car been acting wonkey - 2013 Passat TDI

Raabscuttle

Member
Joined
Sep 23, 2015
Location
California
TDI
2013 Passat TDI SEL
Last couple of weeks, my car has been acting wonkey. I have been getting oil smell, and when the engine starts cold, when I put a load on it, it acts like the valves are oil starved. Engine oil level looked fine, and it acted perfectly once it was about halfway up to operating temperature. However the problem has now been exasperated, and it has been making the value noise for longer periods of time.

Today, it threw up two MIL lights, and seems to have a very weird engine noise once it hits about 2000 RPM (almost like an old timing chain noise rattling against a timing chain cover from years gone back). I have 6 weeks left on this car before VW turn in, but need to keep it running. When I checked it out today for anything obvious, there was some fresh oil and some blowby on the back of the engine (picture)


questions:
what is this, and is it easily fixable (I have worked on cars, but it has been years - but never diesels). I don't want to put ANY more money into this car since it is going back to have a nice hole poked into its block by VW,

Particulars:
2013 Passat TDI SEL 2.0L
116500 miles
California car
only major work done (beside standard maintenance) water pump and timing belt at 80K and adlue heater at 110000K (I was a hold out waiting for VW to do "something" on the adblue heater)
MIL LIGHTS (just today)
P2478 (exhaust gas temperature sensor)
P0101 (mass air flow sensor)

Thanks!
 
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tadawson

Veteran Member
Joined
Jun 14, 2013
Location
Lewisville, TX
TDI
2013 Passat TDI SEL, 2015 Passat TDI SEL
"Hole poked in the block" ? ? ? Try "fixed and resold" . . . the 2013 Passat should be one of the easy ones to fix (and we are keeping ours for that very reason . . .).
 
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VeeDubTDI

Wanderluster, Traveler, TDIClub Enthusiast
Joined
Jul 2, 2000
Location
Springfield, VA
TDI
‘18 Tesla Model 3D+, ‘14 Cadillac ELR, ‘13 Fiat 500e
First question: have you checked the oil level and if so, has it gone down any?
 

Raabscuttle

Member
Joined
Sep 23, 2015
Location
California
TDI
2013 Passat TDI SEL
"Hole poked in the block" ? ? ? Try "fixed and resold" . . . the 2013 Passat should be one of the easy ones to fix (and we are keeping ours for that very reason . . .).
Yes, should have clarified. They are going to render the turn backs inoperable IF they cannot come up with an approved fix.
 

Raabscuttle

Member
Joined
Sep 23, 2015
Location
California
TDI
2013 Passat TDI SEL
First question: have you checked the oil level and if so, has it gone down any?

Sorry, thought I made that clear. Yes, I checked the oil level, and it looks fine (that was my first thought when I stared smelling the oil smell - I check the level (and rechecked it as recently as a week ago). No lost oil since last oil change (at 110K), so not a significant amount is blowing out.
 

Raabscuttle

Member
Joined
Sep 23, 2015
Location
California
TDI
2013 Passat TDI SEL
Anyone on this at all?

Anyways, I ***think*** that is the valve cover breather line. Not sure why so much blow-by on it or fresh oil near it.

This all started happening after last service (which was just oil change as well as fixing the adblue heater and replacing truck latch (to fix bad sensor).

I looked at invoice, and other then looking to use 505 spec oil instead of 507 spec oil, all looks normal. I was thinking that they may have over filled it, but dipstick looks like right level (not too much and not too little)
 

VeeDubTDI

Wanderluster, Traveler, TDIClub Enthusiast
Joined
Jul 2, 2000
Location
Springfield, VA
TDI
‘18 Tesla Model 3D+, ‘14 Cadillac ELR, ‘13 Fiat 500e
The item pictured is the crankcase vent. It looks like it's leaking a little bit, which could be the cause of your oil smell. The leak itself wouldn't be responsible for the valve noise.

Can you post a video of the noise from outside the car?
 

Raabscuttle

Member
Joined
Sep 23, 2015
Location
California
TDI
2013 Passat TDI SEL
Just got car diagnosed. Clogged DPF because didn't go into regen (I commute 60 miles round trip every day, with plenty of highway miles) DPF light literally came on while car was idling with the mechanic hooking up his computer to read codes). They manually ran the regen, and fixed the clogged DPF - but 8 miles later (when the mechanic hit a hill on the road you have to be driving and up to temperature and at speed to start the regen, even manually) when the check engine light went up, the glow plug lamp started flashing and the car went into limp mode.

Bottom line, bad turbo. Not sure which came first, the chicken or the egg - but no way I am putting in a new turbo when my turn in date is Feb 18. The mechanic did check over with a VW dealership to see if this fell under the limited 120K mile warranty extension for the 2012/13 TDI turbos (I'm at 116,500 mikes right now), but didn't cover ***this*** particular turbo failure.
 
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Fastbird

Veteran Member
Joined
Oct 12, 2013
Location
Fort Wayne, IN
TDI
2012 Passat SEL, 2015 Sportwagen SEL
Just got car diagnosed. Clogged DPF because didn't go into regen (I commute 60 miles round trip every day, with plenty of highway miles) DPF light literally came on while car was idling with the mechanic hooking up his computer to read codes). They manually ran the regen, and fixed the clogged DPF - but 8 miles later (when the mechanic hit a hill on the road you have to be driving and up to temperature and at speed to start the regen, even manually) when the check engine light went up, the glow plug lamp started flashing and the car went into limp mode.

Bottom line, bad turbo. Not sure which came first, the chicken or the egg - but no way I am putting in a new turbo when my turn in date is Feb 18. The mechanic did check over with a VW dealership to see if this fell under the limited 120K mile warranty extension for the 2012/13 TDI turbos (I'm at 116,500 mikes right now), but didn't cover ***this*** particular turbo failure.
:confused: Do explain some more. Was this an independent mechanic? Did you talk to VW directly yourself about the turbo being replaced? To my knowledge it's not a "limited" warranty on the turbo, it's all inclusive. It fails, you get a new one installed.
 
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