Engine Belts And Pulleys problems of the 2005 Volkswagen Passat

Over heated and timing belt.

I have a 2005 vw Passat GLS with approx 135,000 miles. I took it in to get "winterized", oil change and clear the engine light (whatever the misfire was for), and a factory recall on the engine coils. Got all that done (plus serpentine belt replaced) and was told that the engine light should be ok, if it comes back on. . . To let them know ASAP. A day and 1/2 later, the light came back on, and this time, there was barely any heat on in the car. Took it back. . . They stated that the coils needed to be replaced (again) and that there was an oil leak going into the coils & the fuel injectors, and that the heater core needed to be replaced. I had the coils and the 2 "faulty" injectors replaced. I got frustrated with this dealer and went to another vw deal, for their evaluation. They said that they didn't know how I could've been told that the heater core was bad, when there was so many other things wrong before they even got to the heater core!! and they gave me 3 options: either pay for each service separately, get a new/used engine or see what I can get for this car and trade it in (not happy @ all). I called vw of a to see if there were any recalls or complaints about the heater core, since it was causing more damage that originally thought, but they nicely "documented" it and sent me a loyalty voucher if I were to get another vw. I am pissed. I know I have alot of mileage, but this is major, major damage and expenses to be put out for this car!!! vw needs to get it together. I loved my Passat until this point.

My 2005 Passat tdi was leaking a huge amount of oil so I topped off the oil and took it to the mechanic. He showed me a huge gash in the oil pan, resulting in the leak. When we took the pan off the oil pump chain tensioner and chain came out in pieces. The tensioner broke and slammed the chain into the oil pan, making the gouge. We replaced the oil pan, chain, tensioner, and completed an early timing belt change including a water pump. This was around $2000 total. After some research I found out this is likely due to a problem with the balance shaft module / chain driven oil pump setup on these cars. I found out that even though I spent $2000 fixing this I may need to complete the same repairs again or replace the balance shaft module which would be several thousand dollars. I also discovered that vw has upgraded the design of the balance shaft/oil pump drive so obviously they know this is a problem. I've read that I was rather lucky, it is entirely possible that I could have suffered a catastrophic loss of oil pressure and had the engine seize up, which could be deadly. I'm basically just afraid to drive my car now.