I have not had failure yet, but there are several individuals who own the same exact car I own, a 2005 VW Passat tdi. There is an ongoing concern at several news groups including www.tdiclub.com and other diesel enthusiast newsgroups about the oil pump chain unit that is in the VW bhw 2.0 turbodiesel engine. Many of these cars when they get out of warranty at 60K will start to have engine noise which is indicative of the oil pump chain unit chain weakening. This condition leads to complete failure without general warning. This is a disaster awaiting to happen. VW in europe has developed a fix for this engine that involves installing a gear system instead of the chain and tensioner system for the engine balancing system. There are several episodes of people having the engines fail while on the road. I am concerned as an owner of this particular engine VW Passat. There were about 12 thousand of these imported into the usa. I know of at least four individuals who have had this situation happen to them and their Passat. The repairs are not cheap in the neighborhood of $3000 at a bare minimum with up to 9 thousand for a new motor, even despite owners using the proper specified motor oil.

- Sheboygan, WI, USA

This reference a very specific vehicle, I.e. namely the 2005-2005 VW Passat tdi (diesel) car, both sedan and station wagon version, with the VW bhw engine. What started out as an occasional need to replace the chain that drive the oil pump, became a certainty that the chain would break. If the chain breaks, you loose oil pressure immediate, and the engine is going to seize (not to mention the chain itself flopping around in the crank area which could lodge in the drive system and do the same). In any situation where you are accelerating, that is going to be catastrophic, and certainly any higher speed on a freeway/highway being the same) VW has recognized the issue and has now issued a tsb on the problem, but has not instituted a recall. The change is to remove the chain drive system and convert the engine to a gear driven oil pump. This is extremely expensive. What this does to the counter balancer shaft is unknown (I.e. what caused what to fail has not had any indication from VW). Ww should immediately be mandated to recall all these vehicles with the tdi bhw engine and or issue a recall notice that the vehicle should be brought in before the 100K timing belt change interval listed in the manual and have that tsb changed to a recall and safety repair. Any owner hearing the signatory noise of the failure developing should have that repaired immediately, but it should be replaced not latter than the 100K point. This is based on a survey of a few at 40 to 60K, most have it developing by 100K (if not failed or close to failure at that point. All other VW diesel engine use a gear driven oil pump system.

- Anchorage, AK, USA

The contact owns a 2005 Volkswagen Passat. While the vehicle is idling, the engine makes a chain rattling noise. The failure has not been diagnosed. The current mileage was 48,000 and failure mileage was 43,000.

- Monroe, GA, USA

I have leased a 2005 VW Passat. I changed my oil on a regular basis, my mechanic did not write the in mileage or out mileage when he gave me my receipt. My car broke down on the highway and VW states that I need a new motor due to sludge in the motor. The are telling me my receipts are not good enough and won't cover the motor. I have searched the web and see I'm not the only one with this problem. The palisades, NY VW are impossible to do business with. I'm not getting a new motor!

- New Hampton, NY, USA