wire chafing problem

vw_norm said:

Kudos to the OP Bengone1 for bringing this to our collective (and apparently) VW's attention.

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Agreed! Way to go Ben!


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Busydiver said:

Interesting the first post of this problem was entered in the forum on April 26....and Vw sent out a SA bulletin about a week later...I am sure many readers here from VW staff. If I was VW I would certainly take credence in the postings here with the passion of their customers.

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There are plenty of folks in the VW network who read this forum - technicians, service advisers, sales people, and some corporate HQ folks. Many of them don't get involved in the discussions as representatives of the company for obvious reasons - proprietary information, keeping their cards close, avoiding flame wars, not wanting to out themselves, etc.

I checked last night and down under the vacuum pump had another wrap of the thin cloth tape around the loom from the factory with plenty of slack so nothing was abrading.

I couldn't see any signs of wear at 11K. I'll keep checking every time I check the oil.

phlfly said:

I did 10,000 service and what dealer did below on pic's

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As someone who regularly uses tiewraps for professional and personal applications, it really irks me when others cannot trim the long end of the tiewrap up close to the clinch. Those long ends can give you a nasty scrape during future work in the not-so-roomy engine bay, or anywhere else for that matter.

vw_norm said:

As someone who regularly uses tiewraps for professional and personal applications, it really irks me when others cannot trim the long end of the tiewrap up close to the clinch. Those long ends can give you a nasty scrape during future work in the not-so-roomy engine bay, or anywhere else for that matter.

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Amen!!! Twists those suckers off ! I was tought that early on !

Finally got around to check my harness . No chafing or even rubbing . Great find !

For what it's worth, my 04/13 built passat tdi doesn't have this issue. They've routed that wire several inches away from that trouble spot.
(had to check, though!)

xr650rguy said:

For what it's worth, my 04/13 built passat tdi doesn't have this issue. They've routed that wire several inches away from that trouble spot.
(had to check, though!)

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Mine was built 04/13 and it does have the problem. Go Figure

Clueless One said:

I took mine in for the 10K service. The SA said that as of Friday 5/3/13 VW has a campaign for fixing the wire problem.
As of now, they do not know what the fix is, or have any repair kits in stock. The SA did not know if they will extend the warranty to cover the repairs, but said that they should.

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Does anybody have a reference # for this campaign?

Thanks!

I checked my 2014 for this issue, and it seems VW has taken steps to avoid the problem with the wire chafing a hole in itself on the airbox. While they (seemingly pointlessly) switched to a thin grey rubber/soft plastic insulation for the wire and successfully took enough slack out of the wiring harness so as to keep it from wearing on the airbox, they also tightened it enough so now it chafes on one of the allen bolts for the vacuum pump. Sigh.

In fact, I found the grey insulation had already been torn through slightly where it contacts the bold head when the car had just 1000 miles. ***!

After discovering this, I went to Lowes and bought some tough plastic corrugated flex hose for wires, and wrapped my Passat's wire in 3/8" flex, then layered the 1/2" flex on top. It's well protected now, and isn't going anywhere. I'm just glad I caught this issue when I did, because that thin plastic insulation was getting torn up remarkably quickly. Thankfully, none of the wires underneath sustained any damage.

I will monitor the flex to see if it starts wearing through too. I may just end up replacing it every 50,000 miles or something, since it is so cheap to do and takes only 5 minutes with no disassembly whatsoever. Still, I find it disappointing that VW still hasn't fixed this annoyance! 2014 owners: check your wire insulation!

Oh, and I also found the upper wire by oil filler to have out of its holder. Maybe it fell out, or maybe they forgot to slide it in at the factory, but as can be seen in the pictures, I slid it back in and it has stayed put with no further intervention. Over 1000 miles later and its still staying put. I think the new insulation has helped it stay in its holder better.