Passat TDI 130

[bora23]

Hello,
I have been a member of this forum for a while now and i have had a Golf MK4 TDI 130, Bora V5, Audi A6 and i currently use my wifes Skoda Octavia 2.0 TDI. Anyway i recently bought an audi a6 tdi but i just didnt like it, it was too big and not very nice to drive so i sold it.

The reason i need a second car as my wife needs her car back and i am starting to commute 50 miles to work so i thought id get a passat tdi. I found one in Chesterfield which is not far from me and i drove it, it drove nice but it needed a cambelt change. The car was up for £1800 on a 51 plate with 120k with full VW History. I factored in £300 for a cambelt so i put a figure of £1500 to him which after much thinking he agreed and i drove the car away.

Its not the tidiest example in the world there are a few battle scars and the like but its going to be a workhorse, but i have noticed two problems with it. The first one is there is a small pool of oil by the air intake at the front, i unclipped the hose and there is a small amount of oil in the air intake, is this normal?

Secondly when i accelerate from 1st there is a slight knock from the gearbox, but not at high speed or in any other gear - its not affecting performance but its just annoying, any ideas what this could be? sorry to be so vague but i dont propose to spend thousands on it, its going to be my workhorse as i mentioned.

i will add some photo's when it stops raining.

Thanks

Bora23

[Doctle Odd]

The oil would be normal enough in a VW not sure about the gearbox without hearing it, could be a mount? Those gearboxes have oil for life so with those miles I'd change it asap

[OddBallBoy]

I was convinced I had a gearbox/engine mount problem on my Passat - when I pulled off, there was a distinct knock but I didn't notice it any other time. Turned out it was one of the bottom front suspension link arms, the ball joint was a little worn so when I was pulling off, the torque of the wheel starting to turn pulled at the ball joint momentarily. I'd already checked the suspension over in a cursory manner and didn't think there was any play in anything, but when I got in there with a pry bar with the car on a ramp, I found the movement in the ball joint.
Passats are notorius for wearing the front suspension arms so this would definitely be where I would start to look; get in there with a good pry bar and try and move every front suspension joint a bit in every direction possible. There will always be a bit of movement on the rubbers on the inboard mounts but there should be no movement at all on any of ball joints.

[Doctle Odd]

The big bushes on the rear lower arm wear too they make a good clunk as you brake

[bora23]

It went into my Indy today and they couldn't find a bean, he said he thought it might be the engine mounting but h couldn't find any play at all. I tend to use garages for jobs that I haven't got time to do such as timing belts which is the reason why it went in the first place.

May have to investigate myself when I get it back

[Doctle Odd]

I had a Passat once that the front sub-frame bushes were badly worn on. Nasty job to change them at home

[bora23]

Took it to vw as the noise was driving me crazy! It was the bottom joints, £150 a side! Ouch!

[PCDoctor]

Hi Bora

Bottom front arms should set you back £87 each for genuine parts and about 1 hours labour each side on the drive way..

[Doctle Odd]

Did that price include labour? It seems high for 2 arms

[PCDoctor]

Front control arms made by lemforder are not cheap and cheap arms are a waste of money

Trust me £87 per arm is good and fit it yourself for free

[bora23]

I've just picked it up and they have Done a really good job, knocking cured and total cost inc vat and fitting £232. I'm happy enough at that.

[bora23]

I would have done it myself but don't have the time or the energy to mess around on my driveway specially when it's cold! I've already had to replace an abs sensor!