My first experience in a Passat was in the form of this 03’ B5.5 Estate which I bought with 224k miles on the clock. It was a standard Trendline which I played about with remapping, tinting, lowering etc and it was my car (we all have them) where I chucked loads of money at it but got very little of it back!
I am a trader and often stock Passats and upon driving a saloon that I had a while ago with 126k on the clock I was itching to get back into one. The reliability and fuel economy being the real appealing factors for me as I do often travel fair old distances to buy cars….I pop across the bridge into Wales and back up into Kent and Essex.
So….found this advertised on here by user – thelost_prophet as an MOT failure which was a great find as a lot of the modding work has been done and I’m completely happy with how it looks. There are a few cosmetic jobs I want to do so read on… ;)
And here she is today…
The car has had the following engine mods prior to me getting it (the cosmetics speak for themselves)…
• Mercedes E320 CDi MAF & Intercooler
• EGR Delete
• Decat and straight through Pipe – no boxes whatsoever
Could go for a remap to release more power but if I do that I’ll be booting it everywhere and that’ll defeat the object for why I bought this car…….ECONOMY!
It failed the MOT on 17/01/2014 on -
• Track Rod ends
• Fog light not working – bizarre left taillight is A LOT brighter than right so is fog-light on permanently?
• Indicators being wrong colour – bulbs have shed their orange skin
• Rear tyres are bald – knew about this and have 2 Maxxis tyres to go on…
And although not picked up the CV joints have gone into a clicking frenzy! So my good buddy Crazy4Alfa (Arun) is helping me sort these next week!
Upon getting her (I had to pay my guy £80 in diesel in his 2.5TDS Frontera to run me up to Leighton Buzzard – yes bad move their James!) Phil (previous owner) wasn’t too sure when the belt was changed last so had this done along with the water-pump and tensioners. My guy at Heritage gave it a full service too and flushed the coolant replacing it with G13 oh and changing the thermostat.
I feel good if I’m honest….I really love her….I mean really really love her and I’m sure when I responded to Phil’s thread some would have rolled their eyes and though ahh well he’s going to break that to make his money etc. NO! She’s a keeper ïŠ she’s done 2,000 miles in my ownership and I haven’t had a chance to clean her yet! So she’s looking a little dirty…..I live on a farm though so it won’t stay clean for long!!
It will be getting a proper detailing though as soon as the weather starts drying up….we’ve had a lot of flooding round here and everything is still so damp
A few jobs I need to tackle are….
Replacement CCM going in (only if I can source one cheap enough as central locking has to be done from boot)
Service - Oil & Filter – DONE! – Next Service due at 190k (doing every 5k miles with f/synthetic)
Radiator flushed and filled with G13 Coolant – DONE! (now heating right up to 90 deg!
)Cambelt, Tensioners and Waterpump – DONE! – (have seen a 4-6mpg increase!!)
CV Joints x2
Track rod end x2
Tracking
Glow Plugs – lumpy start in the morning at current
Gamma Headunit/Antenna
Thermostat – DONE!
Air Filter – DONE!
Fit and balance rear tyres - 2
Brake fluid being flushed for ATE Super Blue
Thought I’d start a thread as although not too much in the way of cosmetics (definitely want to change the colour of the wheels) needs doing I do have a few personal touches I want to add……so stay tuned and watch this space ;)
Thanks all…..over and out ;)
