OT Buying a used Passat, tips

[vwdaun@yahoo.com (Daun Yeagley)]

--- Cathy Boyko <losinit@usa.net> wrote:
> Not for me, don't worry. 
> My brother says a 90-93 Passat is at the back of the lot,
> 16V auto, he doesn't
> know much more about it at this point, but it was driven
> in, so it runs.

It runs, but may be a tranny issue - more to follow.

 What
> are the known problems with these cars? Is the automatic
> a reliable tranny?
> and so on. Any tips  from those many owners of these cars
> would be
> appreciated. I'm sure he'll give it a thorough once over
> if it's available
> (he's a mechanic at this dealership, and has had a few
> VWs), but are there any
> peculiarities to these in particular? Thanks.

Ok, number one.  The automatic transmissions in the '90-'93
Passat have a bad reputation, however in my experience it
is more often the electronics / wiring harness that goes
bad than the mechanicals.  (Or do what the p.o. of my
current one did, strip the reverse gear of most of its
teeth)  If the wiring is faulty, the transmission goes into
"limp-home" mode where it stays in 3rd gear at all times
when "drive" is selected.  It can be manually shifted into
1st / 2nd / 3rd but will not go into overdrive.  (Remind me
at Waterfest to tell you how to clear the transmission
computer's fault memory.  If it's an intermittent problem
than this will solve it for a time.)

Other things I can think of...

The electrical system in general doesn't have a great
reputation.  The biggest problem I seem to have seen come
up with any kind of frequency seems to be the ignition
switch.  Replace it.

The heater core is a source of trouble.  If it hasn't been
replaced, replace it for good measure.   This is apparantly
NOT a fun job as the ENTIRE dash has to come out and the
a/c system has to be discharged.  I'm planning to replace
the heater core in mine the first weekend of August if
anyone wants to volunteer to help.  Free beer.  :)

I've gotten a lot of compliments on mine and really
couldn't imagine parting with it.  (If it came down to
where I had to sell EVERYTHING, the Passat would be
next-to-last to go - first would be my 16v.)


=====
Daun Yeagley - Wilmington Ohio
'80 S, 81 S, '82, '85, '86 & '88 Sciroccos
'82 Pickup
'90 Passat Wagon
"A learning experience is one of those things that says, 'You know that thing you just did?  Don't do that.'" - Douglas Adams

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