proud new owner of a one owner 04 Passat TDI

rotarykid

Top Post Dawg
Joined
Apr 27, 2003
Location
Piedmont of N.C. & the plains of Colorado
TDI
1997 Passat TDI White,99.5 Blue Jetta TDI
picked up a one owner 04 Passat GLS TDI-PD, that I have been part of its life since it was purchased new in colorado in July 04.....


I have a few questions about what I should do, the best way to do a few things first before I clock a lot of miles???

It has had 505.01 oil in it since day/mile one, had a t-belt kit done in ~2013 with ~15-18k miles ago,......

My question is on what is the best way to do an auto-trans fluid flush. If memory serves there is an antifreeze heat exchanger, not a trans fluid radiator in the radiator. I am used to hooking up to one of the fluid radiator connection while I fill the trans with three times the rated volume as I do on most makes...
 

afarfalla

Veteran Member
Joined
Nov 6, 2006
Location
sugar land tx
TDI
05 Passat sedan and 05 wagen
if you have access to a flush machine pull the trans cooler lines off the radiator and use them, this process will pull the old fluid from the TC. Otherwise you have to do it from the bottom of the trans, with this method you will never get all the old fluid out
 

PickleRick

Veteran Member
Joined
Nov 29, 2017
Location
Greenville sc
TDI
05 GLS BHW sedan 5 speed conversion. BHW Carver SantaCruz in progress
So long as the fluid is always changed on a regular basis i i never worry about flushing the cooler lines or torque converter. I drop pan, put in a new filter, new gasket and refill.

I always use full synethic if available in the spec oil im using and every 30k. So every 6 oil changes. I no longer have a slush box in my passat but the one behind my 7.3 gets the same treatment. 1st tranny went at 300k but that was due to a cheap 2nd or maybe 3rd gear sprag from the factory. The rest of the transmission looked great.
 

zzdiesel

Veteran Member
Joined
Dec 10, 2010
Location
sask. mostly now Wa.
TDI
05 passat tdi Geared BSM and Bewcam 2nd 2005 deleted ,converted and bew cam stage 2 Malone3 tune.
10000 on the oil change,engine is specified. About every 3rd oil change I like to change tranny fluid, since I have no access to a flush machine.
Has your balance shaft been dealt with? Lovely car, treat it well.
 

rotarykid

Top Post Dawg
Joined
Apr 27, 2003
Location
Piedmont of N.C. & the plains of Colorado
TDI
1997 Passat TDI White,99.5 Blue Jetta TDI
The car is approaching 160k miles, no the balance shaft has not been dealt with yet. I know what can of marbles sound like and it is not there yet.
When that sound does become an issue I will deal with it. It has really not been abused, been garaged always since new, always had the right oil,.....
I have a list of things I plan to do to it...
 

oilhammer

Certified Volkswagen Nut & Vendor
Joined
Dec 11, 2001
Location
outside St Louis, MO
TDI
There are just too many to list....
You won't necessarily have any warning, and if you are not familiar with these you won't know what to listen for anyway. It could already have a broken tensioner.

I flush the ATF with a machine, attached to the cooler pipes, 14 liters of Pentosin ATF1 pushed through. Works great.
 

vwztips

Veteran Member
Joined
Aug 30, 2009
Location
Greenville, SC
TDI
2005 Passat GLS Wagon TDI 5 spd manual w/BSM delete 2011 Tiguan TDI/DSG 2005 Audi A4 Avant 6MQ TDI 2011 BMW X5 35d
FWIW, I had a 2004 I bought a few years ago with 200k on it. I know what to listen for on the BSM, This one was quiet as a mouse, but I decided to pull the pan anyway. The tensioner fell apart when I removed the pan.

Of course there is the hex shaft too. Did a delete on one earlier this year with 120k and no oil pressure due to a stripped hex shaft. Chain and tensioners looked great though....
 

rotarykid

Top Post Dawg
Joined
Apr 27, 2003
Location
Piedmont of N.C. & the plains of Colorado
TDI
1997 Passat TDI White,99.5 Blue Jetta TDI
Ok, now that you all have properly got my attention and scared me.....what is the best/quickest way to get a look see in there at the parts in the balance shaft & oil pump drive chain setup ?
 

oilhammer

Certified Volkswagen Nut & Vendor
Joined
Dec 11, 2001
Location
outside St Louis, MO
TDI
There are just too many to list....
The upgrade thread is in the how-to sticky atop the B5 section. Some people delete them, too.
 

rotarykid

Top Post Dawg
Joined
Apr 27, 2003
Location
Piedmont of N.C. & the plains of Colorado
TDI
1997 Passat TDI White,99.5 Blue Jetta TDI
Thanks for the info
...I just spent a bit of time rereading the initial string describing the discovering of the problem....

I have a question on the idea if there are any reliable ways like oil pressure monitoring to get a sense of where things might be short of the full frontal take apart ?
 

vwztips

Veteran Member
Joined
Aug 30, 2009
Location
Greenville, SC
TDI
2005 Passat GLS Wagon TDI 5 spd manual w/BSM delete 2011 Tiguan TDI/DSG 2005 Audi A4 Avant 6MQ TDI 2011 BMW X5 35d
Several ways.

1. Drop subframe and drop oil pan
2. Remove front end, remove timing belt, remove crank pulley, remove cover behind pulley
3. Drain oil and run boroscope through drain hole

Of course if it has been deleted, the oil pan will hold almost 5 qts. If it still has the chain or geared BSM it only holds 4 qts

As for oil pressure monitoring, it is usually does not give a warning before the shaft finally rounds off to the point that it cannot turn the pump. In other words, it's an all or nothing proposition.

Personally I prefer the delete. It eliminates both known issues with the BSM with a tried and true solution
 

rotarykid

Top Post Dawg
Joined
Apr 27, 2003
Location
Piedmont of N.C. & the plains of Colorado
TDI
1997 Passat TDI White,99.5 Blue Jetta TDI
I have a specific question related to disabling the shift-lock temporarily, or forever like I have been able to do on Toyota & Honda cars of the same or later years.....

All of the other cars with automatic trans (of this era 02-08) I have worked on, driven & owned had a button of some sort that could be put in the depressed position disabling shift-lock until that button is allowed to be not depressed... Is there a button like that on this car? IF so, where is it?

If there is not a button hidden under a knock out of some sort like all other makes of this era that I have had to drive, is there another way to disable the shift-lock permanently until I sell it?

...thanks....
 

oilhammer

Certified Volkswagen Nut & Vendor
Joined
Dec 11, 2001
Location
outside St Louis, MO
TDI
There are just too many to list....
Not sure why you would care to do that, but I would imagine you could pull the solenoid/plunger out of the gear selector mechanism. You'd have to remove the center console to get at it.
 

rotarykid

Top Post Dawg
Joined
Apr 27, 2003
Location
Piedmont of N.C. & the plains of Colorado
TDI
1997 Passat TDI White,99.5 Blue Jetta TDI
I really wish they had just done like everyone else and given us an override button to depress....thanks, I will take the shifter center console apart today or tomorrow to see what the easiest way to disable this thing is...

the reason I want to do this is twice now while I have been sitting at a long light at an intersection with a 55-65 posted speed limit(in colorado roads & highways are posted up 65, in other neighboring states the posted can be 70) I had shifted into "N" waiting for a long light that turned green the thing was locked into place. By the time I figured out what was happening the light was clearing of traffic, pushing back up to 65+ mph....

...I did this (permanently depressed the override button) in the last Honda accord I had so this would not happen....
 

rotarykid

Top Post Dawg
Joined
Apr 27, 2003
Location
Piedmont of N.C. & the plains of Colorado
TDI
1997 Passat TDI White,99.5 Blue Jetta TDI
I cannot recall if the glow plug timing can be lengthened on the PD engine like it can be on the 1Z & ALH >? my cable is pre-PD(04)

If so is there anyone in the denver area with a vag-com-cam who knows how and could offer that to me>?
 

JETaah

Vendor , w/Business number
Joined
Jan 18, 2001
Location
mi 48836
TDI
96 B4V, 1999.5 jettaIV,2005 BEW Beetle
I cannot recall if the glow plug timing can be lengthened on the PD engine like it can be on the 1Z & ALH >? my cable is pre-PD(04)

If so is there anyone in the denver area with a vag-com-cam who knows how and could offer that to me>?

It can not be adapted via VCDS. It would need to be reflashed into the ECU software.
 

rotarykid

Top Post Dawg
Joined
Apr 27, 2003
Location
Piedmont of N.C. & the plains of Colorado
TDI
1997 Passat TDI White,99.5 Blue Jetta TDI
Is there still anyone in the denver area still doing tunes &/or flashes on my car so I can get the car tuned with glow plug timing increased also?

the issue is up in the mountains after being parked overnight the glow plugs just don't stay on quite long enough to give what I expect as a smooth cold start...

On a related side note for info, in the metro denver area, the scan gauge II shows static atmo pressure @ 11.2-12 psig, while at sea level it shows ~a pretty steady 14.5....and the issue of that ~11 psig static atmo number dropping even lower in the mountains can make cold starts in every diesel I have ever owned be entertaining, to say the least....

Adjusting in the ecu with the vag com cable to have the glow plugs cycle a just little longer related to altitude & cold temps has always been one of the first mods I made to every 1Z & ALH I have ever owned/driven up here to make these cars crank/start ups much smoother in the cold with less coughing & missing once the engine catches up there...
 

peiphil

Veteran Member
Joined
Nov 7, 2012
Location
Tignish PEI Canada
TDI
2005 passat GLS TDI and big old Dodge Cummins TDI
What about turn the key and when light goes out shut it off and then back on ?
That would give you a double heat cycle I would think !
 

JETaah

Vendor , w/Business number
Joined
Jan 18, 2001
Location
mi 48836
TDI
96 B4V, 1999.5 jettaIV,2005 BEW Beetle
That would reset the sequence and if the coolant temp sensor is at the temp that it was for the first go round, it should repeat the glow cycle.
I don't know for sure if this is the case for your car but the dash light on the 97 Passat will go out before the power to the glow plugs actually turns off.
You could check your case by pulling the plug out, hook it to the harness and ground it with a wire. Put it in a position where you can view it to see if it is still steadily glowing after the cluster light goes off.
 

oilhammer

Certified Volkswagen Nut & Vendor
Joined
Dec 11, 2001
Location
outside St Louis, MO
TDI
There are just too many to list....
If it is having any issues with a cold start, chances are the software/glow system needs to be brought up to the current version.

Plenty of info here on this issue. Hard to believe there are any BHWs or BEWs left out there that have not yet had this resolved, but every year a few more show up. And a few more blown up BHW balance shaft chains show up too... despite this also being 100% avoidable. :rolleyes:
 

afarfalla

Veteran Member
Joined
Nov 6, 2006
Location
sugar land tx
TDI
05 Passat sedan and 05 wagen
some new cars kill the engine when traffic is stopped and your foot is on the brake, once you take your foot off the brake it restarts

I did this to my passat it works great
 

rotarykid

Top Post Dawg
Joined
Apr 27, 2003
Location
Piedmont of N.C. & the plains of Colorado
TDI
1997 Passat TDI White,99.5 Blue Jetta TDI
really bad day just turned a little brighter....I am one lucky !@%&*()...

I haven't driven my 99.5 much since I got in this thing, so today I thought I would take it for a spin, a quick spin(a trip to get things up to normal temps before we take a trip in the denver area into some winter weather).....

Cranked up just fine, drove the wife to work, not a problem...then on the way home I got a whiff of BD & D2 coming in the heated air....then I saw I was marking the road with a dotted line of fuel to trace my travels when I got home. It was a very light drip, not much of a fuel drip so I threw some atf-4 with stop leak mixed in the full tank again. Then I took for a varied speed drive of about ~25 miles to give the seals a good coating with some temp built up in the fuel from getting my speeds up close to ~80 mph on a local freeway...

Now this car(99.5 Jetta) has had the top of the top of the pump off a few times over the years with that upper seal replaced each time. It did sit for at least two years at the end of my adopted "father"s life" with it only being driven a few times when I took him off for a ride to eat or to a doctor apt....

The pump seals have given me a scare a time or two with an unknown drip on the bottom of the pump, that went away with an adding of a container of auto-trans stop leak to the fuel, like I did again today.

When I got back home after the end of the drive I got another whiff of leaking fuel so I got down on the ground to take a look see...not good was my thought as enough fuel was flowing under the car to oil a dirt road to cut down on the dust flying while traffic would traverse...

I put down some newspaper then backed the car into the garage, thinking the worst! Took the plastic cover off to get a look see, then I was a little puzzled as to seeing the top of the engine being covered in fuel???? I got a bright light out then cranked the engine back up to try to see where the flood of fuel was coming from expecting the worst.,,,,,.....anyone care to guess?

To my dismay and relief, it was not the fuel pump spewing out fuel, but thankfully there was a pinhole leak in the top of the injector braided fuel line return cap spraying fuel up into the air. I spent over an hour looking through my tool boxes that I know somewhere in one of them, there is a new replacement cap somewhere in an envelope.....

I finally gave up the search and took a new piece of braided fuel line with a screw inserted to make a cap until mid-week when I can buy a replacement...

So thankfully this day went from what I thought was going to be a week-long nightmare of pulling the pump apart to replace seals, into a repair that will cost me more time to go the parts store & back next week...

....merry x-mass to me, and to all that read this....may all who have need of repairs this week be as lucky as I was today!....
 

dogdots

Vendor
Joined
Sep 4, 2002
Location
Kansas City
TDI
None
I was driving my lifted Beetle from KC to Chicago a few years ago and noticed my fuel gauge going down too fast, like 1/4 tank in 100 miles. I then noticed people behind me were using their wipers on a clear day...

I had developed a leak on a return line from one of the injectors and was in the middle of nowhere. I did find a farm supply store and they had some clear vinyl tubing the correct inside diameter that got me to Chicago and back home. I replaced the return lines with the correct braided lines upon returning home.

I felt bad when I realized I was coating windshields behind me in oily diesel fuel.

Glad you figured your leak out.
 

zzdiesel

Veteran Member
Joined
Dec 10, 2010
Location
sask. mostly now Wa.
TDI
05 passat tdi Geared BSM and Bewcam 2nd 2005 deleted ,converted and bew cam stage 2 Malone3 tune.
Probably it helped loosening the bugs that were splattered on their cars.
 

rotarykid

Top Post Dawg
Joined
Apr 27, 2003
Location
Piedmont of N.C. & the plains of Colorado
TDI
1997 Passat TDI White,99.5 Blue Jetta TDI
Green Brake fluid????....an accident in the brake fluid factory..??LOL??

I was exchanging the brake fluid in the reservoir, something I do every six months on all of my vehicles when to my befuddlement I see the fluid is a green tint???

~40 years now of doing brakes on all types of german & asian cars, this is a first for me, green brake fluid.....am I missing something here??
 

oilhammer

Certified Volkswagen Nut & Vendor
Joined
Dec 11, 2001
Location
outside St Louis, MO
TDI
There are just too many to list....
Yep, you're missing something alright. :p

Lots of German assembled cars from that era had greenish brake fluid. Mine did too.
 

rotarykid

Top Post Dawg
Joined
Apr 27, 2003
Location
Piedmont of N.C. & the plains of Colorado
TDI
1997 Passat TDI White,99.5 Blue Jetta TDI
got a question??? how to reset miles to empty on the center display...

On my 2004 Passat TDI is there a way to manually reset the miles to "0" on the center display? I have noticed from time to time it sets itself to 0 or just a few miles left to fill up with a full or close to full fuel tank>>>/???

I have done some reading but not really found an answer, I'm not sure what is going on with how it is the calculating of the distance down to 0 miles to empty....
 
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