1999 passat tdi 110

[hongkongstuey]

hi guys/girls, new here and new to vw's, bought myself a 1999 t plate tdi 110 se.

car has fsh and 64k miles, really impressed with it mpg wise as i do A roads to work and see 55mpg average, filled it today and gonna see how far i get from light to light, put 30 quid in sunday and got 295 miles, fuel was 1.22 a litre at a stealing village garage. hoping to see 600 miles ish from a full tank @1.16 a litre.

one thing i didnt notice when i bought it was that the undertray wasnt attached properly, 5 screws held both sections in and i ddint know till i got home, sound deading indeed!! so i went to vw stafford to get 6 screws and it cost me £12.81, wasnt impressed at all!!!!!!!!!!!!! now ive got the wonderful job of reattaching the whole lot without ramps!! going to find a high kerb i reckon :biglaugh:

one thing im going to get done soon is the cambelt and water pump, no evidence of cambelt being changed :aargh4: and i might as well get the pump done as ive seen on here i might as well do it at the same time

gotta sort out the heater vents in the middle of the dash, they are a bit wonky, probably down to one of those stupid clip in air fresheners that never work?

the car pulls really well and is powerful enough for the moment, if i was to chip it, what chip would anyone reccomend?

im going to get some tyres fitted tommorow and have plumped for falken 912's, i had 2 sets of falken 512's on my previous car and they hold the road extremely well, 100 quid fitted

one more thing, how do i take my gamma head unit out? it is not working properly. will it be standard iso plugs on the back? halfords seem to think so. i know my stuff about car audio, but never worked on a vw?

does anyone use the telford/madeley vw guy, he is meant to be pretty good but dont know where he is? some part of an industrial estate near me in broseley (ironbridge)

thanks for any help guys

stuey

[sdk778]

Hi
The centre vents are a pull put job, quite easy, check to see if the bulbs are working in them before you do, if not grab a pair and replace those at the same time, nothing worse than having bulbs out!!! It's wierd how the dash 'heals' itself once the vents are re-fitted, VW are quite a clever lot!

The head unit is a standard DIN sized unit with normal iso cons at the back, i know in sounds stupid but try and get a head unit that has a red/blue illumination to contrast with the blue/red illumination inside the car, i fitted a Blaupunkt Woodstosk DAB unit to my old 97 Passat, used to look the mutts nuts at night, i had a green ish Pioneer before that and it looked poo.

Cam belt change a horrible job to do at home, the whole front end (bumper, headlights, slam panel etc) has to come off, i would recommend you use a good VW/Audi/Seat/Skoda specialist to do this, they know what they are doing and once it's done you can relax a bit, because if that belt goes then the engine is dead, proper dead, D-E-A-D.

All this aside the Passat B5 is a cracking car and without doubt one of the best cars i ever owned, VW part prices are no longer a horror story with places like GSF around etc.., lolts of good independant specialists around to help with the spannery bits too.

Hope this helps a bit, well done on buying a cracking motor.

Cheers
Si. :beerchug:

[hongkongstuey]

i have a sony unit from my old car, red illumination and blue screen, but if my old car goes for the right price on ebay i'll go shopping for a black unit with blue display if there are any out there?

there is a good vw specialist near me apparantly? but i have to ask my mate where abouts?
http://img158.imageshack.us/img158/7882/sidexo2.jpg

http://img158.imageshack.us/img158/1778/frontlb2.jpg

[Inspector Beetle]

Hi. welcome to the forum! I only joined in January and have found it very useful and it is surprising how much you can learn from like minded people.I agree that the B5 is a brilliant, reliable and economical car, The best I have had in 47 yrs of vehicles.Mind you I have had some real dogs but that is another tale!
Re cambelts.. yes it is a rotten job, but although it can be done DIY:beerchug: if you are a bit handy with the spanners I would suggest that you get it done by VW as you get a warranty .I did mine 4yrs ago, it took me a day and it is very nerve racking when you start up for the first time!! Waiting for the bang!This time I followed advice from a forum member and went on e.bay. There are VW dealers doing offers for the job. I had to use Loders in Yeovil who did it for £250 and a I had a courtesy car, it was done in a morning and I was very pleased with their service. VW Crewe were doing the job for £160 ish so if you trawl around you may well come up with a good deal.
I have had my 110 tdi 1999 for 5 yrs, it has been great. I have towed a caravan to France 4 times and it returns 36 mpg towing. I get average 58mpg and on a good straight French road have had 72!!(Honest!)
Change the oil and filters regularly *(I use castrol GTD and a genuine VW filter) and you should have a car that will last a long time.Mine has 161000 and still uses no oil between changes.Tyres last well 30000 plus ,I have just changed the battery (another great job! not good if your back or hernia is a problem!) While the battery is out it is advisable to clean out the drain bung under it, this will save wet carpets.
Enjoy your Passat, they are great cars!

[andy pen]

Totally agree bought mine , a 100 tdi last september with 169,000 on the clock with huge service history (rebuilt cylinder head at 136k) now on 181.000 . What tyres are you on to get 30k as just about to change mine?