No reverse 05 passat tdi - rebuild, used or manual swap?

KemptvilleTDI

Member
Joined
Apr 19, 2014
Location
Kemptville, Ontario, Canada
TDI
2004 Jetta TDI Wagon (BEW)
My 05 passat tdi no longer goes into reverse. My mechanic checked the fluid, it came out quite dark and he thinks the transmission is dead. (no codes as of yet)

I'm not sure what to do. A local shop quoted me $4000 for a rebuild.

That's more than I spent purchasing the wagon, deleting the balance shaft, fixing the ac, changing the timing belt and other things. Seems like a lot for a transmission I dislike.

I miss my 04 jetta's manual transmission.

I'd like opinions/suggestions to fix this issue. I live near Ottawa.

I'm thinking either a cheaper rebuild, a good used transmission or a swap. However, I don't know where or who can help me out with this. All help would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks!
 

Uberhare

Veteran Member
Joined
Sep 3, 2006
Location
Ontario, Canada
TDI
Too many.
That is one of the typical failure modes of the 5HP. $4k is about right for a proper rebuild.

Swap it to a manual or sell it to me. I could use another BHW wagon if the body is decent.
 

imo000

Top Post Dawg
Joined
Dec 13, 2005
Location
Cambridge
TDI
2009 M-B ML320 Diesel & '05 Passat TDI Manual 5-Speed
That is one of the typical failure modes of the 5HP. $4k is about right for a proper rebuild.

Swap it to a manual or sell it to me. I could use another BHW wagon if the body is decent.
I agree. Unfortunately the sad reality is that these cars are not worth much unless you really want one. Many of us here have converted our Passats to manual transmissions for a fraction of the cost of a rebuild but that’s only because we did all our own work on them. You other option would be to get a good used automatic (if you can find one at a reasonable price) and just replace the dying one. The lack of fluid change on your transmission is more than likely that caused it to fail. Not necessarily you but maybe the previous owners didn’t care about it because it has a “lifetime” fluid in it.
 
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