Emissions Workshop Tip for 2001 Passats with 1.8T engine

[TiggerNY]

I will cut to the chase, then elaborate later:

Our car is a 2001 (not a 2001.5) Passat with a 1.8T motor, this may apply to others as well.

If you are getting the Emissions Workshop indicator, one easy thing to check/repair is a vacume hose that runs from the intake manifold (large silver item on the drivers side of the motor). The hose is about 3/8" in diameter and 8" long, it comes off the rear of the manifold/throttle body section, and runs parallel to the motor (drivers side) and then makes a 90 degree turn around the motor (between the motor and the firewall) for about 1", where it is then clamp connected to many other vacume lines including the brake booster. It is visible from the top, without removing anything, but it is down about 6" below the top surface of the motor.

Now for the drama:

On our vehicle, the hose had collapsed, and eventually split along the seam where it had collapsed. I believe the initial collapsing of the line caused a decrease in the amount of air that could be drawn through the line and thus caused a gradual deterioration of performance, which mostly went unnoticed because it was so subtle. Eventually, however, the hose began to split causing a vacume leak and the Emissions Workshop indicator came on - this was our first clue that something was amiss. I had driven the car several times with the light on, and we had made arrangements to bring it to the dealer to be checked out (it has spent a fair amount of time there already), when my wife called me at work to tell me the car was running very badly, she didn't think it could be driven, but she then revved it up and it started running better (however, the light was still on). The car drove fine in this mode for several days, but the next time it happened I was home and heard it for myself, and this time revving it didn't help. It sounded very bad, wouldn't hold an idle, and you could hear it backfiring through the intake - ouch! As our dealer is about 10 miles away, this would have been a tow job to get it there, and I was pretty sure we would be picking up that tab, so I began to look for the problem myself again, which is when (after about 10 minutes) I followed a vacume leak sound and noticed the hose, (if it had teeth...). It was split so bad, that I initially thought it may have been cut by accident during the last warranty repair (about two weeks earlier for an oil leak), but upon observing it with the car running, I saw that it had collapsed, and split along the seam where it folded. Sometimes, it would suck itself closed (if the split was aligned just right) and the motor would appear to be running fine, but I could see it was still collapsed.

Anyway, I did an emergency repair, with duct tape and some springs (don't ask) which allowed my wife to drive the car and procure a new hose from a closer dealer (I had to go to work). They charged us $12 for the hose, and threw in the clamps for free, and when I replaced the hose with the new one, everything was better - no light, no sputtering, and according to my wife, the car is running better than it has in months. The repair is easy to make, just cut off the old clamps (probably the hardest part), slice the old hose at the ends (so you can remove it without blasting your knuckles) and put the new one on - piece of cake!

I am posting this because the VW parts guy said this has been a common occurance on the 2001's, and I am sure that it probably would have been more than a $12 repair had the dealer done it, and much more if it had to be towed in. He also told my wife that this particular year seemed to be having more than its share of problems and apologized for any inconvience (they are nice guys, really).

Good Luck!

One additional note, during one of its warranty repair/recall visits to the dealer, a vacume line was also replaced because it was "broken". My wife authorized the repair, and I never saw the part (or inquired as to which one it was), but I wonder?