DezlDan
Veteran Member
Just an FYI to everyone re: Passat plenum leaking. I had heard about this issue, but thought it would never happen to me. Why would it, my car only has 34,000 original miles on it and spends 2/3 of the year indoors? Wrong! Went outside a few weeks ago and she had filled up like a bath tub on the passenger side front and rear.
I dug into it and could clearly see water rushing past the pathetic foam seal on the passenger side fresh air vent in the plenum (where the pollen filter sits). This foam turns to dust from age and heat exposure. If you have foam bits coming in through your air vents inside the car, you should be particularly concerned. As it turns out, there is a recall for this, but as I gather, it was not noted as active on my car, and I was never notified. Perhaps it was a complaint based goodwill recall; either way, I was never notified.
The long and short of it is that the dealer had my car for a full week, and dried it all out, and cleaned it. They did a great job. They were going to replace the TCM but found that it was still completely dry in its housing, so that was not replaced. The total bill has yet to be tabulated, but the rough number is $700. If the TCM had been damaged, the bill would have been far more. The bill was paid in full by my extended VW warranty, which I will more than get my money out of by the time it expires in mid 2012.
The fix is to remove the crap foam seal and replace it with a polybutyl seal. Everything in my car was removed: all seats, all carpets, and center consul. Please save yourself the aggravation and get the upgrade done under the recall or spend the few dollars to get the new seal put in. Once it leaks, you will be sorry that you weren't pro-active about fixing it. I am hoping that this info saves a few of you some grief.
I dug into it and could clearly see water rushing past the pathetic foam seal on the passenger side fresh air vent in the plenum (where the pollen filter sits). This foam turns to dust from age and heat exposure. If you have foam bits coming in through your air vents inside the car, you should be particularly concerned. As it turns out, there is a recall for this, but as I gather, it was not noted as active on my car, and I was never notified. Perhaps it was a complaint based goodwill recall; either way, I was never notified.
The long and short of it is that the dealer had my car for a full week, and dried it all out, and cleaned it. They did a great job. They were going to replace the TCM but found that it was still completely dry in its housing, so that was not replaced. The total bill has yet to be tabulated, but the rough number is $700. If the TCM had been damaged, the bill would have been far more. The bill was paid in full by my extended VW warranty, which I will more than get my money out of by the time it expires in mid 2012.
The fix is to remove the crap foam seal and replace it with a polybutyl seal. Everything in my car was removed: all seats, all carpets, and center consul. Please save yourself the aggravation and get the upgrade done under the recall or spend the few dollars to get the new seal put in. Once it leaks, you will be sorry that you weren't pro-active about fixing it. I am hoping that this info saves a few of you some grief.