Potential Future Passat owner with a few questions

I'm coming from a 2005 (early) Jetta. I imagine that little "burping" button is gone on the fuel fill tank... most of you probably know what I mean? What are the main issues you guys have encountered with your newer Passats so far that I should be looking out for as I probably look to purchase one next month.

Thanks.

Well I've owned mine for one year and I'm a little under 40k miles on it already and only had a few thing happen here or there. To be honest the only thing I can say I had an issue with is my headlamp assembly, which was immediately replace by the dealer. Other than that absolutely awesome car. Make sure to take time and read up on the forum several other members have experienced issues with theirs.

Yes, the burping button is gone - you can easily fill the tank all the way up now.

Biggest thing *for me* is to keep an eye on EGT and make sure everything has cooled down before shutting down the engine.

There is plenty of information posted on the EGT topic if you're interested.

Thanks ..... I've been reading up here and there. I will research the EGT now.

This is a good thread to start with. http://forums.tdiclub.com/showthread.php?t=360498

Thanks, VeeDub....

Is this EGT almost like a guaranteed thing to happen or it happens here and there .... not guaranteed but not uncommon? And when this happens, it happens early so it's a no hassle dealer item?

Laymaster said:

Thanks, VeeDub....

Is this EGT almost like a guaranteed thing to happen or it happens here and there .... not guaranteed but not uncommon? And when this happens, it happens early so it's a no hassle dealer item?

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I'm not sure I follow your question. The EGT (Exhaust Gas Temperature) gets quite high when the DPF regen process is running. The thought is to monitor this temperature and not shut the car off while it is in the middle of the process but wait until it finishes and the EGT's drop to a more normal level (~400 deg if I remember). This should happen within a couple minutes after the process finishes. Having said that some of us are "rolling the dice" and just shut the car off when we reach our destination. So far in the 1.5 years and 73,000 miles I've had mine I've only shut it off during a regen about 6 times.

Does the car let you know it's doing regeneration? I'm guessing no.

No it's a pain, like I was going to work today and came at parking lot, open a door, and that odor, I knew it's reg process, but I didn't have time go around the block, since it's shift work, so other person needs to go to home after night shift. All these are making very bad design and incontinence. It got to be a better way to design such things.
Dump, dump design by VW AG, very cheap work by thier engineers, like solving one problem, when creating a mega problem.

I've seen regeneration stuff on trucks but it always prompts you to push the button.

Is the speedometer still off by 2-5%?

Right. Trucks are another story. VW doesn't want you to compare your Passat to a big truck (even though they are very similar, only the Passat is a much smaller scale).

Imagine what would happen to TDI sales if they had random warning lights that required user intervention. VWoA has opted for the "ignorance is bliss" model. Many of us are not satisfied with that model and have chosen to install devices that monitor EGT so that we know what's going on.

The speedometer actually reads 1 - 2 mph LOW on the Passat, compared to the older TDIs that generally read a few percent HIGH.

Time to start reading through some threads. So far most of your questions have been covered extensively in several threads.

An example of the regen button on a new International MaxxForce


And a quick video of an International MaxxForce startup - notice the two DPF lights that let the driver know what the system is doing. Average Joe/Jill would be very confused by these lights and the swtich, and would likely choose a less complicated engine over the TDI.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TZzFfsLpq5E

"have chosen to install devices that monitor EGT so that we know what's going on"

Unfortunately it doesn’t solve a problem if you are rushing to somewhere and don’t have time to drive around the block. It should be build-in and controllable thru the MFI, just like oil warning, but with option “Start Now”.

I agree 100%, but guess what - it isn't.

Just wanted to chime in and state that there are plenty of us who "drive more and worry less". In fact, 50k miles and 4yrs worth across two CR TDIs here without an EGT gauge. While I don't purposely shut mine off in the middle of a regen, it does happen.

Worst case scenario is that your next regen will occur sooner as the aborted one wasn't able to finish. As long as you don't make a habit of aborting the regens, there shouldn't be an issue as they are technically designed to start when you're maintaining an average speed of 50+ MPH (i.e., on the highway).

Also I can agree that both my speedometers are 1MPH slow compared to my GPS.

Question is: if one turns off the car and hears the fan spinning fast and restarts the engine to allow the regen to complete....is that necessary or fruitless as its already been interrupted?...and if VW is claiming that interrupting a regen will NOT hurt the engine what's the big deal?...

Laymaster said:

Is the speedometer still off by 2-5%?

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Mine is....except the digital display is spot on!

I set the cruise on 60 MPH on analog, and it's 57 on the digital readout that correlates with the GPS.

Other than that, no issues yet and we love the car!

DonC said:

Question is: if one turns off the car and hears the fan spinning fast and restarts the engine to allow the regen to complete....is that necessary or fruitless as its already been interrupted?...and if VW is claiming that interrupting a regen will NOT hurt the engine what's the big deal?...

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Shutting down and restarting will give everything an opportunity to cool down, so if you're in a hurry, that is certainly an option.

It's not the interrupting that is a concern, it is the hot shutdown that is a concern (for some of us).

DonC said:

Question is: if one turns off the car and hears the fan spinning fast and restarts the engine to allow the regen to complete....is that necessary or fruitless as its already been interrupted?...and if VW is claiming that interrupting a regen will NOT hurt the engine what's the big deal?...

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I just did this the other morning (all without looking at my scangauge...not my proudest moment to date). Turned it off, the fans were going so turned it back on, watched the EGT and it just kept dropping. So it seems that if you turn it back on after shutting it off during a regen, it just keeps cooling and does not restart it.

To be honest, and I am new to this, I don't think it is that big of a deal, so long as you doing do it a handful of times in a row. And if it gets anywhere near the point of "clogged," you get a warning light and told to go to the dealer. Which probably by the time you get to the dealer, it has burned itself clean.

I think most on here are just using their knowledge and monitoring the EGT as a "rather be safe than sorry" type deal. I haven't heard of long term problems from not monitoring it, but certainly would think monitoring it would be better of course.

DonC said:

...and if VW is claiming that interrupting a regen will NOT hurt the engine what's the big deal?...

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VW used to say that transmission fluid was lifetime. Additionally, some of us believe that this will hurt the turbo specifically, not the engine or other exhaust components.

VeeDubTDI said:

Shutting down and restarting will give everything an opportunity to cool down, so if you're in a hurry, that is certainly an option.
It's not the interrupting that is a concern, it is the hot shutdown that is a concern (for some of us).

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This makes more sense to me - thanks for pointing this part out! Was thinking it was the interrupting that was the problem (as per my post above).


EDIT: Couple of other Regen threads:
http://forums.tdiclub.com/showthread.php?t=341546&highlight=regen
http://forums.tdiclub.com/showthread.php?t=376645&highlight=regen