Opinion poll: Sell or fix?

I've been a long time lurker on this forum, since first researching the b5 Passat TDI as a car I was interested in purchasing. I'd like to begin by thanking everyone for your contributions to this database of information. I'm not sure what to do with this car now, so I'm gonna give you all my detailed story and get some help with this.

I purchased my 2005 Passat TDI in the beginning of 2014 and had vwztips do the balance shaft delete immediately. Luckily I lived in Greenville at the time. He sent pics of the oil pump's chain gear and it had fallen to pieces when he removed it. Now, Jeff told me that the torque converter was aftermarket and looked worn, but I sadly couldn't afford to purchase a new one to replace it. Not sure that it is related, but I've been without a fully functioning reverse since about mid 2015. The delete was at about 195,000 miles, and I'm up over 245,000 miles today. In 2016 I drove my Passat from Greenville through the southwest and up through California and moved here to Oregon.

I'm having a personal dilemma regarding this car. First, the car had a few issues with water in the floorboards when I lived in SC and it was driven less than regularly. The keyfob didn't always work and the alarm went off occasionally; I figured it was just from age. After moving to the much rainier northern Pacific coast I began having serious issues with water ingress. I finally came back to the forums and read about the sunroof drains and battery cowling drains; it was the cowling drains. Right after I get the drains cleaned out and solve the problem, my interior lights and windows stop functioning. I pull off the interior trim, pull up the carpet, and find my CCM with water still standing in the box and major corrosion around the plugs. I order a used one off eBay, swap some pinned leads and splice them in, and I got windows and lights, but no keyfob and my locks only work manually. Then I start getting the "STOP BRAKE FAULT" error. I knew I had broken wires on the brake assembly on my drivers side which I repaired before, so I figured it was time to replace the pads and check those wires. As I'm replacing the front brake pads and splicing those wires again, I compress the caliper and it won't fit back on with the new pads. I try to push the cylinder back out and find it seized up upon compression (pretty sure they were original). I didn't have new calipers, so I left the caliper off and moved it out of the garage while I waited 2 weeks for the new calipers to arrive. Now, as I'm sure all of you well-versed VW hobbyist know, letting all the brake fluid run out of the reservoir is a bad idea, as it can cause air to enter the master cylinder, which then requires a connection to the ECU to bleed the master cylinder out. SO, I can either pay a local tech shop $147.50 to perform this, OR I can buy a VAG-COM for $199 and do it myself. And program the replacement CCM. And then maybe do 2 other cars. And maybe get the upgrade and do 7 more. And another upgrade because I guess now I'm in business because no one else offers these services for about 50 miles. And that doesn't even START to fix the transmission problem. Although I can live without reverse with a little forethought, the car has been sluggish going into drive, much like reverse was before it went out entirely. AND NOW I'M 3000 MILES AWAY FROM THE BEST TRANSMISSION SWAPPER! Honestly, from my research, I'm confident I can handle the 5-speed FHN swap (or DVZ is the v6?), but I have no idea how anyone does it without a lift. I'm not so interested if I'm doing it on jack stands on my back. I also have a serious lack of resources, so some things, like a transmission swap, are a tax return away.

tl;DR

The car needs a trans swap, VCDS programming, minor body and paint work. Do I become a dedicated enthusiast or sell the car?

Will post pics on request. Thanks for reading!

EDIT: I completely forgot to mention that I have the brakes rigged with a short bungee cord to achieve full return.

The swap without a lift is easy. In less than 2 hours one can have the engine and transmisson sitting on the ground together.

You need an engine hoist and a load leveler.

Keep an eye out for a used unlimited vin vag-com, i think i paid 125 for mine on the classifieds here.

As for your electronic issues my self and several other people are parting out these passats which we stole the motors out of for diesel swaps in other vehicles/boats so selling of those parts are cheap.

I have been purchasing complete v6 5 speed b5/5.5 passats for complete swaps minus the clutch/flyweel for less than 500 a car.

Local scrap value gets maybe 150 to 200 for a sedan for scrap metal. So i get a little change back. Pulling the v6 is good practice for pulling the BHW. It weights more and is much bigger. Its also harder to pull due to the exhaust manifold flanges being hard to reach.

Jonny O, you have a very sick 13 year old patient that needs a major transplant along with some minor surgery, you have Obama Care, the patient will survive but your out of pocket will be staggering and in the end the patient will still have saggy biceps. I believe the stress of this whole affair will play heavy on your body and mind, time to put it asleep and buy a new one.

afarfalla said:

Jonny O, you have a very sick 13 year old patient that needs a major transplant along with some minor surgery, you have Obama Care, the patient will survive but your out of pocket will be staggering and in the end the patient will still have saggy biceps. I believe the stress of this whole affair will play heavy on your body and mind, time to put it asleep and buy a new one.

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That's hilarious. So you wanted to buy it? ???

The death panel speaks....

If the rest of the car, body and interior are good, and you really like the car , then it would be reasonable to go ahead and fix it. Could it just be the tranny computer being the problem if the floor was wet?

I agree with Pickle that removing the engine and tranny together is the way to go to work on the transmission.

I dont know what other shops are charging for labor but i wouldn't touch a 5 speed conversion (customer supplied parts and tune) for less than 1500. Some shops are set up to do them a little more quickly than others obviously and having done it a few times is a huge help.

Back in the Honda days people would insist you sell the auto and buy a 5 speed car....the b5.5 is a bolt in affair...but a somewhat time consuming one with a little time spent contorted under the dash.

Well damn. That's not super helpful. You know what they say tho: "I didn't choose the "X" life, the "X" life chose me." It looks like I'm shopping for a transmission or maybe a donor car. Time to buy a VAG-COM.

The front end needs new panels, there's a small dent on the rear fender, a small crease in the roof, and the trunk lid is beat up. The interior is still in great condition aside from the "paint" peeling off the handles and console. I'm guessing I'll fix it up and it will be the family "legacy car" until we are all forced to go electric.

But here's a nice wagon if someone wants a transmission project. https://seattle.craigslist.org/oly/cto/6597524626.html

The "non negotiable" price on that wagon is a joke, right? $2,000 for a car that needs $4,000 of work and is worth $4,500 at best when it is fixed...

I think it comes down to how much do you want / need this car vs. having a project around. Jeff helped me through the tough decisions years ago when I faced a fix or 5 speed swap. That was 150 K miles ago and a few smiles in between. I have 380K on the original motor (deleted) and the swap was done at 230K. I drive the car daily without hesitation.
I cannot say that it is an easy decision you face as I also own a 2006 F-250 and could go on about the issues with that vehicle. It is a question only you can answer by balancing your use / need vs. time / desire to fix. These are good / fun cars when they are fixed and running - but the clock is also running. Hard to believe that my car is older than two of my kids already.......

1854sailor said:

The "non negotiable" price on that wagon is a joke, right? $2,000 for a car that needs $4,000 of work and is worth $4,500 at best when it is fixed...

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That was my feelings on it. I asked if they had any info on the oil pump/bhs/cam sensor (I think those are the fail points) in the stack of papers that was with the car, and that that would help them sell it if they did. If I remember there's no way to tell if the motor has been "bulletproofed" by a visual inspection. Is there any way to tell?

I'm fairly certain that engine and transmission rebuilds are out of my skill range. I'm confident I could do motor/trans swaps, or really anything that involves connecting working parts together.

So how does this look as a donor vehicle? Would a new clutch be a big deal to source, or could that be the clutch plate which I believe has to be new anyway? https://oregoncoast.craigslist.org/pts/d/v6-vw-passat/6570374996.html

I'm partial to finding a sweet V6 manual GLS or other higher trim package B5.5 and dropping my engine in it, but I haven't done research on that yet. How would that compare to putting the manual in the TDI?

Further, there's a lot of disagreement over the V6 gas manual VS the Euro TDI trans import. I've been searching for a gearing comparison chart with no luck. Between that and costs (also hotly debated) I'm knida torn on it. It seems for me buying a donor car has value beyond just the transmission parts.

I use the DVZ v6 transmission. I have a second v6 wagon in my yard that will be going into another BHW sometime this fall or winter. I dont travel much freeway during the week. I kept my first BHW car as i deemed it too nice to part out.

I originally planed on just replacing the tandem pump, servicing and then selling for profit. Once i put tags on it and noticed it cut my fuel cost in half compared to driving my 7.3 excursion or 4.3 s10 the 1500 or 2k in profit id make would be made back in fuel savings alone in less than 6 months. I had the dreaded tc code in about 2000 miles of driving. Oilhammer has good luck with new torque converters and servicing the transmisson but i didnt want the risk, plus I have another BHW that is going in a boat so i wanted to see a stage 2 tune.

I did the balance shaft delete and timing belt, purchased a clinker b5 v6 for the tranny. Purchased for 400, scrapped for 150 and sold maybe another 100 in misc parts. So I'm in the swap 150 at this point, all pedals, linkages, tranny and master/slave cyl

500 to tune
1300 for flywheel(whitbread) and fx300 clutch
Plus balance shaft parts and timing belt which you wont need.
8 bucks for a 2001 1.8t pilot bushing
45 for stainless flex clutch line.

Labor was free. I had never done a swap on a vw but well versed in v8, diesel and honda engine swaps over the years. Worked a little here and there over a couple weeks to get it back on the road.

My car didnt need any body or intetor work. I did need new tires, brakes and headlights all of which came off of yet another BHW passat i purchased (for the boat swap). All parts were new.

My boat donor passat was similar in shape to your wagon, I've since purchased several other passats in much better shape. I cap my purchase price of a passat at 500 if its not drivable, that's top purchase price. Scrap value is down and used parts resell is low due to the large amount of neglected passats from 98 to 05 which are no longer drivable or are "projects" plus even with a low ready to drive resell value they are not worth much more than that. IE older cars with well documented risks and not much profit to gain by buying, repairing and reselling. Most notable issues are 1.8ts and v6s with bad timing chain tensioners or broken timing belts/chains or blown head gasket(s), cars with leaky sun roof drains which smell or have electrical gremlins/issues, oil pump killing 1.8t sludge, auto tranny failure in diesles as well as other models, balance shaft issues in bhws or bhw cam shaft issues...pick your poison.

Ive been through 5 passats since Christmas. I only stopped buying because spring hit and im too busy to fool with them right now. If I'm not at work I want to be sailing, playing hockey or at the beach. Come fall I'll have more spare time and be right back at it.


I hit 75-80 mph @ 3000 rpms. The car doesn't mind and still nets over 40 mpg there. 1 to 2 hr road trips are just fine on occasion. Unless i take a job where im on the freeway an hour or more daily i would not be able to justify the euro tranny. In the event that does happen its much cheaper to purchase just a tranny than an entire swap and for less than 600 bucks ill lower my rpms 300 to 500 rpms at 75-85mph

Thanks Rick, I think that just about answers all my questions. Is the DVZ the V6 manual in all the B5s? Because there's a few not far and in the right price range that are mostly 00-01s. Isn't there some issue with the rear seats swapping from the B5 to B5.5? is that the only interior issue? I'd like to get leather, black trim, wood trim, or even just replace some worn interior parts.

In order of personal preference:
https://portland.craigslist.org/mlt/cto/d/00-pass-at-runs-but-should/6605540441.html
https://portland.craigslist.org/mlt/pts/d/01-volkswagen-passat-28l/6587261734.html
https://oregoncoast.craigslist.org/pts/d/v6-vw-passat/6570374996.html

Damn. I hate looking for cars. I have found like 5 B5s within pickup distance that have what are really BS problems. I'm wishing at this point I had money to start a shop/dealership. Why can't I find something with a catastrophic engine failure? I hate destroying fixable things.

I have both the b5 and b5.5 v6 transmissions. The b5 v6 tranny is in my daily driver now. There is a other v6 code 5 speed i believe but has the same gear ratios as the dvz.

The b5 donor was a 1998


The transmisson mounting brackets, shifter linkages, pedals and clutch master/slave were all direct fit parts.


I wish i could tell you more about the interior but i haven't swapped any interior parts other than an inner door skin.

Of all the passats I've purchased only one has bad interior and that includes the rear seats. The rear seats were perfect in all but one. Sadly the only wagon I've owned looks like a family of hyenas lived in it. Smells like it too.

Cool. That means I can be well on my way to starting this swap beginning of next year. Maybe sooner if I play my cards right. I think my first step is the VAG-COM.

I really want to know how they did these doors.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3JaFtwu5bm0

So I notice now that my CV's are clicking around turns (the boots are torn too). So those will need to be replaced soon. Are they the same between the AT and MT, or will I need to use MT specific cv axles? What's the average life span? I'm going to search up a maintenance schedule.

Manual transmission axles will be longer. If you're buying a donor car hopefully it will have good axles. The 98 to 05 v6 mt axles will all interchange/work with the bhw swap.

Life span depends on how you drive. Clocking the wheel on a regular basis will kill them often. Even raxles are known for weak boots.

JonnyObnoxious said:

So I notice now that my CV's are clicking around turns (the boots are torn too). So those will need to be replaced soon. Are they the same between the AT and MT, or will I need to use MT specific cv axles? What's the average life span? I'm going to search up a maintenance schedule.

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pain has started....understand that the majority of TDI owners do the work themselves and we own a vag-com. My 05 I bought 3 years ago,$4000, (142,000 miles), counting maintenance and repairs I'm at $7500, I've put 35k miles on it and I still have an oil leak. Not a hard car to work on but you get turned around very quickly.


In spite of all the negatives, I'm looking for an 05 wagon. That's what's happens when your introduced to VW Diesel. I've own 10 different model VW TDI's thru the years, the 15 Passat SEL, was by far the best.

I'm an aggressive driver. Do they have a kevlar CV boot? Anything more durable? I'm thinking I should check out the tuning section and really see what I can get out of this.

I'm poor. If a vehicle is durable and fairly easy to work on and maintain, I'm all over it. I just wish I had looked up the quirks sooner. I could have avoided ruining my CCM.

Im running cheap autozone type axles on my stage 2 tune. They came with donor v6. I thought they were ratteling but was a brake pad. Ill run it til it goes. Im not poor but i don't spend money that doesn't need to be spent...unless i wanna spend it!

PickleRick said:

. . . i don't spend money that doesn't need to be spent...unless i wanna spend it!

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That's generally my opinion. I think I appreciate VAG because they seem to be generally well designed and plentiful which makes owing one economical, if one has the ability to do the work themselves. My only issue being I can get lax on the maintenance. I'm gonna catch that up now, however.

But seriously, what's up with high-quality CV boots? Apparently DuPont advertises a material that's supposed to be "lifetime?"

I think it'z ecs that sells some quality boots. If you're going 5 speed the bad cv axles on your automatic are the least of your worries...they won't work with a 5 speed anyway.

Yeah, just planning ahead. ECS has OEM boots, but I'm not finding anything that appears to be better. There's also a super nifty tool that stretches the boot over the joint without removing the axle. That saves a lot of time.

In case anyone wanted to see how much I've abused it.

When I got it, there was very little damage aside from the trunk lid. I crushed the right fender into a guardrail. I decided to replace the hood at the same time, but the one I got is low quality and isn't holding up. The left fender I ultimately damaged prying my finger out when the hood closed on it. That was not fun. There's a small crease in the roof, and a small dent in the right rear fender.

I did get rid of the (awful and bent) aftermarket rims and found a decent set of OEM wheels (with good rubber). They need to be resurfaced, but they're true.

I mentioned I might be interested in putting my motor in a donor body (preferably V6 5sp), but I think that may be more time consuming than doing repairs and replacements. I know it requires swapping fuel tanks and all sorts of wiring.

Wont need to swap fuel tanks, just drain gasoline. Will need to open up hole in fuel filler neck to fit diesel fuel pump nozzel


Add two T fittings in the fuel lines before the fuel filter, this will allow the excess fuel pressure the gasser fuel pump puts out to flow back into the tank. The tandem pump will draw everything it needs

That's not awful. Is swapping the assembly the other option? Because I'm actually not against it. [emoji23][emoji23][emoji23]

The filler tube? Not sure. I've converted a few land cruisers to diesel, just popped the center of it out with a pair of pliers. Have not looked to see if the same could be done on the passat.

I guess it all depends on my donor. Also, I believe there is something to be said about value somewhere in swaps. Unless I got some cherry b5.5 wagon w/ a v6 manual, I'm likely better off doing the repairs and maintenance to what I have.

Keep in mind with a v6 car you'll have to swap in your subframe, , filler panel and radiator. Alignment necessary after install. A 1.8t is a match on all parts minus the dvz transmisson.

Vw zips has converted a gasser and can tell you the wiring needs. He wired his to be exactly like the diesel, if you don't need or desire that level of work he may be able to tell you what short cuts can be taken.