DPF replacement problems

[George56]

Background: 2015 Passat TDI with 110,000 miles. Car has a salvage title due to some front engine damage that was repaired (not very well IMO). I have owned the car for 3 years and driven it 50,000 miles. All maintenance up to date, never had a problem that caused a CEL. Timing belt, water pump, etc… replaced 9 months / 18,000 miles age - DPF sensor replaced at this time due to cracked plastic while working on the timing belt. Replaced sensor was Febi Bilstein OEM quality from FCP Euro.

Scheduled service to get the DPF replaced for the phase 2b emissions fix. Dealer replaces DPF. Go to pick up the car and had to argue with the dealer about the top half of my windshield washer reservoir missing, the coolant expansion bottle not bolted down, coolant expansion tank filled to 2 inches from the top, the exhaust sensor heat blanket missing, and very wispy “smoke” coming from behind the engine IVO the exhaust manifold / DPF connection.

Dealer grudgingly agrees to investigate/fix these issues and had to replace the valve cover under warranty due to 3 cracks on the backside where the “smoke” was coming from.

Pick up the car and drive it for a few days (about 300 miles) and it throws a CEL for P2002 (Particulate trap bank 1 efficiency below threshold) and P240F (EGR system response too slow). I schedule with the dealer for diagnostics and repair. While waiting to bring it in the car is not driven.

Bring the car to the dealer and they insist that they can’t run diagnostics because my replaced DPF sensor isn’t stamped VW. After much discussion they replaced the sensor (no charge) with a VW stamped sensor cleared the codes/CEL and drove the vehicle about 3 miles for their test drive. They claim the CEL stayed clear during the drive. They return to the shop and lift the car. They then tell me that when backing the car away/off the lift the CEL came on for a crankshaft/camshaft timing error.

They stated that they had no idea what happened but recommended checking the timing and I agreed - left the car at the dealer over the weekend since I don’t want to turn it on with the timing in doubt.

Today they call and leave a message telling me that the timing is off / jumped by 2 teeth and that the water pump is leaking.

I am 100% positive that everything was perfect when I did the timing belt (tensioned properly and the camshaft and HPFP pins fit in their holes with the crank locked at TDC and reverified 3 times by rotating by hand 2 crank revolutions and inserting the crank lock and both pins). They didn’t mention how much the water pump was leaking. I haven’t ever seen any water pump leakage and haven’t needed to add any coolant for the last 15,000 miles after flushing the cooling system and replacing the thermostat, heater core for the 3rd time, and oil cooler. I left a message asking for pictures.

What are y’all’s thoughts about the this sequence of events and the car. At this point I don’t understand why everything seemed to be fine until the dealer touched the car also I’m completely frustrated with this dealer - the next closest is 80 miles away.

 

[oilhammer]

The stories of shady dealer practices are limitless. You should see/hear some of the stuff I've come across over the years. It's crazy. And yes, one of the common ones is the ol' cam/crank/jumped time nonsense because they didn't do the belt, and they know that will not be warranted.

Here's the deal, and this is not an excuse for this behavior, but the reason it often happens: warranty time is a severe kick in the balls for a flat rate tech, and most all dealer techs are paid flat rate. Warranty time is often 50-70% of normal book time, or "customer pay" time. And any diagnostic time application is either hugely abbreviated, or simply not present at all. There will also be no time allowance for things that might break, things that might be in the way that the car wasn't originally equipped with (even if it is an actual manufacturer-sanctioned accessory!), or anything that might be above the purview of the specific job.

So, the tech will do one of three things, or perhaps some combination, or all. First, they'll rush and shortcut the actual job, in an effort to try and beat the clock. Which, as I said, is not usually possible given the shortened time allowed. Second, they won't want to spend the time to properly ensure the integrity of the job, because that doesn't pay anything. Especially on a CR TDI, where something as simple as setting readiness can involve a 1000+ mile test drive (literally, not kidding). Third, they'll try and pad the loser jobs with jobs that they can make money. Which is usually gravy jobs like brakes and PM items and literally anything that is not covered by the warranty. Battery, tires, the whole transmission, I've seen it all. Many, many times.

In the case of the CVCA/CRUA and its stupid Phase 2B or whatever they call it, I can guarantee you no tech is ever making money on that. There is simply no way you can did that albatross of overcomplicated "emissions reductions module" off the back side of that engine, with the EGR cooler literally clamped INSIDE the darn thing, while coolant is dripping all over the place, AND properly fill/bleed the equally as overcomplicated cooling system, and hand it back to the customer, and ever even end up on an even keel. And what's worse, if the dealer doesn't provide a 40hr guarantee pay, and only a 32hr one, you can quickly see how it simply doesn't pay the bills.

This is why the dealers absolutely HATE these CR TDIs, and are counting the days when every last one of them is out of any warranty extensions.

So all I can say is, ask them to show you.... if they very quickly back down, and start stumbling, and saying BS things like "Oh I read the code wrong", or "I got my work orders confused, that was another Passat I was working on", or "Sorry, we had a defective gasket", then you'll know.

Been on that side of the fence, got the T-shirt (several), won't go back. It sucks.

 

[ZippyNH]

Kinda surprised they did the work...
I was under the impression that with a salvage title that VW was off the hook on the recall.
Sucks they really didn't want to have to deal with it...the quality of their work and attention to details kinda proves it.
Maybe it was just to get $$ on a buyback/cash back...but remember something about it couldn't have a salvage title when doing my paperwork years ago

 

[George56]

Oilhammer, thanks for the reply! The dealer sent pictures of the timing marks with the crank locked and the pictures show that the timing is off by 1-2 teeth. In their pics there is a small amount of pink residue behind the serpentine/ribbed belt tensioner. It’s really strange that the timing jumped and the water pump started leaking. They want me to tell them to either retime the engine, replace the water pump and retime the engine or pick up the car as is. I’m still positive that the car was perfectly timed when I did the belt 18,000 miles ago. In your opinion what recourse do I have? It seems that they somehow messed up and now it’s not working, besides they never solved the original emissions problem other than clearing the codes and driving around the block.

 

[George56]

Kinda surprised they did the work...
I was under the impression that with a salvage title that VW was off the hook on the recall.
Sucks they really didn't want to have to deal with it...the quality of their work and attention to details kinda proves it.
Maybe it was just to get $$ on a buyback/cash back...but remember something about it couldn't have a salvage title when doing my paperwork years ago

I thought the same thing before I bought the car but the court docs require them to fix regardless of the salvage title.

 

[George56]

Oilhammer, thanks for the reply! The dealer sent pictures of the timing marks with the crank locked and the pictures show that the timing is off by 1-2 teeth. In their pics there is a small amount of pink residue behind the serpentine/ribbed belt tensioner. It’s really strange that the timing jumped and the water pump started leaking. They want me to tell them to either retime the engine, replace the water pump and retime the engine or pick up the car as is. I’m still positive that the car was perfectly timed when I did the belt 18,000 miles ago. In your opinion what recourse do I have? It seems that they somehow messed up and now it’s not working, besides they never solved the original emissions problem other than clearing the codes and driving around the block.

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• George56
• Mar 11, 2025

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• George56
• Mar 11, 2025

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• George56
• Mar 11, 2025

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• George56
• Mar 11, 2025

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• George56
• Mar 11, 2025

 

[oilhammer]

Yep, that timing certainly looks off. And if the belt "jumped", it needs to be REPLACED, not simply retimed. And it does look like the water pump is leaking.

Looks like you have to redo that job, regardless.

 

[George56]

Yep, that timing certainly looks off. And if the belt "jumped", it needs to be REPLACED, not simply retimed. And it does look like the water pump is leaking.

Looks like you have to redo that job, regardless.

I have a theory that the initial VW tech that did the DPF replacement didn’t vacuum fill and bleed the cooling system properly (because he overfilled the coolant reservoir to about 1 inch from the cap at the top - and when questioned he stated that it was normal and to all ow for the system to bleed - I have personally done 3 coolant flush/fills on an EA288 engine and with a proper fill/bleed the level only ever dropped from max to halfway between max and min). This failure to properly fill/bleed caused an air pocket at the water pump which messed up the mechanical seal on the water pump shaft causing leakage that caused the timing belt to get wet/slippery over the 300 miles of driving before the DPF code. This slippery belt “jumped” a tooth or so when the dealer was operating the vehicle.

What are your thoughts?

Also how far off does it look - meaning should the head/valves be inspected?