2015 Passat Overheated and Coolant blown out from expansion bottle

cztexas

Member
Joined
Mar 24, 2012
Location
College Station, TX
TDI
2015 Passat TDI
Got this Passat last year as CPO, barely one year owner. The car only has 68K miles. It threw out the Coolant Level/Coolant Temperature Warning signal, while I am driving at highway during my 8-hour driving trip. When I checked the engine, the coolant has blown out from the expansion bottle, seems the high pressure has cracked the bottle. Immediately, came out some possible reasons: water pump, thermostat, heater. Thanks AAA, towed to VW dealer 20 miles away since my car is still under CPO warranty.
The service adviser won't listen to any of my comments about the possible reasons, only asked what's going on. He even did not wait for me to finish my words. Sadly, this is the only choice for now.
I am really upset. It is very late Friday, and I cannot rent a car. Have to find a hotel for one night. Then rent a car next morning and drove 5 hours to get back home.
My last car, 04 Jetta MK4 TDI, keep rolls till 300K miles when I sold it. Never put me into this situation.
Will keep it posted.
 

740GLE

Top Post Dawg
Joined
Aug 19, 2009
Location
NH
TDI
2015 Passat SEL, 2017 Alltrack SE; BB 2010 Sedan Man; 2012 Passat,
ahhh crap these '15 are dropping like flies!
 

06bluebeetletdi

Veteran Member
Joined
Sep 30, 2012
Location
Middlesex, NC
TDI
'14 Passat TDI SEL and '13 Beetle TDI
I would call vw customer care (18008228987): you should have help from vw for tge hotel and rental car under the cpo. Not sure how to file the claim, the dealership may have to help. You also have vw roadside assistance for the duration of the cpo.
 

cztexas

Member
Joined
Mar 24, 2012
Location
College Station, TX
TDI
2015 Passat TDI
After couple of days, the technicians want to replace the water pump. He claims some smells of stop-leaker in the coolant. It is CPO, and I did not add it for sure. I also suspected someone will do that since when I got it from dealership, it only has less than 30k miles, which means it is still covered by warranty. If there is a leak in the coolant system, the former owner should have taken it back to dealer to repaired it.
Anyway, due to this, the technicians want to do coolant flush, about $180; since he want to replace water pump, which is covered by warranty, he also suggested the the timing belt and tensioner. Even my car only have less than 70k miles, which is just barely pass half of the timing belt life, since they do not charge the labor. I will let them do it.
Then, they told me they do not have the parts, and they need to order them. They cannot guarantee to get this done by Friday.
In summary, my estimate out of pocket already reached $800, one night hotel, one week car rental, plus timing belt/tensioner, coolant flush. I may have to rental couple of more days.
I have called vw customer care. No help yet. I will keep bugging them for sure.
 

Skimax

Veteran Member
Joined
Mar 4, 2001
Location
White mts, NH
TDI
97 B4 variant(retired at 330K), 2000 B5 1.8T passat retired, 2013 SE (buyback5/17) 2015 SEL, 2015 E-Golf SEL sold March 2019, 2018 Volt LT and a 2007 PRHT MX5 for fun
After couple of days, the technicians want to replace the water pump. He claims some smells of stop-leaker in the coolant. It is CPO, and I did not add it for sure. I also suspected someone will do that since when I got it from dealership, it only has less than 30k miles, which means it is still covered by warranty. If there is a leak in the coolant system, the former owner should have taken it back to dealer to repaired it.
Anyway, due to this, the technicians want to do coolant flush, about $180; since he want to replace water pump, which is covered by warranty, he also suggested the the timing belt and tensioner. Even my car only have less than 70k miles, which is just barely pass half of the timing belt life, since they do not charge the labor. I will let them do it.
Then, they told me they do not have the parts, and they need to order them. They cannot guarantee to get this done by Friday.
In summary, my estimate out of pocket already reached $800, one night hotel, one week car rental, plus timing belt/tensioner, coolant flush. I may have to rental couple of more days.
I have called vw customer care. No help yet. I will keep bugging them for sure.



I wonder what he was smoking to smell stop-leak...total BS, just trying to steal your $$$. Go after the CPO dealer/VW, it should never have been CPOed if it has stop-leak in it.



If your going to keep it you should consider doing the timing belt/tensioner, otherwise skip it.
 

jrm

Veteran Member
Joined
Jul 24, 2013
Location
Oregon
TDI
2013 Passat SE with nav (totaled)
the water pump on my 15 sounds terrible, but still runs cool and no leaks. Im half tempted to just do my own work when it goes rather than chance paying vw shop prices. I'll check out ID Parts, see if they have the improved pump :D
 

740GLE

Top Post Dawg
Joined
Aug 19, 2009
Location
NH
TDI
2015 Passat SEL, 2017 Alltrack SE; BB 2010 Sedan Man; 2012 Passat,
lol, when it goes?

mind as well replace the head "when it goes"
 

cztexas

Member
Joined
Mar 24, 2012
Location
College Station, TX
TDI
2015 Passat TDI
For the whole day of last Friday, they did not even finish the job. I rented another 3 days. Today, they told me, they replaced the water pump but did not solve the problem.
Heater coil will be next one. Rented a car again, hope to get it by Wednesday.
 

wsc

Well-known member
Joined
Jan 3, 2015
Location
Cypress Texas (Houston)
TDI
99.5 Jetta, 06 Jetta (Totaled), 14 Passat.
Look at other overheating threads, all of these post-fix cars cook the coolant into solid particles and plug the discharge of the EGR cooler which is the heater core. The 15’s also seem to have a design issue with the pump. Moral of the story, change the coolant often. There is a Technical service bulletin linked in one of my comments. Ask the guy what the TSB’s say about plugged heater cores and corrosion products in the coolant. Gig em Aggs!
 
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