Car project: 2005 VW Passat TDI Wagon

[sunvalleylaw]

Now that my wife has her bitchin' camaro (well, turbo suby outback) time for my car. And it ends up being a project which will hopefully result in a very peppy, nice on the highway and freeway, good gas mileage, holds all my sports and music crap, handles well and comfortable to drive, car. I am going to document the project here for fun.

I have been posting on these threads about wanting a sportwagon type of car. I cannot afford to, (or choose not to) buy new. I also want a manual tranny. And, I like the mid 00's Passat wagon platform way (built on the Audi platform) way better than the current Jetta TDI wagons. We don't get current Passat wagons on this side of the pond. So, what I really want is a 2005 Passat TDI wagon, with leather (not leatherette) interior.

I have been researching and studying, and have found what I think is a perfect project. A TDIclub forum member is selling his 2005 that he has done a ton of work to, but needs to sell as his wife, who currently drives it, does not like the manual tranny he swapped in, and they already have a Jetta wagon version, and for other personal reasons. The car has overall quite a few miles on it, but when the project is done, will have essentially been rebuilt.

I am going to break up the posts here so posts don't become too long. Pics, and description of the car currently, and what is to be done to follow.

 

[sunvalleylaw]

The 2005 Passat TDI Wagon in GLS trim came with 16 inch wheels, sun roof, all leather, some other extras such as heated seats, etc., and Triptronic automatic tranny. The issues that occur with the TDI Passats over time include a chain driven Balance Shaft module (BSM) that runs the oil pump and is designed to cancel out diesel motor vibration, especially with the auto tranny. It can fail, kill the oil pump, which then kills the turbo, and if you don't shut down pretty soon, the motor. They get replaced with gear driven units, or deleted all together. The other big thing that can go is the auto tranny. Most guys are replacing with manual trannys, which I want anyway. The manual tranny also helps to get rid of the need for that BSM.

Here is what was done to this car, as told by my seller.

Here is a quick rundown of what has been done to the car both before I took ownership and then since I have owned it.
-Geared Balance Shaft Module at 80k miles
-New Garrett Turbo at 80k miles
-Timing belt and associated pulleys/water pump/accessory belts replaced at 163,800
-New Head Gasket at 163,900
--New Head bolts
--Compete coolant system flush
--Fresh g12 vw coolant
--Cleaned entire intake track including intercooler
--Cleaned intake manifold
--Cylinder head cleaned and checked
--Deleted EGR with proper block off plates and tune
-5 speed swap at 182,XXX
--Clean low mileage DVZ 5 speed transmission. (Please note that this is not an imported tdi tranny but it is very close in gearing to the EEN tdi unit. Same final drive just a slightly shorter 5th. I went this route since I could not source a reasonably priced euro unit at the time. The car still gets over 40 mpg's on the highway and our average for mixed was about 35 mpgs, city driving it for fun I got about 32mpgs. The motor is very happy with this gearing and you will find that the reports state the tallest geared tdi units do not net much more in mileage over the lower geared units...plus this makes the car take off like a rocket!)
--Audi/vw brand oem 5 speed axles in excellent shape
--brand new valeo single mass flywheel conversion clutch kit
--New clutch release bearing
--New national brand pilot bearing
--New rear main seal
--New tandem pump gasket
--5 liters of Motul 012 synthetic transmission oil (takes a bit to warm up in the winter, smooth shifts once its warm)
--Correct wiring of clutch safety switch and cruise termination switch
--Reduced throw modified stock shifter (just to get rid of some slop)
--Brand new passat leather shift boot
--3 shift knobs to choose from
--Malone stage 2 tune
---Most recently
--New relay 219
--Newer fuel filter (its been a little while)
--New Hood gas strut
What I am to do as soon as I have time or sooner if the sale moves closer to a date.
--Brand new febi bew camshaft
--INA black coated lifters
--OEM cam bearings
--Non-stretch re-usable cam bolts
--New valve seals
--OEM passenger side wheel hub
Obviously there is a more extensive list of things we have talked about that I will be doing but this is the list of what I have either done or currently have the parts to do.

Since this list, we have agreed that since he is doing some other work, we are going to delete the BSM altogether, do rings and valve job with brass valve guides, look at putting a true diesel gearbox in to reduce the RPMs at freeway speeds (the current gasser gearbox works fine, but could be a bit buzzy at 80mph on the freeway, by increasing the rpms by up to 500, which also can reduce the mileage by not very much but a little).

There are a couple little cosmetic things we will do too. Some pics to follow.

 

[sunvalleylaw]

Ok, so above is the good.

The not as good are a few dings that need to be fixed, particularly on the rear tailgate near the window. There is a little spot of surface rust there where the paint was cracked that needs to be fixed. We are getting estimates on that, or if that is not practical, will look to find a good used rear gate off a wrecked car. And some minor little dings that we are going to have pulled out by a detail place that does paintless ding repair.

The leather on the front seat bolsters are worn. So I am looking for covers from a wrecked car to replace them. Should be able to find them if I am patient. I can get new ones, but I don't want to throw that much money at it.

An under the hood pic.

Some misc. paint chips and scrapes to get touched up, particularly on the rear bumper where it got backed into a motorcycle in the garage.

 

[sunvalleylaw]

And a couple of perspective pics. Overall a very nice looking car when a few things get cleaned up. And it should be mechanically very sound. Any of you car guys that want to give me some input on fixing these things up, please do! In the end, my wife and I should have two decent serviceable cars for the price of one new one or less. And, I get to have the car I want, manual tranny and all, rather than what they are bringing to the states these days due to our peculiar American taste in cars.

 

[Prages]

Nice. I, personally, wouldn't swap out the tranny to reduce highway RPMs by 500 and maybe 1 mpg.

 

[Tiltsta]

Cool project. My wife drives a 2010 jetta tdi wagon. It has 90K mile on it without a hiccup. Only maintenance costs so far were oil changes and a side door actuator (more of an annoyance issue than anything functional). It still gets 45 mpg all day long around town, and as high as 52 mpg on long highway trips.

 

[Lerxst]

Have you purchased this w/ a contingency on the work to be done or are you waiting for him to finish the work to make the purchase?

 

[telecaster911]

Nice car. My 2 cents is that if a Volkswagen is what you want, then it's best to buy new and keep up with the maintenance.

 

[sunvalleylaw]

Have you purchased this w/ a contingency on the work to be done or are you waiting for him to finish the work to make the purchase?

We are inking an agreement for the purchase, involving a deposit, with the work to be done first, satisfactorily, or no sale. Risk of loss to stay on his side until delivery(pick up). I have talked several times quite a while with this guy, and I don't think he will burn me. But best to be safe. He feels the same, as he does not want to do a bunch of work to my specs, and then have me back out. So, though we have developed a rapport, we also want to be careful and ink our expectations to avoid misunderstanding.

 

[sunvalleylaw]

Yeah, ok. that one did not happen. Too bad as it would have been nice. But the seller ran into a problem after getting it all back together, and being a young family man, had family commitments that prevented him from completing the deal. He made it right, and paid me back all money I was out, including a deposit, plane ticket, etc.

So, now I found another one, with the work not being done, and being purchased a lot cheaper, and getting work done here instead under my supervision. Not quite as cheap, but should come out well (with the manual tranny I want, and a couple other upgrades I will do). Here is a vid shot by the seller showing the car. In overall good shape, but needs a detail, and the tranny is bad (being replaced by euro manual). It will have wheels like the one above. Those snow wheels will stay with the seller.

https://docs.google.com/file/d/0B09cR1bX6UZlSXlWMHdiblEzQjg/edit

It was supposed to be here by now, but the driver the transport company hired to haul it didn't come through. In case these guys (Secure Auto Transport) don't come through, do you guys know any good auto haulers?

 

[Lerxst]

Depends on how much you want to pay. My FIL uses an enclosed, end to end shipper for transporting the cars he has bought or sold over a distance...but it's not cheap. uship.com is a good place to start checking out shipper reviews and get some quotes. transportreviews.com is another resource for reviews.

 

[sunvalleylaw]

Well, the car is on a truck and should be here in the morning!! The day after that some tranny parts and miscellaneous, and a VCDS diagnostic cable should arrive. I bought one so my regular mechanic could use it, and I plan on learning to use it myself. Let the project truly begin!


PS, I like that the car color looks about like Marshawn's jersey over there to the left.

 

[Lerxst]

Well, the car is on a truck and should be here in the morning!! The day after that some tranny parts and miscellaneous, and a VCDS diagnostic cable should arrive. I bought one so my regular mechanic could use it, and I plan on learning to use it myself. Let the project truly begin!


PS, I like that the car color looks about like Marshawn's jersey over there to the left.

Did you get the real Ross-Tec or the Chinese knock off? If you got the knock off, be careful with the install disk...a couple of the older versions are virus/malware


BTW, I know your options are possibly limited by location but if your mechanic doesn't have much VW/TDI experience, I'd look for one who does...you'll save both of you a lot of time and aggravation in the long run.

 

[sunvalleylaw]

Did you get the real Ross-Tec or the Chinese knock off? If you got the knock off, be careful with the install disk...a couple of the older versions are virus/malware


BTW, I know your options are possibly limited by location but if your mechanic doesn't have much VW/TDI experience, I'd look for one who does...you'll save both of you a lot of time and aggravation in the long run.

Ross Tech - VCDS Hex-CAN with USB so I can run it via parallels on my Mac. I have been looking at the Ross Tech online manual and videos to orient myself. Doesn't look too problematic to run. Interpreting and using the data, and doing the work needed, could be another thing.

My main mechanic is a British/Italian guy who was at Grand Prix Motors in Seattle forever (Alfa Ferrari Maserati, does a bunch of the more recent British stuff that people have nowadays too.) He also works on a lot of Audis here in town. He is going to help out with the mechanical aspects of the tranny swap, with back up from a TDI guy (that is all he does, especially converting Vanogans and Eurovans in to TDI's). He used to favor the common rail motor but has come around to the PD, as mine is, and seems to know his stuff. Ray (Brit/Italian guy) is a buddy of mine and has time where the other guy doesn't, to get the tranny swapped, so the other guy can re-flash the ECU for manual for us. Ray then plans on handing the work over to new guy. (Matt). But I plan on learning as much as I can and doing some basic stuff, both on this car and my wife's 2005 Suby OBXT we just got, to be a little self reliant too. I am also going to look for a good TDI guy down in Twin Falls or Boise for back up, in case Matt is too busy in the future. He is focused on these conversions and restorations right now rather than regular auto work. I know of a well rated guy in Boise, but will be looking for one in Twin as it is closer.

 

[sunvalleylaw]

The eagle has landed! A few surface scratches that will buff out except for maybe one or two. May look into a little bit of paint repair there. Just two small door dings. May do paint less dent repair on those. Nothing too bad though. There is one Little scratch/hole on the rear bumper cover that I am going to fill touch up and probably just put a Seahawks decal over that anyway. overall it will end up looking excellent for a 10-year-old car.

Interior is quite good for natural leather but in need of a cleaning as I knew you would be the case. Engine fires right up but obviously something is wonky with the transmission. again as I already knew. Looks like it should clean up really nice to be a good car!. Over all mileage is very low for this age car. Worth investing a little into.

 

[Lerxst]

Good luck!

 

[sunvalleylaw]

So spent my first night working on the car last night. Just simple stuff, cleaning things up, and investigating why I found a slight bit of water in the passenger area of the front of the car, with just a little showing up in the glove box. I pulled the battery compartment cover and pulled the battery. Man is that a pain with this big Interstate battery that is in there.
And I have to admit I am not super handy at this stuff. I cracked the front edge of the piece of trim that comes down off the windshield. Just a little and it does not show with the hood closed. But sheesh. I will probably replace it as it does not look to be too expensive.

Once the battery was out, I confirmed that it was pretty much dry there, and that the drains were ok. One was completely clear and the other had a little debris but was not clogged. I cleaned them both, cleaned the area fully, and put it back together. I also had to re-attach a hose from the brake system that runs in front of the battery over to a white rubber fitting on the fire wall. I had knocked it loose, and damaged some insulation on that line, trying to get the battery back in. Yeah, I am good at this. :rolleyes:



The cabin air filter was not wet, and I vacuumed that out and put it back as I did not have a new one. While in there, I cleaned the engine bay up a bit, vacuumed out any dirt and leaves, etc. I did a little more cleaning tonight, and will double check the other drains in the next few days to make sure they are working.



In other news, my manual tranny swap parts got here. My mechanic is starting on that tomorrow! Frans came through again!



Here is how the swap kit was boxed up. We will pull it apart tomorrow. I did not want to pull it apart today so that it stayed together at my mechanic's place.



Oh, and a tdi club forum member tells me this plug is some unused plug that VW used for shipping across the pond. Can anyone confirm? When I pulled the positive lead off the battery, it was attached to the cable, but not attached to anything else.

 

[Lerxst]

Check the cable schem in the FSM, if you have one available...the plug should be labeled. It's probably for an accessory not installed on your car/cars sold in NA if you can't find a corresponding plug for it.

 

[Coralkong]

I like VW's but don't like working on them.

 

[sunvalleylaw]

In testing out the car, my mechanic discovered, with the help of a TDI specialist friend, that the auto tranny might be good, and that it is possibly a bad Transmission Control Unit (TCU) causing the issue. If so, I am still going forward with the conversion, as he is into it now, and I want to anyway and have the parts. But, I found a guy locally in Boise who is also working on a swap who has a known good TCU and is willing to lend it to me for a couple days so we can swap it in hopefully tomorrow before the tranny comes fully out, and Ray (my mechanic) can drive it some and see if the tranny is ok so I can sell it as a working used part.

Otherwise, both he and the TDI guy think the car is overall a good car and worth at least what I paid for it. That is a nice thing to have confirmed.