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Advice needed about 2004 Passat TDI Wagon with bad trans
I bought a 2004 Passat TDI WAGON GLS with 200k miles several months ago. It had one owner, Carfax certified, every single maintenance done by the dealer. It was due for timing belt, but other than that, it was in awesome condition. Excellent interior, not a ding or scrape, leather in great shape, carpet clean, smelled good, radio worked, tires and brakes good, great power, etc. The only other thing was the glow plug CEL. I got this vehicle for $5500 and had it shipped from Ohio.
Got the vehicle and budgeted $2800 for Balance Shaft Module to be replaced. Drove it for several weeks (about 2000 miles) and was very happy with it, waiting for Robby (runonbeer - Meyerhoff Autohaus) to become available. Took it to him and he did the BSM, timing belt, water pump, and all related work. Got it back from him and drove it to the airport. A week later, drove it home from the airport and on the way home, it clunked and went into transmission limp mode. Robby doesn't do transmission work, but scanned with vagcom and found "excessive clutch slippage" and "mechanical failure". Just to be on the safe side, he replaced the trans fluid, and found a small piece of metal in his pan afterward. He couldn't be sure if that piece of metal was there before the fluid went in, so he didn't charge me for his labor, just the expensive fluid.
Next, I took it to Kenny Hill Automotive in Austin. Kenny Hill, whose policy to charge every person at least $85 for a diagnostic, even when you give them the codes yourself, is very frustrating, immediately drained the expensive trans fluid and said there was a chunk of metal in it. They said it needed to be rebuilt, and quoted $4500 (they ship it off to be rebuilt by someone else). They also threw out the expensive fluid, even though I told them not to change the fluid since I had just done that. They put the Mercon/Dexron stuff "just to get it home", since I was not prepared to have them do the rebuild.
We drove it to Dallas the next week and dropped it off at my wife's uncle, who has done a lot of shadetree mechanic work (although nothing on TDI's). After spending a couple of weeks here and there with it, and taking it to a couple of friends, he was convinced there was nothing wrong with the transmission, but a "sensor or something". We blew $200 on that, and wound up having it towed to Metro VW. They checked the codes and immediately said the trans was bad - and also said that even starting it up with the wrong fluid is enough to warrant a rebuild.
So, here is where I am today. I have taken a job where I ride the bus to work downtown. I no longer need the car. I spent:
$5500 car
$200 title
$500 shipping
$3000 BSM + trans fluid/filter
$300 "diagnosis"
$200 family labor
$60 dealer "diagnosis"
I have found Steve Glover at Technical Diesel Innovations, who has presented the following options:
$3600 to rebuild the transmission, wind up with a 0 mile trans with 36/36 warranty
$560 to install any other transmission I find or he finds (plus the price of the trans plus $300 for service to it). Found trans for $1200, so maybe $2000 for this option. not sure of warranty, but prob 80k miles on that trans.
sell the car as is, without a working trans
On one extreme, it feels like a waste to dump thousands more in a car that has had so much trouble. However, a 2004 Passat in such otherwise great condition, with the BSM already done, with a rebuilt trans, etc. should be a very long lasting vehicle. On the other hand, a vehicle without a working transmission hardly matters that it had some $3000 mod that you can't even test out without replacing the trans!
Please, brothers and sisters, give me your best advice. I really thought I was making a shrewd purchase with this car and it's all gone wrong. My wife is kicking my ass, I'm wasting money with the payments and insurance, and the car is far away from home. Help me get this monkey off my back, but maximize my return (or rather, minimize my loss!).
Thanks to all for what I hope is a very active discussion about the possibilities!
I bought a 2004 Passat TDI WAGON GLS with 200k miles several months ago. It had one owner, Carfax certified, every single maintenance done by the dealer. It was due for timing belt, but other than that, it was in awesome condition. Excellent interior, not a ding or scrape, leather in great shape, carpet clean, smelled good, radio worked, tires and brakes good, great power, etc. The only other thing was the glow plug CEL. I got this vehicle for $5500 and had it shipped from Ohio.
Got the vehicle and budgeted $2800 for Balance Shaft Module to be replaced. Drove it for several weeks (about 2000 miles) and was very happy with it, waiting for Robby (runonbeer - Meyerhoff Autohaus) to become available. Took it to him and he did the BSM, timing belt, water pump, and all related work. Got it back from him and drove it to the airport. A week later, drove it home from the airport and on the way home, it clunked and went into transmission limp mode. Robby doesn't do transmission work, but scanned with vagcom and found "excessive clutch slippage" and "mechanical failure". Just to be on the safe side, he replaced the trans fluid, and found a small piece of metal in his pan afterward. He couldn't be sure if that piece of metal was there before the fluid went in, so he didn't charge me for his labor, just the expensive fluid.
Next, I took it to Kenny Hill Automotive in Austin. Kenny Hill, whose policy to charge every person at least $85 for a diagnostic, even when you give them the codes yourself, is very frustrating, immediately drained the expensive trans fluid and said there was a chunk of metal in it. They said it needed to be rebuilt, and quoted $4500 (they ship it off to be rebuilt by someone else). They also threw out the expensive fluid, even though I told them not to change the fluid since I had just done that. They put the Mercon/Dexron stuff "just to get it home", since I was not prepared to have them do the rebuild.
We drove it to Dallas the next week and dropped it off at my wife's uncle, who has done a lot of shadetree mechanic work (although nothing on TDI's). After spending a couple of weeks here and there with it, and taking it to a couple of friends, he was convinced there was nothing wrong with the transmission, but a "sensor or something". We blew $200 on that, and wound up having it towed to Metro VW. They checked the codes and immediately said the trans was bad - and also said that even starting it up with the wrong fluid is enough to warrant a rebuild.
So, here is where I am today. I have taken a job where I ride the bus to work downtown. I no longer need the car. I spent:
$5500 car
$200 title
$500 shipping
$3000 BSM + trans fluid/filter
$300 "diagnosis"
$200 family labor
$60 dealer "diagnosis"
I have found Steve Glover at Technical Diesel Innovations, who has presented the following options:
$3600 to rebuild the transmission, wind up with a 0 mile trans with 36/36 warranty
$560 to install any other transmission I find or he finds (plus the price of the trans plus $300 for service to it). Found trans for $1200, so maybe $2000 for this option. not sure of warranty, but prob 80k miles on that trans.
sell the car as is, without a working trans
On one extreme, it feels like a waste to dump thousands more in a car that has had so much trouble. However, a 2004 Passat in such otherwise great condition, with the BSM already done, with a rebuilt trans, etc. should be a very long lasting vehicle. On the other hand, a vehicle without a working transmission hardly matters that it had some $3000 mod that you can't even test out without replacing the trans!
Please, brothers and sisters, give me your best advice. I really thought I was making a shrewd purchase with this car and it's all gone wrong. My wife is kicking my ass, I'm wasting money with the payments and insurance, and the car is far away from home. Help me get this monkey off my back, but maximize my return (or rather, minimize my loss!).
Thanks to all for what I hope is a very active discussion about the possibilities!
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Please let us know how it ends up!
