Water Pump problems of the 2006 Volkswagen Passat

Tl the contact owns a 2006 Volkswagen Passat. While driving low speeds, the vehicle overheated and the engine stalled intermittently. The contact was able to restart the vehicle and the coolant warning indicator illuminated. The water pump and thermostat were repaired by an independent mechanic. The manufacturer was made aware of the failure. The dealer was not notified. The VIN and failure mileage were unknown.

Takata recall-fuel pump control module: my car won't start, my keys get stuck in the ignition this happens when its stationary. My battery keeps draining. The coolant and water pump are leaking. There are sensor issues. Defective lightbulbs. The vehicle shakes when driving on the highway or street. The steering wheel loses power when turning causing the car to almost spin out of control. The brakes wont stop immediately when coming to a stop.

Check engine light came on, we took it to dealership and had repairs done including oil change, after a day of driving the check engine light came on again, returned to dealer, more repairs were done, paid around $3,000 in repairs to timing belt, tensioner, guide pulleys, and water pump. After that repair, the light again came on and returned to dealer, was told that metal was found in oil filter housing and engine will need replaced to address the concern. Could not afford at that time and was not informed it could not be driven, the check engine light was off and were told that upon acceleration from stop the metals would scrape. Car was still operable, c/e light was off and needed for transportation to work and after 3 trips to and from repair shop (3 rivers Volkswagen) and all of the money already spent on repairs to "fix" the same issue leading up to this, I was not able to do that at the time, as well as being skeptical of paying $9k more! was driving on the highway when the oil pump bolt failed completely and caused engine to cease. Later learned that this was a common issue on the 2006 vw Passat 2. 0t engines and that it can cause catastrophic engine failure, that vw was aware of the design flaw and has manufactured a replacement bolt but has never issued a recall and does not inform owners of these cars that there is potential for this engine failure. . Read more...

Lost most of power while driving on highway. Drove vehicle (2006 Passat 3. 6l) to vw dealer where they diagnosed a "timing chain issue". Vw dealer claimed they would fix engine for $5000, used replacement for $8000, or new engine for $10,500. . . After hearing that good news, towed vehicle to local vw pro who also diagnosed "timing chain issue", and was given the go-ahead to fix. Problem isolated to intermediate shaft bolt, which had backed out, allowing timing sprockets to wander. Bolt itself is nearly sheared in half - good thing we stopped when we did. Bolt was also rubbing on timing chain cover, and would have likely broke or ground thru timing chain cover. This problem was corrected by my local vw guy for $3300, which included all oem parts, new water pump, plus plugs. Imho, this is a serious safety issue for owners which may experience this problem. Minimal research on the web indicates I'm not the only one with this issue. The loss of power at highway speeds was alarming enough without thinking of what may have happened had the bolt broke, or worn thru the timing cover. From a mechanical perspective, I'm extremely dismayed at how this could happen in the first place. I have about 30 years of mechanical experience with car engines - mostly with 60's and 70's era vehicles. My experience would hold suspicion that a bolt backing out of the timing sprocket would be the fault of the mechanic who installed it, either by applying the incorrect torque, oil under the bolt, or not applying loc-tite to threads.