2015 Passat TDI 2.0 DSG Overheat and died

ryanmonahan · Jun 15, 2019

For the last year my Passat has been losing about a cup of coolant each month. Dealer couldn’t find any leaks.
Today I topped it up and drove about 40km on Hwy and suddenly temp went way high. Pulled over and took a look coolant level was fine. I was right at an exit so I started back up to get off hwy.
Almost immediately it started beeping and lost power. Had to pull over as it stalled out. Got it towed to dealership.
When I first looked a bit of white smoke was drifting out from under the engine cowl. couldnt see any other obvious signs of trouble.
I’m at 95,000km
In Canada.
Any ideas? Hopefully warranty still good.

Tom in PT · Jun 15, 2019

I'm pretty sure the 2015 Passat came with a 5 year, 60,000 mile (= 96,560 km) powertrain warranty, whichever occurs first. You should confirm that.

Unless you have done something that could give rise to a denial of warranty (like install an aftermarket performance chip , or fail to maintain it per the maintenance schedule), at first glance the warranty should cover repair or replacement of your overheated engine. If your "95,000" miles is approximate you need to be more precise as you are very close to the mileage limit.

thundershorts · Jun 16, 2019

sounds like the water pump impeller spun on shaft.

740GLE · Jun 18, 2019

Def thinking water pump as well.

ryanmonahan · Jun 19, 2019

Thanks folks... it’s been sitting at the dealer now for 3 days and I haven’t heard a thing. I’ll go in there tomorrow morning to see what’s up. It should be warranty. The only issue I can see is that I can’t find my last oil change receipt and it wasn’t dealer... they charge $170.

Matt927 · Jun 20, 2019

They can not deny you a warranty claim because of that.

740GLE · Jun 20, 2019

Matt927 said:
They can not deny you a warranty claim because of that.

they can most certainly try

ryanmonahan · Jun 20, 2019

So I stopped at the dealer just now. Didn’t see my car but the service rep
Had some pics. Tensioner on the timing belt seized and belt burnt up. That was the problem that led to overheating. Report is sent in to VW Canada for them to decide if they just do timing job or if they rebuild engine to avoid hassles later if related damage happened when belt broke. Rep says dealer recommends engine rebuild but ultimate call on warranty issues is up VW Canada cause they foot the bill. Anyone have any insight on this?

oilhammer · Jun 20, 2019

You will want a new engine. A "rebuild" at the dealer level will result in something you will probably not like. This sounds like a really strange thing, but I guess it could happen. I do not see how a seized timing belt tensioner could cause the engine to overheat. All I could see happening is it rubbing through the belt to a point it failed, then the car just stops, but it would have been at normal temps right up until then.

Now what seems MUCH more plausible, is that the WATER PUMP seized, and since it runs off the smooth side of the timing belt on that engine, it would not have ripped the teeth right off the belt. And THAT would certainly have caused the engine to continue to run, so long as the belt was not yet rubbed through, and get hotter and hotter until either the belt broke and tooefed the engine, or the temp got too hot and tooefed the engine.

Either way, engine is likely beyond reasonable repair. Besides, the cost of the long block will be less than the cost of all the parts and labor to try and fix one. Current list price for a CVCA long bock, 04L-100-033-DX is about 4 grand. That is CHEAP. Valve over to oil pan.

ryanmonahan · Jun 20, 2019

Awesome thanks for your advice. I will be talking to them about this.

oilhammer said:
You will want a new engine. A "rebuild" at the dealer level will result in something you will probably not like. This sounds like a really strange thing, but I guess it could happen. I do not see how a seized timing belt tensioner could cause the engine to overheat. All I could see happening is it rubbing through the belt to a point it failed, then the car just stops, but it would have been at normal temps right up until then.

Now what seems MUCH more plausible, is that the WATER PUMP seized, and since it runs off the smooth side of the timing belt on that engine, it would not have ripped the teeth right off the belt. And THAT would certainly have caused the engine to continue to run, so long as the belt was not yet rubbed through, and get hotter and hotter until either the belt broke and tooefed the engine, or the temp got too hot and tooefed the engine.

Either way, engine is likely beyond reasonable repair. Besides, the cost of the long block will be less than the cost of all the parts and labor to try and fix one. Current list price for a CVCA long bock, 04L-100-033-DX is about 4 grand. That is CHEAP. Valve over to oil pan.

thundershorts · Jun 20, 2019

Wonder if the design of running the wp off the smooth side of belt was to not break the timing belt in the event that happened?

oilhammer · Jun 20, 2019

Possibly, and we see how bad the 2015's variable displacement water pumps already are, LOL.

thundershorts · Jun 21, 2019

When VW replaces the variable wp under warranty is it replaced with a non variable or is that possible?

oilhammer · Jun 21, 2019

I have been told the new replacement ones do not have the collar on them, but the electrical plug is still there. Since there is no feedback for the position, I guess the ECU doesn't care. You'd think there would be some coolant temp monitoring, and if it was flowing 100% all the time it might cause some coolant under temp problems, but I guess that situation doesn't happen or the engines just run so hot anyway that the use of the system is worthless anyway unless you live in Antarctica.

The later VR6s in the T'regs have variable pumps too, but they are vacuum controlled (duty cycled solenoid on the front of the engine) but I have never seen any problems with their collars coming loose.

I suppose the next step will be an electric pump, like the later Prius uses, that costs $700 and randomly without warning dies and tooefs the whole engine just the same.

740GLE · Jun 24, 2019

oilhammer said:
Now what seems MUCH more plausible, is that the WATER PUMP seized, and since it runs off the smooth side of the timing belt on that engine, it would not have ripped the teeth right off the belt. And THAT would certainly have caused the engine to continue to run, so long as the belt was not yet rubbed through, and get hotter and hotter until either the belt broke and tooefed the engine, or the temp got too hot and tooefed the engine.

This. It's the chicken or the egg, and it seems VW never thinks it's the egg to blame.

Hopefully this water pump of the '15 isn't the balanced shaft of the B5 or the cam wear of the PD.

mejpassat · Jun 28, 2019

Well I'm thinking the water pumps are not very good.
Mine was replaced at 35,000 miles due to a loud sound when cold, after warm up it sounded OK. Dealer tore it apart and found that the pump was starting to self destruct.
They also replaced all the tensioner/pullys in there as well.
My car was a NOS so maybe the sitting was the cause?

Jetta_Pilot · Jun 29, 2019

ryanmonahan said:
my last oil change receipt and it wasn’t dealer... they charge $170.

Dealer I have my oil changes done at charges about $ 120.00 out the door !

madmedix · Jun 29, 2019

That dealer on Lynden Road charged me about 120 too...keep us in the loop on your experience there please

ryanmonahan · Jul 10, 2019

So my Passat is still in the shop at the dealership. So far I’m told timing belt, water pump, various seals and pulley, they pulled the head and injectors were damaged so new injectors and whatever seals and gaskets are needed to reassemble. I’m at 95,000km so my warranty would have been up in the next 2 months. So maybe it’s a good thing getting all that done now under warranty?

c3kTDi · Jul 10, 2019

I'd push for a crate engine.

I'd also want them to describe what failed, why, and how that item damaged whatever they think is also damaged and how nothing else is damaged and how you'll be protected for 100,000 km more from any problems they're introducing.

Fixmy59bug · Jul 11, 2019

c3kTDi said:
I'd push for a crate engine.

I'd also want them to describe what failed, why, and how that item damaged whatever they think is also damaged and how nothing else is damaged and how you'll be protected for 100,000 km more from any problems they're introducing.

You can ask all you want, but they wont do that.

They may tell you the tensioner failed and smoked the belt, again like they did the first time. But they can not and WILL NOT tell you "You'll be protected for 100,000 km". That would be implying a 100,000 km warranty and they will do no such thing. The replacement parts come with a 12 month 12,000 mile warranty (I dont know what the km conversion is, maybe 15,000 km?). But no way in hell will they say 100,000 km. And theres no way they can guarantee nothing else is damaged.

2015 Passat TDI 2.0 DSG Overheat and died

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