300 miles from home and the car is screwed.

[Hayabusa Rider]

2002 Volkswagen Passat v6 wagon

When we were on our way here I noticed a smell when we stopped. Today when it was light I see smoke/steam from the passenger side near the firewall. I hear coolant boiling for a minute, but I doesn't smell quite right. Antifreeze smells slightly sweet to me. This smells like burnt popcorn. It could still be coolant of course, but I can't see what's what.

I'll take it in for service tomorrow, but I really don't want to be hanging around for days. Any ideas?

 

[308nato]

Was the engine indicating hot by the gauge or idiot light? If it was hot/boiling could be thermostat or failed water pump. If it wasn't hot its probably a bad heater core and it wasn't boiling, just pressure bleeding off. Those have always failed with alarming frequency on VW's. It also sucks because they have to rip half the dash board out to get to it (unless they changed the design since I worked at the dealership).

 

[marvdmartian]

Don't know much about the Passat, but the one time I had steam from that location, it was a leaking heater hose. Let's hope that's all it is for you, since that's a pretty cheap fix.

 

[Hayabusa Rider]

Temperature shows normal. In fact except for the smell and vapor you'd never know anything was wrong. I'd hate to test that on the highway though.

 

[vi edit]

My '00 V6 Passat had a coolant leak that would drip out onto something hot and smoke would come through the air vents on occasion. It was a very "chemical" smell, like burning plastic. Nothing serious ever came of it. I just kept a gallon in the trunk and refilled when needed.

Worse part was the hot pink drip stains on the garage floor.

 

[iamwiz82]

Doesn't that engine have an electric pump that pumps coolant after the engine is off? Could you have mistaken that for a boiling sound? Is the coolant low?

 

[shocksyde]

Originally posted by: vi_edit
My '00 V6 Passat had a coolant leak that would drip out onto something hot and smoke would come through the air vents on occasion. It was a very "chemical" smell, like burning plastic. Nothing serious ever came of it. I just kept a gallon in the trunk and refilled when needed.

Worse part was the hot pink drip stains on the garage floor.

I had a 93 Taurus (AKA "The Biggest Piece of Shit Ever") that sprung a coolant leak onto a hot engine part, and shot tons of smoke into the cabin while I was driving on the highway. THAT was exciting!

Smelled like chemical pancake smoke.

 

[lurk3r]

Its a VW, are you close to the reccomeneded timing belt change? They are famous for detonating if you do not change the belt as reccomeneded.

 

[Hayabusa Rider]

Originally posted by: lurk3r
Its a VW, are you close to the reccomeneded timing belt change? They are famous for detonating if you do not change the belt as reccomeneded.

They're going to replace that and two cam tensioners and and and.

So far:
4k

 

[BarneyFife]

Originally posted by: Hayabusa Rider

Originally posted by: lurk3r
Its a VW, are you close to the reccomeneded timing belt change? They are famous for detonating if you do not change the belt as reccomeneded.

They're going to replace that and two cam tensioners and and and.

So far:
4k

OUCH!

 

[JulesMaximus]

Originally posted by: Hayabusa Rider

Originally posted by: lurk3r
Its a VW, are you close to the reccomeneded timing belt change? They are famous for detonating if you do not change the belt as reccomeneded.

They're going to replace that and two cam tensioners and and and.

So far:
4k

$4k? In repair costs? :shocked:

I'll never buy a VW. Had one once...never again.

 

[Pliablemoose]

Originally posted by: JulesMaximus

Originally posted by: Hayabusa Rider

Originally posted by: lurk3r
Its a VW, are you close to the reccomeneded timing belt change? They are famous for detonating if you do not change the belt as reccomeneded.

They're going to replace that and two cam tensioners and and and.

So far:
4k

$4k? In repair costs? :shocked:

I'll never buy a VW. Had one once...never again.

Took me 2 to swear off of them forever

 

[StageLeft]

Holy fvck, this is why I have been badmouthing VWs for years (although consumer reports, et al. do as well).

 

[shocksyde]

$4k? That's like 25 Geo Metros!

 

[iamwiz82]

Originally posted by: shocksyde
$4k? That's like 25 Geo Metros!

Or a ghetto Altima!

 

[lurk3r]

Originally posted by: JulesMaximus

Originally posted by: Hayabusa Rider

Originally posted by: lurk3r
Its a VW, are you close to the reccomeneded timing belt change? They are famous for detonating if you do not change the belt as reccomeneded.

They're going to replace that and two cam tensioners and and and.

So far:
4k

$4k? In repair costs? :shocked:

I'll never buy a VW. Had one once...never again.

Yep, you maybe have 5000 miles past when they tell you to change it, or valves smack pistons. $4k will get you more than half way to an LS6 vette motor, gogo German engineering.

 

[bruceb]

4K ? ? .. How many Miles ? ? Body Sound ? ?
Either trade the pile of junk in or report it stolen.
Or just get a whole engine at a salvage yard.
And by all means get a couple of other estimates.
It should not cost anywhere near $4K to do a Timing Belt
Unless, it broke and the pistons slammed the valves.

 

[Don Vito Corleone]

Ouch ouch ouch. This is really crappy on a 6-year-old car. Sorry, man!

 

[Cdubneeddeal]

Originally posted by: Hayabusa Rider

Originally posted by: lurk3r
Its a VW, are you close to the reccomeneded timing belt change? They are famous for detonating if you do not change the belt as reccomeneded.

They're going to replace that and two cam tensioners and and and.

So far:
4k

What's and and and? Is that the VR or the V6? Before all of this happened, did you notice any change in the engine? Did you perform the required maintenance interval of the timing belt? In defense of VW, they are great cars as long as you perform the intervals of maintenance, like any other car, but VW's are especially picky about this. There was a comment earlier about German engineering. In that defense, German engines and trannies will go forever if taken care of. 250k on my 88 VW GLI and still going strong. If your vehicle was made in Mexico, well then, but I'm pretty sure the Passat's were made in Germany.

 

[ElFenix]

Originally posted by: Cdubneeddeal

Originally posted by: Hayabusa Rider

Originally posted by: lurk3r
Its a VW, are you close to the reccomeneded timing belt change? They are famous for detonating if you do not change the belt as reccomeneded.

They're going to replace that and two cam tensioners and and and.

So far:
4k

What's and and and? Is that the VR or the V6? Before all of this happened, did you notice any change in the engine? Did you perform the required maintenance interval of the timing belt? In defense of VW, they are great cars as long as you perform the intervals of maintenance, like any other car, but VW's are especially picky about this. There was a comment earlier about German engineering. In that defense, German engines and trannies will go forever if taken care of. 250k on my 88 VW GLI and still going strong. If your vehicle was made in Mexico, well then, but I'm pretty sure the Passat's were made in Germany.

passat doesn't use the VR6 iirc.

 

[fbrdphreak]

Originally posted by: lurk3r

Originally posted by: JulesMaximus

Originally posted by: Hayabusa Rider

Originally posted by: lurk3r
Its a VW, are you close to the reccomeneded timing belt change? They are famous for detonating if you do not change the belt as reccomeneded.

They're going to replace that and two cam tensioners and and and.

So far:
4k

$4k? In repair costs? :shocked:

I'll never buy a VW. Had one once...never again.

Yep, you maybe have 5000 miles past when they tell you to change it, or valves smack pistons. $4k will get you more than half way to an LS6 vette motor, gogo German engineering.

$4K will do more than get you half way there. I bought a full LS1/T-56 drivetrain for $5K, with 50K miles on it.

 

[Arkaign]

VW: All of the maintenance cost of a BMW, with 1/10th of the cool/fun factor