Volkswagen Passat (2005 – 2011) Review

• March 2005: New Passat unveiled
• January 0001: New Passat launch list prices
• November 2005
• November 2006: Volkswagen revealed the Passat R36
• March 2007: Passat BlueMotion revealed
• June 2007
• March 2008
• April 2008
• September 2008: Passat BlueMotion 2 launched
• November 2008
• May 2009: R-Line model added
• September 2009
• November 2009: Passat Highline Plus added

01-01-0001:

Spate of problems with PAS rack, replaced under warranty. Software problem with electro-hydraulic power steering system.

Emissions sensor fault putting 2.0TDI PDs into limp home mode. Stopping and switching off re-sets, but can happen 3 times on a 90 mile motorway journey. Dealer software download cures. PD injector failures starting to occur by October 2009 on TDI PD 170s at just over 3 years old.

'Clutch judder' (actually from failing dual mass flywheel) increasingly common on diesels, especially after around 70,000 + miles.

Faults reported in 6 weeks ownership of one new Passat 2.0TDI: trim squeak from unattached wiring loom; rattle from poorly attached engine undertray; self opening boot lid due to fault with locking ECU in drivers door (common problem: by March 2007 the parts needed to fix this were on back order and some cars off the road awaiting parts); rattle from badly fitted ABS wheel sensor; non self folding mirror due to wrong replacement door ECU being fitted; battery leakdown due to fault with satnav.

1.6 FSI engine noisy. Radiator failed early on and had to be replaced.

Wet footwells due to condensation drip tube from a/c being plumbed to drip into the car instead of outside.

Early 2.0TDI DSGs suffer from ECU programming that reduces torque from standstill so acceleration very poor initially until hits peak torque and suddenly accelerates. Very dangerous at T junctions and roundabouts.

Wiper motors fail, glow plug lights come on (requiring software update), electrics go dead requiring disconnection of the battery positive terminal, wait 5 minutes, then re-connect.

Continued reports of battery failures due to leakdowns. Battery drain caused by radio. If you don't leave a CD in the player, then it randomly thinks you've inserted one, then decides you haven't, and then switches the radio on. You then find the car in the morning either with with the radio blaring! or the battery flat. Radio failures common. Replaced under warranty. Switch themselves off for longer & longer periods then revert to OK for a couple of days.

If the car has been standing outdoors in wet weather parking sensors malfunction until dry. Replacing under warranty may being no improvement.

Complaint in February 2008 of failure of fuel tank lifter pumps for 2.0 TDIs and a shortage of replacement parts putting cars off the road for several weeks.

A lot of problems with self-cleaning particulate filters of TDI 170 because of the cycle the car has to be driven through for it to self clean which makes these cars totally unsuitable for city centre use in heavy traffic.

Report from USA of oil pump/balancer shaft chain of 2.0 TDI failing at 80k - 100k miles. Early 2.0TDIs PD 140s and PD 170s with balancer shafts (up to end of 2005) have a chain drive to the oil pump and the chain drive can eventually snap. Later cars have a hexagonal shaft positive drive to the oil pump that is also a problem. Failed oil pump drives totally wreck the engines and if the car has not been 100% VAG maintained, VAG will not pay. Later oil pumps (from 2006) are driven from a balancer shaft via a short hexagonal shaft. The peaks of this hexagonal shaft locate in six corresponding but minute grooves machined within the otherwise circular-bored oil pump drive shaft. Thus, the oil pump drive relies entirely on an interference fit of little more than 0.010" along the peaks of the hexagonal shaft. After about 50,000 miles, the shaft can round off, resulting in a totally destroyed engine and turbo, plus a bill of up to £9,000. If the danger is known and the oil pump is removed by the garage in good time, a new replacement pump will cost over £500, plus the labour etc to remove and refit it. However, it is also possible to save the old pump and modify the drive at a fraction of the cost of a new one. Many local machine shops already have numbers of these pumps in for such rectification, the drive shaft of each having been on the point of rounding off. The non balancer shaft BKD, AZV and BMN 2.0 engines (which found their way into the 2.0 PD Octavia, A3, Golf, and various SEATs) used a chain driven oil pump very similar, but not identical, to the old 1.9 130hp PD engine. This never seems to give any problems. It's the balancer shafts that cause the problems on the 'posher' VAG 2.0 PD diesels eg Passat, A4, Superb. This 2.0 PD differs from the 1.9 in having twin Lanchester balancing shafts which contra-rotate at 2x crank speed. The first engines used a chain drive which was a complete disaster and the later engines a shaft drive. All 2.0 PD got the shaft drive towards the end of 2005. The problem with the 2.0 PD engine is the drive from the slave balancer shaft to the oil pump, which is a piece of 6 AF hexagonal bar that has inadequate engagement depth with the grooves in the slave shaft. It's the torsional oscillations caused by the balance shafts which destroy the oil pump coupling (the 6mm AF bit of hex) and the chain drive to the balancer shafts before the gear driven systems came out, though these still give problems with the hex key rounding. This creates a lack of concentricity of the drive socket into which the drive rod/hex fits. Checking shows that all the drive sockets in the failed units were off centre by at least 0.1mm. All the replacement balancer units were dead centre and have not led to a repeat failure. Some replacement balancer units have now done 100k+ miles. You will probably get this problem at some point if you have a 2006-2008 Passat 2.0TDi with balancer shafts. If your 2.0TDi does NOT have balancer shafts, you will be ok. If you fit the lastest balancer shaft/ pump assembley from VAG it will more than likely cure the problem for life as they have made the hex longer and centered it all properly. CR piezo injected engines are safe. Anything before that, Audi/VAG wont say when they started to fit the modified units that work properly.

Same door locking windows opening fault as on old Passat due to water ingress to the locking ECU in the driver's door or owners misunderstanding the keyfob functions. Tailgate lock of estate also prone to problems.

2005 VW Passat 2.0 TDI, a company car, regularly maintained by Fleet approved garages, 88,000 miles in December 2009 oil pressure warning light came on, oil top up did not help. Garage diagnosed oil pump failure, and when they contacted VW for the replacement part were told that it is a known issue with all VW/Audi 2.0 Turbodiesels and a modified part should be fitted as well as the replacement pump. (possibly referred to the 2005/6 models , not sure). So, new parts fitted £850 plus labour, but of course turbo had failed as well due to oil starvation, so that had to be replaced as well £1200 plus labour.

24-09-2010:

"I drive a 2007 VW Passat 2.0 litre. The parts warranty expired at the end of March this year. The car recently broke down and the cause was a defunct engine control unit and a split manifold inlet pipe which cost me £1501.64 to replace with a VW garage. I was told these are very unusual problems. The warranty had lapsed because the car had done 64,500 miles. (The reader was advised to contact VW customer services for some 'goodwill'.)

22-01-2011:

If ESP/ABS amber warning light comes on intermittently and will not re-set, you might not actually have the ATE Teves Mk 60 ABS/ESP problem. First check circuits and start at the ABS fuse and holder (no 9 on a Golf, on scuttle edge by driver door). Pull it out, have a look and if okay replace it. The warning light may then go out. Sometimes they slip out a bit and become wobbly, which is enough to set off the warning.

13-02-2011:

I drive a 2005/55 VW Passat 2.0 TDI. I have had problems with it since I bought it new in December 2005. It has had all sorts of things wrong with it culminating in a bill of £1361.97 for EXTRA WORK in addition to my 4 year service in December 2009. None of this extra work was covered by the VW extended warranty as I was told it was wear and tear.It has always been serviced at VW. I wrote to VW listing all the history of this car's performance. VW didn't even acknowledge my letter. I did eventually get them by phone but was told it was all wear and tear and that things had been done under the original warranty where applicable. At the above service the car had only done 17,677 miles and the EXTRA WORK was : Replace camshaft drive bely and tensioner. I was told this was recommended as the car was 4 years old. Replace console and wishbone suspension bushes. One of these had been replaced the year before - 3,500 miles earlier. Replace rear tie rods. Replace front brake pads and discs. Carry out air conditioning and brake fluid service. In that 4 year period up to December 2009 the car had been in the VW garage 37 times, including 3½ weeks to cure dampness on front passenger floor, which was done under warranty. It also goes through front tyres every 9,000 miles (I did ask you about this before and you told me why ). Whilst it is true that whilst under the original warranty things were put right I thought they could give me some sort of goodwill contribution as the extra work above seemed unreasonable considering the mileage but they said no.

15-02-2011:

Report of rod through block of 78k mile 2008 1.9TDI 105.

14-07-2011:

Bosch injectors were too expensive and VAG/Siemens thought they could do better. The lever system required to achieve the servo needle travel with a short piezo stack is mind boggling. The failure mode is usually insulation breakdown, which shuts the whole lot down - very dangerous if it occurs in the fast lane of a motorway, robbing the car of power, power steering and power braking.

28-01-2012:

Manufacturer recall to replace Siemens Piezoelectric injectors of 2006 - 2009 2.0 TDI BMN engines. All the injectors from the the 2.0 TDI PD engines that use piezoelectric Siemens injectors and Siemens ECUs are affected by this problem. The most problems are on the Passat BKD 2.0 TDI 140HP. No problem from 2009 and the introduction of the common rail 2.0 TDI engine (CEGA).

14-02-2012:

From Gary the Taxi Driver: " I bought my 57 plate Passat at 11 months old from main dealer with 10k, VW demonstartor serviced by them since. I have had major problems since day 1 and briefly almost all major components have been replaced, i.e. engine, gearbox, turbo and various others. It has now done 156k and the injectors were replaced today after I took it in for the DPF light coming on. Never knew about injector problems before, so was pleased about that. Then they told me I would have to pay £1,700 for new DPF. In May 2011 I spent £1,800 on replacing EGR valve and exhaust manifold and various pipes and other stuff."

18-04-2012:

Taxi driver reported being billed for 3 hours labour at £92 an hour to find reason why his instruments went out when it shoiuld have been obvious from the beginning that the fault was with the final drive speed sensor.

23-05-2012:

Report of heater motor of 2008 Passat failing first after two years, then again in May 2008 by which time it was out of warranty and VW would only contribute a small amout of 'goodwill'.

13-06-2012:

Report that replacement injectors under the recall leads to a small but significant improvement in economy.

16-07-2012:

DPFs of diesels can be coming to the end of their days after about 6 years.

30-07-2012:

Siemens Piezoelectric injector recall on 2006 - 2009 2.0 TDI BMN engines seems to be causing problems with DPFs. Several reports of this .

07-08-2012:

News of another catastrophic oil pump drive failure, on a 113k mile 2005 2.0TDI.

08-08-2012:

Further news of yet another oil pump drive failure, on a 117k mile 2005 TDI, quoted £1,800 to fix.

10-08-2012:

Report of 25k mile 4 year old Passat 1.4TSI estate that needed a new clutch, electric parking brake switch (that caused the clutch to fail) and rear door lock after 2 year European warranty expired.

18-08-2012:

Owner of 2008 Passat notified of the need to replace "front console bushes" at a cost of £446.40 as an advisory after the car's 30,000 mile service.

18-09-2012:

Failed electric power steering on 2007 Passat. S ervice action campaign put in place in North America for this fault SA4815. In the UK VW owners are asked to fork out £450 to repair it.

02-10-2012:

2009 diesel had injector problems not covered by warranty.

18-12-2012:

Successive clutch and Dual Mass Flywheel failures reported at 43k miles then again at 58k miles. 'Driver error' blamed.

19-12-2012:

Oil light (denoting oil pump failure) reported on 61k mile 2007 VW Passat 2.0TDI.

26-12-2012:

Rear spring of 59 reg Passat snapped after car has been standing outside in the owner's driveway for a couple of days.

07-01-2013:

Report of poorer fuel economy of 75k mile 2007 TDI 170DSG after DPF was replaced. Down from around 42mpg and 46-52 on a long run to 39mpg and 45mpg on a run. Probably due to more fuel being used to regenerate the new DPF.

15-03-2013:

Yet another report of failed electric parking brake with cheeky VW dealer demanding an outrageous £119 just to look at it. Reader demanded a VOSA safety recall.

10-08-2013:

On 91k mile 2006 Passat estate, left in a garage in the South of France for several months, both rear coil springs shattered the first time the car was moved.

18-09-2013:

Report that front wings of 2005 Passats are now rusting through and VW is offering 50% of the £1,000 dealer cost of rectification, despite the 10 year 'no perforation' warranty.

05-10-2013:

Repeated failure of a/c compressor (three times) in 2008/58 Passat TDI 140, now at 50k miles.

18-01-2014:

Another oil pump drive failure, this on a 68k mile 2008 Passat 2.0 TDI auto.

04-02-2014:

Another failed parking brake calliper motor notified, this on a 2008 Passat 1.9 TDI.

28-03-2014:

On 35k mile 2011 Passat 1.9 TDI BlueMotion service report stated 'lower arm suspension bushes starting to split'. VW dealer told the owner "it's not unusual." (See 18-8-2012. 'Front Console Bushes'.)

09-04-2014:

2007/57 Passat showing lumps and excessive wear on inside tread of rear tyres. Two ex-VAG mechanics diagnosed faulty rear wishbone design and poor top bracket on dampers.

26-04-2014:

Engine seizure reported in 65k mile 2009 VW Passat 2.0 TDI Highline. Cost of repair quoted at £7,000 (the value of the car). Suspect oil pump drive failure.

06-05-2014:

Alarm fault reported on 2006 Passat 2.0 TSI that so far had cost £800 to fix and not been fixed.

02-06-2014:

Rust-through is an increasing problem on Passat, particularly on front wings, but also on tailgates. Water seems to get trapped in the area of the rear number plate lights on hatches of B7 estates. The cars carry a 12 year no rust-through warranty, but the response from dealers and Volkswagen is patchy. (See 8-3-2013.)

05-06-2014:

Electric parking brake fault on seven year old Passat leading to massive electrical fault requiring a £2,000 "behind the dashboard" repair.

27-06-2014:

Report of LED rear lights of Volkswagen dealer maintained 4-year old Passat failing and investigation showing that all feeds supplies and earths to lamps required replacing. Not covered by goodwill.

02-03-2015:

"We brought our august 2011 Passat in Feb 2013, 2nd hand from Available Car. It was still under warranty and we took out an extra 2 year extended warranty. Within months the boot would not shut and needed a new catch. The following year we needed a whole new cooling system and cambelt as it developed a leak. This year we now have a failure of the dual mass flywheel, clutch and gearbox. Extensive damage has been caused by debris from driving with a failed DMF (well this is what extended warranty are saying). Our mechanic says he has never seen such damage and failure in 20 odd years. Extended warranty is refusing to pay the £3,000 quoted to repair all damage and failings. We have 59,000 miles on the clock, we don't tow anything and generally just use the car for a round town. I traveled 53 miles the day before the clutch went, I noticed no problems with driving the car at all."

11-04-2015:

Oil light of French owned 2005 Passat 2.0TDI Sportline estate came on indicating loss of oil pressure, diagosed as failure of balancer shaft oil pump drive.

11-04-2015:

Aux belt of 76k mile 2009 Passat 2.0TDI shredded and took out timing belt leading to substantial engine damage. The timing belt had been replaced in September 2014, 5,000 miles previously, and the car had been serviced by the VW franchise in February 2015, no undue wear on aux belt noted.

21-04-2015:

Another case of a 2009 Passat TDI 170 alternator belt coming off then tangling in the timing belt, destroying the engine. This followed a fuel leak from an injector.

25-04-2015:

Diary of disaster of 2007 Passat 2.0TDI bought in August 2013 for £6,800. Over £5,000 spent on repairs. Engine now has low oil pressure failure, the turbo needs replacing and two injectors need replacing, putting the car beyond economic repair.

14-05-2015:

Faults reported on 100k mile 2010 Passat R line estate include: Recent fault (engine management light on, limp driving) diagnosed by VW dealer as needing a new Boost Turbo Actuator valve, but they also flagged a number of wear and tear items inc. rear tyres, brake pads and discs, front shock absorbers. In addition the cambelt replacement is due soon, it needs a service and apparently to replace the rear LEDs (a few have failed) reader needs to stump up £300. So, excluding service and an upcoming DSG oil change he is looking at £1,800. Our advice: sell the car.

11-06-2015:

On a 2007 Passat, offside rear electric parking brake motor housing split allowing ingress of water. Quoted £500 to replace.

28-09-2015:

Problems with 2007/57 Passat 2.0TFSI bought in November 2014 for £5,400. First noticed a a judder when engine was iding. All injectors replaced under warranty. Judder continued. Mass airflow sensor checked. Judder continued. Eventually discovered that the valves of this direct injected engine had coked up. Offered physical clean or cheaper chemical clean (£1,200). The chemical clean ('Terraclean'?) did not work. Now faced with rebuild of engine at £3,500. My recommendation is that anyone with this engine runs it only on Shell V-Power Nitro Plus petrol that, while it can't clean the valves as it enters the engine directly, it will clean and keep clean what it can of the combustion chamber and carbon is less likely to build up.

26-11-2015:

Volkswagen announced fix for EA189 1.6TDI and 2.0TDI engines. A “flow transformer” will be fitted directly in front of the air mass sensor on the EA189 1.6TDI engine. This is a mesh that calms the swirled airflow in front of the air mass sensor and will improve the measuring accuracy of the air mass sensor. (The air mass sensor determines the air mass throughput, which is a very important parameter for the engine management for an optimum combustion process.)In addition, a software update will be performed on the 1.6TDI. The workshop time is expected to be less than a hour. The EA189 2.0TDI engines will get a software update. The programming time for this will be around half an hour. The objective is still to achieve the applicable emission targets without any adverse effects on the engine output, fuel economy and performance. However, as all model variants first have to be measured, the achievement of these targets cannot yet be finally confirmed. Based on this, service concepts are currently being developed for all 28 EU markets concerned. The aim is to implement the update in the first vehicles during a recall starting in January 2016. However, to compete the entire recall is likely to take until the end of 2016. Volkswagen will contact all customers and endeavour to consider individual customer needs during the implementation of the recall to avoid any disadvantages for the customer such as possible loss of mobility. All customers will be offered free courtesy cars if required. Since the beginning of October 2015, all Volkswagen customers have been able to check for themselves whether their vehicle is affected by the diesel issue.

03-12-2015:

85k mile 2009 VW Passat EA189 1.6TDI Bluemotion recently increased fuel consumption from 49mpg to 42mpg then DPF light came on. Probably a blocked DPF. Recommended cleaning it by the Ceramex process, then running the car exclusively on Shell V-Power Nitro Plus to keep the fuel system clean and possible benefit from better mpg. Car will be recalled in 2016 for the NOx cheat fix.

06-04-2016:

Report of DSG of 2005 VW Passat slipping out of gear momentarily each time it is driven. Doesn't change down gears; just slips. Probably a failed clutch pack.

13-06-2016:

Intermittent parking brake failure reported on 2007 Passat.

17-06-2016:

Another report of electromechanical parking brake on 2005-2011 Passat jamming solid, this one at just 22k miles. This reader eventually found that the fault was merely with the switch that clicks out of its housing and is easily replaced at a cost of just £7 (Chinese copy part, via eBay).

29-06-2016:

Faulty steering column reported on 2011 VW Passat Bluemotion. T rouble started with yellow warning light when starting the car. Apparently recalled in the USA for this, but not in the UK.

30-06-2016:

VW reported to be buying back emissions defeat Passat TDIs in the USA at the pre-scandal market value.

28-10-2016:

Problems reported after EA189 Emissions Defeat software reprogramming to 2010 VW Passat 2.0TDI estate. Since then the car has noticably reduced MPG and a random shudder, predominantly when travelling between 50-70mph (1600-1800rpm). Dealer mechanic acknowledged he could feel the vibration. Have blamed the injectors.

16-12-2016:

2008 VW Passat 1.9TDI estate threw a rod through the side of the block at 130k miles.

07-01-2017:

Heavy oil consumption of 1,000 miles per litre reported from 80,000 mile Volkswagen Passat EA888 1.8TSI despite regular dealer servicing.

22-02-2017:

2008 VW Passat 2.0TDI went in to dealer for EA189 NOx emissions fix first week of February. Now has engine fault workshop symbol lighting up on the dash the cool light was flashing when this was signaled and the engine light is now on. Independent garage diagnostics showed throttle body faults. He cleared them but within 5 mins of driving they all the faults came back. Back to VW dealer on 203r who diagnosed faulty throttle valve and agreed as a 'goodwill' gesture to fit a new valve. Told owner fault was caused by oil leak into multi plug.

29-03-2017:

PD injectors of 2007 Passat 2.0TDI failed.

04-04-2017:

Report of post NOx emissions fix problems with 90,000 mile 2010 VW Passat TDI. Since fix had amber warning lights 5 times. First was a glow plug (on from collecting the car from the fix). Within 200 miles EGR light came on. Dealer fixed it with 90% discount and has now offered to refund the 10%. 3 DPF lights cleared after a run. My mpg has gone from over 60 mpg to 50 mpg due to increased active regenerations. Dealer had car last week for a minor adjustment (which took 3 hours).

20-06-2017:

Catastrophe reported after NOx emissions fix to EA189 TDI in 2010 VW Passat at 102,000 miles. One month later it went into limp mode so was taken to a local VW dealer in Stratford on Avon. It took 4 days for VW to advise them on the repair strategy. First to change the EGR valve, which gave no cure. Next the harness was changed at a charge of £280 with no cure, followed by a new ECU at £1,200. The car started but then cut out. So they changed the EGR valve again (no charge). Next problem was "cranking on starting" which needed a new throttle body at £240. In total this all took 4 weeks. The dealer asked VW for a contribution but after one week got no response.

17-07-2017:

Report of 2010 VW Passat TDI engine stopping and yellow engine shaped light coming on. Fault was that both outlet and intake manifold flap position sensors were faulty. Replacing the outlet sensor (expensive ) has got the car running very well again, but yellow engine shaped light remains illuminated. The replacement part for the Intake Manifold Flap Sensor is not a unit on its own that can be detached and replaced. It is built into a section of engine that comes with it making it an extremely expensive spare part to purchase and replace.

17-07-2017:

Report of NOx emissions fix to VW Passat B6 EA189 TDI causing the EGR cooler to fail and the engine to lose its coolant that then led to total engine failure. Advised to sue the dealer who did the workin Small Claims to either replace the engine or pay market value for the car.

04-03-2018:

Report of " spending a fortune keeping my 2008 2.0 Passat 2.0TDI 170 estate on the road and now faced with another £2K’s worth of work."

05-04-2018:

No official word from VAG, but ECU testing believes that the DQ200 7-speed dry cutch Mechatronics control box was finally re-engineered in 2016. This DSG 7 control unit is a common failure with engines under 2.0 litres on the VW Passat (2007 - 2010)

01-07-2018:

Report of "quite extreme juddering at tick over" of Passat. Owner had it serviced at a cost of £600 and mentioned the juddering, but VW dealer failed to find the cause and wrote on the service report that timing belt needed replacing aty the next annual service. Timing belt then snapped. We advised owner this was wholly the responsibility of the servicing dealer who then replaced the complete cylinder head and timing belt and finally identified the juddering at tick-over as caused by high and low pressure rail valve regulators. Car finally delivered back to owner at no cost to him together with a bottle of Moet.

22-01-2019:

Wear of inside edge of rear tyres of 2010 VW Passat Highline Plus TDI DSG estate just less than half way across the tyres put down to worn rear coil speings and dampers.

22-02-2019:

Report of 2005/55 VW Passat 2.0TDI finally biting the dust at 177k miles. Owner for 30 months. At the end of December 2018, ownerhad the DMF replaced which, with a service, cost almost £1400. We have now been advised that a 'Cam Shaft Crank Sensor' needs replacing (which VW advises is actually TWO different parts) at a quoted cost of £700, due to the gearbox requiring removal. Combine these two with the imminent requirement to replace the cam belt/water pump and owner could be looking at repairs in excess of £2.5k this year, before the MoT.