One problem related to manifold/header/muffler/tail pipe has been reported for the 2008 Volkswagen Passat. The most recently reported issues are listed below. Please also check out the statistics and reliability analysis of the 2008 Volkswagen Passat based on all problems reported for the 2008 Passat.
This is all about vw Passat 2008 2. 0t, it was a rainy day on Saturday (Nov-14) engine started misfire and gave flashing engine check light, immediately went to see the vw service to get the feedback, service guy guessed it might caused due to misfire in one or more cylinder and took vehicle back with engine fluid topoff, on the way back home the engine check light came and stayed constant. So on Monday morning went to vw service to get full diagnose, service guy gave p300 and p301 as random misfires and did additional findings saying intake manifold needs DE-carb with $1000+ in service charge, I declined the repair and got the vehicle back with cleared code. Now the engine is not running smooth and seems it lost turbo power. Even during freeway take over if I press hard on gas peddle engine light flashes for couple times and there is no faster pick up to do smooth over take, if I choose run vehicle under this condition it may not be safe on roads. I read similar complaints reported here. Planning to take back to service center to see if they got any possible recall updates from vw.