VW Passat 2006 TDI buying advice please

[Shatterstone]

Im just looking for a Practical Family car for the missus, as shes pregnent, and her current set of wheels isnt really up to the family job.

The Passat 1.9 TDI seems to tick most of the required boxs, just wanted to know, what to look out for when buying one


Cheers

[Tom Standish]

check for blockages near the windscreen, this is a very common problem. if its blocked water will get in through the pollen filter and drench all the electrics in the passenger footwell

VERY common VW problem.

if the passenger footwelll seems damp walk away - seriously!

[Vidal Baboon]

Tom Standish said:

check for blockages near the windscreen, this is a very common problem. if its blocked water will get in through the pollen filter and drench all the electrics in the passenger footwell

VERY common VW problem.

if the passenger footwelll seems damp walk away - seriously!

Really? We're seriously looking at the 2.0TDI Sport estate at present.

What's the deal with this- what causes it to block up? I've never heard about that before & how difficult can it be to unblock it?

ETA: was this on the previous generation Passat?

Edited by Vidal Baboon on Friday 22 January 23:08

[Tom Standish]

must admit its on my b5.5 but apparently its a problem that has never been fixed

to unblock it isnt the issue, all you do is open the bonnet, pull a cover back and get your hands dirty, the problem comes if you dont get to it before the water damage

general day to day muck can over time could block it up, it was leaves and debris on mine

[Escort2dr]

Inside shoulders wear rapidly on rear tyres, leading to droning noise like shot wheel bearings.

[Gurbinder]

This is only going to happen if you buy a 3B Passat not a 3C passat (2006), Most older Passats were sorted with the Plenum Chamber re-call.

[Ed.]

Gurbinder said:

This is only going to happen if you buy a 3B Passat not a 3C passat (2006), Most older Passats were sorted with the Plenum Chamber re-call.

Do you know when the recall took place and how long VW have admitted it being an issue?
My dad has only got a letter about it last week, thought the timing had something to do with Toyota softening the blow.

[Spoons]

Gurbinder said:

This is only going to happen if you buy a 3B Passat not a 3C passat (2006), Most older Passats were sorted with the Plenum Chamber re-call.

What problem is caused by the plenum chamber?

[Ed.]

Spoons said:

Gurbinder said:

This is only going to happen if you buy a 3B Passat not a 3C passat (2006), Most older Passats were sorted with the Plenum Chamber re-call.

What problem is caused by the plenum chamber?

Water leaks inside the car an pools in the foot wells, in my dads case it found its way to the auto gearbox ecu leading to sudden/strange gear changes. VW suggested damage was done and to keep driving the car until they could fix it a month later, already planning to replace whole gearbox . Luckily a specialist told him to stop driving immediately, dried out the soaked ecu and only had to replace a couple of solenoids to fix it, been fine since.

google passat+ plenum+ leak, its a well known 'feature'

Edited by Ed. on Tuesday 23 February 00:03