xenon out

[Lams]

Lams,

I remember you got your Granite Green wagon about the same time as me. Sounds like you're getting out of the bixenon problem without breaking the bank. I've had a leaking washer bottle which was replaced under warranty. Somewhat dissatisfied with the aircon- needed a fan and an intake replaced out of warranty but VW paid about 75% due to me having reported aircon issues during warranty. Currently got a grinding sound in the front could be worn tyres but wondering if its the wheel bearings. What did yours sound like?
I've had to replace rotors and pads some time ago but luckily no unexpected major expense yet. Hoping to make it through to June to trade as the car will be 41/2 yrs old by then. My build Date is Jan 06. I'm claiming the oldest b6 passat on VWW!

Hi PassatB6,

VW warranty has been good to my family and our cars - but now that they're coming out of warranty we're starting to worry little.

Wheel bearing failures can cause all sorts of noise, but for us it was a low pitch mechanical whine that increased with speed. Of course VW first blamed the tyres. So I swapped the wheels with another set we had lying around and they had no choice but do what they were suppose to - look at the car and fix it. I imagine any good mechanic would be able to diagnoise it for you.

gregozedobe,
The battery was installed for 4 months but when it failed, it was by far the hottest day it's experienced. $1300 repair cost was not a battery alone, but it involved cleaning up of the engine bay, a new starter motor, a new VW battery.
I took it up to the manufacturer and they said best they could do was replace our faulty battery. Of course this isn't good enough...
I often monitor the fault codes in this car with VCDS, as there's always little things wrong with it. I've never seen any faults related to overcharging / too high voltage etc. The VW battery made it through summer without any issues
I'm not too sure what killed the xenon, but I spoke to an ex VW foreman and he says he's replaced numerous ballasts. Just this morning I saw a passat on the road with only one xenon headlight working...

[tryingavw]

Some modern cars are now running up to 13.9 -14.1 volts (and cheap multimeters can sometimes be a bit inaccurate).

I did a check on the tdi and the voltage went from 13.8V at idle to 14.0V at full revs. which is higher than other cars i've tested in the past so i stand corrected.

However, fact is even cheap multi-meters on Volts DC will be quite accurate ( Better than 1% or 0.1V ) as long as the 9V battery isnt flat.

[Lams]

Hi all,
if this is useful to anyone in the future

all fixed now. Replaced parts were:
Philips D1S bulbs - 110 for a new pair shipped from the US
Valeo LAD5GL - 200 for a used ballast from the US. LAD5GL is a 4pin ballast, LAD5G is 12 pin. Passats use the 5GL don't buy the wrong one!

Taking the car apart wasn't much fun, but it wasn't hard, just fiddly. You'd need a well lit environment. Don't do this work on grass, as it's likely that you'd drop screws and things. Don't do this in the late afternoon a week after good rain, lots of mozzies about.

I also planned to chop off the under-seat airbag plug (there's a TSB on this) but turns out it was already done. I cleaned the airbag connector between the seat and the car, reset the fault code and the airbag light has disappeared. I have a feeling it'd be back though

But it is nice that everything works once more. For now.

[OilBurna]

glad to see all sorted Lams, not sure if I would be game to pull the front bumper apart.. Glad I have bought the extended warranty though. Currently just about to get the car serviced and have 3 issues, whine from rear left (not sure if bearing or tyre), DSG keeps stalling when cold, and oil has needed to be topped up twice since last service. Good luck.