TURBO: 2012-2014 Passat turbo failures [discussion thread]

767wrench

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1981 Rabbit Pickup
The night of the failure the car had idled for about 2 minute and then a 2nd gear idle crawl for another minute before pulling onto the main road. I was accelerating very slowly due to the cold temps when I experienced a small shudder and loss of power. The engine then squealed loudly with throttle request almost sounding like an air leak. The glow plug light never flashed until this morning when I started it. I only made it about a mile the night it failed and was able to return home. The dealer says they found pieces of the compressor wheel missing from the turbo and have contacted vw for advice on how much needs taken apart to search for debris. The car has 22700 miles and was purchased in June
 

VeeDubTDI

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The night of the failure the car had idled for about 2 minute and then a 2nd gear idle crawl for another minute before pulling onto the main road. I was accelerating very slowly due to the cold temps when I experienced a small shudder and loss of power. The engine then squealed loudly with throttle request almost sounding like an air leak. The glow plug light never flashed until this morning when I started it. I only made it about a mile the night it failed and was able to return home. The dealer says they found pieces of the compressor wheel missing from the turbo and have contacted vw for advice on how much needs taken apart to search for debris. The car has 22700 miles and was purchased in June
Do you interrupt regens or wait for them to complete?
 

767wrench

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1981 Rabbit Pickup
Just for anyone curious I changed the factory oil at 6k, the dealer changed it around 11k and Ive changed it every 6k since using rotella t6 synthetic and a small amount of synthetic lucas additive. Early on when the car had less than 10k miles before I did alot of reading on this forum id estimate that I interrupted maybe 3 or 4 regens one I remember especially because it was about 100 degrees outside. I was unaware of the consequences at that time. I plan on purchasing a scanguage to monitor egt immediately. I usually let the car idle for at least a min or two before shutdown or at least drive easy the last few miles of a trip. My normal driving routine is a 200 mile commute twice a week at 75mph and a 25 mile each way commute to work w 20 highway at 75mph.
 

767wrench

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Im somewhat concerned on what effect the metal from the turbo bearings will have on the engine later in life. Im sure it will make it thru warranty but I planned on keeping this car a long time.
 

WutGas?

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Hmm, could the T6 have something to do with it since that's not a proper oil for the NMS emissions system?
 

767wrench

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Not saying Im right but two separate Tdi technicians at different dealers have said T6 was ok to use. One when I purchased the car and one when I was purchasing oil filters at the dealer. Both said that they were Tdi qualified.
 

Knarrly Viking

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2015 Passat SE 6MT, 2 of them!
As long as the oil is the correct viscosity, it should reach the turbo even in cold weather. This sounds like a bad turbo with a manufacture defect. Though it would be good to know if the oil is getting cooked from the interrupted regens.
 

psd1

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Last time I checked T6 didn't meet the 507 spec?

I agree that this sounds like a faulty turbo, T6 shouldn't have led to or caused this failure.
 

VeeDubTDI

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T6 is the wrong oil, but that wouldn't have caused the turbo to fail. T6 could cause ash buildup in the DPF, thus shortening its lifespan.

If VWoA finds out that you put T6 in your car, they will probably void your warranty, regardless of what the two idiots at the dealership told you.

I wouldn't worry about metal from the turbo bearings causing damage to the engine in the future. If any metal makes it into the lubrication system, the oil filter will catch it.
 

WutGas?

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Not saying Im right but two separate Tdi technicians at different dealers have said T6 was ok to use. One when I purchased the car and one when I was purchasing oil filters at the dealer. Both said that they were Tdi qualified.
Hopefully, neither of those guys are the ones working on the car.
 

vwboom

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Jan 23, 2013
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Central WI
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Jetta Sportwagen 2012 TDI
newbie with 2012 jsw 13,000. Had a limp mode in extreme cold -10 in WI three days ago
engine malfunction light flashing limped into town turned off called dealer they recommended towing to dealer 100 miles away. decided to try and start after ten min, and warning light was off, car running normal. On way home home (MIL) warning comes on solid. Home home decide to flick ign switch rapid back and forth about 4 times and light goes off?? Have driven about 100 miles since and no warnings, no limp....but still freaked out from many of these other posts and have little faith in can of worms and denial with dealers?? Drive 35,000 year. Was loving until this.
 

VeeDubTDI

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newbie with 2012 jsw 13,000. Had a limp mode in extreme cold -10 in WI three days ago
engine malfunction light flashing limped into town turned off called dealer they recommended towing to dealer 100 miles away. decided to try and start after ten min, and warning light was off, car running normal. On way home home (MIL) warning comes on solid. Home home decide to flick ign switch rapid back and forth about 4 times and light goes off?? Have driven about 100 miles since and no warnings, no limp....but still freaked out from many of these other posts and have little faith in can of worms and denial with dealers?? Drive 35,000 year. Was loving until this.
You should post in the Sportwagen forum.

You will need to use VCDS to scan for codes in order to determine what the problem was/is. See VCDS Locator link in my signature if you don't have one and need assistance.
 

TomB

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Are you going to pay for the damage if his car runs away and/or hydrolocks because he took your advice to restart it?

Proper troubleshooting techniques would dictate that you rule out the catastrophic failure options FIRST.

I hope it's just a split intercooler or a loose boot or something... look around and see what you can find.
I thought since 2005 there is a throttle body valve to prevent runaways.
 

VeeDubTDI

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I thought since 2005 there is a throttle body valve to prevent runaways.
That valve's purpose is not to prevent runaways, although it may be able to serve in that capacity if the operator knows what's going on and turns off the key.
 

psd1

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Aug 4, 2011
Location
OR
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2006 Jetta 2013 Passat SE 6Man
newbie with 2012 jsw 13,000. Had a limp mode in extreme cold -10 in WI three days ago
engine malfunction light flashing limped into town turned off called dealer they recommended towing to dealer 100 miles away. decided to try and start after ten min, and warning light was off, car running normal. On way home home (MIL) warning comes on solid. Home home decide to flick ign switch rapid back and forth about 4 times and light goes off?? Have driven about 100 miles since and no warnings, no limp....but still freaked out from many of these other posts and have little faith in can of worms and denial with dealers?? Drive 35,000 year. Was loving until this.
What does the manual say about the warnings you are recieving?

Bingo, I don't see the VW 507.00 certification for this oil.

Sorry but if not certified you will void your warranty. You can run whatever you want after the warranty period.
Not necessarily, the oweness is on the servicing dealership to prove that the oil caused the failure. That being said, my guess is that they will try this "wrong oil" route. If the OP has admitted to using the wrong oil in a public forum it can be used against him!
 

767wrench

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Went to the dealer today. After contacting Vw the dealer says vw said they do not need to retrieve the pieces of the compressor wheel from the rest of the intake and only need to replace the turbo. But there are no turbos in the US so one will have to be mailed from the assembly line.
 

psd1

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Went to the dealer today. After contacting Vw the dealer says vw said they do not need to retrieve the pieces of the compressor wheel from the rest of the intake and only need to replace the turbo. But there are no turbos in the US so one will have to be mailed from the assembly line.
So....where are the pieces?

Do you mind sharing your build date?
 

VeeDubTDI

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Bull****!

Tell them not to touch your car and call customer care IMMEDIATELY.
 

phlfly

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N.VA
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Passat SEL
Bad. It's a turbo. Well I was hoping there is no problem with VW AG turbo’s, when I was buying this car. I guess I was wrong. This is bizarre, so many years 9I don't remember already, 15, 20 years) on row VW is putting cheap turbo’s on their car, including Audi.
 

VeeDubTDI

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Bad. It's a turbo. Well I was hoping there is no problem with VW AG turbo’s, when I was buying this car. I guess I was wrong. This is bizarre, so many years 9I don't remember already, 15, 20 years) on row VW is putting cheap turbo’s on their car, including Audi.
LOL - a very small number of turbo failures out of a huge sample and you're talking about how VW is using cheap turbos. :rolleyes:
 

ng3

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LOL - a very small number of turbo failures out of a huge sample and you're talking about how VW is using cheap turbos. :rolleyes:
That's what I was going to say.

First, if your comment is a thought that flew thru your mind but serves no purpose to the discussion, let it fly out and don't bother with it on here. Wow, you wouldn't have bought it if you knew about problems... Everything has problems. And of course VW is using cheap turbos, you're not buying a $50k car. Volkswagen = People's Car. Lots of people. That might not have any issue with a cheap turbo.

Second, WV seems to have a very good history of being gung-ho when it comes to replacing turbos rather than properly diagnosing the issue. I'm not saying it's the same in this case, but dealers never seem interested in the extent of damage done, just the quick/dirty way to get you out of there.
 
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phlfly

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Passat SEL
That's what I was going to say.

First, if your comment is a thought that flew thru your mind but serves no purpose to the discussion, let it fly out and don't bother with it on here. Wow, you wouldn't have bought it if you knew about problems... Everything has problems. And of course VW is using cheap turbos, you're not buying a $50k car. Volkswagen = People's Car. Lots of people. That might not have any issue with a cheap turbo.

Second, WV seems to have a very good history of being gung-ho when it comes to replacing turbos rather than properly diagnosing the issue. I'm not saying it's the same in this case, but dealers never seem interested in the extent of damage done, just the quick/dirty way to get you out of there.
Subaru is cheap as well, but there is not as many turbo failures.
 

VeeDubTDI

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I should start a "Random Thoughts" thread and move a bunch of posts into it.
 

ng3

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Ok. Here's proof and my last unrelated post in this thread. Subaru's with turbos are more expensive than VW TDI's (since it's tdi's we're talking about not gassers and this is apples to oranges)

Impreza WRX $25800
Forester turbo $27300

Jetta TDI $23500
Golf TDI $24300
Passat TDI $26200.

So maybe you should have bought a Subaru and not worry about failure prone cheap turbos. (Of which there have been less than 5 replaced on Passats based on this forum only)
 

phlfly

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Ok. Here's proof and my last unrelated post in this thread. Subaru's with turbos are more expensive than VW TDI's (since it's tdi's we're talking about not gassers and this is apples to oranges)

Impreza WRX $25800
Forester turbo $27300

Jetta TDI $23500
Golf TDI $24300
Passat TDI $26200.

So maybe you should have bought a Subaru and not worry about failure prone cheap turbos. (Of which there have been less than 5 replaced on Passats based on this forum only)
hey, I'm not saying VW is bad, I'm just concern that VW didn't fix a problem and this problem is still exist. BTW, I bought VW Passat for 29,000, so it's expensive then both Subaru's.
There is no reason to say it’s good when it’s bad and cost a lot money to fix.
I had VW 1.8T before (sold at 90,000), I didn't have personally problem with turbo, but I saw many people had one. This is a fact, as same as Volvo's turbo is bad as VW.

It’s still new car/model even 5 turbo’s a lot for this small forum. What we have around 300-500 members with 2012 Passat so it’s 1% . It’s a lot for 2012/2013 Passat that avg has 20,000 or less.
 
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VeeDubTDI

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What problem are you talking about? The one where absolutely 100% of turbochargers never fail ever?

How is it that Subaru managed to make 100% of turbochargers never fail ever? Oh wait - they didn't. :eek:

How did you calculate that there are 300 - 500 members here with 2012 Passats? Also how did you determine that the 5 failures you mentioned were actually significant turbocharger failures and not dealer misdiagnoses or electrical malfunctions?

This is nothing more than a case of made-up statistics. :rolleyes:
 
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