UKPassats

Always do it myself. Probably not as often as I should though. I find it gives me a chance to get a good look at the car and spot any nasty paint chips etc. before they turn into rust bubbles. Have been known to wash it in the rain too, get some funny looks but the dirt comes off easier and you don'...

So Halfords have told you it needs a new engine and box?

I think I would be getting a second opinion ....

I'm with Brentacre who have always been pretty good. Was shocked recently when I insured my BMW 530i, starting a new policy with zero no-claims and it was cheaper than the Passat with 5 years no-claims taken into account. I think these old wagons are a bit of a risk due to the lack of security featu...

If you pull the spline adaptor off, make sure you have a key in the barrel when you try to get the housing off to stop the steering lock holding it all together.

Been running TT/R32 wishbone bushes about a year now, much better ride quality than polybushes and don't dislocate when you jack the car up. Nice little mod. I used Lemforder bushes from ECP, which I believe are the OEM.

A new blue one is about a tenner from VW.

Golfs use a smaller bolt through the bottom bush. I think Golf is M10 and Passat is M12. Obviously you can use the smaller bolt but it will ovalise the hole in your rear beam.

IMO VW used a bigger bolt for a reason....

I've got a set of shoes for the drum brakes in the garage if you want them for the price of the postage.

Useless to me now as the car they were meant for has been scrapped! Brand new in box.

B4's are 4x100 or 5x100

Only the 16v, VR6 and the rare 110bhp TDi's were 5x100.

My best mate has a 2003 530D Aegean, lovely car. Mid 40's mpg (although around town it drops to mid 20's). Weak points are the swirl flaps on the intake manifold falling into the engine, easy mod to get rid of them though. Smooth for a diesel and you don't notice the turbo too much due to the extra ...

E39 530d Sport , lovely. Auto or manual best ? Mines a 530i petrol, silent at idle but makes a nice noise when you floor it. IMO these are best with the auto 'box, the manuals are pretty clunky and don't suit the wafty comfy nature of the car. The auto is much smoother. I don't do many miles in it ...

You get what you pay for with resprays. A basic glass-in blowover could be as little as a grand, looking at more like £3k for a decent job though, twice that again for a concours finish. Bear in mind a poor respray will destroy the resale value of the car.

BMW quality went downhill after the E46/E39 IMO- the E60 5-series wasn't as well sorted as the E39 it replaced. you could just as well argue that VW reliability went downhill after the B5 Passat too, as new emissions standards forced engines to become much more complicated and bork prone. I run this...

Furniture clinic, did the black leathers in the B3 with their stuff, came up like new and still looks good nearly 6 years later. The key to it working well is prepping the leather well, rubbing it down and cleaning with isopropyl alcohol.

Just seen this, could well have been me, I was down that way around that time last year for my nan's funeral. My auntie has a B+B in Wimple that we stayed in.

B3 as above. Although I've been running it alongside a BMW E39 5-series for a while now, and the Bimmer makes the B3 feel like a flimsy, rickety old shed in comparison. Amazing value for money for such a well built car that drives way better than any front wheel drive VAG offering

Take it to a garage and get a new valve fitted, they will have to remove the tyre, but should only be £10-15.

Quite a safety critical item, don't risk a bodge.

-unplug Passat engine loom from fusebox and remove from car -thread ABF loom through bulkhead -plug in ABF engine loom to fusebox. The plugs only fit on one hole. -make sure all the brown earths are connected to an earth point -fit immobiliser ring to ignition housing and connect up immobiliser box,...

The bum will drag on the floor- most of the extra weight in a B3 is over the rear axle!

Looks great! Nice to see someone making use of that spoiler

Legend has it that the B3s are a bit more rust-proof anyway! B-) May be some truth in this- the '95 B4 my engine came out of was going rotten at the bottom of the doors and on the rear arches. My B3, apart from the sills- which have been repaired- is very solid indeed, doors are all still perfect d...

Sills do rust but mainly on the GT ones which have been fitted with the plastic sill cover trims. Non-GT ones are often pretty solid but it's well worth checking. Check the rear inner arches for blisters in the underseal, as if the (thick) underseal gets stonechipped water gets in behind and the rot...

8v's had silver pinstripe

16v's had red pinstripe (matches the "16v" badge on the back)

hope that helps

When I put the ABF (from a B4) in my B3 I had to run an extra switched live to the immobiliser box as the B3 didn't have this in the loom. So when I first tried it I had exactly the same thing as you're getting as the immobiliser didn't have any power going to it.

This is my ABF with no air-con but should be a similar set up on a 8v, to give you an idea of how the belts are set up:



Fat belt does water pump and alternator

Skinny belt just does PAS