2012 Passat TDI SE NMS Thread

[jagerundkampfer]

So march 6th I woke up with the MIL light still on, same p1005 code. Ran down to the local walmart and picked up a bottle of power service, their summer formula. Dumped the whole bottle in the tank and fueled up. Drove around for about 15 miles with 2 or 3 hits of WOT in between when suddenly the MIL went away. I’ve been using power service winter formula before all this occured but generally babied the car, now I’ve been using summer formula and hitting WOT when I get a good opportunity, thankfully problem has not returned since and hopefully it stays that way.

 

[CallMeColt]

Took the car over 1,500 miles this weekend. Only issue I had was my dashcam DVR SD card stopped working!

Averaged 43MPG. Kept the cruise set at 65mph most of the way. Had a few hours of traffic & one day with a LOT of headwind.

 

[CallMeColt]

So, I haven't posted in a while. Went a long stretch of nothing really happening.

3 weeks ago I did have a check engine light again. Was at ~117,000 miles. Codes P026A, P0403 and P1440. Pulled them with VCDS to give to the dealer. Codes were for the charge air cooler below value & EGR valve stuck open.

They confirmed the codes. EGR valve & charge air cooler were replaced under the TDI warranty. They found charge air cooler all gummed up. No surprise there as EGR's always cause this.

All was good after repair!

I took the car on a ~1,800 mile trip. Averaged 44MPG. Mostly flat roads at 65MPH.

Only thing that happened on the trip was a 200 mile until no start message due to low DEF. Check engine light came on as well. Put 2.5 gal in & the warning went away but the CEL stayed on. After a few starts, the CEL went off. I checked with VCDS what the code was & I don't recall exactly... something with DEF level. I should have looked for closely but was on the road so wanted to just get going.

I didn't care that much anyways because I have less than 3,000 miles left on the TDI warranty. When it is up, I am going to repair these issues myself with alternate methods.

I'm currently at ~120,000 miles. Just about 1 year of ownership. I've been happy with it. Has saved me a lot of money over driving my Super Duty daily. as a matter of fact, it has paid for itself in that way.

 

[CallMeColt]

I also replaced the tires a few months back. ~$600 with 80,000 coverage.

I'm noticing that clunking up front again. Should get it looked at...

 

[CallMeColt]

At ~122,000 miles now. Noticed that my coolant overflow bottle got a little low. I'm thinking when the latest recall work was done, that some air worked it's way out of the system & it made the level drop. Going to mention it to the dealership when I go in next week. Also noticed they forgot to replace the dipstick tube bolt that goes to the EGR valve.

I'm going to get the oil changed & the timing belt service done this week. I have no confirmation of when it was last done so that's a must!

Last week, my auto-up on the drivers side window stopped working. Turns out, the lever on the switched cracked at the hinge. I replaced it with an aftermarket switch for less than $20 on Amazon. Switches are softer but it works fine & took 10 minuets to change out.

Link to the switch;

Amazon.com: ZBN Power Window Control Switch Front Left (Driver Side) Fits 5ND959857 Compatible with Volkswagen VW Golf Jetta Passat Tiguan Touran CC Polo Amarok Rabbit GTI R32 Caddy Touareg : Automotive

Buy ZBN Power Window Control Switch Front Left (Driver Side) Fits 5ND959857 Compatible with Volkswagen VW Golf Jetta Passat Tiguan Touran CC Polo Amarok Rabbit GTI R32 Caddy Touareg: Power Window - Amazon.com ✓ FREE DELIVERY possible on eligible purchases

amzn.to

From time to time, I'm getting the light on the dashboard for a tail light out. I think it's for the reverse light I attempted to tap into for the rear view camera I tried install but ended up removing.

I tried to get an afermarket set of headlight housings to install since mine are faded badly but ended up returning. They fit okay but two bulbs were dead out of the box & the internal wiring was different making different lights for the turn signals light up. Hopefully I can find some OEM ones for a good price down the road.

 

[AverageAndy]

From time to time, I'm getting the light on the dashboard for a tail light out. I think it's for the reverse light I attempted to tap into for the rear view camera I tried install but ended up removing.

From time to time I get the passenger side license plate light and at other times passenger side daytime running light. Each time it is a simple tap on the housing (for license plate light) or press on the rubber dust cover (running light). I think there are just a lot of poor electrical connections on VWs.

My MKIV AWD Jetta had a random dome light problem. It would just turn on while driving down the road. I would tell my kids it was a friendly ghost and we would ask it to turn the light off -which worked sometimes lol!

 

[watatrp]

I wasn't able to get Mirror Down to work. Shows up in MFI but nothing happens when shifting into reverse. It was asked but not answered in the VCDS thread... are memory seats required for this to work?


I'm going to spend some more time with VCDS before asking more questions.

I see this was posted a while ago. I found that to get the Mirror Down to work you need to have the adjustment selector knob for the mirror set to the right mirror.

 

[CallMeColt]

I see this was posted a while ago. I found that to get the Mirror Down to work you need to have the adjustment selector knob for the mirror set to the right mirror.

You do need to have memory seats as well for it to work. It's is needed so it can remember where to move the mirror back to.

 

[CallMeColt]

So, again, it has been a while since posting.

Just been driving the vehicle. No real issues!

Had the warning come on for "No engine start in 200 miles" It came on randomly. The next morning it stopped coming on. I didn't add any DEF. I didn't think it was time too. Has been a few weeks since this happened. No other warnings before or after.

Car is a little over 126,xxx miles now.

Average of 43mpg. Have had some days of a lot of idle time that has dragged that down.

Overall still super happy with my buy. Especially with the way prices have really jumped on them.

 

[watatrp]

So, again, it has been a while since posting.

Just been driving the vehicle. No real issues!

Had the warning come on for "No engine start in 200 miles" It came on randomly. The next morning it stopped coming on. I didn't add any DEF. I didn't think it was time too. Has been a few weeks since this happened. No other warnings before or after.

Car is a little over 126,xxx miles now.

Average of 43mpg. Have had some days of a lot of idle time that has dragged that down.

Overall still super happy with my buy. Especially with the way prices have really jumped on them.

I had the same problem with the no engine start. Would come on randomly at first then it would start the count down down to 25 miles. This normally happened on road trips. Had it to the dealership for about 3 weeks while they diagnosed it last year. The dealership ended up replacing the rear nox sensor and the nox catalyst. Have not had a problem with it since then.

 

[CallMeColt]

I had the same problem with the no engine start. Would come on randomly at first then it would start the count down down to 25 miles. This normally happened on road trips. Had it to the dealership for about 3 weeks while they diagnosed it last year. The dealership ended up replacing the rear nox sensor and the nox catalyst. Have not had a problem with it since then.

Hmmm, well I'm not in the TDI covered period anymore. If it keeps it up & gets to the point it won't run right, I will do my own fix. Thanks for the heads up on that though!

 

[CallMeColt]

I'm at around 136,xxx miles now.

Did my first own oil change on the car a few months ago. Very easy. Hardest part is dealing with how low it is as I'm used to trucks!

Had a little issue pop up with the HVAC blower fan. It made a bunch of noise then stopped. Took 15 minuets to remove it and found that the fan blade part had slid down a bit on the metal shaft. Used a screw drive to pry it back up & it has been good since.

Having this to save on diesel with the fuel price jump has been great!

 

[watatrp]

I'm at around 136,xxx miles now.

Did my first own oil change on the car a few months ago. Very easy. Hardest part is dealing with how low it is as I'm used to trucks!

Had a little issue pop up with the HVAC blower fan. It made a bunch of noise then stopped. Took 15 minuets to remove it and found that the fan blade part had slid down a bit on the metal shaft. Used a screw drive to pry it back up & it has been good since.

Having this to save on diesel with the fuel price jump has been great!

Get an oil extractor. Makes things a lot easier doing everything from the top.

 

[CallMeColt]

I'm at 143,xxx miles now. Been a while. Just driving it & saving money!

Looks like I am going to be putting this vehicle up for sale. Child #4 is on it's way, and the diesel Jeep Grand Cherokee isn't going to fit everyone, so I'm going to take that & my wife is going to get something larger... new Suburban with 30, Duramax or we will hunt down a nice, clean Ford Excurtion 7.3 Powerstroke.

I have come to really enjoy the Passat but we can't sell/trade the Jeep WK2 due to it's value temporarily tanking due to a recall on them with no fix.

With all that said, go figure, not even 48 hours after I decide it's going to be sold soon, I get a Check Engine Light!

P026A. Look it up quick, and I see it is common. Took the sensor out & cleaned it. Came back on the next day in 80 miles or so.

Typical buildup/moisture in there.

Using VCDS, I monitored the temperature driving 10 miles or so into town after the 35 miles home from work. It seemed to stay really low, from what I read & expected it to be. Very little change. ~120degF +/- 5 deg the whole 10 miles. This was driving from between 30 mile country roads to wide open highway driving.

I have a new sensor on order. I may try one more time to clean the existing one as well.

My hope is to sell the car to someone I know so I know it is going somewhere good, so I don't want it to have an issue when it's sold.

 

[CallMeColt]

Replacing the sensor did the trick. Cleared the codes & have driven a few hundred miles. Well over 144,000 miles now. I can tell summer diesel is here as I am getting a 2-3mpg boost.

 

[740GLE]

4 kids! jeezum, get off her, give her a break man!

haha congrats,