumer was not entitled to warranty coverage for the engine and the turbo charger repairs. (lawyer on behalf of consumer)
Since buying the car, there has been an odor from the heater vents. On february 25, when using the heater, my son reported large amounts of mist coming from the vents. The dealer checked and foudn that there is a crack in the heater core, and the mist was from pooled antifreeze. The mist is clearly toxic, yet we were breathing it for weeks, only noticing when the crack worsened. The car has only 17,500 miles on it. Why did the heater core crack?
I own a 2001 1.8 turbo vw passat with give or take 57,000 miles. The 1.8 turbo has an issue with oil sludge. While researching this issue I have discovered that this is not an uncommon problem with the 1.8 turbo and have concluded that this issue seems to be a manufacturing defect. Accordingly, vw has extended the power train warranty. I have records showing that all of my oil changes were done within a timely manner. However in two instances I exceeded the "recommended maintenance": in the first case it was by 26 miles and in the second case it was approximately 290 miles. If vw has denied my claim due to those situations, they should not state in the warranty that the owner follow the "recommended maintenance" schedule but that the owner should follow a "required maintenance" schedule. I would also like to point out that a 2001 car, that cost over $22,000, that has been taken care of, and has less that 60,000 miles, such as mine, should not have engine failure. Even if I went over the "recommended maintenance" by 500 or 700 miles, which was not the case, the engine should not give out. Vw needs to take accountability for this issue. I would also like to point out that I never received notification from vwoa regarding the oil sludge issue. I have all of my records stating that I have performed the "recommended maintenance" not required maintenance, in a timely manner. Yet vw has denied my claim to cover the engine under warranty.
The crank shaft screw got loose, backed out, and rattled throughout the engine at 50 MPH. Consumer was informed by the dealer that a new engine was needed because the screw ruined the interior parts of the engine.
At approx 60k check engine light came on read "emissions workshop". Dealer hooked up computer and told me it was an oxygen sensor and some of the vacuum hoses had to be replaced. I took the vehicle to a vw specialty shop and they confirmed the o2 sensor problem and replaced a few vacuum hoses. The cars computer was cleared and two months later both the check engine light and emissions workshop indicators were back. Shop hooked up to their computer and confirmed that now a pre cat o2 sensor was bad. Two sensors in three months, both more than $200 to replace is unacceptable. Vw is supposed to have extended portions of its warranties but the dealer claims it doesn't cover these parts or repairs. The car has approx. 62,000 miles. From what I have heard this is a common problem that vw should be help accountable for.
Check engine light flashed on the dashboard intermittently. Consumer took vehicle to the dealer for inspection, and mechanic determined that the sludge was inside of the engine, and engine needed to be replaced.
Identical to complaints 10089069 and 10097846. Sudden warning light appearance while driving in highway. Indicated "low oil pressure -- stop motor". By the time an exit was reached engine was sputtering and knocking. Mileage is approximate -- car is at dealer about 50 miles distant. Ar is within warranty mileage and years (7 years/70,000 miles for power train). Volkswagen is refusing to provide warranty coverage because mileage was not recorded on receipts at time of oil changes. Have tried to work with both the vw dealer receiving the car as towed, and volkswagen customer service.
The consumer replaced the oil pump on the vehicle three times. The oil pump has damaged the engine and the dealer has refused to replace the oil pump because it damaged the engine.
Oil sludge builds up in the engine. The oil is breaking down which is clogging the engine. While driving a light illuminated the dashboard, stating stop do not drive the vehicle oil pressure problem, and could damage the engine. There was no warning until it actually happened. Consumer contacted volkswagen.
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