On 3/23/13, when turning left in traffic, the "sealed for life" 5-spd auto transmission made an incredibly hard shift, began slipping badly, and quickly lost 3 fwd speeds, "limping" in for service. Normally, a trans failure at 143k would not prompt an the federal safety agency complaint. It is not the car, but rather vwoa and its dealer network, that are the problem. My local dealer refused to check auto trans fluid level, and would only grudgingly do a fluid change if I wanted, for an extortionate $700, steadfastly maintaining that neither was necessary. Vwoa today 4/5/13, ironically, criticized me for not following the owner's manual recommendation of checking fluid every 40k miles. Local dealer wanted over $4400 + misc fees & tax to replace the trans. At the same time, they indicated my new tires with 500 miles on them were in a marginal tread wear condition. Ditto the recently renewed (at the same dealer!) rear brakes. Btw, the transmission manufacturer, zf, recommends communicating to customers the benefits of fluid changes at 50k mile intervals. Vw won't listen to either customer or trans mfr. Trans was rebuilt at qualified independent shop. There was also an earlier recall (thanks, the federal safety agency!) of ceramic glow plugs that would fall into cylinders and cause catastrophic damage. Fortunately, I had the repair done independently, as this condition was known for at least 2 yrs before vw's official response. Vw did compensate me for this, but I wonder how many $9k engines were destroyed while vw contemplated its collective navel. Btw, after the official vw fix (done at dealer), the car starts in winter like a 1980 rabbit diesel. I fitted a zerostart as corrective measure. Vw also refuses to discuss the balance shaft chain drive issue with me. A ticking time bomb at 143k. They know it. I know it. The federal safety agency, please take vwoa to task! As for me, I'm now shopping competitors.
2005 Volkswagen Passat engine complaints
Page 2 of 3: complaints 11 to 40 of 62, newest first, as owners wrote them.
The interior heater does not work correctly. We took the vehicle to a vw mechanic oasis auto center in redding, ca. He said he cleared the coil but that a valve may also be part of the problem. This occurred in november 2011. Since we live in n. California it has not been a big issue since it is warm most of the year. I did however see this is a recall item. Please advise me if we can still get this repaired under the recall.
Tl* the contact owns a 2005 volkswagen passat. The contact stated that the vehicle stalled while driving 30 MPH. The vehicle was towed to the dealer for a diagnosis. The dealer stated that they had to replace the engine. The vehicle had not been repaired. The manufacturer was contacted stated that they were not responsible for the repairs because the vehicle was not under recall. The failure and current mileages were 125,000. The VIN was not available.
I was driving on highway when the alarm message "oil pressure low: stop engine" came on. I got off the side of the road and the engine locked up. Bent valves, broken piston shaft, engine needs replaced. I've seen this so many times on the internet as I've been looking into my options since then. Volkswagen will do nothing to help nor take responsibility. They offered me $1000 toward a new volkswagen. Seriously? I have maintained the vehicle. They know there is a problem with these cars and as far as I'm concerned, it is criminal to sell these without recalling to fix the problem. If I wasn't able to get off the highway, outside of chicago, my passenger and I would have been smashed with countless other injuries. I didn't stop the car once I got off the road, it stopped itself. Volkswagen needs to be accountable for their products.
2.0l vw passat tdi had a rattling, vibrating chain noise from the oil pump balance shaft module in the oil pan. The oil pump chains/sprockets/tensioners were worn and caused noticeable vibration and rattling noise for thousands of miles; however, it was difficult to diagnose. We had the entire oil pump assembly replaced by a vw dealership at approximately 120,000 miles with oem gear driven pump which includes the balance shafts and oil pump. It was a $3700 repair to exchange the original oil pump with the gear driven pump. Not a cheap service. The sound before and after the module change was much improved because the gears are quieter. The replacement gear driven oil pump/balance shaft assembly uses a similar balance shaft but with a different oil pump and gear drive. The gear drive smoothes out stress on the oil pump hex shaft so runs much better. In summary, I am not happy with having to do such an expensive repair due to a poor design at the low mileage of 120,000 for a diesel that should last to at least 400,000 miles. This is a recurring expensive problem that should be reimbursed by vw.
The tdi (diesel) engine in the '04 & '05 north american volkswagen passats was equipped with a chain driven oil pump/balance shaft module. The chain tensioner fails causing the chain to separate which stops the oil pump and destroys the engine. If a person is lucky, like I was, and hears the chain noise before it fails, the engine can be saved. The fix involves installing a new gear driven balance shaft module which contains a new oil pump. The repairs costs ~ $2,500 parts and labor. Volkswagen has ignored this fault in the us (and canada), denying the problem exists, even though hundreds of cases of failure have been documented. In fact, the new design modules are currently on back order at the vw parts factory. The oil pump chain drive problem is without a doubt a defect. The fact that vw re-engineered and replaced the original oil pump drive assembly is an admission that the design was defective. Reference vw's technical product information no. 2016429/2 dated 29-jan-2008. I see this as a huge safety concern. I can only imagine what would happen if one of these chains failed, on the highway during freeway rush hour traffic, causing the engine to destroy itself and spill oil and other fluids onto the road surface. Please feel free to contact me if you require any further information.
Tl* the contact owns a 2005 volkswagen passat. While driving approximately 35 MPH, the contact heard a clattering sound coming from the engine. The vehicle was taken to an independent mechanic for routine maintenance where the mechanic advised that the chain drive assembly for the oil pump would have to be replaced. The vehicle was not repaired. The VIN was not available. The approximate failure mileage was 96,500.
Tl- the contact owns a 2005 volkswagen passat tdi. The contact stated that at engine startup, a noise was heard from under the hood. The vehicle was taken to a private mechanic where the mechanic stated to the contact that the oil pump chain was loose. The manufacturer was contacted but the vehicle was not repaired. The failure mileage was 108,500 and the current mileage was 109,000. Kmj
I've had to get my 2005 passat fixed 3 times for engine sludge issues and it's happening to it again. It has cost me nearly $4000 and counting.
Oil pump failure leading to engine falue. Requiring engine replacement.
Excessive and increased rattling noise noticed on my 2005 passat tdi. Evaluation revealed that the chain and tensioner driving the balance shafts and oil pump was failing and needed replacement. Service technician states that this is a common problem and vw has issued a gear drive to replace the chain, however there is no recall or tsb therefore the cost of the repair is the owner's responsibility. Over $2000 to repair.
Tl*the contact owns a 2005 volkswagen passat. The contact stated that she could hear a chain noise while driving at any speed. After a year, the noise became louder. The vehicle was taken to an authorized dealer where the contact was informed that the balance chain would break soon. The vehicle had not been repaired. The failure mileage was approximately 100,000 and the current mileage was approximately 117,000. Updated 01/24/11 *bf updated 04/14/11
At 60,025 miles and traveling at 65mph my 2005 vw passat lost power and began to sputter. I was barely able to make it to a repair shop where I was told the ignition coils needed to be replaced at a cost of $500+.
Oil sludge, oil pump failure, engine failure, now my 2005 vw passat needs a new engine , this is a vw manufacturing defect in the 4 cylinder 1.8 turbo engine because the turbocharger gets to hot and cause the expensive synthetic oil breakdown and it sits in the bottom of the oil pan until it gets sucked up by the oil pump and this causes your engine to fail.
I have a 2005 vw passat gls with approx 135,000 miles. I took it in to get "winterized", oil change and clear the engine light (whatever the misfire was for), and a factory recall on the engine coils. Got all that done (plus serpentine belt replaced) and was told that the engine light should be ok, if it comes back on...to let them know asap. A day and 1/2 later, the light came back on, and this time, there was barely any heat on in the car. Took it back...they stated that the coils needed to be replaced (again) and that there was an oil leak going into the coils & the fuel injectors, and that the heater core needed to be replaced. I had the coils and the 2 "faulty" injectors replaced. I got frustrated with this dealer and went to another vw deal, for their evaluation. They said that they didn't know how I could've been told that the heater core was bad, when there was so many other things wrong before they even got to the heater core!! And they gave me 3 options: either pay for each service separately, get a new/used engine or see what I can get for this car and trade it in (not happy @ all). I called vw of a to see if there were any recalls or complaints about the heater core, since it was causing more damage that originally thought, but they nicely "documented" it and sent me a loyalty voucher if I were to get another vw. I am pissed. I know I have alot of mileage, but this is major, major damage and expenses to be put out for this car!!! Vw needs to get it together. I loved my passat until this point.
Numerous reports of vw bhw diesel engine oil balance shaft / chain failure are reported. Volkswagen of america refuses to acknowledge any responsibility for repair despite the fact that vw has recognized the issue and changed the design. Failure of the balance shaft / chain results in immediate lack of power creating a potential life safety hazard. Vw of canada has acknowledged responsibility in some documented cases. Vw of america should be compelled by government authorities to resolve the matter on behalf of us citizens. I am having the repair done proactively to prevent any serious safety issue but vw should step up and reimburse those of us who have paid for the expensive repair on our own.
Numerous reports of vw bhw diesel engine oil balance shaft / chain failure are reported. Volkswagen of america refuses to acknowledge any responsibility for repair despite the fact that vw has recognized the issue and changed the design. Failure of the balance shaft / chain results in immediate lack of power creating a potential life safety hazard. Vw of canada has acknowledged responsibility in some documented cases. Vw of america should be compelled by government authorities to resolve the matter on behalf of us citizens.
I was driving on the highway with my 2 years old son, and out of no where the car stop and as soon as stop one of the message from my car was stop cooling engine, that was the four time that light appears on my car, I been talking the car to the mechanic for that problem but they told me it is a defect I already spent more than $3,000.00 on my car and is not working, my car is a wv passat 2005.
I own a 2005 passat tdi gls. My car had developed a very serious noise caused by the oil pump chain unit that was originally on this vehicle. I did talk to vw and my dealer service department about the thrashing chain noise. I got polite denials and blank stares when I told them of this issue. Members of the www.tdiclub.com discovered a vw engineered fix for the vehicles involved. Members who have driven their cars beyond the 80k or so seem more likely to have the chain snap during operation which renders the car inoperative and dangerous during the breakage. The fix is not exactly an inexpensive repair as the parts alone are around $1500 and the installation requires extensive disassembly of the vehicle. The repair involves replacing the chain driven oil pump balance shaft assembly with a gear driven assembly. The below link has videos/sound clips of my car before the noise, after the noise and after the fix. This was taken with 44,444 miles on the clock: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k0wmgcdjfqi this the car prior to balance shaft repair in may 2009 with 56,000 miles on the clock: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ttqx3sj6_fk this is a post-op recording june 2009 at 57,000 miles of my passat after brian johnston of cardocautomotive in st. Louis missouri. He is a nationally known independent ase certified expert on this issues repair. Http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xtqiak-cwd4.
Tl* the contact owns a 2005 vw passat. While driving 30 MPH, the low pressure warning light illuminated on the instrument panel; which instructed her to discontinue operation. It the contact chose to continue operating the vehicle engine failure could have occurred. The vehicle was towed to a dealer for inspection. A technician replaced the turbo along with the oil and pick-tube; to avoid oil from entering into the inner cooler. The current and failure mileages were 62,000. Updated 10/21/09 *bf updated 10/20/09
Balance shaft module, which drives the oil pump, has a chain drive. This drive was getting very noisy. If the chain were to fail the engine would loose all oil pressure. I had a shop replace the balance shaft assembly, which includes the oil pump, with the new and improved geared balance shaft module. (old part is no longer available).
My 2005 passat tdi was leaking a huge amount of oil so I topped off the oil and took it to the mechanic. He showed me a huge gash in the oil pan, resulting in the leak. When we took the pan off the oil pump chain tensioner and chain came out in pieces. The tensioner broke and slammed the chain into the oil pan, making the gouge. We replaced the oil pan, chain, tensioner, and completed an early timing belt change including a water pump. This was around $2000 total. After some research I found out this is likely due to a problem with the balance shaft module / chain driven oil pump setup on these cars. I found out that even though I spent $2000 fixing this I may need to complete the same repairs again or replace the balance shaft module which would be several thousand dollars. I also discovered that vw has upgraded the design of the balance shaft/oil pump drive so obviously they know this is a problem. I've read that I was rather lucky, it is entirely possible that I could have suffered a catastrophic loss of oil pressure and had the engine seize up, which could be deadly. I'm basically just afraid to drive my car now.
I have a 2005 passat tdi that had its balance shaft module and chain that drive the oil pump fail at 92,000 miles. It happened while I was driving on a two lane road and I had to stop the car on the side of the road. The mechanic that is doing the job is charging me $1500 for the repair and the parts are about $1300. I have started to research this failure and have found out that it is quite common and vw has not done a recall to repair the problem the federal safety agency should look into this and force vw to recall these cars for they are a safety hazard on the road.
There is a problem with the bhw engine in my 2005 passat tdi the balance shafts in this engine are driven by a chain off the motor, which also drives the oil pump. This unfortunate design subjects the chain to stresses it cannot withstand. On various tdi forums, especially tdiclub.com, there are a significant number of chain failures being reported. Of course, when the chain driving the oil pump fails, the engine is starved of essential lubrication. If the failure of the chain causes engine to stop running in the middle of traffic, merging onto a highway, or passing on the highway, this condition could easily cause danger to all citizens nearby, possibly leading to death. Recently, volkswagen in europe recognized the problem and designed a repair, which changes the chain driven oil pump to a gear driven oil pump. This appears to be a permanent fix to the original design defect. The repair is quite expensive. When the chain fails, the parts to repair cost approximately $1800 plus approximately another $1500 in labor bills to have the parts installed. If the engine is destroyed, it will cost the owner approximately $8000 to replace the engine. This is unacceptable. I believe it is now obvious that all the bhw engines will fail unless the gear driven oil pump modification is undertaken. It is unfair to expect owners of these vehicles to pay for the repairs. The problem originated with a flawed design. This is not a small problem, as this design flaw will lead to total engine failure. My vehicle is currently experiencing severe noise oscillations that is attributed to imminent failure of the aforementioned chain assembly. Thus, I must pay to repair this design flaw before it can cause an accident. So far, volkswagen of america has not provided adequate support for resolving this design problem.
Vehicle affected is a 2004-2005 volkswagen passat tdi equipped with a 2.0l diesel engine. Codedbhw. The oil pump balance shaft module and chain are week in design and are failing without any warning to the driver. When this failure occur the engine is starved of oil and internal failure is imminent. Safety of operation becomes compromised at this point since an engine failure at highway speeds removes all power steering and braking features and the driver is along for the ride until getting the vehicle to a stop by use of e-brake or other speed reducing maneuvers and hopefully avoiding a collision. This failure is being reported at a broad range of mileage starting with 45,000 and up. Its main sign is a loud chain rattle or abnormal vibration while at idle. Volkswagen has issued an upgraded part but no further guidance was issued. There are no recalls or warranty repairs as of right now. All owners are upgrading there vehicles with a gear driven assembly at a price tag for the repair of $3000.
My vw passat wagon gls tdi (diesel) engine has been making a loud noise and vibration at stop over the last year and worsened until I had it repaired. I took it to an independent auto shop and was told the chain driven oil pump and tensioners were making the noise. The brilliant mechanic replaced the parts with a gear driven oil pump and the vibrations and noise stopped. I think this is a design flaw and should be recalled by vw. The mechanic said that the oil pump chain tensioners were close to breaking.
2005 vw passat tdi heater core failure, a common vw recall problem.
Nvs-216 mec and ref. # is 10257848 vw 2005 passat tdi balance shaft replacement this was a very expensive repair($3200)ot avoid a catastrophic failure of the engine at any speed that could result in total lose of control. This is a design flaw by vw and should be replace at their cost!
Excessive noise from oil pump, chain unit, and chain (and possibly balance shaft) due to original equipment design. I believe a failure is imminent and within 100 miles. Failure of the balance shaft assembly and the engine oil pump system drive can lead to catastrophic engine failure with loss of oil pressure, broken oil pan, broken front engine seal flange, and damaged crankshaft. This can result in damage to the extent that the engine must be replaced. If this occurs while the vehicle is in traffic, it can lead to a collision with injuries or deaths. My vehicle is still under warranty, however, it is unclear that the extensive parts and labor to repair will be corrected by vw dealer due to the limited number of vehicles such as this in north america.
The balance shafts in this engine are driven by a hex shaft off the chain driven oil pump. This unfortunate design subjects the chain to stresses it cannot withstand. My own passat had the oil pump and balance shaft replaced 2/16/09 with less than 65,000 miles. Thankfully, a good mechanic detected the problem before I had a catastrophic engine failure. A $3,500 repair is never welcome, but it was better than replacing the engine like the vw dealer recommended. I did a lot of research on this problem and inquired at several vw dealerships and chose the most experienced man to do the job. Recently, volkswagen in europe recognized the problem and designed a repair which changes the chain driven oil pump to a gear driven oil pump. This appears to be a permanent fix to the original design defect. The repair is quite expensive. Parts will cost in excess of $1,400 and labor will be in excess of $1,200 at most shops. I believe it is now obvious that all the bhw engines will fail unless the gear driven oil pump modification is undertaken. It is unfair to expect owners of these vehicles to pay for the repairs. The problem originated with a flawed design. This is not a small problem, as this design flaw will lead to total engine failure. My wife normally drives the car and she should not be put through this. If the failure of the chain causes engine to stop running in the middle of traffic, merging onto a highway, or passing on the highway, this condition could easily cause danger to all citizens nearby, possibly leading to death. I would like to know what steps volkswagen of america is taking to inform 2004 and 2005 passat tdi owners of this problem. Good corporate citizenship would recognize a problem of this severity and should be communicated to the owners as soon as possible. These engine failures could leave motorists stranded under dire circumstances and their safety is at risk.
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