UKPassats

The aerial has an amplifier built in that is powered down the COAX from the headunit. So unless your new headunit puts out 12v you will need to do something to power the aerial. I presume this is done by the aerial booster box.

The temperature sensor is relatively easy to change, just a little fiddly. Remove the plastic engine cover off the top of the engine 3 10mm nuts. Make sure there is no pressure in the coolant bottle by loosening the top then screw the top back on to reduce the amount of leakage when you take out the...

The MAF output is low on your car. It should reasonably track the specified value. If your mates doesn't fit you could try cleaning yours. Electronic switch cleaner is usually a good start but make sure it doesn't leave any deposits such as a lubricating film or you will be back to square one.Has th...

Hope you got the car for a good price if you bought it with 2 possibly expensive problems.Has it had the cambelt done??. If this has been done recently as it should be done at 60,000 mile intervals has this been done correctly.A bad MAF will not affect the car that much, 25 seconds is very slow.If y...

A battery off a 1000cc car would easily run a car radio for 20 minutes unless you have a few amps with a large sub and have the volume cranked up.It may be that somebody has put a smaller capacity battery in. The Varta site is pretty good for battery related things. http://www.varta-automotive.com/e...

The 1.8T Passat can suffer with oil pressure problems apparently due to the small sump and reduced amount of oil in the engine.If you do a search for oil related problems on the 1.8T you will find lot's of info. I believe it's worse if the car is on the long life service schedule and with the oil le...

If the car has 15 inch wheels they are definately 288mm brakes as you need 16 inch wheels for the 312mm discs. I bought some grooved discs for my car and they certainly don't stop the car any better. They are noisy and produce a lot more brake dust on the wheels so the grooves are doing something. I...

The passat does suffer with a common problem on the alternator that is to do with the pulley. As far as I know the alternator pulley has a one way clutch in it and this sometimes seizes solid. The result is the belt tensioner bouncing with an associated increase in noise. This can be diagnosed by ta...

I am fairly sure 2003 cars should be OK as regards the common ABS issues. Brake discs can warp after short periods of time. The best way to prove this is by using a Dial test indicator DTI to measure the disc runout. do a search for disc warp on google. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Disc_brake If the...

How old is your car as the problem with the ABS module didn't affect all Passats. Sounds like you may have a warped brake disc to me. If you think it's the ABS module then BBA Reman will sort it for you. http://www.bba-reman.com or http://www.bba-reman.com/content.aspx?content=audi_a4_amp_a6_1996_20...

One of my colleagues bought a 130 TDI Passat at the same time as me and he had the tiptronic box on his car. To this day he still moans about the poor fuel economy. If you look at Parkers.co.uk and look at the technical data the 130 manual cars show a combined figure of 47mpg where as the auto cars ...

I did say that the camber can be equalised between the 2 sides by loosening the subframe mounting bolts and moving the subframe slightly. If there is some adjustment elsewhere could you let me know where that is. The small amount of play in the top mounting bolts of the suspension would not allow fo...

The front camber is non adjustable unless you fit adjustable length top suspension arms.Or something like these replacement bushes, http://home.comcast.net/~hhong4/kmacinstall.htm I have heard of people loosening the front subframe bolts to even out the camber readings between the sides.Because the ...

Take a look here http://www.weirdlittlebiscuit.com/passat/leak/ passats also suffer with a duff seal underneath the pollen filter housing. To remove the pollen filter housing you have to take the plastic tim off from the bottom of the winscreen, Which means removing the wiper arms. I couln't get my ...

I replaced my aerial recently only because the ruber had cracked on the whip part and the black plastic base gasket was missing. Whilst investigating replacements I found an article describing corrosion problems that can occur in the base part of the aerial as it has an amplifier built in.This initi...

Glad you found it easy to get the pich bolts out, The next most difficult thing I found was trying to get the grommets out that cover the 2 bolts at the top, There was so much body sealing gunk securing them they will never fit back in. The car looks really low, That would never get over some of the...

The link I put in for an E-bay item is one of the cheap resistor mod boxes. As I said just because something is expensive does not mean it is particularly good.If you were to open the plastic box you would find a 180-220 ohm resistor.I have seen these boxes advertised and sold for well over a £100 ...

This is what most of the cheap diesel tuning boxes that are sold on E-bay do. I say cheap but some people have paid well over a hundred pounds for a 2p resistor in a plastic box. http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/TDI-PD-Diesel-Tuning-Chip-Beetle-Golf-Passat-Polo-Jetta_W0QQitemZ190110356645QQihZ009QQcategoryZ320...

I replaced the standard suspension on my 2002 estate recently, and after being unable to remove the pinch bolt on either side. I discovered that by having both front wheels off the ground together and disconnecting the anti roll bar both sides, it is possible to remove the shocker complete with spri...