Passat B7 estate towbar fitting guide

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HughG
still on the production line
Posts: 11
Joined: Fri Jan 29, 2016 9:40 am
Passat model: B8

Passat B7 estate towbar fitting guide

Post by HughG »

I recently bought a 2012 Passat B7 estate for family and towing duties and, as I've done in the past have fitted the towbar myself. I couldn't find a decent guide to show fixing positions etc., so thought I'd do one. Sorry the photos aren't great, most were taken as prompts for me rather than for a guide, there are more on the flickr album too.

I went for a Westfalia swan neck bar and 12N canbus wiring harness from PFJones, they said the Westfalia bar and electrics are the OE used by VW. I am told they don't do a 7pin connector (though I'm a dubious of this) but was supplied with a converter.

The towbar was easy enough to fit.
[*]bumper removal is just 2 fixings under each rear light, 1 bolt behind each wheel arch liner and 4/5 bolts underneath, then the sides of the bumper pull outwards 50mm or so and it pulls off backwards. I don't have them but watch the parking sensor wiring if you have them.
[*]The rear light removal is a thumb screw inside the trim panel, and then the wiring connectors have a red tab that just pulls upwards. One side is easily accessed, the other isn't.
[*]remove the folding boot floor, boot opening trim, the near side luggage tie down loops and the left hand boot side. The clips for the latter pulled off the body instead of the trim.

ImagePassat b7 towbar installation by Hugh Gabriel, on Flickr

[*]Remove the rear crash structure
[*]Undo the 2 exhaust heat shield fixings and lower it onto the silencer.
[*]Slide the towbar arms into chassis and fix the 2 bolts each side.
[*]When doing the bumper cutout the Westfalia template is not clear, it shows 3 diagrams which represent 3 different bumpers not 3 stages. For the standard bumper you just need the square cutout not the elongated bit towards the rear as well. I learnt this the hard way, the good news is that the additional cut is not visible.
[*]Remove the grommit from the rear near side corner and Thread the wiring through. I packed the new grommit with grease to help prevent water ingress.

The wiring connects to the fuse box and a module under the dash and runs along the offside sill. I ran over the wheel arch, under the support for the front part of the boot floor, behind the rear seat bolster then along the sill.
The rear seat bolster has a single bolt at the bottom then pulls straight up to release. The sill trims just pull off. The trim at the base of the B pillar was a bit of swine as to remove completely needs the upper part with curtain airbag to be removed. I managed to prize the bottom section out enough and thread a wire coat hanger through as a lead. The wiring is 2 parts, make sure both go the same side of the seatbelt, I chose outboard.

The A pillar trim is in 2 parts. The top of the upper piece pulls out slightly, and then pulls upwards. Don't lever outwards at the bottom like I did or you'll snap the bottom retainer, a new piece is £10.30 from VW!

The bottom section of A pillar trim is held by 1 push clip, 1 screw on fixing at the front end of the footwell, and the bonnet release lever. The bonnet release lever is held on by a tab which is orientated up with the lever in its resting position. Pull the lever hard, then prize the tab out (it comes out completely) with a screwdriver and the lever will release. This paragraph is one of the 2 main reasons I'm writing this, it must have taken me an hour to figure out how the lever released!

The wiring to the module by the throttle peddle is easy enough, the connector pulls out, splits in 2 and 3 pins are removed and linked into the loom, with 3 from the loom going in their place.

ImagePassat b7 towbar installation by Hugh Gabriel, on Flickr

The fuse box connection is the other reason I am writing this! The instruction said the 3 wires go into the bottom part of positions 43-45 (2 parts are 1 for each side of a fuse), and a 3 tail joints the top parts to a live feed from positions 32-37. That could work for me due to the factory fuse positions, but thankfully 33-35 were spare so that is where my towbar wiring is now! These are on a communal feed so no need for the 3 tail connector.

ImagePassat b7 towbar installation by Hugh Gabriel, on Flickr

Then there was a black and blue wiring right at the top that got joined into the towbar wiring and replaced by removing the terminal from the fuse box. You need a special VW terminal tool to remove this. No amount of grinding an old pair of need nose pliers down would work! I ended up leaving the terminal in and soldering onto the tail.

Fuse box back in and check with a trailer board, it should work before any vagcom coding. I will post a list of what i changed in vagcom when I have the log to hand.
Hope that's helpful, any questions just ask.
Last edited by HughG on Sun Jan 31, 2016 8:30 am, edited 1 time in total.

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