A guy is trying to sell a 1999 Passat V6 to me,but the automatic gearbox needs replacement.Does anybody in the house know about the passats gearbox issues cos i know its triptronic and am afraid if i buy the car, the gear box replacement wont be that easy.

comments/advice would be highly appreciated.

Siena, Viper Man this is up to you.

dje:

A guy is trying to sell a 1999 Passat V6 to me,but the automatic gearbox needs replacement.Does anybody in the house know about the passats gearbox issues because i know its triptronic and am afraid if i buy the car, the gear box replacement wont be that easy.

comments/advice would be highly appreciated.

The 5-speed tiptronic box seldom fails, most I've come accross with faults have all been down to the control unit.

You say, the automatic transmission needs replacement, what are the symptons? Is there a loss of drive? Is it stuck in low gear? Are the upshifts delayed, or they don't take place at all?

It would help, if you could get a bit more information on the car.

i think the he is talking about is not  a sequencial or troptonic system, it is the basic automatic system, i use to have one as well.  i can get a price for you for a replacement system. if you want me to.

ricki:

i think the he is talking about is not a sequencial or troptonic system, it is the basic automatic system, i use to have one as well. i can get a price for you for a replacement system. if you want me to.

Sure, but replacement system for what?

Auto transmission, valve body, differential or ECU?

He hasn't given any symptons!

dje:

A guy is trying to sell a 1999 Passat V6 to me,but the automatic gearbox needs replacement.Does anybody in the house know about the passats gearbox issues because i know its triptronic and am afraid if i buy the car, the gear box replacement wont be that easy.

comments/advice would be highly appreciated.

The basic automatic system costs between 90-120k naira. Depending on how lucky you are.

What ever the case, keep in mind that if you decide to go the route of buying the care, it might set you back 200K worst case. You can have the car scanned for faults, and then you will know exactly what the problem is and then you can decide what to do.

Changing the automatic gearbox on a modern VW is no walk in the park. There is programming to do and you cant even tell a good gearbox until it is mounted in the car (if you are buying tokunbo).

My candid opinion: except the car is very cheap, forget it!!

I have had 4 VW; two VR6s (manual and auto), one 1.8T and currently have a 1.9 TDI 9whih I have even chipped). I have the scanning tool and manuals etc. VWs are excellent if you know what you are doing but most mechanics dont and they mess things up pretty badly pretty quickly and then you hear the stories the VWs are problematic. Be ware!!

So what is the color of the transmission fluid? red,brown, or black

Before you think of anything else.

what does each color signify ??

reddish brown ,

red = good, brown = replace due to normal wear and tear, black = internal damage to friction clutches.

Smell could also guide you. A burnt smell associated with the fluid is a no no!

Thanks guys for all the info.The gearbox is a triptronic transmission,
Sultan:I didn't get to check the fluid cos I am seeing your post now but I the car doesnt move as in when you change the gears it has no effect on movement,I think he said something about it being burnt when they brought it in from cotonou.

The mileage is 78,000.

Well the agreement for now is I'll give the money for the gearbox replacement and when it is done,scan the car and then I will ride it for two weeks till I am satisfied.He claims it costs 250k.

What do u think?

The story sounds plausible. Towing an automatic requires specific knowledge (generally they should not be towed (with the driven wheels rotating) at a speed over 50 km/h for a distance no more that 50 km or so). The next question I would ask is "why was the car towed?"

If you see my earlier post. I mentioned 200K so add cost of oil, labour etc you have 250K.

But guy, consider things very carefully, there could be no end in sight to the bills once you start out wrong.

How much is the car being offered to you at?? This is vital. Or else why go through all the trouble and uncertainty!!

The car is going for N1,050,000 including the gearbox.And I am trading in my 91 civic for the value of 300k so I will be giving him 750k cash if the deal is done.

Fair price?Though I live in Abuja,I will be going around later to do a market survey.

Do u know how much the model cost in Lagos?

have a look at www.1000carsales.com for prices but I guess the price you gave sounds fair.

Have you actually seen the car??

Does the engine run smoothly??

If yes to above, then I would take the risk with a gear change.

Yeah,I have seen the car.The engine runs smoothly to the ears at least but since the car aint moving, There want much fuel in the car so didnt rev it well enuf but may go back today.

I wouldnt advise revving a cold engine!!

Now a good way to go and reduce your expose, in my opinion, is to have the car scanned. IN Lagos, diagnostic scanning generally cost about 5K when you bring the car to the garage. Otherwise you might be seeing a bill of close to 10K (min).

The OBD scanning tool will detect if the problem is electrical (controller unit for the gearbox) or not. You can also see it there are any faults logged with other systems in the car. Barring a controller failure (detected by OBD) you can rest assured that getting a replacement gearbox will solve your issues.

You can also use the opportunity and look at the condition of the transmission fluid.

All the best.

IMHO stay away from the car. As usual someone picked up a junk from an auction.
Although the problem might be anything right now, but a 25% repair tab on a car you don't own yet is way too much to risk.You will definitely find other things wrong.

I imagine it being towed because security system won't let car run(anti-theft)
Front wheel drive towed with transmission in park, axle and CV could also have been damage.

If you don't know anything mechanical about cars you should try to avoid those with huge problems as this.Let them find another person to relief of his/her money.

TO be honest with you nigerian people. You are looking for trouble if you buy a V6 car.I mean a v6 car. Run away from it.No matter the maker.

|

hey guys, I have a VW Passat comming to Lagos in6 weeks time, its being serviced by the one and only Siena this weekend, so its going to B 100% pure,Pics comming in shortly and review of the work may be shown in picture on this thread, watch out.

Emperoh, have you bought the car yet?

holla when u get the car,post fotos,history n all.for ur info i didnt buy the car.bought a 2000 civic,but wudnt mind changin.lets see what u got coming in

dje u still wan buy passat ?

Erico, that's great. Hope you manage to get all the parts ok?

nkc,

yeah i still do

come and buy mine

now i know ur joking,the way u luv u vdub, vw 4 ever n ol

u knw i am a business man, if d price is right, who am i to say no?

u game

wats ur email addy or phone numba.let me know wat price u looking for.u live in Abuja,ryt?

mail sent with d id n yur profile

Siena:

Erico, that's great. Hope you manage to get all the parts ok?

,
yeh I'm getting there, I'm finding it hard to get the dash frame, hard work argh , driver's side door card got, buying full wood trims soon, steering rack bought supper condition, just need the heater/aircodition bosx and pedal box, then we are good to go

guys, this is what we are working on