# Oil pump failure after owning my Passat for 1 minute. Lasting engine damage??



## tspal (Oct 1, 2013)

noob here looking for advice- 

hows this for some luck... i buy a used 2003 Passat with 2.8l V6 with 130k on Sunday. After taking on a nice long test drive, checking oil, listening to motor up close, etc. Ink the deal at a used dealership for $5k. good deal i think for this car. 

i am literally turning out of the used car lot after the sale and the low oil pressure dummy light pops up and flashes/beeps STOP. :banghead: i coast/pull over and shut down within 20 seconds, ~1000ft down the road. walk back to dealer and explain situation. i am talking with sales guy one, who is saying they will take care of it. sales guy#2 takes my key and walks down to the car to check it out and have a listen to it start up to confirm failure. i tell him i dont want to drive it back up the road to the dealership, safest bet is to tow it from where it sits to a shop. so the guy drives it back to the car lot anyway, maybe waiting at a stoplight, drive time maybe 1.5-2minutes at low rpm. car sounds like hell as expected pulling back into the lot with no lubrication. i am pissed he drove it against my request, if i cant back out of the deal. 

they re-write the contract saying they will fix on their dime, or if its too costly for them to fix we can get out of the sale. it went into the shop yesterday, mechanic says failed oil pump/chain as somewhat expected. the plan right now is for the shop to get the part in tomorrow and fix. 

I havent yet gotten to talk to the mechanic to request some diagnostics to assess degree of damage, (such as pulling crank or cam bearing covers and looking for discoloration or any other indication of damage). I assume if he is buddies with the used car dealership he might be inclined to underplay the damage. If he replaces the oil pump and fires it up, i expect if damage is significant i will hear valvetrain noise, rod knock, piston slap, etc. i dont know if i trust my ear to the tune of $5k though. 

SO, based on the drive time of ~2minutes and 0.2miles with no oil pressure, what do you think the odds are lasting damage or decreased engine life? If they throw in the oil pump and theres no apparent noise, should i take possession of the car, and consider myself lucky? 

Or should I make all effort to run the F away from this situation with my money returned back from the sale? (legally i think i am on the hook, since the sale was as-is, and i drove off the lot) but from a business perspective i think they are doing the right thing to consider letting me back out of the deal. no prior experience with the dealer but they are BBB rated well, and appear reasonable thus far. 

Thanks for any advice.


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## Bubble Block (Sep 19, 2009)

tspal said:


> After taking on a nice long test drive, checking oil, listening to motor up close, etc. Ink the deal at a used dealership for $5k. good deal i think for this car.


I stopped reading after I saw the word dealership. There is something known as the lemon law, I am not sure what state you live in but I recommend researching the laws in your state and go get your money back.

:thumbup:

Edit:

Decided to keep reading lol,

I would say get out of the deal, let them either find you another car or refund the money back. You will win the BBB dispute (assuming it needs to go that far) hope that helps :thumbup:


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## tspal (Oct 1, 2013)

cool, thanks for the input, and sorry for the long post.  i'm in seattle, wa. i dont think lemon law or remorse clause applies to the used car sale. paperwork included multiple "as-is where is" clauses in the purchase agreement. 

that said, if i determine that this is an undue risk to still take ownership of the vehicle from a technical standpoint, (which is what i am really looking for advice on here) and want to try to extricate myself from this, I will definitely get BBB involved, go the legal route etc. 

also to add: finally talked to the mechanic an hour ago and he says he doesnt think there will be lasting damage, and if it sounds fine with no knock after he gets the pump replaced, there should be no concern. (figured this would be the response) 

my concern is that it will sound fine for 1000 miles, and then wont. so its really a question of if damage that could have occurred that's not immediately apparent by it sounding fine, but being something that could be undetectable initially, but worsen with time.


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## Bubble Block (Sep 19, 2009)

I agree with the damage that has yet to be seen, I highly doubt they took the block apart to inspect the bearings. I am not sure if they provided the technician or if you brought it to your own; if they did supply the tech and they tell you "it is fine" I would highly recommend getting a second opinion from a Volkswagen dealership technician (make sure they know what happened so they know what to look for). It would be a good idea to call up a service tech from VW and ask a general question based on your situation. 

:thumbup:


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## bobthefarmer (Feb 24, 2010)

*Same failure as yours Oil Chain Failure on freeway entry*

My car failed after a brief acceleration on a freeway on-ramp on October 3. Shortly there after we got a Oil Low Pressure light and Stop message. Car sounded like hell. It was towed to the dealer and they said that the Oil Pick-up tube was clogged with sludge. They said they would replace that and put it back together. I told them to look for where did the chips came from, I thought Cam Follower failure, they did not look. I ask if the Oil pump looks fine, they say Yes. Then I asked if they ever witnessed sludge build up before, they said they didn't. Well, Nope, they put it back together and then find it failed the Oil Chain and this stripped the sprocket on the Oil Pump Shaft which is sheared. 

I reported it up to VW of America and they did not help out on a car with 78,000 Miles (2007 Passat with 2.0T FSI motor). Gov't shut down so NHSTA will be hearing from me soon, when they revive their careers. This was the third owner and a great sounding engine when purchased. It was maintained by a dealer whom I would think would kno whow to use VW 502.00 Spec Oil. How often has this happened?


Bobthe farmer


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