I financed a 03 passat gls 1.8t in jan of 05 a year later it stopped running. When I took it to the dealer it was oil sludge. The engine has a warranty for sludge for unlimited mileage for 8yrs. The car needed a new engine due to the sludge. Vw refused to replace the engine stating that I did not have enough proof of maintenance done to the vehicle. Which statement is false. The vehicle had all maintenance done in the time that corresponded, I had proof of them which I submitted. Therefore I have spent 4 months making payments towards a vehicle that can not be used. Now I had no choice but to replace the engine myself since vw refused to solve the situation.
2003 Volkswagen Passat engine complaints
Page 5 of 6: complaints 101 to 130 of 153, newest first, as owners wrote them.
Headlights fails proper function. They have been replaced. Seat belts and sun roof do not work properly. Engine replaced; steering wheels - car pulls to the right everytime an alignment was done and they calibrated the wheels. - problem continued - this problem caused the tires to be destroyed in a few kms - less 20 000; water infiltration - for now it is fixed; trunk was hard to open and close - problem fixed. Front doors vibrated - the rubber of the doors are being exhibiting signs of damage; the front glass ( windscreen ) isn't from the same year of all the others.
A problem with the malfunction of the coils on the 03 engines of vw gl turbo. The problem causes the engine to misfire, making accelerations difficult and continuation of the operation of the vehicle dangerous. I was unable to continue driving, had to have it towed and then was charged an excessive amount at the dealership to replace the coils, even though this problem has been prevalent in these engines.
My 2003 vw passat gl sedan sputtered, stalled and subsequently caught fire in the engine compartment around 6:30 pm, jan 26th, 2007, in holmdel nj, police report # 07-1914 holmdel police dept. The car has been maintained well by a local vw dealer since purchase and there has been no modifications made, nor any signs of trouble prior to the incident. The fire was very extensive and put out by holmdel nj fire dept and the car is totaled. The symptom just prior to stalling is consistent with ignition coil failure which was recalled by vw until 2002 model year, I.e., engine warning lights, sputtering, smokes under hood and though exhaust and final stall. The engine stall nearly caused collision due to the loss of steering boost and the fire was rapid and large. Thus, I fear a less fortunate combination of circumstance may lead to injury or worse to other passengers of cars with vw/audi 1.8t engines such as passat, zeta, a4, golf, etc..
At 40k miles the low oil pressure indicator light came on, at dealership the technician "could not duplicate concern." at 42k miles the car stopped working while on the freeway. Once towed to the dealership, the tech tried to identify the problem. Again, in the invoice was noted that he removed the oil cap and noted "a lot of burned oil on under-side of cap and on oil deflector tray." yet, that was not pursued as the technician notes on the following line that "checked further and found no fuel delivery." oil change was also done on the car w/ a new oil filter and car was returned. At 50k miles low oil pressure indicator light again came on. Stated in invoice that "did not perform diagnostic." technician notes in invoice, based on a visual inspection through oil cap yet, there appears to be oil sludge build up. No diagnostics were ran and no mention of oil sludge being a known problem with the 1.8l turbo engine in the 2003 passat. At 52k miles, the low oil pressure indicator light yet again came on, this time car was taken to independent shop. They ran diagnostics on oil pump, based on low pressure results, pump was replaced. 16k miles later, low oil pressure indicator light came on, oil pump identified as problem and replaced under part warranty at no cost. Another 16k miles later, this oil pump also failed. Garage removed valve cover revealing extensive amounts of burnt oil carbon deposits that as per their mechanics are only possible from a petroleum based oil. I seeked a second opinion on the engine and second garage confirmed that damage seen was only possible from the use of a petroleum based oil. Volkswagen changed their engine oil specifications in august of 2004. When I received my car in november of 2002 and all oil changes performed on the car by the vw dealership until august of 2004 were done so with petroleum based oil. The cause of the problem was created from november 2002-august 2004, although I was not aware of it until 1/5/2007.
Owner was driving volkswagen when it started to hesitate and the engine caught on fire. Fire burned most severely in center rear and right side of the compartment.
Owner was driving the volkswagen and smelled a weird odor, so he pulled over to the side of the road. He opened the hood and looked toward the back of the engine and observed smoke and smelled something burning. He stated he observed fire from the bottom part of a wire harness. A subsequent examination revealed the spark plugs showed a slightly rich fuel/air mixture in the cylinders, resulting in possible overheated exhaust components. Cause of fire undetermined.
My 2003 vw passat 4-door sedan has experienced multiple occurrences where the brake lights continue to remain on while driving and even after the engine is shut off. This happened again today and I noticed this time that the emergency engine light came on while driving earlier in the day - this is also another issue that also comes on/off for no reason. I've reported the warning light a couple of times as well to the vw service and they don't know why that happens either. The warning light will at least shut off when the car is turned off, unlike my brake lights. Since today is saturday, leaving my brake lights on until the service department reopens on a monday is probably going to run my battery dead. With that concern in mind, I immediately called the vw roadside assistance hotline, 800‑822‑8987, to see if they had any repair instructions I can look into and the operator said she was unable to find any documentation. She advised that vw roadside can come tow my vehicle to a dealership (that won't reopen until monday) or they can come to jump-start my car (which can take up to 45-60 min. After dispatch). This seems a terribly long time to wait & a huge inconvenience esp. Since it also took 30 min. Just to reach the live operator in the first place. I love driving my passat; I bought it brand new direct from the dealership in 2003. Car safety is very important to me which is why I'm adamant about following service guidelines and bring my car in for regular maintenance & oil changes. I only bring it into a vw dealership service, never a local garage mechanic. Can the federal safety agency please look into both issues: 1. Sporadic check engine light warning while driving 2. Brake lights remaining on while driving and after the car is shut off. I am very concerned as both are major causes for safety concern, in addition to further expensive repairs which may be defects that the manufacturer should cover instead. Thanks.
Owner drove vehicle to work and noticed it started smoking. Drove back home and went inside to call and have vehicle towed. He did not go back out to the vehicle until later in the evening, when he found the windows gray from smoke and the inside of the vehicle was partially melted because it caught fire. Catalytic converter light came on several days prior to the fire. Fire damage limited to floor below center front of dash, above catalytic converter and exhaust system.
Owner was driving when someone on the side of the road pointed and indicated there was something coming out of her vehicle that looked like fog. Smoke was then noticed and her husband got out of the vehicle, looked underneath, and saw fire. He began throwing snow on the vehicle. Fd extinguished fire. Subsequent examination revealed the exhaust system overheated and ignited the fire due to an engine management problem - spark plugs showed overly rich fuel/air mixture.
Vehicle started feeling sluggish, repair facility changed spark plugs, an ignition coil, and a hall sensor. Facility admitted they could not repair vehicle so it was driven to a dealer for diagnosis. While being driven to the dealer, the vehicle started smoking. Continued driving, arrived at dealer, and there was a fire under hood. Exhaust system overheated, burning materials on the right front floorboard.
Dt*: the contact stated while driving 65 MPH on the highway, an oil pressure warning light illuminated. The contact pulled over to the side of the road. The vehicle was towed to the dealer, who determined the oil pump needed to be replaced, and failed due to maintenance negligence. The manufacturer was alerted.
I was driving my passat with 1.8 t engine and the engine failed. Volkswagen "advocates" were completely unhelpful this occurred in summer of 2005. Volkswagen aware of problem and left consumer to pay for 9000 dollar repair. In the last year my car has been in at least eight times for check engine light. Company aware of problem and unwilling to help.
2003 vw passat w8 overheated after being serviced for temp sensor. Engine seemed to blow head gasket. Car had to be towed back to dealer where service was performed. Vehicle still there and damage maybe worse.
On june 6th 2006 my 2003 vw passat car caught fire. My certified vw mechanic stated the cars after run water pump over heated, melting wiring and the fire resulted. My insurance company appears to be dening the claim.
This is a 2003 passat v6. I have 115,000 miles on the car and the car has been maintained by a certified vw technician since I have owned the vehicle. This is my second passat, the first was a 2001.5 "new passat". I had no problems with that car and little to know problems with my current 2003. However, after turning the car off, it always sounded as though a fan motor would continuously run for well over 15 minutes after the car was turned off. This has been happening for approx. 6 months. On the date of incident, I had driven home from work, pulled into my driveway, and went into the house. Thankfully, the lawn was long, so I immediately went out to cut the lawn after changing my clothes. Just in that time, maybe 5-10 minutes the most, I came out and noticed there was smoke coming from under the hood. I popped the hood and looked into the engine bay to see flames on the lower bottom of the engine. It was on the left side if you were looking into the engine bay and toward the front. It smelled of burning plastic and metal. There was actually flames, which I pulled out myself with a fire extinguisher and a lawn hose. I did get a police report of the incident and continued to search online for other issues of the same sort. This seems to be a common problem, and in some events, they even mention the ongoing fan sound. I feel this is extremely important to be looked into. I was lucky, thanks to a long lawn, but I could have lost my car, and my home, because the car was parked in front of the house by less then two feet. Any consideration taken in this matter is greatly appreciated. It is unclear as to how this is going to be resolved, whether with my insurance company, or whether or not this is going to be a huge financial loss, because there is still a lien on the automobile. Thanks, theodore hardgrove.
Vw passat 2003 62,000 miles with oil pressure "stop driving" light at 70 MPH. Car stopped and towed to dealer. Told by dealer that this was an engine sludge issue which was a very common problem with this car. Still awaiting engine analysis. Was told engine could have potentially seized if I did not stop driving.
I have a 2003 volkswagen passat and about a month ago my engine light came on. I took it to montesi volkswagen dealer in hamden, connecticut. They charged me $85 to determine the cause. And then they told me that there is nothing wrong with the engine, but the software which controls this light must be updated and that costs about $235. I told them that it is not my fault that the existing software on the car is not functioning properly, and you must install the software free of charge. But they didn't accept it. I think this not right, and they are responsible if the original software that they installed is not working properly.
Timing belt broke at only 66,000 miles and 3 years of vehicle use. Manufacturer recommends replacement at approx. 100,000 miles. Failure to advise purchasers of premature catastrophic timing belt failure is inexcusable. It poses a grave risk of harm to drivers. Our timing belt blew on a busy street in miami. We were very fortunate that we were not injured. There have been class action lawsuits involving the exact same engine-- used in audi cars-- that were settled by providing a warranty extension for these failures. A similar warranty extension should be offered to vw owners whose vehicles have the same engine (1.8l turbo, 4-cylinder). A class action against vw should not be necessary (though it may be forthcoming)-- they should accept their responsibility for this design defect and thereby potentially save lives. What if your son or daughter were hurt in a timing belt-related crash? Shame on vw.
Dt*: the contact stated while driving 65mph, the check engine light illuminated and the engine hesitated. The vehicle was towed to the dealership. Upon inspection, the dealer determined there was sludge build up in the oil pump. The oil pump, pipes, resonator, oil and surrounding components were replaced.
I purchased a new 2003 volkswagen passat from smith volkswagen of wilmington, de. From the beginning the car would intermittently experience total engine shutdown at mid-RPM while under full acceleration. This made any kind of merging into traffic maneuver a hazardous undertaking. The car was returned to the dealer several times for repair but with no success. This caused us for the entire time we owned the vehicle to completely modify the way we drove - never knowing when the engine would die out. Now after struggling with this for 3 years I receive recall notice "safety recall m7", one month after we traded in the volkswagen on another car. This notice describes our problem but underplays the havoc the problem can actually cause when it occurs to your car. These vehicles are a danger to their drivers and to all the cars around them on the road. They should be removed from the highway until they are fixed now that volkswagen has finally admitted something is wrong 3 years later.
Dt*: the contact stated the engine on the vehicle failed. The dealership determined the engine needed to be replaced due to an oil sludge problem. Two months later the check engine light continued to illuminate. The dealership determined the engine needed to broken down to see if the problem was related to the oil sludge problem. The engine failed in august 2005 with one year/12000 mile warranty. A month after replacement the check engine light came on. The dealership failed to correctly diagnose the problem and the engine was checked in march 2006. It was determined that the engine needed to be broken down in order to determine the problem and since the mileage exceeded the warranty it would not be covered. The contact contact the dealer, who indicated the same thing and referred the contact back to the dealer. The contact was tossed back and forth with no one taking responsibility or action. After searching on the internet the contact discovered that this was a common problem with volkswagen passat vehicles, and that volkswagen was ranked among the worse car companies for resolving customer complaints. Therefore, the contact sought the federal safety agency assistance.
Purchased vehicle on 8/4/03 8/8/05 - engine oil light came on, vehicle diagnosed w/ "engine oil sludge" by dealership, warranty item. 8/11/05- spoke w/ dealership to confirm sludge issue and presented oil change receipts,(vehicle purchased w/ 19637 miles) , dealer declined to honor the warranty and recommended a engine flush & oil change 8/12/05 - retrieved vehicle and had engine flushed & oil changed 8/13/05 - vehicle cut off & remains inoperable 8/21/05 - vehicle was towed to receive diagnoses 8/26/05 - vehicle diagnosed w/ no oil pressure or compression. Cause - (bad oil pump) timing belt jumped r&r valve cover and locked up cam #1 cylinder. No sludge was found in engine, valve cover, oil pan or engine block. Engine was free of sludge and would not have caused the engine to fail (documented by auto repairman) 8/26/05 - towed vehicle to another (engine repair specialist) repair shop. 9/22/05 - diagnoses result "no" engine oil sludge found. (engine was totally disassembled and examined in every detail) sludge would be expected if poor maintenance was the issue. A simple oil flush would not have removed engine oil sludge (documented by service center) 9/23/05 - contacted vw customer care to report my findings. No resolution obtained to date. I was told to obtain another engine analysis. 9/26/05 - contacted vw again to inform them that another analysis is impossible because the engine is disassembled. 10/7/05 - towed the vehicle back to my home. Vehicle presently garaged and inoperable. * since then, I've read many accounts of this "same" issue happening to vw passat owners. Vw has admitted to engine problems with their 4 cylinder turbo engines but has not issued a recall. This is a serious product stewardship issue and vw should be made to repair and reimburse consumers for these costly repairs. I've spent thousands of dollars in my attempt to uncover the "real" problem which is a faulty engine and/or oil pump.
My wife and I have a 2003 volkswagen passat with 30,100 miles. Volkswagen has 4 yr/50000 miles mile bumper to bumper warranty, and an 8 year/unlimited mile oil sludge warranty. We broke down on the interstate, and had to be towed to the dealer. The manufacturer required oil changes in intervals of 5000 miles. My wife and I have had the oil changed every 4000 miles instead. The service writer from don jacobs called and stated that our volkswagen needed a new motor. He went on to state that we needed to provide all of our oil change receipts from the time of the purchase. We were shocked, this was a 2 year old car. A long story short we were able to produce 5 receipts. Once it was changed in florida while on vacation (no receipt),and once we received a free oil change at wal-mart due to an excessive wait (no receipt). That would make a total of 7 receipts (all of them).don jacobs would not begin the work on our car until we could provide all of these receipts including the 2 that are non existent.the car is still under bumper to bumper warranty period,so again we were shocked.next the dealer informed us that they and vw of america have decided that our warranty would be nullified due to neglect of maintenance.the funny part is that this diagnosis was made without ever looking under the hood of our vw.it is still in the same spot the tow truck left it in.before you decide to believe or discredit our side of this story,or maybe think this is an isolated event please visit the following sites:www.myvwlemon.com and also http://www.petitiononline.com/vwsludge/petition.html.I have quickly found that what has happened to us is litterally happening to 100's, and probably 1,000's of people in the us right now by their dealers and also vw of america not to mention the other manufacturers. The similarities in everyones stories on the web are frightening. .
My volkswagen passat stopped dead in the middle of a major highway and had to be pushed off to the side of the road. I almost got hit by oncoming traffic trying to get the car off the highway. Three rivers volkswagen dealership is saying the timing belt went well before the scheduled replacement,thus destroying the engine+.the car has 83k miles and not recommend to be changed until 105k. There are many instances reported on the web of the happening. My car was in for a service check at 78k and other problem items were brought to my attention; however, a timing belt problem was not. Volkswagen is blaming the dealers service department and the service deparment is blaming volkswagen. So far no resolution. There are many instances of vw and audi having timing belt issues on the interenet.
2003 vw passat suddenly began making engine noise and oil pressure warning came on. Vw determined problem was sludge, and they cleaned the engine leaving a bill of $1900 plus that they are refusing to cover with manufacturers warranty unless I can produce oil chg receipts. I have done 2 of them myself and only have bank statements with credit card charges. The others, I have receipts for. They are still refusing to cover. This is a major widespread problem and their recommendations to change from regular oil to synthetic oil came in 2004, a year after I was following their previous instructions, etc. For a known issue, they should not be allowed to hold consumers hostage on a situation like this. I do my own oil chgs to save money. My 10k oil chg at vw was $110. I can do it for less then half of that amount.
Dt: the contact stated while driving the vehicle the stop engine now- low oil pressure light illuminated. She pulled the vehicle off the road for inspection. She checked the dip stick for an oil reading. The reading indicated the vehicle contained no oil in the engine. She added oil to the engine before driving the vehicle to the dealership. The dealer diagnosed the vehicle as having sludge build up in the engine. The engine will have to be replaced in order to fix the problem. No however, repairs have been made .
Dt: 2003 volkswagen passat. The contact stated the vehicle stalled at highway speeds. There was no warning lights that came on before this occurred. The vehicle was pulled over, and it started up immediately. The vehicle was taken to the dealership, and they had it for 77 days. The vehicle was returned to the contact twice. The dealership replaced a coil pack, spark plugs, and four brake light bulbs. The dealership told the contact the vehicle was ready, he picked it up and drove 3 miles and the vehicle stalled. He immediately took the vehicle back to the dealership. They contacted technical support, who told the dealership to check for the electrical grounds. The dealership then took the vehicle on a test drive and it stalled again. The factory service engineers said to put every electrical wire on the car through an ohm test. All of the wires checked out, and no out of tolerance ratings were found. They told the dealership to check the ignition key adaptation, and the security system for proper function. No problems were found. They found nothing definitive at that point. The technician told the dealership to replace the engine wire harness that was replaced august 8, 2005. The vehicle was then picked up on august 10, 2005. The contact went on vacation, and 175 miles later the vehicle stalled again on the interstate. The vehicle was taken back to the dealership; they found 20 fault codes in the engine computer. They replaced the vacuum pump on august 25, 2005. They road tested it and it stalled. The contact was trying to get volkswagen to take the vehicle back. The vehicle is still at the dealership, and they are still working on it. The dealership is now going to replace cylinder heads. *ak it was finally determined that the fuel pump relay was the problem and the reason why the dealer could not determine the problem the first seven times was because they were relying on the computer to display codes. Updated 01/11/06.
Dt: the consumer stated that on the 2003 volkswagen passat the engine light came on. The consumer took the car to the dealer, and dealer wanted the receipts from the oil changes. The dealer said that there was sludge in the engine. The dealer said that was the consumers problem, and it was the consumer that could not produce the receipts, the consumer had to pay for it. The owner did not fixed the problem. The dealer said that the warranty would be void if they did not have the receipts showing that the oil was changed every 5,000 miles. *ak
2003 volkswagen passat consumer request for early termination of the lease.***no answer required***. *mr the consumer made the request due to the numerous mechanical problems such as a defective purge valve, right front head light, the vehicle overheated and started t o smoke due to a faulty water pump. The brake light would not shut off and the right head light went out for the second time. The brake light switch was replaced. The cruise control would not disengage. The vehicle would not start at times.
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