2000 Volkswagen Passat GLS 4 motion wagon review from North America

I have had similar problems as those listed above; rough idle, sometimes will not start (flooding the injectors?), electrical smell from dash after long road trips, and finally the emissions workshop warning light.

I recently acquired a Passat wagon. I live in a climate that has longer winters and I do a lot of skiing so I assumed the 4 motion would be a good way to go without committing to buying an Outback like all of my neighbors. The main reason why I am posting is because I remedied the problem to emissions workshop warning on my Passat fairly easily. I generally am very skeptical about warning lights however, so take this with a grain of salt. When my emissions workshop came off and on at first intermittently, but then never shut off. Before I went to the shop I borrowed a code reader from my neighbor and hooked it up to the cars ECU. I found the code for a bad high limit temperature sensor for the coolant system. This is unrelated to the emissions completely. After seeking out the problem I used the same code reader to clear the ECU codes. This eliminated the emissions workshop warning and the codes have not come back in months. The car runs and drives fine with no ill effects and it did pass the emissions test shortly thereafter. So, please before you run to the dealer and replace a pile of parts, invest in a code reader and just try to clear the ECU codes. Good Luck!