The Peoria dealership diagnosed a need to replace the DEF injector and "reset the start block," whatever that is. VW Quality Technical Manager concurred. Repair performed. Drove around locally for three days before our daughter headed back to Milwaukee Sunday night. Somewhere between half to an hour into her trip, she called and said, "Guess what? Ten miles to no start." It went down to five and then zero before we hung up. She made it back to Milwaukee by not stopping. No start that night or next morning. Had to pay for tow to dealership, where it sits now. VW promised to pay for the rental car and the towing. No loaners available. Have filed the buyback documents as VW suggested. Waiting for diagnosis and a decision from the Regional Case Manager to whom it has been escalated.
Kerma has responded on this thread indicating that it will pass all emissions tests I believe. This is such a frustrating problem. All I want is a car that I can drive out of town and be assured that I can make it back home. Interesting that you actually got to the "no start". Mine never did that. I'm on the fence about my car. With only 67k miles on it, it's still in great shape. Rather than spend another $1k on a tune w/ the dsg tune I could put that into something else. This last weekend I made it 286 miles round trip with no problem but the temps were above 42 degrees. What does the buyback do for you? I think the only way I could go that route is if I would take it in every time I got the low def message which is probably a half dozen times since they replaced everything.
Good to know that the tune will pass emission tests. Thanks.
Well, it's been in two different dealership service departments this month. First one replaced the DEF injector and reset the "start block" with VW Quality Technical Manager's approval. Less than an hour into a three hour trip, 10 miles to no start showed up out of the blue -- and it meant it. Made it home, no start, had to be towed to second dealership. They just called with bad NOx sensor diagnosis. Part to arrive tomorrow.
My dealer reset the adblue system twice and replaced the rear nox sensor and the nox catalyst. It lasted a few months with no faults until the weather got cold again.
I would contact the CA attorneys to fight back on that issue. VW can't just make up clauses, they are bound by the lawsuit.
I would also contact an attorney or at least threaten them with that. When my car had to go in for repairs I did not even need to ask my dealership for a rental. They provided me with one. Drove it for 3 weeks. This really makes me question my desire to keep my car. I like it but don't want the headache of what will happen when the weather turns cold again.
Right. The Milwaukee dealership might have arranged a rental from Enterprise for our daughter, but they said that they couldn't because of her age. I don't know how much water that holds given the Enterprise office they normally work with was willing to rent to her directly with a $25/day surcharge for her age. Doesn't make sense that the dealership couldn't also arrange the same deal.
Any updates on your situation?
I received an email from VW on Tuesday requesting supporting documents for a second buyback request, which I will respond to tonight. Back when the Ottawa dealership service advisor called with the failed turbocharger diagnosis, she told me that the oil cooler was leaking, and it wasn't covered under the extended emissions warranty. I told her that I did not want to proceed with that repair because of the outstanding buyback request, and it wasn't losing oil. What she didn't tell me (but was stated on the service ticket) was that the oil cooler was leaking coolant, not oil. That explained why we were getting infrequent low coolant warnings and having to top up the reservoir. Shortly thereafter, it began losing coolant at a rapid rate.
Please let us know if the tune solves the problem. I'm on the fence for that right now. My extended warranty is still good so I'm waiting for that to run out. My driving in the warmer temps does not cause the "no start" warning. I do top off my adblue tank after every 300 mile trip but I've had my warnings come up whether I've just topped off the tank or not during cold weather. I would like to hear from a user that has had this problem and installed a tune to see if it really does fix the problem. Kerma says "YES" it does. Hate to invest $1000 for a tune and DSG tune and not fix the problem.
Will do, this is the first time the issue has come up since I've switched from a dealer to a private VW/Audi specialist, so I'll report back with what he sees/thinks the problem is. The dealer I was working with prior was terribly unsupportive and seemingly incapable of diagnosing the issue properly.
Yes, the prior turbocharger replacement on 2022.05.16 listed only the turbocharger, temperature sensor, and various nuts, bolts, screws, washers, gaskets, and clips, but no oil lines. At the dealership today, I was told that the Diesel particulate filter (DPF) was plugged, putting back pressure on the turbine side of the turbocharger, causing the bearings to fail. The DPF is the part that is unobtainable currently.
The curious thing, however, is that killing and restarting the engine would clear both the flashing glow plug light and the under-boost symptom multiple times. If the turbocharger bearings have truly failed, restarting the engine should not regain full boost. Would the problem just be the DPF?
My experience is that the code clears itself randomly. I've read from others that sometimes it doesn't. Mine only starts the countdown when I'm driving on extended trips above 70 mph at temps below 40 degrees. Keep us posted. I'd like to know if it clears up your problem. Do you plan on getting the DSG tune also?
I am not as familiar with Passat's sensor array as I am with my diesel BMW, but on a BMW (using Bimmerlink app) I am able to check DPF differential pressure. Of course it rises at higher RPMs, but in general it remains low. I would check there. If differential pressure is overly large, that could signify clogged DPF. Also check your calculated ash level.
Ok, let me know how it goes. I've read that the tune changes the shift points and can make them a little jerky. The DSG tune just matches what the engine is doing to shift at the optimum points. I'd much rather just do the engine tune also.
Thanks for the update. That's very helpful. Did it get rid of the hesitation when you accelerate from a stop?