I have a similar problem with my VW PASSAT 2.0 SE TDI 56 plate. three months ago it came up with engine management light and i took it to VW and having done the diagnostics done they told me there is some electrical circuit issue and it might just go if u drive so i did and week after it got cut off in the middle of the road and nearly escaped a fatal collision. i took it to a local dealer as vw was too far away from where i broke down. he charged me £1100 for changing injector #3, battery, wiring loom and labour and kept the car for 4 weeks.

Now i have been to the same garage for 3 times with the same problem and now given up as hes just meesing me around and problem still being the same.

Last month i took it to the same VW dealer and they said we'll diagnose it and let you know what the problem is and then if u agree, we'll fix it. So as arraged they called me week after telling me there is fault with your wiring loom and thats needs replacing and will cost £280 so i agreed on assurance that it would resolve the problem. Advisor also mentioned that injector #1 also showed up but we've checked it and that is working fine so i said go ahead and do it so i would have a bill of £50 diagnostic and £280 for repairs but 3 days later they rang me up saying oh car is mis firing and it appears that u need a new injector replacing #1. it will cost me another £800 towards the total bill.

Now this is outrageous i dont know where to go frm here as i dont turst if i spend this £800 and 2 weeks down the line im up for this same problem again.

Is this normal for dealers to tell customers repair cost in this manner or can i make any complaint for them to stick to their original word.

Can any one offer any suggestions if been though similar situation.

VW reliability going down the pan, I cannot understand why people still think of this brand as being upmarket and reliable. If this was a well known french brand it would be panned all over this forum.

As Lucy says, this looks like a reasonable offer. I suggest you accept it, get the car repaired and then flog it as you have clearly lost confidence in it.

Unless you do a very high annual mileage, I'd suggest you go for a petrol engine for your next car: there are too many horror-stories like yours of high-mileage diesels suffering expensive failure.

Older diesel engines (such as Peugeot-Citroen XUD, VAG PD 1.9 and of course the good old Perkins Prima) rattled on forever, but consumers demanded less noise. vibration and harshness and the added complexity of modern diesels has given refinement at the expense of durability.

Hi,

Just wonder how it finished for you. I have similar case here

We've bought our VW passat TDI 2006, bright new, paid for it about £18,000 , it has only 30,000miles on the clock.

As we went for our Christmas Holidays with our 9 years old son, the car stopped working suddenly.

We were lucky that we were driving in the country lane and there was no traffic, just hedges, because the speed went from about 40mph to 0mph.

The computer showed us "engine failure", we called the VW assistance and they said that it is the fuel injector failure. We were told that to replace it is about £900 and could be more if there are more than one injectors faulty as there is four of the, also there may be the wiring involved as well.

We are not able to pay this amount of money especially now when there is the recession and my husband is out of work and I am the only person working.

Also in our opinion this car is a death trap, as you do not know when it will stop.

If it happened on motorway, there would be a crash.

I wonder how did you sort out your problems with your car.

Regards

I have had a similar experience with my 2007 2.0 tdci ford focus (70000 miles) and the fault is quite common on modern diesels and not unique to VW or Ford. The parts that fail are usually shared components common to all makes and models. It may not be the case with your VW but the root cause can be premature wear in the fuel pump which contaminates the fuel with small metal particles that slowly wreck the injectors and can even wreck the whole engine if left, tell tale signs are metal fragments in the fuel filter but they are hard to see and not all 'monkeys' would notice during a service. I have just had mine priced up: 4 x injectors £269 each, pump £598, filter £26.57 and new fuel pipes £27 each. There is also labour of course which includes decontaminatating the whole fuel system. Total bill will be about £2600.

Edited by handy on 30/12/2010 at 22:43

Problem with piezo unit-injector on VW Passat is very common. The reason for this is VWs manufacturing bug.

Guys in Tehnomotive successfully repair VW piezo unit-injectors for the last year and a half. You can find them at the www.tehnomotive.com. Price for repair per unit-injector is € 250.

I am a customer of xxxx. On 18/09/2009, my car’s engine (VE55 NVH(Passat)) stalled while i was driving. AA towed my car to xxxx, a VW Service Centre. They said that injector number 2 was faulty and was needed to be replaced. When I asked the why the car wouldn’t start because if one of the injectors isn’t working, the car wouldn’t have any power. The answer was that in this car, if one of the injectors isn’t working, there is no chance that you will start the engine. I didn’t have any other choice than telling them to change the injector and I paid £917.46 and they said it was for a two year warranty. On 21/09/2010, my engine stalled in exactly the same way as it did the first time. I called AA breakdown and they found no fault codes stored and they suspected a fuel system fault. The AA person started the engine using car cleaner and advised me to go to a garage to diagnose. On 22/09/2010, I sent my car to the garage to get the problem diagnosed. They weren’t able to find anything. On 25/01/2011, the engine stalled in exactly the same way for the third time. I wasn’t able to start the engine again so I called AA and the person checked the car and he thought that the fuel pump was faulty. He towed my car to the same centre and when I asked them when they can find out what the problem with my car was, the manager of customer services said ‘Probably today or tomorrow at the latest’. I waited for a call that evening and I also waited the next morning but nobody called me. At midday on 26/01/11 I went over there and talked to the manager he said that they would try to fit it in the queue – what he didn’t tell me the day I took the car there. They didn’t do it again on the 26th so I went there in the evening but he said that they tried their best (but they didn’t do anything). I had to go again in the morning on the 27th and they said that there weren’t any places free. I went there again in the afternoon and he said that they will tell me later. When I went in the evening on the 27th, he said that they had the report and he said that injector 4 was faulty and that the engine speed sensor may need that as well. When I asked if they removed the injectors, he went inside and came back 10 minutes later saying that they weren’t removed and were all in place. When I asked him how they found the problem, he told me with a computer however when they diagnosed the injector number 2, they said that a computer won’t tell if the injector is faulty so they would have to remove them one-by-one to see if one them was faulty. When he told me that it cost nearly £1400, I told him to leave the car how it originally was because I would go and pick it up the next morning. He told me that I needed to go later because they would have to put parts back. When I went in the evening to pick up the car, I went inside to talk to the staff and make the payment (£85) and my brother came with a van to tow my car and he was waiting for me outside. He saw the staff driving my car out of the garage. He heard that the engine was making an unusual noise so he came inside and told me that they started the car and they drove out of the garage but the sound of the engine was unusual. So then I went out as well and I heard the engine making a noise that it had never made before. When I asked him how they started the engine and why it was sounding like this, he said that when they removed the parts and put them back together, the engine started. For the noise, he said the injector was faulty. I told him that the car was not like this before because the engine did not start, however it never made that noise. He said that I should be happy that the engine is even running. I said to him that when I took the car there, it wasn’t in that state but when they couldn’t find the problem like last time, they asked the maximum amount of money that was needed which would cover nearly two injectors. They asked for enough money to cover anything that would need fixing even though they didn’t know what the problem was. When they understood that I was talking the car elsewhere, they did something wrong to that injector. I told him that I was going to write a complaint e-mail to the CEO of VW and explain everything. Which i did do. Edit/Delete Message

Edited by Avant on 30/01/2011 at 21:57

I have a VW Passat variant with an engine of 2.0cc and 170 HP, with about 150.000 kms and over two years old(out of warranty), that is experiencing a lot of problems in the injectors as well as electronic(we know that those problems are affecting a lot of 2.0 with 170hp cars).

I have been stopped twice in the highway for the same motive, injectors, in two months and now we have to send the car again to maintenance with injectors problem.

It is the 5th VW car that one of our board members have and it is hard for us to accept the explanation of your importer that those problems are "sporadic failures".

In that sense, we have expose the situation to the importers asking VW to assume the cost of the involved parts, or at least a part of them but also and mainly, to understand the cause and be sure that the problem was solved.

VW do not accept the complain.

This happened in Portugal and I would like to know if they are accepting the complains regarding to injectrs in other countries.

Hi

I’ve been thinking about buying a Passat in the next few weeks, looking at 2006-07 170bhp SEL, but having seen a lot of posts about the injector problems I’m not so sure now, would someone know what % of cars suffer from this problem, I mean there is a lot of cars out there with the same engine, the problem with internet is that people are more likely to make a post when there is a problem rather then making one when the car is running great. Are you happy with your Passat other then the said problem? Is it nice and comfortable to drive, are there any other issues I should look out for when buying, if I get one it will be from a dealer and with full VW service, btw.

Thank for your help.

Damian

I have just had the 4th injector replaced - the first at 67k, the last at 104k - I bullied VW in Milton Keynes and they have just paid for all of them!! Result!!

If you want to know more - call me 07971 279564

This should have been a recall - they need to take some responsibilty!!

Nick

Hello

Very interesting to see the amount of people with exactly the same problem - does anyone know if Volkswagen are willing to accept this as an inherent design problem and offer a free upgrade?

Thanks, Paul

ive Just Filed a Report with VOSA on the VW Passat B6 Injector Issue.

Car: VW Passat B6 140 SE Tdi

Yr: 2006

Mileage 110,000

Service History Full VW SH

Issues to date:

September 2010 Injector #3 failure car had done 92K, was picked up under routine servicing, luckily i had taken an extended VW warranty so was covered under Warranty (except the wiring loom @ £90)

May 2011 - Injector #1 and #2 failed car has done 110,00, driving on M25, sudden jerking and loss of power, luckily ive been driving miss daisy lately so was already in the 1st lane, now car is not with VW warranty, but a.n.other warranty co., hopefully fingers crossed, Injectors will be repaired under warranty - est total cost ...... £1500, 2 x injector failures.

Also have Gone

I have also been told the steering column ECU has failed, i sure hope it hasnt and just needs a battery recharge and fault codes reset as that alone is £1000.00 NOT covered under Warranty !!! so best case is £0 (which id like very much), worst case...... £2500 !!!! OUCH...

I think this is quite apalling from VW not to have recalled these cars, surely with the amount of people having faults and close encouters, its only a matter of time before someone has a serious accident and opens up a libel case against VW. VW have to acknowlege this issue and rectify it, unless it was pre-planned on their part to earn lots of money fromus poor consumers.

My 05 Passat B6 tdi 140 (Lease car from new) Engine cut out no warning at 60mph in fast stream of traffic. Left us stranded and immobile wrong side of blind bend frightening experience. High risk of being rammed by large lorries coming round the bend at speed. Engine completely dead. Towed to local VW by AA. Diagnostics found 3 injectors + possible pump. When engine assembled diagnostics indicated 4th injector +pump and ICU? £3500 later it was running. (Top marks to VW agent. Very helpful, fantastic job in short time.) Bill sorted between VW and lease Co (Phew..!!) Although this occurred 2009 have now discovered that the early potentially faulty injectors Part no 03G130073DX were used. The later improved (03G130073SX Oct 2009?) not being available then. So another sudden engine shut down could happen any time.

Now facing unexpected bills for around £3000 to fix diesel leak (dripping out beneath vehicle from faulty diesel cooler near tank,) +4 new suspension springs, +suspension bushes. +Electronic handbrake components ..Handbrake locks on -other times fails to hold vehicle (has done from new -never fixed)

Vehicle has done 74000 miles. I have been sole user, it has full VW service history. If I spend ++ ££ for above repairs I also want the injectors sorted. (As unreliable could add a further £2500 at any time) +obvious safety issue. VW does not see it this way though.. Should a 5yr old car need £4800 to make it reliable??

Hi I am a repairing garage in Rugby, recently had a 55 plate Passat in as a non start, fault code was P1517 ecu powerr supply short to earth, removed the rocker cover and disconnected the injectors one at atime and tried to start it, when we removed number 2 it started, I suggested to the customer that he contact VW dealer in Coventry and they have agreed to replace it as a good will gesture. Will keep you posted.

"Please could you confirm that I have understood correctly, the problem is only with vehicles with the 4 valve 2.0 PD engines using the Siemens piezo injectors. Does this mean that the Passat 2.0TDI CR models are safe a safe bet and do not have these problems?

Do any of the other models have any problems to look out for?

How can I tell if it is an PD or a CR engine?"

I haven't heard of problems with the CR engine, which was fitted to the Passat I think in 2008. The DPF itself I think is bigger on the CR engine so can go for loinger before regeneration.

Make sure your annual mileage justifies a diesel - although in Latvia diesel may be cheaper than petrol, unlike in the UK.

The CR engine is a lot quieter and the power feeds in gradually rather than all at once. A dealer should have the knowledge to tell one from the other as they look diffrent; and the serial numbers should be different - e,g, on a Skoda Octavia the number on a label stuck to the floor of the boot begins with B for PD, C for CR.

Today I recieved a letter from VW advising of a Customer Satisfaction Campaing - Passat "206 Piezo Injector Quote from letter

"VW passat sport "2.0 TDI engine of a limited period small electrically conducting carbon deposits can settle on the Piezo Pump Injector elementsafter being carried in the engine oil. This can lead to running problems and in some cases to a short circuit of the Piezo Pump Injector element, which can cause engine running problems and in certain circumstances the engine to stop.

To ensure the reliability of your Passat engine injectors we would like to offer you the opportunity to have a free precautionary checkand if necessary repair your vechicle. The check and any necessary rep[air work is free of charge

We strongly recomend that you take up this offer to avoid any inconvenience you may incur if your vehicle develops any running problems"

Hope this helps

The one to avoid seems to be the 2.0 PD. There have been fewer problems with the common-rail diesels (in VWs from 2008, Skodas from spring 2009).