Hello first time posting on the forum. I have spent countless hours perusing posts on TDI club related to this issue and really appreciate the amount of information this community shares with each other.
Howdy, I have a 2005 Passat TDI wagon (165k miles) and I have recently experienced some symptoms of something definitely going wrong. I've owned the car for a little shy of a year and unfortunately don't have many service records. I do know that is was regularly maintained by an elderly woman would religiously warm the engine before taking off, and given her residence, I'd assume most of her miles were HWY. And she routinely got oil changes at a local establishment, whether or not they used the appropriate oil I don't know.
Here are the symptoms: The car is making a loud "puttering" noise with the timing of the engine, as the RPMs increase so does the sound. When driving the car, it does not have the normal power it should normally, and it spews a tremendous amount of black smoke. Sounds identical to this:
How it started:
I went on a trip over a mountain highway (plenty of hills) had a serious a$$rider on our bumper and (I will reluctanly confess attempted to leave a little more black smoke behind me by giving the car some hard acceleration, which is really quite out of character for me (no sarcasm). Yes I realize that was stupid. Anyways, the car ran fine on the way to our destination and seemed fine on the way back until we got back on the freeway. that is when a barely perceptible difference in sound occurred that happened upon acceleration. Didn't really think much of it. I left a couple days later for some work that was about 50 miles away. I could tell the car was not quite right and unfortunately could not cancel work and turn home. On the way home it was a little worse, under powered and struggled a bit to make it up hills on the freeway, but I was very cognizant of trying to make as little smoke as possible and accelerating very conservatively. Eventually on my way back the "Emissions workshop" light came on. I ran the ODB code at an autopart store and said faulty MAF, I replaced the MAF with an OEM Bosch. I also cleaned out the EGR while I was at it. Looked all over for vacuum leaks and found none. Symptoms remained.
I took the car into a small time mechanic who definitely knows a lot about VW vans, but BHW engines aren't his forte. Without looking at the car very closely he said he could tell by hearing it drive in that one of the cylinders was not firing. He told me what I had suspicioned, that the camshaft was likely worn, but that it is possible one of the valves could be bent and therefore the car would likely not be worth the $ for him to fix.
So after a lot of research I am feeling good about diving into this project to get some more miles out of this car and to save money on shop labor. I love a lot of things about the car and how it drives. And I also bought a DieselGeek timing belt kit months ago and could also perform that provided there is no engine damage.
-I am wondering if I remove the camshaft and discover one of the lifters is severely damaged, how obvious will it be if the valve below is damaged? I've heard that these can mushroom and be difficult to tell if there is any damage. Is there other damage that can be inflicted to the engine if the camshaft lifter is damaged?
-If there is a damaged lifter, should I be worried about metal shavings in the oil pump? Would that make replacement of the Balance Shaft Delete Kit essential?
Really appreciate any advice or guidance. Thank you.
Howdy, I have a 2005 Passat TDI wagon (165k miles) and I have recently experienced some symptoms of something definitely going wrong. I've owned the car for a little shy of a year and unfortunately don't have many service records. I do know that is was regularly maintained by an elderly woman would religiously warm the engine before taking off, and given her residence, I'd assume most of her miles were HWY. And she routinely got oil changes at a local establishment, whether or not they used the appropriate oil I don't know.
Here are the symptoms: The car is making a loud "puttering" noise with the timing of the engine, as the RPMs increase so does the sound. When driving the car, it does not have the normal power it should normally, and it spews a tremendous amount of black smoke. Sounds identical to this:
How it started:
I went on a trip over a mountain highway (plenty of hills) had a serious a$$rider on our bumper and (I will reluctanly confess attempted to leave a little more black smoke behind me by giving the car some hard acceleration, which is really quite out of character for me (no sarcasm). Yes I realize that was stupid. Anyways, the car ran fine on the way to our destination and seemed fine on the way back until we got back on the freeway. that is when a barely perceptible difference in sound occurred that happened upon acceleration. Didn't really think much of it. I left a couple days later for some work that was about 50 miles away. I could tell the car was not quite right and unfortunately could not cancel work and turn home. On the way home it was a little worse, under powered and struggled a bit to make it up hills on the freeway, but I was very cognizant of trying to make as little smoke as possible and accelerating very conservatively. Eventually on my way back the "Emissions workshop" light came on. I ran the ODB code at an autopart store and said faulty MAF, I replaced the MAF with an OEM Bosch. I also cleaned out the EGR while I was at it. Looked all over for vacuum leaks and found none. Symptoms remained.
I took the car into a small time mechanic who definitely knows a lot about VW vans, but BHW engines aren't his forte. Without looking at the car very closely he said he could tell by hearing it drive in that one of the cylinders was not firing. He told me what I had suspicioned, that the camshaft was likely worn, but that it is possible one of the valves could be bent and therefore the car would likely not be worth the $ for him to fix.
So after a lot of research I am feeling good about diving into this project to get some more miles out of this car and to save money on shop labor. I love a lot of things about the car and how it drives. And I also bought a DieselGeek timing belt kit months ago and could also perform that provided there is no engine damage.
-I am wondering if I remove the camshaft and discover one of the lifters is severely damaged, how obvious will it be if the valve below is damaged? I've heard that these can mushroom and be difficult to tell if there is any damage. Is there other damage that can be inflicted to the engine if the camshaft lifter is damaged?
-If there is a damaged lifter, should I be worried about metal shavings in the oil pump? Would that make replacement of the Balance Shaft Delete Kit essential?
Really appreciate any advice or guidance. Thank you.
Last edited: