TDI Blown Turbo

[Johng12]

Hello all, I recently purchased a 2013 Passat TDI 69k miles from a non vw dealer on December 15th, 7 days later, the turbo blew, maybe 500 miles later. I towed it to the dealership and they told me no turbos are in stock till march 5th. I spoke to VW Corporate and they confirmed wait period. I asked for other options for my car and they said at least 6 weeks until they can form a decision. The problem is... A. This is my only car and im under 25 so they can't loan a vehicle, B. This cars a warranty car and it is sitting for 12 weeks at the dealership, C. the car was released from Alexandra VW in august after they fixed emissions issue, and D the turbo was already replaced at 30k ish miles. My question is what options do I have open on either getting a new car, getting a buyback, or rushing the fixed issue?

 

[Tom in PT]

I thought the VW dieselgate warranty (which covers the turbo, IIRC) included a loaner during any period of delay in repairing the vehicle. Look again at that warranty (there is a booklet for that or search the web) and read the fine print. If it does not say they will not give a loaner to someone under 25 push back against the dealer hard, and VW corporate. They should give you a loaner regardless of age.
If you actually can get a buyback at this late stage of the game, do that.

 

[AverageAndy]

You are right Tom. Loaner must be provided for repairs taking longer than 3hrs. No age requirement. If they try to use a rental company's guidelines as their excuse, then push for them to give you a demo (one of their own cars).

 

[Johng12]

So I spoke with the case handler, they are refusing buyback because I only had the car for a week, they only look at service history from the time I owned it. The car was at Alexandria VW 500 miles before the turbo blew. They are refusing any sort of rental and keep saying they want to expedite the parts but did not do it yet. Anyways, since I am stuck with this car and they are refusing any service beyond waiting for parts for three months.... does anyone know any good lawyers to help?

 

[pedroYUL]

That sucks!

Actually, I understand you should be covered by warranty, but out of curiosity I searched:

Borg-Warner Turbocharger [OEX] (CKRA)

"Remanufactured" turbocharger for 2012-2014 Passats with CKRA engine and NMS chassis. Bolt on replacement for the original turbo. Includes all hardware and gaskets needed for installation. A refund...

www.idparts.com

IDparts offers a reman with core, which is very sensible, but they also have it backordered till Feb 28.

 

[Tom in PT]

Push back harder against VW Corporate or find an ombudsman for the Dieselgate settlement. I think one was appointed. VW should not be able to get away with dishonoring the warranty. Any doubt about coverage is to be resolved in favor of the owner. Forget the dealer, find another dealer or get a new person at VW corporate handling warranty claims. If you put in a reman turbo and that fails, its on you.

 

[vwztips]

Reach out to Aaron at Cascade German. If he doesn't have the turbo, he sometimes can pull a rabbit out of his hat and get one.

 

[IndigoBlueWagon]

It appears these turbos are completely unavailable. The dealer has pushed back the date for remans until late March. I spoke to our Borg-Warner distributor on Monday and they told me that Borg-Warner says they will have parts to start assembling the turbos (in Germany) in late March. That tells me that we won't see any new turbos from B-W in the US until late April/early May. I doubt the remans that VW sells will be available any sooner. My distributor said that this issue isn't unique to this turbo: There are a lot of Cummins engines in over-the-road trucks that are sitting idle right now waiting for turbo parts from the same plant.

This isn't a pretty situation. To my knowledge there isn't an alternative turbo that will fit this vehicle. Seems that in the face of a long delay in getting warranty parts for a recently purchased car, VW should be able to work something out for you. Good luck.

 

[MATPOC]

Squeaky wheel gets the grease, contact corporate, it's the only way you gonna get anything.
Insurance case handler is a low-level pawn that does not care or possibly even represent VW, I'm guessing insurance is a third party and they provide third party rentals.
Dealer should be able to provide a loaner (usually used car) that would be covered under your insurance and not age limited.

During Takada airbag recall they (Honda for sure) had 1000's of people out in rentals, pretty sure they did not age discriminate, if there was any age issues with rental company Honda corporate would have worked it out.

 

[IndigoBlueWagon]

I'd also look at used car protection laws in your state, including lemon laws. Might be a solution there.

 

[Zambee500]

https://www.vwcourtsettlement.com/wp-content/uploads/documents/emissions/Gen2_Automatic_Emissions_Modification_Disclosure_Volkswagen.pdf

Top of page 14 PDF numbering (page 10 printed numbering) states that "This extended emissions warranty is fully transferable to subsequent owners." It doesn't say anything about a waiting period after acquisition. Fully transferable to subsequent owners. You are subsequent owner. The warranty fully transferred to you as subsequent owner.

Turbocharger including turbocharger damper are expressly covered at middle of page 13 PDF numbering (page 9 printed numbers). Second-to-last paragraph of same page states that VW must provide a loaner vehicle if the warranty service is scheduled to take longer than three hours. And any conflicts concerning the warranty are to be resolved in favor of the consumer.

I'd call the 800 number at the bottom of the cover letter. As post #6 suggests, ask for the ombudsman for the dieselgate settlement. Or talk to another VW dealership. A dealer should help you out as they get reimbursed from corporate.

Worst case is there is always small claims court. It seems straight-forward breach of the warranty terms, but of course that means all the up front costs would be on your nickel (and risk) and then the small claims court would order VW to reimburse you after-the -fact.

 

[AllanJJ]

Curious to know if you’ve gotten any updates on your car. I have a 2013 Passat I’ve had at the dealer since mid October for a complete engine replacement. Ever since I dropped it off I’ve been awaiting the turbo. My date also got pushed back to late April into mid may. I also got that same excuse that they couldn’t provide me a loaner as I wasn’t 25. I had to fight hard with that one and threaten legal action, they finally put me in a dealer owned loaner. And I’m not even 21 yet. So definitely keep fighting it if you still haven’t gotten a loaner. I kinda just wish they would buy back my car already. Corporate flat out said they’re not interested in doing a buy back as of now on my vehicle.

 

[Johng12]

Curious to know if you’ve gotten any updates on your car. I have a 2013 Passat I’ve had at the dealer since mid October for a complete engine replacement. Ever since I dropped it off I’ve been awaiting the turbo. My date also got pushed back to late April into mid may. I also got that same excuse that they couldn’t provide me a loaner as I wasn’t 25. I had to fight hard with that one and threaten legal action, they finally put me in a dealer owned loaner. And I’m not even 21 yet. So definitely keep fighting it if you still haven’t gotten a loaner. I kinda just wish they would buy back my car already. Corporate flat out said they’re not interested in doing a buy back as of now on my vehicle.

Somehow the dealer found me a turbo in late January and it’s been okay ever since. I do not want it to happen again and have to admit am a little cautious with the car.

 

[Tanman135]

I have this same issue with the car sitting at the dealership since October of 2020. 2013 Passat TDI SEL. The turbo ETA was originally March but got pushed to May so now hopefully it will be soon. They got me in a loaner right away. I complained that the loaner was a base model so they upgraded me to a newer Golf. I have not tried for a buyback because my state lemon laws are very tight in IA. If anyone in this thread starts getting their turbos please let us know. Or if VCC got you anything for compensation. Thanks.

 

[oilhammer]

It would seem finding a $1000 Craigslist beater is the best accessory for owning some of these newer TDIs. I couldn't sleep at night if I had to rely on a CKRA Passat every day. No way.

In other news, my 21 year old Golf hit 590k miles this morning. No breakdowns, no drama. No lawyers. No warranty.

 

[Zambee500]

It would seem finding a $1000 Craigslist beater is the best accessory for owning some of these newer TDIs. I couldn't sleep at night if I had to rely on a CKRA Passat every day. No way.

That's why I decided to go ahead and have a FHN put into my B5.5 this spring after it turned into a Covid car last winter and I had already 'replaced' it with the 2014 in February. So far, I really like the 2014, but after I recover from the B5.5 surgery I'll probably turn to having some options deleted from the 2014 for (hopefully) proper longevity and reliability. And a proper tune to go with the deletes.

 

[oilhammer]

I am taking REALLY good care of both my B5.5s, too.

 

[Tom in PT]

I was in a dilemma a year or two ago, with 3 cars and 1 needed to go: 2013 Passat CKRA, an '05 Passat sedan BHW B5.5, with only 89,000 miles, babied since day 1, and a cherry 05 Lexus LS430 with 120K miles. I kept the Lexus and the '013. I'm thinking I made the wrong move selling the '05 Passat and keeping the '013. I wish I had sold the '013 back to VW when I had the chance, but keeping it and getting a check for over $ 7,000 seemed to good to pass up at the time. Little did I know that all these post fix issues would start up, VW run from their warranty obligations, and the gas mileage take a 10 percent hit. Made a big mistake believing what VW said when the fix was released ("everything is going to be fine and your mileage will drop only about 1 percent, anything goes wrong we will fix it under the extended warranty, blah blah blah),

 

[IndigoBlueWagon]

I know that oilhammer will disagree with me, but if I were choosing a B5.5/BHW would be my last choice for a reliable backup to a CKRA Passat. Well, maybe next-to-last, with the V10 Touareg as the last choice. My parts selling experience show that BHWs are more failure-prone, and far more expensive to repair than an ALH or AHU. But we also have customers who've had good luck with their CKRAs, so I guess individual experiences with both cars will vary.

I do know that the two '02 ALHs my son and I have total 838K miles, and they both are dead reliable, year after year. As my son is inclined to say, it's a little discouraging to know that his '02 Golf may be the best car he ever owns.

 

[oilhammer]

I think there are a lot of people who (for reasons I simply cannot understand) have trouble with simple diagnostics and servicing the BHW. Again, I have no idea why. They are easily the simplest of the three PDs sold here. I don't have squat for issues with the ones I take care of, including my own. So I think that might be why you perceive them differently. They do not have the EGR coolers and engine harness issues the BRMs do. They do not have the [different kind of] EGR cooler issues the BEWs do. And they have a simple, reliable, durable Garrett turbo like the ALH does, that rarely ever fail (and I would wager most that do get a turbo replaced was due to misdiagnosis). Aside from the balance shaft, which is relatively easily remedied, they hold up well. This despite belting out 36% more power with only 100cc more AND moving a heavier car around through a mandatory slushbox.

 

[Rganey]

As of 8/4/31 my 2013 TDI Passat SE is at the dealership with a bad turbo. It has been there one week and I'm still waiting on a rental/loaner. I have been assigned a case manager who is trying to help . I was told by VW corporate they expect a turbo in October. The service manager is skeptical of this October prediction as he claims no company is manufacturing the turbos.

 

[oilhammer]

That sucks. I have a nice 2003 Jetta TDI I will sell you, and I will even warranty it THROUGH October. Heck, I'll even warranty it through NEXT October.

 

[Zambee500]

As of 8/4/31 my 2013 TDI Passat SE is at the dealership with a bad turbo. It has been there one week and I'm still waiting on a rental/loaner. I have been assigned a case manager who is trying to help . I was told by VW corporate they expect a turbo in October. The service manager is skeptical of this October prediction as he claims no company is manufacturing the turbos.

I assume still under dieselgate warranty if you're talking about loaner? Funny, VW is obligated to provide a loaner vehicle if a repair is going to take more than 3 hours, but it takes them 1 week+ to authorize the loaner vehicle. W T F?

 

[IndigoBlueWagon]

The service manager is skeptical of this October prediction as he claims no company is manufacturing the turbos.

Not sure what he means by that. Those turbos are assembled by Borg-Warner, and they're projecting they'll have inventory in late October. However, that date has moved a number of times so consider it an "estimate".

 

[Rganey]

As of 8/4/31 my 2013 TDI Passat SE is at the dealership with a bad turbo. It has been there one week and I'm still waiting on a rental/loaner. I have been assigned a case manager who is trying to help . I was told by VW corporate they expect a turbo in October. The service manager is skeptical of this October prediction as he claims no company is manufacturing the turbos.

I received a loaner car today 8-23-21.....the dealer has no word on when turbos will be available.

 

[rmblack1]

I spoke with my service rep yesterday concerning my 2013 Passat TDI SE with a blown turbo, and he's currently estimating an October timeframe for the part to come in. One rumor was that the initial run of parts didn't pass the quality checks. My understanding, no documentation to support this, is that VW didn't like the design of the turbo due to multiple failures and was redesigning the turbo. They didn't want to put the bad design in the warrantied vehicles. Also, the warranty is covered by the manufacturer, not the dealer, so the dealer shouldn't have an issue getting a person a loaner/rental. The warranty rep at VW should be able to work with the local dealer if you aren't eligible for most rentals. A loaner from their inventory might end up costing them less than the rental car company will end up charging. I've had a rental since May, with 2 months of expected time left on the rental prior to parts even showing up. Even with a $1000 rental payout, that is probably more than the depreciation on a loaner car. The dealer might even be able to buy a car for you to use, and then they can just sell it when you're done with it.

 

[IndigoBlueWagon]

I don't buy the redesign story: These cars are long since out of production and I doubt they'd substantially change the turbo at this point. The might make some slight internal modifications, but that's probably it.

 

[740GLE]

they are waiting on the Aliexpress shipping, due to the suez canal back up things are just taking longer, thanks covid!

 

[Lex Tdi]

they are waiting on the Aliexpress shipping, due to the suez canal back up things are just taking longer, thanks covid!

I doubt the suez canal had anything to do with it... almost all ships from China and go through panama canal. I import containers from China, Vietnam, and Australia. All come by way of the pacific. The website https://fbx.freightos.com/ shows you the real reason... there are not enough shipping containers, and the ones available are up from $2500 to about $18,000 (china to east coast) in less than a year. The Ports in China are crazy backed up... https://www.wsj.com/articles/chinese-port-logjam-threatens-christmas-shipping-rush-11624307360

 

[740GLE]

sorry about the unneeded sarcasm, just trying to crack a joke.