I used to love my Passat

[passatpout]

There's probably no injectors left since all 4 of mine were replaced last month. Read the thread "it's on life support".

The dealer couldn't give an answer when I asked how often the injectors fail, and looked at me as if to ask how dare I be so impertinent as to question failures.... Until I pointed out that I work in rail, I deal with locomotives that have injectors that are replaced at about every million km (for fuel consumption reasons, rather than outright reliability), and their attitude was very similar to another German company who has supplied trains to Australia.

For those saying outright that one failure in ~50,000km is acceptable, it would pay to look at the nature of the fault and assess the risk that failure presents. An interior light globe failing doesn't present a major risk, an unexpected, total engine shutdown (of any sort) does, and a limp home mode with restricted power for 2 minutes might just be a lifesaver. I am fairly sure that if my engine had decided to last another 20 seconds, my car would now be a write off, with a much greater chance of personal injury to myself and my passenger, as opposed to going to limp home mode with an appropriate warning, which would probably have been enough to get me safely back to a carpark and off the main road.

And as for losing an injector causing
engine damage, have a look at your instantaneous fuel consumption under braking or downhill. All 4 injectors routinely turn off.....

[ryana89]

And as for losing an injector causing
engine damage, have a look at your instantaneous fuel consumption under braking or downhill. All 4 injectors routinely turn off.....

Never new that, always assumed atleast a tiny amount of fuel was still pumped in. Thanks
Do the newer loco's run on a common rail injection set-up or are they still IDI?

Thanks

[mebius9]

For those saying outright that one failure in ~50,000km is

Those people are tools.

Provided you took a reasonable care, a modern family car shouldn't come to stand still/go limp in under 50,000km period.

[Maverick]

Those people are tools.

Provided you took a reasonable care, a modern family car shouldn't come to stand still/go limp in under 50,000km period.

What you mean to say is those people are realistic.

To claim that a modern family car (whatever that is) should not break down in the first 50k is truly the most ridculous strawman argument I have seen and anyone with an ounce of mechanical, electrical or computing knowledge would know this.

As for the car not going into limp home mode, this would be for a reason as they do this for many failures. If the injector failed because of crap fuel it's probable that the other injectors were not operating within spec but without knowing how the German engineers did their programming it's all speculation but I have no doubts that if the car could safely run in limp home mode it would have.

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[Maverick]

There's probably no injectors left since all 4 of mine were replaced last month. Read the thread "it's on life support".

The dealer couldn't give an answer when I asked how often the injectors fail, and looked at me as if to ask how dare I be so impertinent as to question failures.... Until I pointed out that I work in rail, I deal with locomotives that have injectors that are replaced at about every million km (for fuel consumption reasons, rather than outright reliability), and their attitude was very similar to another German company who has supplied trains to Australia.

The dealers don't have access to those statistics but the fact that VW don't keep many in stock shows that it's rare.

For those saying outright that one failure in ~50,000km is acceptable, it would pay to look at the nature of the fault and assess the risk that failure presents. An interior light globe failing doesn't present a major risk, an unexpected, total engine shutdown (of any sort) does, and a limp home mode with restricted power for 2 minutes might just be a lifesaver. I am fairly sure that if my engine had decided to last another 20 seconds, my car would now be a write off, with a much greater chance of personal injury to myself and my passenger, as opposed to going to limp home mode with an appropriate warning, which would probably have been enough to get me safely back to a carpark and off the main road.

And if you had continued on a few minutes later you and your passenger could have been killed by a semi hitting you head on. See how pointless it is playing the "could" game because the injector failure could have saved your life.

And as for losing an injector causing
engine damage, have a look at your instantaneous fuel consumption under braking or downhill. All 4 injectors routinely turn off.....

And this has what to do with allowing an engine to continue running under load?

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[aaaaah]

Yep true that, last couple i ordered i had to order from Germany, one came from the warehouse in singapore. These dont fail often but agreed they should at least have a (set) in the country, wiring looms we do have so go figure
They go hand in hand
Cheers
Jmac

Yep, my understanding is that VW stock very little in the country and the majority in Singapore. Hence why when I got my Climatronic unit replaced under warranty it took about 4 weeks for the new unit to arrive.

Lucky that one was faulty too so now I'm waiting again...

[hooba]

To again prove it happens to the best of them, a story on a 45,000 mile 2009 Corolla that needed a new alternator, has an engine ping on regular fuel, burns oil and a possible timing chain rattle.

Piston Slap: Idiot Simple Corolla? | The Truth About Cars

[Winesnob]

Not sure why you think that spending 50k on a car should guarantee you reliability (or how you seem to think that one problem in 3 years of ownership isn't reliable). Go spend a quarter of a million dollars on a Range Rover and see how reliable they are.

Yep, you're right. Probably an unrealistic expectation. I know what to expect now, though at 46 and having driven many new cars this is the first time it's happened to me. Maybe I've been lucky or the cars I've been driving have been better. Thanks for the reply.

[Winesnob]

good luck and hope ti gets fixed soon no issues on mine with 43,000 kms 2007 as well glad I got extended warranty.

Cheers, thanks. VWA called yesterday and the part arrived from Singapore. The car should be ready by the end of the week and I get 2 years warranty on the part. Thanks for the reply.

[Winesnob]

The most relaible car on the market is a $22000 Toyota Corolla....

I'll buy one of these next. Thanks for the reply.

[Winesnob]

I don't think a full blown injector failure Especially on a diesel is a small thing.
If anything the car may have been able to soldier for a short distance.....
But the ECU did its job and recognised the injector failure and cut the engine to save it from any damage.

I'm sure it did everything it was designed to do in the unlikely event of a breakdown. Thanks for the reply.

[Winesnob]

When the ECU recognsies injector drama it goes into safe im afraid, you will need an injector and the wiring loom too, ive done a few now. If its under warranty which i would recommend you check you should get all 4 done. Hate to say but i worked on Porsches for a large portion of my dealership career and 150k+ still gave them heaps of dramas, how does a 13mm nut for the balance shaft snapping off causing the engine to scramble sound, heaps worse than an injector. i know its still crap but it happens. And i wouldnt compare with a Toyota, they dont break but i know what i would rather drive
Cheers
Jmac

I certainly don't want scrambled engine for breakfast. Thanks for the reply.

[Winesnob]

I think Winesnob is entitled to feel pi$$ed off at the entire brand.
It certainly has me worried about my VW's now.

Not so much pi$$ed off but certainly disappointed. I have had several new cars and not had any trouble with them during the term of a lease. This was my first new European car and I am disappointed that this is the first time I have had this sort of issue in under 50,000km. Perhaps my expectations of VW were unrealistic but I expected better. Thanks for the reply.

[Winesnob]

Yep true that, last couple i ordered i had to order from Germany, one came from the warehouse in singapore. These dont fail often but agreed they should at least have a (set) in the country, wiring looms we do have so go figure
They go hand in hand
Cheers
Jmac

Yes, that's where this part is coming from. Thanks for the reply.

[Winesnob]

Your expectation of trouble free motoring for the life of the car because you paid $50K+ is unrealistic at best.You had a single component fail out of the many thousands in your car, some of the most unreliable cars cost over $50K and it's partly down to the sheer number of systems in cars.

If you really don't like the car any more sell it, buy a bland Japanese car and hope you don't have any failures with that.

Oh silly unrealistic me. I have had quiet a few new cars priced under $50k and not had any issues. Thanks for the reply.