B6 Passat - Common Problems?

cokecan

cokecan

cokecan

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Hi Guys

I'm just looking for a bit of info on what common problems can potentially pop up with B6 passats (05/06 onwards). What to look out for etc.

I've had a browse over a few of the passat forums and it seems Injectors tend to be one that crops up, as does fuel pumps and oil pumps - I'm not sure if these last 2 could effect the whole B6 range or what, all the posts I found about them were for 1.9/2.0 TDI's :confused:

Any knowledge or experience is appreciated :)
 
I'm not sure if B6's are the same as B5's in this respect, but check the foot wells for water ingress and make sure all the electrics work.

B5's have a plenum chamber (between the bulkhead and engine bay) that's known to block it's drainage holes. It collects water and with no where else to go so ends up in the cabin. If you find water, walk away.
 
thanks for the info guys.

I'm looking at the 2.0 FSI range currently. I have read a bit about some of these water leaks, though as you say if theres water just walk away :)

The other thing I came across earlier was something to do with the auto handbrake not engaging/disengaging properly? obviously this is something to be concerned about if it happened lol but is it something I should worry about when buying? is there any way to check it?
 
The handbrake in a B6 is a 'button' one :/ When you say auto-handbrake, is it the hill-hold function? if so I wouldnt worry, but if it's the case where you press the button and nothing happens........

...have a look around the forums to see if there's a permanant fix for it I guess is the best thing to do
 
cokecan72 said:
thanks for the info guys.

I'm looking at the 2.0 FSI range currently. I have read a bit about some of these water leaks, though as you say if theres water just walk away :)

The other thing I came across earlier was something to do with the auto handbrake not engaging/disengaging properly? obviously this is something to be concerned about if it happened lol but is it something I should worry about when buying? is there any way to check it?
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I would only buy a 2.0FSI if I planned to throw it away afterwards. The Passat is a caravaners/family favourite, all of whom will prefer diesel and for this reason the residuals are awful. Not only do the residuals suffer but if you plan to try and sell privately they apparantly take FOREVER to sell. There was a decent one on Sarah Cox Cars website, with FVWSH, 1 private owner and all the rest of it and it was on their site for months, and it seemed to be keenly priced. If you choose to p/x it you WILL get shafted by the dealer on it's value.
 
monkey_boy said:
I would only buy a 2.0FSI if I planned to throw it away afterwards. The Passat is a caravaners/family favourite, all of whom will prefer diesel and for this reason the residuals are awful.
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Excellent, so given he is looking at 4-5 year old cars they should be a useful amount cheaper to buy.
 
They're advertised a bit cheaper, but you can haggle them down a lot more. I was looking at buying one last year before I got my X5. Again, as long as the OP is aware that he'll get shafted when it comes to selling up time it's a decent way to get better value for money (as much as you can from a passat).

It's also worth noting that the top spec SEL is quite readily available with the 2.0TDI engine but if you want SEL and petrol you can either have a 2.0TFSI/3.2V6 for reasonable money or you have to spend a fortune to get just a regular 2.0FSI in SEL trim.
 
Surely he'll get shafted less when he sells it than the current owner will be when he buys it?

If a variant of a car is worth, say, 20% less than a more desireable variant then you can buy it for say £8k instead of £10k but when selling it you'd get £4k instead of £5k..
 
[TW]Fox;17867706 said:
Surely he'll get shafted less when he sells it than the current owner will be when he buys it?

If a variant of a car is worth, say, 20% less than a more desireable variant then you can buy it for say £8k instead of £10k but when selling it you'd get £4k instead of £5k..
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Yes that's right. But if he's not aware of that, and he buys from a dealer he might buy it at £9k, thinking it's a good deal as it's still cheaper than the derv, and then be surprised that it just won't sell or gets offered £4k rather than the 5 he was expecting.
 
Which book? They're all different :p. I'm saying, be aware that it'll be difficult to sell and will lose more money than he might imagine.
 
The two that matter, CAP and Glass's :p

Both of which will reflect the relative undesireability of the petrol variant in the values given.
 
If he gets valuations from them then great. The majority of people don't trust any of the 'books' and look at what things are being advertised at. Hopefully our posts will encourage the OP to do valuations with both of the guides you reccommend and then not pay over book price. That would be super dee duper wouldn't it.
 
My absolute max budget was 7k. I currently have an old mk4 astra (V reg) that I've owned for nearly 5 years now and was either going to part chop or think about selling privately depending on what a potential dealer would offer. I'm fully aware that I will get next to nothing for this anyway.

So from what you 2 have said, they generally take longer to sell due to less demand for them (caravanner's/family's being the reported main buyers) which will likely reflect in the price being lower and amount of haggling that can be done would be better when compared to other cars of this size and type? lol surely this is a good thing for me currently :)

Though I do see you're point that when I come to sell on I may struggle to get much for it, though the amount I loose will be less than the current seller does. Assuming no major issues I was looking to hold onto what ever this next car is for a good few years.

Interesting comments about diesel instead of petrol though. Main reason I was looking at petrol was because I don't do a huge amount of mileage, I won't see any savings in MPG as far as I'm aware (though I've not really sat down and looked at both properly). I'm generally looking for a car that is bigger all round i.e. more space inside, comfier, bigger engine than the 1.6 I currently have etc

I'll check out CAP and Glass's guides for info on valuation/disposal figures though, so thank you for them :)
 
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Injector problems only affect the 2.0 diesels.

Water ingress in footwells only affects the B5's, not B6's.

Handbrake problem is a faulty switch, its a 2 min fix by replacing it, it will fail again because the replacement is no better than the original but it doesnt stop the HB from working, it just means you have to press it a few times to engage/disengage. Switches are fairly cheap and can even be had from UK customer care if you grizzle enough as its a well known problem.

Otherwise they are good solid cars, avoid the 4motion version though if you want any sort of fuel economy - mine drinks fuel!!
 
I guess the only way to check if the button for the e-brake is working properly is to actually use it when I go for a test drive?

Also good news about the lack of water in the footwells on the B6 models.

Thanks for the tips guys :)
 
I have an 06 estate and it is suffering from what appears to be a common steering column controller fault.

Above 100k miles on the early B6 models, the car can start and immediately stop again displaying "Engine Fault - Garage" VW decided that it was the control module on the column whice used to require the entire steering column to be replaced at > £600 just for the column. They have recently released a replacement controller which is only £60 plus the labour to fit and recode.

Only trouble is that the local VW specialist is unable to recode the module as it requires that you are connected to VW's main network and so it has to be a main dealer to do the recode!

Rear window mechanism has failed twice in the last 60k miles and now the entire regulator mechanism requires replacement (£70 ish).

Rear passenger door locked closed with the child locks on. This required the rear seats to be removed so they could take the trim off the door and then open it. Followed by £80 worth of door lock.

5 Speed box failed totally at 70k. Aparrently a hardened steel split pin drops out of a shaft and then falls through the gears. Common problem with the 5 speed boxes I am told. The 6 speed ones are different and dont suffer from this.

Rear suspension arms appear to be out of line and even after having the geometry checked, it has a tendency to wear out the inside edge of the drivers rear tyre.

Other that that, it has been fine ;)
 
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