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Comments
OUCH!!!!
Sorry to hear that...
The dealer took you for a ride. I just had the coolant temp sensor replaced on my wife's 2003 Passat GLS 1.8T at a private mechanic (specializing in VWs) for $96 (OEM parts and labor). I only take the car to the dealership for oil changes and recalls.
1. I really like the Passat versus the Accord. Price-wise, a comparable Accord tends to have 100k+ miles, but usually has had the timing belt replaced. Which is the better decision?.
2. What is the likelihood that I'll need to replace the timing belt if I own the car from 67k miles at a maximum of 73k miles over the next year?
Thanks for your help!
What area of the country do you live in?
If I were you, I would get it replaced immediately. The factory timing belts on pre 2001.5 Passats (1998 through early 2005) were designed to last 60,000 miles.
The newer timing belts today are designed to go at least 100,000 miles. So my advice to you is to get the timing belt replaced now - to be on the safe side.
Normally, on the 2001.5 Passats, the water pump (with a plastic impeller) has to be changed every time you change your timing belt, but since you have a 1999, your water pump is the older (and more durable) all-aluminum design which will last at least 180,000 miles.
Bottom line - inform the seller you will either pay the $7,000 (provided they have the timing belt changed) or you will offer $6,000 and get the timing belt changed yourself.
If you don't feel comfortable with either option, then I would look elsewhere for a car purchase.
HTH, & Good Luck...
Wow, my last Audi had to use the equivalent of holy water in its cooling system and it had to he changed every 2 yrs or so. Even the domestics require changin coolant after 5 years and thats considered long life.
I know in the 80s BMW got into trouble for having ridiculous maintenance costs. To combat that they started to include maintenance for the first few years. Then I think they realized how expensive it was, and they started to eliminate maintenance items like transmission and differential fluid changes, and much less frequent oil changes, etc. I don't think I would buy a post-E46 BMW because of this. I didn't realize VW did it too.
1998 through 2005 Passat powertrains are basically Audi components - and as such they tend to charge accordingly for maintenance...
Home-Link buttons replaced 2X
Rubber molding on the door handles rubbing off
Windshield drain clogged up and had to be cleaned
Brake Pads replaced
I'll be honest, I was surprised that it has been this reliable - but that's a good thing.
The country of origin was Germany, Emden plant.
As for their other models, my wife and I will still steer clear of them....
;-)
Brake pads are wear item and I would not count them as repair.
Krzys
Expected the initial repairs-
replaced passenger side tie rods because the car kept bumping on something.
leaks fluid all the time, usually oil.
then did the whole timing belt, serpentine belt, thermostat, water pump, valve cover gasket and the rest in that area, cost $2000 at dealer. but after that repair supposedly according to an independent mechanic, dealer forgot to put the belly pan back and forgot some clips on some hoses. took it back to the dealer, they say it could have fallen out at some point! yea right!
leaking stopped for a while, now it still leaves small spots.. thats fine with me
now at 144k miles i need a lot of suspension parts up front. I noticed the problem when I heard clicking sounds usually when i turn at low speeds. Then the problem worsened to a point where i thought i was driving the flinstones car with the square tires. need both axle CV shafts, ball joints, tie rods (again? but im thinking its the outer driver side this time)
$1600 dollars is where I am at right now at the independent mechanic.
And then Ive had that transmission problem that was posted before where the car hesitates to kick down a gear on an automatic trans, when i try to accelerate (problem goes away if i floor it- i usually switch it to triptronic and shift down usually to fix the problem before i actually damage something).. but the problem is pretty rare so i havent done much about it. I know I sound like I dont take care of problems till it all goes wrong, but I am a college student and I might as well be driving a brand new bmw 3-series off a cliff every year, considering how much i spend on college.
So I was wondering, other than what im thinking is that transmission module, how much more money do you think I could put into this car? Is it time to sell or is this car going to do well, now that I have replaced most of the faulty parts?
You're definitely in luck. Rapid Parts over in Rockland County is a place I highly recommend that specializes in VWs and Audis. I've been dealing with them for over 10 years. Here's the link:
http://rapidparts.com
Here's the link for directions to the facility:
http://rapidparts.com/rpeContactUS.aspx
any help would be appreciated...
thanks.
Good luck with the battery exchange.
I had the car battery replaced (aftermarket) on my 2003 Passat and now pushing the unlock button twice on the remote doesn't unlock the passenger doors anymore...
The radio still works, as does the single touch windows and truck release, but no more passenger door unlock.
Suggestions?
Thanks,
- Erik
1) You've got a water intrusion problem in the passenger compartment. Pull out all of the mats and thoroughly check the carpeting to see if any of it is wet. Water can enter the car if the drain plugs for the sunroof are clogged or, more probably, if the drains in the air plenum (under the hood where the battery lives) are clogged. Water gets in through the HVAC system.
2) Your heater core is leaking coolant.
3) Your A/C condensate drain is clogged.
I'm thinking #1 is most likely since this is a relatively well-known and not uncommon occurrence, but you should check the coolant level to be safe.
Read this link for some ideas on how to check and clean the plenum drains:
http://www.weirdlittlebiscuit.com/passat/leak/index.htm
If you find water in the interior floor carpets, you may want to check into the condition of your CCM (comfort control module) and TCM (transmission control module). Both of these live in wells under the carpet in the front. Neither takes well to being immersed in water. Good luck.
Best Regards,
Shipo
thanks for your post. am having the same problem and think it is related to the fender well not being properly fastened to the skid plate. am looking for good place to purchase new fender wells and fasteners. any ideas??
Thanks,
deano135
Even now, I check those nipples to make sure they are dripping when ever I get out of the car while it is raining....
I'm posting in regards to my 2001 VW Passat 1.8L Turbo.
I will simply list all the issues with my car and I am hoping to get advice on whether or not to sell it or pay for repairs.
Right and Left Outer CV Boots Torn : $750
Timing Belt and Tensioner due to Oil Leak : Oil Soaked Timing Belt and all drive belts cracking: $795
Engine Oil Shield Damaged and L/R wheel liners damaged: $585
On top of those I'm scheduled to have my oil leak $350, fixed at the end of this month.
Bottom line is I can't afford all of these repairs. I'm a college student keeping afloat by student loans.
I researched the kelley blue book values of this car. Around $8,000 private sale around $6000 trade in.
The issue is that I need a car. So do I try to sell this one and use the money to find a better condition used car (if so, what would people recommend) or do I go ahead and pay for these repairs?!
I don't know much about cars, repairs or sales so any advice would be appreciated!
Thank you for your time.
They keep putting on new parts. So far they have replaced both water pumps.3 sensors.and a new radiator 2 CO2 test both negative.. also put on a newexpansion tank and they still tell me they are not sure what is wrong.
Please help me.
Carol
The fan (well noise) is located (when standing at the front of the care) to the left of the engine underneath the air intake hood. Anyone know what it is and/or how to fix it? thanks.
I meant to say they did two seperate CO2 test.
A CO2 test is a sniffer that detects exhaust fumes in the coolant.They also did one on the exhaust,looking for coolant in the exhaust fumes. Said they did not find any .
Thanks in advance!
the car as been running great for the 4 years i have had it not ever put a spanner on apart from the timing belt was done by vw 7 months ago serviced done by my self on the intervals .synthetic oil used all the time .passed every mot emissions perfect below 1% till a about 2 months ago it starting losing power for no reason on acceleration ,it would go from normal drive power to only doing about 70 miles and hour ..i when out the other day and its started fine till i reversed off the driven and it cut out for no reason ans its not started since.
problems to start with
the fuel line pump for some reason has air bubbles in the clear plastic pipe just by the pump ,this was happening when they tried to start the car the other day .with the above diagnosed problem ,apparently if the n75 sensor is faulty it will not affect the car from starting .and if the turbo was faulty this would also not cause the car not to start .because you don't use the turbo and till you put power on the throttle .
.i have taken the fuel filter off the car and its not even half full ,turned the car over and its no fuel getting through to the filter or coming through pipes ,but i have quarter of tank of diesel ..???????? i was told to hold the 2 diesel pipes in a separate container of diesel to by pass the tank for possible air intake leaks,i have no success in doing this as the pump still wont pick up the fuel from the by pass container tempory tank,there is lots of bubbles still in the clear pipe when i do this ,do i tried to bleed the fuel today get the pump the fuel dose pick up but still has lots of air /bubbles in line ??????eis the the pump the suspected
problem .because i have been told that the pump if there is not enough fuel getting through this will cause the same problems as the first problem
its belching whitish smoke but it do sort of clear when on idle .the car is very hard to start or turn over . because the car have been standing for a few days and we have been trying to start it and took some time to get it to go because when the guy was putting easy start in the pipe for sometime the accelerator was not responding till the burned fuel was burned off its very had to explain .the turbo is making a very strange clicking noise but you only here this noise twice and then the car runs fine and till you take your foot of the accelerator again its just whitish smoke not oil coming out of the exhaust just soot ,the car will not start since green flag got it to go .
as any one had this problem with type of car before.
thanks alan
Now soon after I bought it, my car began slipping gears. It got so bad I had to shift manually. It was never in the right gear, sometimes it would pull out of an interesection in 3rd gear and just dog along. I discovered the only way to make my car run correctly, was to floor it. As odd as that sounds, every time I floored my car it stopped slipping gears, stopped slamming into gears, and ran fine. I no longer had to manually shift it. So i thought I was alright.
Well about a week ago my car started doing something else. It stopping shifting right altogether. It wouldn't go out of first gear until (according to the RPM gage on the dashboard) it hit bewteen 40 RPM's and 45 RPM's. But it has quit slipping gears. Then between 2nd and 3rd gear, it wouldn't shift until it hit around 50 RPM's. Even then it was sometimes a fight to get it into 3rd. The ONLY way to get it to shift is - you guessed it - flooring it. Once I did that it would go into the right gear, and not mess up, and continually shift correctly until I stopped the vehicle.
Now the computer in my vehicle was thinking that every time I hit the gas on my car, that I was flooring it. When I actually did put the pedal to the medal it seemed to override that and run properly. It got continually confused, sometimes on my dashboard all the gears would highlight like my car didn't know what gear it was in. Also, when i pulled out from places or headed uphill, it would jerk forward and back for a few seconds until I floored it. It was explained to me that this computer thought I was hitting the brake and gas at the same time to cause that effect. Now my mechanic has replaced this computer, which resolved some of the problems, but my car is still not sure what gear to go in or what gear it is in. Has anyone else had this problem or one similiar to it? Or perhaps know what could be wrong? I appreciate any response!