1.8t Passat w/ missed oil change - buy or not?

snipped-for-privacy@daytona.jcu.edu (James) wrote in news: snipped-for-privacy@c13g2000cwb.googlegroups.com:

If you've raised the question, it's probably best for you not to buy the car; you'll ->never trust it.

seconded. you're gonna be spending a big pile of cash on a motor that new. best to get one you're completely happy with

Well, let's be specific - the track record of *1.8T* Passats hasn't been that great.

-- Mike Smith

Depends - what kind of person are you buying it from? if you think it may have been thrashed then maybe avoid, otherwise maybe knock a hew hundred of the asking price for the "risk". Take it home, drop the oil out, get the new big oil filter from your nearest dealer, fill it with reasonable quality Dino, drop $25 worth of AutoRX in it

run it for 1500 miles or so, drain & refill with Dino & change filter, run for 2000 miles, drain, change filter & refill with Mobil 1 - & you should be good to go.

If in doubt hop on over to

& search the forums for AutoRX & see what people say about it. Havn't used it myself (I'm in the UK & we don't seem to suffer the sludging problems here) but I'm thinking about it before I stick a Chip in my Passat.

Once you've done the Auto RX you might think about treating yourself to a Chip & a Tip Chip - again

is your friend.

Re the warranty, suggest you talk to your VW dealer (and or VWoA) before you buy & see if you can get something in writing. Be straight with them & they might surprise you. AFAIK for 2nd owners the warranty is only 50K miles anyway - original US Powertrain warranty is 10yrs/100K.

HTH

rgds

I.

Hey!

Before you decide, you'll have to determine whether VW will consider the warranty voided or not -- get in touch with them and get a certain answer. If they say the warranty's void, then I guess maybe I wouldn't go with it if I were you, because it'll bother you for the entire time you own the car. If it were me, then I'd haggle that price down a little further on the basis of the oil/warranty problem, enough to cover the contingency of major engine work.

If they say the warranty will still be good (in writing, signed by someone at VW authorized to make such decisions), then you're all set.

As if *that's* going to happen.

Good point - I hadn't really consciously considered the "trust" issue.

The price is bascially take it or leave it since the current lessee would give me the car for their buyout. I called VWoA's Customer Service line, and the "advocate" told me it would be up to me to provide documentation showing all required maintenance from the vehicles in-service date if I required warranty coverage, and that warranty coverage on the engine would be denied if an oil change was late or skipped. She did mention that the 8 year extended warranty on the 1.8t follows the car. The original warranty was 60/60,000 on the powertrain (2002 model year).

Thanks for the input!

With only 14k there should be no sludge build up yet. The ones we see are mostly the cars with over 40,000 miles on them. An easy way to check is look on & under the oil cap. I would buy the car and immediately start using the VW recommended oil & filter

Why wouldn't it be negotiable? The current lessee may be willing to come up with $1000 or more of his/her own cash just to be rid of the lease payment. Remember that known lack of maintenance is a negative point, increasing the risk of a known problem for which VW may not cover under warranty due to missing maintenance.

It is not negotiable in this case because the lessee is keeping the car until the end of their lease, and offered to buy it out, then turn the car over to me for the same price. The leasing company has thus far been non-negotiable on the buyout price and apparently would rather take their chances - wholesale cost is significantly lower than the buyout price.

Woodchuck -

Do you have any feeling for when the sludging begins? I wouldn't count on seeing any in the car with 14k (the dipstick and oilcap *looked* normal on this car), but I would assume the condition is progressive - starting out as nearly undetectable, and building up to a larger problem. I would think a 9k stretch is long enough to degrade the oil to some degree on this engine and my concern is that this 9k stretch on dino oil might be enough get the ball rolling.

Thanks!

No kidding. ;-)

I have never seen it happen until the cars have over 40k miles. The underside of the oil cap would look like mud! Missing a oil change by 4k miles should cause the sludging to start. Just change the oil and start using synthetic.