[Tanveer_2558]

Originally Posted by rpunwani

I have also got an email asking me to bring my Passat for an update. I replied to them asking for details of engine power/torque curves before and after the software update. No reply from them till date.

Don't even expect a reply from their end, Service centre chap have no idea about the software update and what does it do, All they have been told is get it done to as many car's and as fast as possible, They will never agree there has been a change in the power output and actually detecting a power change is almost impossible while driving inside the city, However head on the highways and things changed and you do feel the engine is now being restricted and doesn't pull like before.

[fordfreak]

Coolant leakage - AGAIN!

Less than 8 months after the last occurrence, it has happened again.

Had taken the Passat to work since my City had gone for servicing. At the end of the day, I got in to go home and was greeted with the low coolant warning when I started the car. I opened the bonnet to check the level and was horrified to find almost no coolant in the tank! I spoke to the service adviser and was told that I could top up the tank with water and drive for a short distance. Managed to make it home without any trouble.

Got in touch with Tata AIG for getting my car towed to the Volkswagen workshop. The experience with them was pretty good. This is the first time I have ever had to use road side assistance. I fixed up with them to have my car towed from my residence at 10 AM in the morning. Though the flat-bed was late by 40-45 mins, the driver who came was very polite and seemed to know quite a bit about cars. He was careful in loading my car onto the truck and secured it properly before heading on his way.

The service adviser got in touch with me after receiving the car and seemed pretty puzzled as to why this problem had resurfaced. I patiently heard him out and am now waiting for the diagnosis to be completed by tomorrow evening. He checked my car's history and confirmed this issue had occurred (April 2015, August 2016 and now in March 2017) before as well. They will be looking for the cause and I will have to pay if it is something new. Though I have a gut feeling that it is the same thing as before. Incase it is the same issue as before, he said that he would discuss with the management about carrying out the work FOC.

What I am more interested in, is getting a permanent solution to this headache! Never have I had so many issues with Japanese cars that we have owned. What use is the German 'tank-like' build if the tank conks off in the battlefield?

Will update once I get more news from the workshop.

[fordfreak]

Coolant Leakage - Update

I got a call back on the 10th of March with an update on my car. The water pump seems fine and isn't the source of the leak. This time, it seems that the radiator is the culprit. They will have to replace the radiator to fix the car. Repairing it isn't possible (so they say). Not surprisingly, the part isn't in stock. Another 10-12 days before the car is roadworthy again.

They gave me a quote of about 19K to fix the car. I have given them the go-ahead to carry out the work. According to them, the damage may have been caused by a hit to the chin. There are small scrape marks on the front bumper chin (see pictures), but I don't understand how something that looks so minor can damage the radiator to this extent.

I felt bad for the service adviser who almost seemed to be pleading with me when I berated Volkswagen cars about their reliability. He said that even he was feeling awful about the problems we faced, but they too were providing all the support they can. I kind of agree with him, but my point being that I don't want a car that keeps conking off. The Passat is a fantastic car to drive, but my Altis is the one I can trust in any environment. Dad blew a fuse when I gave him the full story, swearing about sticking to a Honda or Toyota for all future purchases (I kind of feel the same way too). I briefly contemplated exchanging the Passat with a Camry or even an Accord if the cost made sense.

With just about 43K kilometers on the ODO, I have lost count of the times my car has visited the service center for issues other than a scheduled service or accident repair.

Attaching the pictures sent to me by the service adviser. Sorry for the poor quality of the pictures.

Coolant leaking from the radiator

[fordfreak]

Got the car back....finally!

I'm not going to make this post very long, so just summarizing my latest experience with the authorized service center below.

• 9th March - Car towed to Volkswagen Authorized Service Center. The details of the problem have been described in earlier posts, so not going into that again.
• 10th March - Service Adviser (SA) rings me with the diagnosis. The given repair time-line is about 10-12 days waiting for the arrival of parts and 1 day to carry out the repair work.
• 20th March - I call the SA asking him for an update on my car. He doesn't have any new information, only adding that the parts are on the way.
• 21st March - I call again asking if the parts have arrived. I am informed that the parts should have arrive the previous night, but have not. No estimate given as to when would they arrive or where they are. I request them to provide me with a loaner car for the time being, which he said he would put through and get back to me.
• 22nd March - Since I got no updated from the SA the entire day, I called him around 7 PM. He told me that no loaner vehicle is available and that loaner vehicles are given to customer's whose car is off the road due to an accident. Funnily enough when my car was off the road due to an accident about 2 years ago, I was told that loaner vehicles are given to customer's whose car is off the road due to mechanical issues for which there has been a delay in supplying the necessary parts. I made the SA aware of this, to which he had no answer.
• 23rd March - About an hour after I tried contacting the Service Head at the workshop (no reply on his phone and no call back), my SA called me saying that the parts have arrived and that the car 'should' be ready by the evening of the next day.
• 24th March - Car supposed to be ready today. I get a call in the afternoon from the SA, saying that one of the delivered parts is wrong and he will need one more day to get the correct part. The car will be ready the next day.
• 25th March - I don't get any call/update throughout the day. I get an email with the final bill attached at around 8:30 PM.
• 27th March - I get a call from the SA around 10 AM, informing me that the car is ready. Car finally returned in the afternoon.

Planning to write a stinker to VW about the whole experience. I don't expect anything to be done about it, nor will I bother following up thereafter. I have better things to do with my time.

I threw the idea of swapping the Passat for a Camry or even the facelifted Altis to my family. Will be waiting and watching for the moment before taking any decision.

Since it's less than 24 hrs that I got the car back, so I can't say much about it. But as of now it's working fine. Since I have owned the Passat, it must have cumulatively spent over 3 months at the workshop waiting for parts or being repaired (not counting the time it spent 2.5 months after an accident).

[fordfreak]

Never ending gremlins:-

With a little over 580 kilometers since my last workshop visit about a month ago, a few more gremlins have reared their head. Though in this case, the problems may be arising due to the shoddy work done at the authorized workshop (I'm just guessing at this point), rather than the car.

Bulb-out warning: I got a warning telling me to check the front left fog-lamp bulb. On checking, I found the left cornering bulb to be non-functional. Decided to have it changed at the next opportunity I got. In the midst of all this, I had received a call from the SA who had looked after my car on the last repair job, asking about my experience and if my car was working fine now. I asked him about the price of a bulb and was told that he would call me back the next day at 11 AM with the information. I'm still waiting over a week later. Thankfully, the bulb came back to life after 2 days and the warning light went away on it's own. I'm guessing it must be just a loose connection.

Windshield washer bottle leak: After spraying my windshield clean, the 'washer fluid low' message popped up. This wasn't anything to worry about as I hadn't topped it up for quite some time. The next day my driver poured about 7 mugs of water into the tank and it still seemed to be empty! It was only then he noticed the waterfall that had formed around the right front corner of the car. Something is causing the water to fall straight out of the bottle. Two possibilities jump out at me; the bottle hasn't been fixed properly if it was taken out during the radiator replacement. Either that, or the technicians may have accidentally poked a hole in it while changing the radiator. I can't think of any other reason this may be happening.

Both these issues aren't major, but I'm going to hazard a guess as to what may have caused this. As my car had had it's radiator replaced last month, the technicians must have disassembled the front of the car (bumper, chin panels, etc.). I'm guessing they haven't put it all back together securely, causing loose connections and leaks. I don't have any proof that this may be the cause, but I won't be surprised if it is so. I have never heard of a windshield washer fluid bottle failing or breaking ever before! At this point I'm too fed up with the service center to even bother getting angry. Will just ask them to get on with the job and give my car back in one piece.

Air-intake cover: As a 'juggad', I have taped up the cover of the air intake to keep it in place. This annoying thing keeps falling off every 2 days no matter how hard I try to fix it securely. Not bothering to ask VW to order in a replacement as I don't want the car to be gone for another 20 days.

Taping the air intake back in place seems to have helped the fuel economy slightly. In bumper-to-bumper city traffic, the MID would show a maximum of 5.5 - 6.2 km/l. Now it has come up to about 7.7 - 8.5 km/l, in the same conditions. We've now racked up 43,5xx kms on the ODO and are having a few creaks and rattles pop up. The left rear door rattles a lot on the move while the driver's door needs some grease in the hinges (you can hear it groan a mile away!). Apart from this the car drives beautifully.

It just goes to show how an incompetent dealer can spoil the joy of owning a car which you really enjoy. Anyway, does anyone have an idea about how much a Camry Hybrid would come for?

[fordfreak]

45,000 KM update:-

Just crossed 45,150 on the ODO and had a few updates to share.

Since the Passat has been chauffeur driven over the last few months, this isn't going to be a very long post as I haven't had any time behind the wheel in it. The car has been in constant use, so I haven't gotten an opportunity to send it to the workshop to have the problems sorted out, which I written about in my previous post.

Over the last 3 days, I've been noticing the ABS and TPMS warnings go off when the car is started for the first time in the morning. These disappear after about 2-3 minutes of driving. I'm guessing one of the ABS sensors is failing. It has been quite some time since this has occurred, so I'm expecting to have to pay for the replacement this time.

I guess I'll wait for it to die before I send it to the dealer. I don't want to send it right now to solve a couple of issues, only to have to send it back in a few days again!

On another note, I'm thinking about a new car (though I doubt anything will materialize before the middle/end of next year). I don't have any particular segment in mind, but looking closely at the Jeep Compass, Toyota Camry (Petrol or Hybrid), Toyota Corolla Altis, Hyundai Elantra, Honda City. Waiting on more news about the Honda Civic too. My second dilemma would be which one to sell?

• City (2010) - Done about 56K and my dad loves driving this and it doesn't have any problem, so may need to keep it longer.
• Altis (2010) - Done about 62K and running like new. Most reliable and trouble free of the pack. Planning on keeping it as long as possible.
• Passat (2011) - Done only 45K but has been the least reliable of the pack. Want to sell it, but love it a lot at the same time as it is a joy to drive and be driven in.
• City (2016) - With 7.5K on the ODO it is brand new, so obviously not.

Will post another update post-repair (not sure when that will be).
Cheers!

[rpunwani]

Fordfreak,

From my experience, if an ABS Sensor fails you will get the usual set of warning lights immediately. So it could be some other fault. May be a good idea to have a scan done to check if there are any faults.

Please note that VW carries a 2 year warranty for the parts they replace. So if you do come up with a sensor fault & the sensor was replaced < 2 years back the replacement should be free.

[fordfreak]

46,000 KM update:-

I had sent my Passat to the dealer on Monday (31st July) to have a number of issues diagnosed/fixed.

Fog lamp warning - I kept getting a warning light on the instrument cluster saying that the front left fog lamp was not working. However, it worked just fine. The problem turned out to be a lose connector which was fixed properly. Problem solved.

Leaking fluid tank - The windshield washer reservoir was leaking like a waterfall. The problem turned out to be a torn pipe which they replaced. Problem solved.

Warning lights - As I thought, all the warning lights lighting up on the dash could only mean a failed ABS sensor. The front right and rear left sensors were replaced and the problem seems to have gone away now. All systems working normally. I had the ABS sensors failing last time in 2013 if I remember correctly.

Leaking windshield - Apparently the front windshield had been leaking. This was an issue I was not aware of. My driver told me that during heavy rains, there would be drops of water trickling along the A-pillar and falling near his feet. For some reason, the seal had been leaking. The problem was fixed by re-sealing the windshield. Since it is monsoon time, I will get to test the repair thoroughly.

Reverse camera - While taking delivery of the car, my driver noticed the camera wasn't working. The SA got the technician to check it and found that the control unit had malfunctioned due to water leakage and subsequent rusting. We suspect the rubber seal near the boot hinge to be the probably source of the leak. I have asked the SA to order the parts (will arrive in about 15 days). Going to cost me around 35K-40K to fix this.

Air filter - My fuel economy had dropped drastically. The SA said that the air filter had become clogged and he has had it cleaned up. I found this very surprising since I had my car serviced in December and there is still another 5 months left before my next service is due. Will watch and see if there is any improvement.

My overall service experience was much better this time. The total bill came to about 17K and the work was done on time. The SA seemed to always be on his toes whenever I called. I don't know if it has something to do with my complaints from my last visit (he was the same person who looked after my car then).

Will hopefully have my reverse camera up and running after 2 weeks.

Cheers!

[driven646]

Originally Posted by fordfreak

46,000 KM update:-

I had sent my Passat to the dealer on Monday (31st July) to have a number of issues diagnosed/fixed.

My overall service experience was much better this time. The total bill came to about 17K and the work was done on time. The SA seemed to always be on his toes whenever I called. I don't know if it has something to do with my complaints from my last visit (he was the same person who looked after my car then).

Will hopefully have my reverse camera up and running after 2 weeks.

Cheers!

Interesting thread for me to follow as a fellow Passat owner (Bought in October 2011, Comfortline trim).

I've now done about 66K and fortunately had no issues at all thus far - the only niggle i had was about 2 yrs ago when the dash lit up showing a fault with the Traction Control and the auto hold function stopped working.

The fault was traced to a sensor that had come loose - possibly due to the car being driven over very poor roads in the Punjab interiors due to the highways being blocked by protesters over some issue.

No other issues at all otherwise and I continue to really enjoy the car.

I've had all services done thus far at Swami Automobiles in Chandigarh who have now quit as the VW dealer there - Swami has now become a Bosch service dealer.

Haven't visited the new VW Chandigarh dealer as I'm still 9K or 150 days away from the annual service, have been getting calls from Swami - Bosch offering to do an annual service for my out of warranty Passat for 10K vs the average 15K I'd been paying earlier.

[baskar]

Fordfreak - Your reverse camera module looks pretty bad. For me, I am a little bit lucky. After getting it back from the service center, the camera has started working all of a sudden. I tried to engage reverse gear multiple times and it worked every time. Perhaps some connector was loose. The module is kept in the boot RHS behind the trunk cover.
Not planning to change it now. . The same part number was quoted by my dealer also to be changed. Good that I didn't order the part.

[fordfreak]

Originally Posted by baskar

Fordfreak - Your reverse camera module looks pretty bad. For me, I am a little bit lucky. After getting it back from the service center, the camera has started working all of a sudden. I tried to engage reverse gear multiple times and it worked every time. Perhaps some connector was loose. The module is kept in the boot RHS behind the trunk cover.
Not planning to change it now. . The same part number was quoted by my dealer also to be changed. Good that I didn't order the part.

Mine used to go on the blink occasionally, making me think it was a loose connector. Turned out that water had been getting into that area somehow. I will check it out in greater detail, but have asked the SA to order the part.

Check the area around your car's control unit just to be safe. I'm glad that your unit has started working.

[fordfreak]

Camera repaired:-

As detailed in my previous posts, the control module of the reverse camera had been damaged due to moisture and had to be replaced. Without this the reverse camera didn't work and I only had the proximity sensors to help me while parking the car.

I had given the go-ahead to the SA to order the necessary parts and inform me once they arrive. As promised by the dealer, I got a call about 15 days later informing me that the parts had arrived and that I could send my car in the next morning. I gave them the car around 10 AM and got it back by 3:30 PM. The SA tried to sell me some car detailing offer that Volkswagen seems to have going on, which I politely declined. Total damages came to around Rs 41,000.

All systems on the car seem to be running fine now. The only thing that it needs, is a new battery for the key fob (I'll take care of that over the weekend).

[Gannu_1]

Just curious, did they give you the defective stock module back?

PS: Seems it is available for less than 12k for a working second-hand unit imported from Germany. Didn't want the hassles of importing one?

[fordfreak]

Originally Posted by Gannu_1

Just curious, did they give you the defective stock module back?

PS: Seems it is available for less than 12k for a working second-hand unit imported from Germany. Didn't want the hassles of importing one?

Yup. I got the defective unit back. Posted pictures of the same earlier in the thread.

This was a very expensive repair, but couldn't help it. I am not confident about buying used car parts online. Wary of parts turning out to be fake/faulty/damaged/wrong. I wouldn't trust something unless I've personally seen it work.

Plus the job was a little more than just unplug, replace, plug-in; so preferred to have the dealer take care of it. They had asked me to send both the key fobs so that they could update some software/code related thing.

[Prash]

Originally Posted by fordfreak

Camera repaired:-

As detailed in my previous posts, the control module of the reverse camera had been damaged due to moisture and had to be replaced. Without this the reverse camera didn't work and I only had the proximity sensors to help me while parking the car.

I had given the go-ahead to the SA to order the necessary parts and inform me once they arrive. As promised by the dealer, I got a call about 15 days later informing me that the parts had arrived and that I could send my car in the next morning. I gave them the car around 10 AM and got it back by 3:30 PM. The SA tried to sell me some car detailing offer that Volkswagen seems to have going on, which I politely declined. Total damages came to around Rs 41,000.

All systems on the car seem to be running fine now. The only thing that it needs, is a new battery for the key fob (I'll take care of that over the weekend).

Hello,

I use to get warning in the display stating to change remote battery. I changed the key and started using the 2nd remote. Same message flashed in display. So i checked online, saw a video as to how to open the remote and change the battery inside.

I changed it in 1st remote key, which i usually use. The message stopped showing, but after a month or so now, the message has reappeared. I now wonder what the problem is.

If you would know what the problem is.

Thanks