2000 Volkswagen Passat GLS from North America - Comments

Let's discuss car reliability folks. "Emission Workshop" and other problems. High cost of repairs etc.

There is talk about how reliability is bad on VW's.

Here is the deal folks. I own and love my 2000 Passat GLS 1.8 Turbo, 5-speed, 167,000 miles. It doesn't burn oil, and gets 30-32 miles per gallon, and is my daily commuter. I was a mechanic at a Volkswagen shop for 8 years. I have seen these problems come up in the past. Catalytic converters, lean air/fuel mixture, oxygen sensors, misfiring spark plugs and vacuum leaks. All of these can and will set off the Emissions Workshop warning alarm.

Lets start off with the cats, the cats utilize a lot of heat. There are screens and other highly engineered (and sometimes over engineered) components to them. No moving parts, but basically a system that each component plays a part in reducing emissions.

Here is the problem. Most of us are in a hurry to get here and there. Drive fast, find a parking spot, shut off the engine and run inside. Mean time, when you are in Starbucks getting your double decaf, triple skim, diet latte, the turbo and cats are still very hot and basically cooking. There is now no exhaust flow to remove the heat from the exhaust system. If you were to let the engine run for 2 minutes after getting to your parking space, exhaust temperatures would drop to a little over 300ºF instead of cooking between 900º-1000ºF. This will save the turbo ($1800.00), exhaust pipes ($400.00), cats ($2000.00), oxygen sensors ($500.00), and muffler ($300.00). Isn't this worth 2 minutes of your time. If you are in that big of a hurry, leave 5 minutes early! That covers the melting components.

Lean or rich air/fuel mixture. Several systems control this. Coolant temperature, intake air temp, barometric pressure, throttle position, fuel regulator, fuel pressure and oxygen sensors etc... the list goes on.

Here is my input. Everyone hates paying for gas these days. And we all look for the cheapest place to get gas. No problem. Look at the gas station, if it is a pig sty and no one there cares except to take your money, maintenance on tanks and filters there may be suffering. What I am talking about is how clean is the gas that you are putting into your tank?

When you are at the pump spending your 2nd childs tuition for college, look around. Look at the spin-on filter on the side or top of the pump. There should be a date on it. If the date is 6 months ago or looks like it was installed during WW2, I wouldn't get gas from that pump. Fuel comes in bulk to all stations. Do you think the fella filling the tanker looks inside it before he fills it each time? I don't think so. That filter on the side of the pump and the one under your car is your only defense in keeping the gas clean in your fuel system. You can add fuel injection cleaner, or mileage improvers. Some really do work, but in my opinion, if the filters are changed at the station and in your car correctly, you shouldn't need anything else.

Moral; change your filters. And not with the Kmart blue light specials either. A $4.00 filter is not the same as a $20.00 filter folks. Stay with OEM brands on any car. The car maker has engineers spec out what they want from its supplier. Time and money was spent on figuring that out. Stick with OEM parts.

Vacuum leaks. Hoses get old, brittle and eventually fail. This is normal. There is a lot of heat under the hood, and it effects the plastic, rubber and other high dollar components under there. VW has cloth wrapped rubber hose for vacuum lines. Simply, look under the hood, and follow those lines. If it is up against something metal, wrapped around the dip stick 3 times, or looks kinda hairy it is going to fail. Buy the cloth wrapped rubber hose, not the $0.29 plain rubber stuff from the local cheap auto parts store.

Another tip for those people that like to take their cars to the local self serve car wash, and pop the hood to give the engine a high pressure blast; that cuts old vacuum lines in a heartbeat. And guess what, ding, ding "Emissions Workshop".

Spark plugs and other assorted tune-up items. These items wear out. Check them and change them as needed. With OEM parts! I don't care about the latest and greatest 17 electrode quad band, mileage saver, junk item on late night TV. It is all junk and a waste of money. Back to the engineering, this has already been figured out for you. I don't care what kind of car you have, keep OEM parts in it. You paid for that technology. Do you think the 18 year old, rocket scientist behind the parts counter asking you if you want paper or plastic for your car parts knows better? I think not.

To sum all this up, if you want to have a reliable car, take care of it. Keep up on its maintenance, and it will take care of you. Parts do fail and can sometimes cause major damage. It is a mechanical or electrical part, and it can fail. Yeah, money is tight, but would you like to spend $200.00 on a quality tune-up or maintenance item or $4000.00 later on an engine?

Don't be afraid to look under the hood. It is your car, look at it. If you see something leaking, that is not normal. If something smells funny, or is making a different noise than normal, ask your mechanic, dealer or even read a book like the owners manual. There is no such thing as a stupid question. Either you know it or you don't. Your mechanic should be happy to answer your question. But respect his time too. Everyone is different and not everyone is car smart.

Oh, BTW, when the "idiot" light on the dash tells you to stop the engine because there is no oil pressure, you might want to listen to the idiot, he knows more than you at that point.

One of two things is happening. Either there is a faulty sensor saying something is wrong when there isn't, or there is a correctly working sensor informing you that there is in fact a real problem. Either way, pull over and check.

Just my input folks. You are the ones making the decisions.

I think this is a very good review. You are absolutely right about everything you wrote. You have explained very well how to extend the durability of your car components.

Anyway, I think it is a major fault that dealerships don't say anything about these cares you have to put on these cars to be able to survive those expensive bills. And I do prefer a car I don't have to wait until it cools out for 2 or more minutes, just sitting in the car, every time I go somewhere. Sometimes I do have hurries, for example work hurries, and not because I don't organize well, but because they exist. I would be really annoyed from waiting my car to cool in the parking when I have a meeting in the building in front of me. It just sounds absurd.

You are also right in taking life with less hurry, it is much preferable, but not always you are able to.

Best wishes.

Never really looked at it that way. The Starbucks thing was a little much, but still shows what people do to their cars. And thanks for the tip on the gas pump filters. I have seen them, but never really looked at them.

Very good comments.

Where can I find a diagram showing all vacuum hose connections for my 2.8L 1999 Passat? The factory maintenance manual is not good in this respect.

Thank you for the comments folks. It was my turn to vent after reading some of the other comments about the Passat.

I know that I went a little bit overboard on the Starbucks thing, but not by much. Here is how the story goes... I was just getting ready to leave the supermarket (which now has a Starbucks in it) parking lot when a 1.8T passat came into the parking lot doing about 35 mph. This individual slammed on the brakes and darn near made a U-turn diving into a parking space. Before the car was completely stopped, they had the engine off, door open and started walking into the grocery store. I thought to myself do they understand what a turbo is? But they must be in a hurry to pick up a prescription, locate a forgotten kid, etc, or something like that. I made a brief phone call before heading out, and I noticed the owner walking out of the store with their Starbucks in hand. Nothing else except that cup of coffee. I was in shock. They got right into the car, and took off as fast as they arrived.

All I am saying is that if you drive fast, or just drive your car hard, let the turbo slow down and cool before shutting the engine off. Keep in mind that the turbo takes exhaust gases to spin a wheel attached to a compressor. It compresses outside air to pressurize the intake system. That is what you feel when accelerating. Ever notice that the car really takes off when the tach reaches 2200-2400 rpm? That is the turbo building boost. Production turbos probably run in the 20,000+ rpm range if I had to guess. They ride on oil in a sleeve bearing assembly. Once the engine is off, the oil supply to those tiny bearings is also turned off. If the turbo is very hot, and the engine is off, heat transfers down the shaft, into the oil and bearings. This causes the oil to break down and form what is called varnish. The more varnish, the oil thickens and precision tolerance components start to stick and build friction. It really is a never ending cycle. As the oil goes to the turbo bearings, it is carrying off the heat when draining back to the oil pan.

Use common sense, putting around in a mall parking lot is fine, once you park give it a few seconds for the turbo to spin down. You will be fine. But if you exit the highway after doing 85 mph, take the off ramp into the mall parking lot, right into a parking space, let it cool the couple minutes I was talking about. It will save you a lot of headaches down the road.

Don't be the guy that came to the shop complaining that his car was running rough and missing. As I was greeting him, he said that his Volkswagen is a piece of!@#$. I asked the usual information, year, model, mileage, what was the problem, how long was this problem going on? He said for about 6 months now... I asked a simple question. "When was the last time you did a tune-up on it? He looked at me with a straight face and said without hesitation...4 years ago. I thought to myself (of course) Yep, real piece of crap. You take care of it, it will be reliable for you.

For the person looking for a vacuum diagram for your car, you can go to most generic parts stores and purchase a Haynes repair manual for about $20.00 or go to the dealer and get a Bentley manual for about $100.00, by far the best one out there for Volkswagen. You can buy stuff at the parts store... like the book, wax and tire shine, but not any cheap parts please! If you do not want to buy a book, go to the library and see if they have one. You can make copies as needed.

John.

Thanks so much for the review. I am a new VW Passat Wagon owner (2 days) and I got a great deal on my purchase (2000 GLS Wagon 64k miles, all the GLX options--leather, CD, etc...$5500) Reviews had been great, that is until I found this site. :)

Emissions Workshop! Light just came on after driving for about a half an hour. I googled it and ended up here. I just coded it at AutoZone and it is a P1296. But, it has since gone away. No lights or Emissions Workshop!

I appreciate your expertise and knowledge, and I'm wondering... should I get out now on this model? I got a great deal and could probably get more than I paid for this car selling it locally. Should I go for something else? Is this emissions workshop problem worth dealing with? Am I in over my head? Thanks!

You seem to know a few things about Passats, but I didn't see anything about the electrical aspects of the car up there. I have a 2000 VW Passat Wagon and I wouldn't trade it in for the world, but I have been having some electrical problems lately. My drivers side door doesn't always work with the remote, and at these times the controls on the drivers side door don't work either (the locks, mirrors, and windows). And then my newest problem is that the directional on both sides will turn on for just a minute and then just turn off before I can make it to my turn. I'm not sure if you've come across any of these problems before. My biggest concern is the price tag on fixing these.

I have a similar problem with my 2000 Volkswagen Passat GLS.

My check engine light came on a while back and it also says emissions workshop. As soon as I get up to about 2rpms or give it more than half throttle, it starts to kinda gurk or sputter.

I took it to the mechanic and they told me that it was probably just an ignition coil, so I replaced all of them and nothing changed, so I changed the plugs and still nothing.

I was wondering if you could fill me in a little better than the mechanic shops have so far?

Good day all... I have a 2001 passat 1.8T sedan. I had to replace my turbo. When I started driving it the car was smoking for awhile and I called the dealer, they said it was oil that was in the line, which has to be burn to clear out. Its been almost a month and half and the Emission lights is back on and smoke is getting stronger when I drive longer than 30 miles. What can I do to resolve it?? The turbo cost me a fortune, is there another suggestion? Someone told me about the vacuum hose.. Where is it at on the engine?? I talked to the dealer and they said the will charge me $100 just to look at the problem, then so on. Wow! I can't believe they were going to charge me just to look at it!!!

I bought a VW Passat 2000 and thought I got a good deal for 4600 euros... however after only owning it for 2 months I am noticing that the oil burns heavily and after every 4 weeks the oil goes empty... i got it checked and it was first diagnosed that the oxygen sensor was gone... got it checked from another reputable mechanic who said that the engine piston rings are gone... it has failed the Nct (national car test). Meaning I can't sell it either. I have to now get the engine repaired which will cost me 1000 euro.

By the way I have already spend 900 euros on getting minor things repaired and the car fully serviced since I bought it...

I had no idea that passat repairs cost so much... I would NEVER buy another VW again for sure... Its good to drive it and look at it... and gets you all the compliments... but your mates have no idea how much money it needs to keep going.

I own an early 2001 Volkswagen Passat wagon (variant) and it is getting on my nerves lately. It has been displaying the temperature sign most of the time when, neither the fluid is low, nor the vehicle is overheating. I realized it is a false signal. Radiator is fine, cooling fans are good, water pump is OK, CTS changed from black to green, and temperature in the dash is normal 90C (middle). Today I dismounted the coolant reservoir. I noticed that the plug located at the bottom of it, is loose and deteriorated. I will replace it tomorrow and see if this corrects the problem. In the mean time I would like to know if someone else had experienced the same problem?