# 3.0 TDI Common Problems



## pavelgro (Jun 26, 2016)

Hi everyone, this is my first post on this forum, and hopefully not last 

I'm really trying not to add any spam to your forum (sorry if i accidentally do),

But i've tried to google for common VW Phaeton 3.0 TDI problems, however i wasn't able to find them in one thread.

To start with, i'm looking into buying a VW Phaeton, as i do not care about the way it looks (hello passat looks), i do care about how it rides. I do extremely love the interior of it + the comfort shall be on top too. I've never driven one unfortunately (i did w220/w221/e65-66 and other similar cars, not phaeton/a8 unfortunately), but all of the friends who did - were giving really great responses on phaeton (from 3.0TDI up to 6.0). However - i do not want to spend all of what's left from the salary on the car. I did read the forum(-s to be precise) - on phaeton, and i'm certainly not going for w12, neither for v10, where as i understood for most common repairs (on v10) - the whole engine needs to be taken off, which will get very expensive. 3.0 TDI sounds fine to me (they are most common in my area with v10 TDI).

Option list - all looks ok, tons of info, totally up to me, the only things what i'd like to go for are 18way seats, possibly start/stop. I'd love the piano black wood but that looks extremely rare and expensive too i guess. Heated steering wheel (leather only as i know) - will be almost a must to me. I've heard that soft-close doors are from 05, not sure when the automatic trunk opener is standard/optional tho (and since which year did it appear). Premium sound system looks great too, but ain't prioritising it. I know also there's a sunroof with sun battery, that cools/warms the car in the summer/winter - shall i avoid this system, or is it reliable? Also i've heard about sunroof leaking, how i shall ensure it is ok when buying a car, is there a general way it breaks/leaks, which i could test (i.e. by going to a car wash)?

I was not able to find any 3.0 TDI specific problems on the forum - which makes me thing like 3.0 TDI is very reliable (saw people changing their phaetons for 3.0 TDI simply for lower maintenance costs further on, multiple posts on this on forums). From what i understood the most common problem is the suspension, otherwise it's electronics, sunroof, also "flat aux battery" issue as i understood - one of the batteries dead, which is a bit more difficult to change than on the regular cars. Otherwise - it's totally blank to me, it would be extremely great if there would be a small list given to me of what shall be checked before i'd drive car to the service.

There aren't that many services in my country where i'll be able to inspect the car very well, which results in costs for a good service + trip costs for each car, thus it's extremely valuable to have basic knowledge myself, on what to look for.

p.s. I'm located in eastern Europe, the phaetons start from as low as 4000 euros, i'm not going that low, aiming for about 6000-6500, which gives me a pretty good choice already (i do check them across pretty much all Europe tho). Most phaetons in the price range i'm looking for are of '05 year, however i'm not sure whether i shall ignore 03/04, do 05s have much less issues?

I do not care about taxes, i do not care about mpg, and i do have enough money even to get v10 TDI/w12 (and maintain them) just that i've spent a fortune on my last car, and hopefully by doing a more smart choice on 3.0 TDI - i'll be able to save a bit of money in my pocket.

Furthermore - i'm working from home, and i only need car to drive to a shop/and 90% of the time - simply to enjoy the ride/go somewhere to relax/eat/drink coffee and etc, which leads to about 10,000km/year or less (pretty small usage), thus it will be used pretty much like a weekend car and as a result should break less often too i guess.


Sorry if i did multiple mistakes, i'm not native english speaker, and sorry if i posted in wrong section or didn't find all of this data in one post,


Thanks for your time,
Best regards,
Pavel


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## 53PL-50AAA-VW611BAN (Feb 10, 2015)

You did fine, Pavel.

The North American Phaetons only came with the V8 or W12, so we Americans can't help you. My W12s have been reliable, but I don't use them as daily drivers. 

I haven't read about any W12 engines blowing up. They just come out for other maintenance. My 1st one had the engine out twice for the transmission when the car only had 20,000 miles.

There are some British owners with the V6 TDI. I'm sure they will reply soon about the reliability. 

It seems like the common year for American Phaetons is 2004. I wouldn't hesitate to buy a 2004, but I don't have much choice.

If I was in Europe, I would think about getting a later model with updated NAV and infotainment. 

Good luck.

-Eric


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## n968412L (Apr 23, 2009)

Hi Pavel - lots of info in this forum - but it is not all in one place.

I think that all the suspension problems were generally confined to very early models, I don't seem to remember any being reported on most models beyond about 2005. 

similarly I think the transmission is pretty reliable - especially on the smaller engines, as they are more "conventional" and less of a challenge for the transmission in terms of torque etc.

The V6 is a common engine, shared with Audi - and reliability should be helped by the numbers etc. However, in commone with the engine as used in Audi models, it does have a weakness in the air flow flaps in the inlet manifold, and their linkages. There are after market fixes available I believe, and it doesn't seem too hard a job for competent owners to undertake - although I had VW do it on my first V6, when it needed it at about 50k miles. The other weaknesses that seem to exist and which people have posted about inlcude the exhaust gas recirculation system, and the diesel particulate filter and its sensors. None of these are hugely expensive, and I think are fairly routine repairs for this engine -although you are probably still fairly unlucky if you need them.

The other point, as you make, is to make sure the batteries are the right spec and healthy - particularly the LH one. Not that hard to change - provided you follow the instructions on this forum!

I think an 05 would be OK for the transmission problems. However, if you can find one at the right price, I would recommend a later one, after the first facelift - a GP1, whereas 05 would be GP0. I think GP1s appeared in later 2007. The electronics got a refresh, and although it works pretty much the same, things like the sat nav work much better, but principally because they are much faster to respond to your input. And I think more reliable. I owned both a GP0 and a GP1 at the same time - and the GP1 was definitely the nicer experience in terms of interacting with all the electronic gizmos in the car. Although... if I'd not owned two at the same time... I probably wouldn't have noticed!

The other thing to do, if at all possible, is to get a proper scan of the car and all its controllers - and ideally post it here and the wisdom of the forum will help review it. Ideally you could do with getting a scan, and keep it, reset all the fault codes, drive the car for a few km, and then scan again to see what fault codes, if any, have reoccurred.

Good luck.

Mike


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## pavelgro (Jun 26, 2016)

Thanks for such quick responses!

All of the information you've given is very helpful 

As of error code check - is phaeton same as all other cars, or more advanced/complicated? I can get a vag-com cable + software whenever i'll be checking the car, i know it won't get transmission computer into account (considering with such small engine it shall be ok, all i need is to warm the car fully and test how it changes the gears, and no emergency mode is enabled), but will this give me all results besides transmission? I saw there's a comfort block, also some other block on the bottom of a car, do these get information accessible through vag-com connected, or they need to get connected and read separately (99% not, but asking just in case)?

As of model year - i'll deff ignore 03/04s, and will just go safe with '05s, if required will just wait longer to find the right car. I can't go for more expensive ones (post 07), GBP dropped so much and will drop further soon due to recent events, so i'd rather keep any extra i have for urgencies, i need to be ready for major breaks tho too after i'd buy the car 

As of option list - could someone clarify what are the odds, or whether it's possible at all to find soft closing doors/automatic trunk opener (maybe closer too) on '05(possibly 06) 3.0 tdi? I guess those were optional (both)? Can't find any data on this in all the brochures i was able to find.

One weird question: how to find out whether the lights are xenon or bi-xenon? I know it would get obvious if i'll drive in the dark, but 99% i'll be checking the car when the sun is shining. As i know bi-xenon comes with adaptive light direction, thus when steering wheel is moved - the direction of light changes. Does this occur when the car is idle and the steering wheel is moved, or only at certain speeds?

TPMS - as i know i can ignore it, can be re-modded via vag-com and totally disabled it w/o issues.

From the brochure i've found - the heating/ventilation/massage of FRONT seats is standard on both 12/18 way seats (thus all that can be there in the front?), is that true, or is the brochure simply of i.e. '06, and it was different on 05?

I think so this sums up all the questions i have, once figured - i'll just drive and start searching for a candidate to be bought :S

Edited:
Hopefully i'm able to share links via this forum policies, the car sthat i'm really interested atm are: http://autoplius.lt/skelbimai/volkswagen-phaeton-3-0-l-sedanas-2005-dyzelinas-4740821.html & http://autoplius.lt/skelbimai/volkswagen-phaeton-3-0-l-sedanas-2005-dyzelinas-4829280.html
All i can see is heated wheel, since it's not wooden, can't notice anything more atm, will call during these days and will clarify on them (phaetons get sold extremely rarely in my country, very unpopular car), otherwise if all ok i'll be driving to check them soon,


Thanks again,
Best regards,
Pav


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## n968412L (Apr 23, 2009)

Hi Pav - looks like you're in Lithuania?

All my experience is on UK cars - so hard to know if there'll be differences.



pavelgro said:


> is phaeton same as all other cars, or more advanced/complicated


I think all on this forum will agree that it is generally more advanced and complicated than any car of its age... although over time that's probably less true. I think this only way to be sure what's going on is to have a VCDS scanner (VAG COM is old name I think). Not cheap, but worth it. Cheaper imitations generally don't provide the full range of options and services.

I've never heard/seen soft closing doors in UK, and I suspect they are very very rare in Europe. Automatic boot opening is quite common in UK, but I suspect this is a country variant in terms of what is commonly imported if not specified by a single end customer. So I think the odds will depend on your country... and hard for us to call.


pavelgro said:


> how to find out whether the lights are xenon or bi-xenon


 Easy if you can see the front of the car. The xenon lamp is behind a big lens, whereas a tungsten filament halogen lamp is just a simple lamp that is very obvious. So if you can see the front of the car you'll be able to tell very easily if you can see two big lenses, or one lens and a lamp. Also the 5W side light bulb is in a different place. Inside the halogen headlight reflector, or between the two xenons. Not sure about the adaptive light direction - I don't think this existed in UK before the GP3. Or if it did, it certainly is not fitted to dual xenon cars - My V10 GP certainly doesn't have it.



pavelgro said:


> i've found - the heating/ventilation/massage of FRONT seats is standard on both 12/18 way seats


 Not true in the UK - but can't speak for other markets - but I bet not true. 12 way seats have heating. Only 18 way seats have cooling and massage.

for the links you've posted, the first I'm pretty sure is single xenon, but I can't really tell on the second link... although my guess would be bi-xenons.

Good luck.

M


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## bkretonic (May 25, 2016)

I have Phaeton V6 3.0 TDI from 2008. I had a luck to drive A8, S-class and BMW 7 Series. I like the comfort of Phaeton by far. Plus, in Phaeton you don't attract much attention. Most people think you are driving Passat.

I loved it until very recent when I had Kessy flooded and destroyed. Kessy burned starter. Dealer wants to charge me for Steering Wheel Column, and I am going back and forth with them. The problem was that dealer was very unprofessional, and that left a lot to be desired from VW as a company.

I had a problem with Catalyst and intake caused by low quality diesel that was sold in my country. Plus water pump for windshield. Not that much in 8 years.


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## 53PL-50AAA-VW611BAN (Feb 10, 2015)

The single Zenon headlights have larger inner bulbs.

The Bi-Zenons have two small bulbs in each headlight. They also have a small city light in the bottom middle between the Zenon bubs.

If you want to see the difference between Bi-Zenon and single Zenon, look it the Sticky *Phaeton Forum 'Table of Contents' (FAQ by Category) 

*under* Phaeton Upgrades and Modifications After Delivery - Discussions, Photos and 'How-To's' 
*

http://forums.vwvortex.com/showthread.php?2828054

Here's the TOC:

http://forums.vwvortex.com/showthread.php?1652232-Phaeton-Forum-Table-of-Contents-(FAQ-by-Category)



The wooden steering wheels are not heated as far as I know. Some leather are heated and some are not. I believe all steering wheels have the button on the side, so you have to actually press the button and see if you get the heated wheel icon.

I think all North American Phaetons got soft close doors starting in 2005. I'm not sure about Europe. 

The power boot (trunk) depends on what options the Phaeton came with. If the wires break they are a pain. You get a real workout opening and closing the boot if the wires break. I had to really slam the lid and sometimes it wouldn't lock if the latch was partially open. If it doesn't lock, the boot lid will still stay closed when you are driving. 

The power boot lid died on both of my Phaetons. My 1st one has around 100K miles (about 160K kilometers). I replaced the harness on that one. The harness on the second Phaeton was repaired by my VW dealer. It will need replacing in the future, but I will deal with it when it can no longer be repaired.

Good luck on your hunt and purchase. Keep in mind that they are used cars and might have had previous owners who skimped on service. The cars are also old now. When I was a kid, a car was considered to be used up when it got to 100,000 miles. That was when everything was "built better". 

Both of mine are at the end of their lives if you go by old standards. 

Just remember that these are old cars now and might need repairing. Some of them might need expensive repairs. Even Rolls Royces break down and have known faults. 


I started a thread asking if others would be willing to pay for restored or rebuilt Phaetons but nobody was willing to spend the money for what they considered a bad investment.

Nobody makes money on cars except dealers. 


It just depends on how much you can do by yourself or are willing to pay for. Some people are just not willing to pay for repairs. Others are wiling to work on their Phaetons or pay others to work on them.

I suggest you read this thread by Ole (Keirn):

http://forums.vwvortex.com/showthread.php?7026560-My-Phaeton-W12

Happy hunting.

-Eric


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## pavelgro (Jun 26, 2016)

*Thank you for replies*

Thank you for replies, sorry, i haven't been here for a while. Got a lexus gs430 and using it for past few months, meanwhile starting on the hunt once again, as i didn't had much time in past few months :S All of your answers helped a ton, thank you,

Pavel


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## AJL44 (Mar 23, 2015)

I've only just found this thread and am answering it without having read the previous replies - on my phone and they are not the best for reading things in detail. 

If you have no worries about fuel costs or tax for the bigger engined Phaetons then just buy one. Seriously, just do it - life is too short not to! Yes, it _might_ cost you more for a big repair job but big repair jobs are not that common, I don't think.

I've just done the longest trip since I got my V8 in May and I have to say that it was incredible! It wouldn't have been incredible in a 3 litre diesel. I know that I speak from a position of no knowledge, 3 litre diesel owners, but my God how I love a big V8!

It's difficult to describe quite how wonderful a big engined Phaeton is. What a car! And, given what you can buy them for today they are a no-brainer, even more so if it is a second car or you don't do many miles. They really aren't that expensive to run as long as you don't hammer them.


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## gwiken65 (Jul 8, 2016)

Hi.
I bought my 2007 3.0 TDI in july, and so far I have had one problem, the parking heater, it gets flooded with water and the electronics fries. On highways i get 35mpg and about 22 to 25mpg commuting.
One xenon bulb is flickering, and will be replaced in 2 weeks.
One cup-holder was broken, but fixed it easily. The CD-player does not work either, but using an FM-transmitter for music.
Payed €10000 for mine.
Loved it very much. 
Wiken 😁 

Skickat från min D6603 via Tapatalk


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