Broken timing chain. 3.6 L

Yes its true.

WOW, oil scandal, lying, cheating , assign your own name, this is pathetic. It's common knowledge that the "timing chain" is supposed to last the life of the car! I don't know how many miles were on your car, BUT, now your car is RUINED! Get rid of this, I had two VWs, the absolute worst cars I ever owned and I'll NEVER recommend them to anyone again. Sorry. Get an Asian car next time.

I personally know someone who had a failure like this and it cost over $4,000 for a new engine. If you have over 100,000 miles on your car, get rid of it before some other major failure occurs. http://www.carcomplaints.com/Volkswagen/Passat/2006/

tennisshoes SURE, still pathetic. Do you disagree?

Well, I had a 1995 Honda Accord EX wagon for 19 years and almost 150,000 miles, no engine or transmission issues. I had some timing belt changes, radiator, some other electronic issues, normal maintenance items, served me well. Great car. I hope that my 2010 Subaru Outback Limited goes for 150,000 miles ...Or 12 years whichever comes first. I've pretty much decided that I'm trading in all my cars around 12 or 13 years. I kept the Honda Accord too long. Most or nearly all the repairs occurred after 12 years.

European cars like the VW are NOT as reliable as Asian cars.

Either American or Japanese for me, But there is some of those not worth buying too. Timing chains can and do break. Not all metal is the same and any weak link (pun) in metal or guides, gaskets = leaks in (under timing cover) are very real causes for failure of the chain but as mentioned before its toast if it broke at any moderate RPM above idle and for age more money than worth it unless you just buy a junk yard motor and start over or sell it for a parts car to someone.

enginecreator- This is WHY, in my opinion, timing belts are actually superior. There's a regular scheduled service interval for timing belts, they're QUIETER and you can schedule for this kind of maintenance. Note that I said it's a maintenance not a repair. And, having a timing belt replaced is a LOT LESS expensive than tearing apart the engine to replace a noisy or weak timing chain. I'm going to say this once more, if you need a new timing chain replacement, it's time for a new car. They were supposed to last the life of the vehicle, or that's what most people thought. If they wanted to bury this so deep inside the engine, they should have built it better.

Yes timing belts are cheaper I agree and there is maintenance schedule in the owners manual for them to remind owners of them. Remember that there is not implied schedules for wheel hub bearings, C/V axles, U-Joints, Clutches, engine internals like bearings or intake and head gaskets but we know that they wear out. They simply wear out at different times because of user misuse or poor quality control. Timing chains if all parts are good and no issues are present will last until engine needs rebuilt 99% of the time. If it breaks then even if was a issue that caused it means time for new car or at least engine in not all but for sure most cases and even more so for the VW as they loose value faster after they reach 4-5 years old.

Its all up to owners desires. Houses when built have A/C & heat systems, Roofs, Paint, Hot water heaters, septic systems that all seem to need replaced or seviced at the same time frame within a few years of each other. Is it time to repair/replace or move? Its up to the owner to decide we just inform them on here of what we know about their issue and they can decide and they did not ask if they should buy a new one their question was direct, is this true or not. I sold two cars in my lifetime that if I knew then what I know now I would have repaired and fix and kept for my own personal use no mater how old or how many restorations it would have taken to have kept them in nice running condition and in my possession.

enginecreator- understood, BUT ,. You cannot compare the investment in a house, an appreciating asset to a car that is all about depreciation. There's a big difference between the two. The secret to real estate is to buy and hold.... In fact, there's evidence that you should never sell houses. The same usually cannot be said for cars UNLESS you are talking about a Dusenberg!

1968 Chevelle 2 door post base model with the ss package and 396 v-8 and Muncie trans and floor shifter Bought new from the showroom floor in and Marina Blue Paint job and Bucket Seats (rare). Never know which ones will be collector cars.

Also loved this truck 65 ford f100 Twin-I-Beam, short wheel base w/ step side wood floor bed 240 straight 6, 4.11 posi rear, 3 speed floor shifter, Clear coat has worn off by the time this pic was took. We had a gravel/ dirt road to house & driveway too but we washed them on regular basis at the under water bridge on the way home if anyone remember them days. Happy days.

Here is what happens to a Ford Explorer when a tire blows out can anyone say "roll-over".

enginecreator,. YES, saw the picture of the old Ford Explorer. What year was this vehicle? I encourage people to drive NEWER vehicles. I IMAGINE that this vehicle DID NOT have vehicle stability control? http://www.safercar.gov/Vehicle-Shoppers/Rollover/Electronic- Stability-Control

1999 dove over nose first with a twist to the left and hit from top down on right rear, all glass broke except back doors, tent on drivers side rear held glass together by the tent and the rear right top is smashed to the floor and that corner is also smashed into wheel well, frame is warped. flipped at about 40mph while driving straight no turns, older black top road, no pot holes or bumps, tire blew and in a second it flipped over once with a full rotation to the left as-well and stopped facing same direction on wheels just over to other side of road, never left the road, no other cars around, engine still running. one year old. never found anything in tire (front Left) to cause it to come apart. Just flew apart, later I heard about others doing the same thing, They (that body style) are not safe.

enginecreator- I understand. As cool as it seems to have an old car, the "thought of having one is cooler than actually driving one". I hate to say it, BUT, old cars are definitely NOT SAFE. Especially if you live in a major metropolitan area like Los Angeles where people drive really fast and traffic is really intense. Maybe out in the rural areas of the US, OK, for a Sunday car. BUT, as a daily driver, you really want to have the safest car possible, things happen. I know this sounds like a cliche, but, you can't continue driving if you're in a serious accident and don't have the proper protection.

Yea, that 65 ford because of the rear gear topped out at about 60-65mph. I sold it in 1999. I finally got tired of pumping those brakes up to stop. I kept it all stock and put a classic tag on it last 5 years I had it only drove it local.

OK, so I presume it had a low rear end of 4.11 or more making it quick to accelerate but had the a lower top speed.

Yep it had the 9 inch 4.11 assembly racers used back in the day, came stock in it from ford.

When driving around all I had to do was get it moving say 15-20mph and the torque from the straight 6 was enough to idle it around and never touch the gas unless you had to go up a steep hill for more than a few hundred yards and then I just had to push on the pedal very little and you could change gears too and feel the rear end pushing the truck around it was a great off road truck too because most trucks would spin out and get stuck but driving like said above it was never under any more than idle load and would roll and roll so easy. It was slow for top speed but was very good on gas mileage better than my v-6 f150. It also had the vents near the floor on both sides of cab to open up and let in fresh cooler outside air form under the truck which was as good as a/c was as long as it was moving. I bought this one used from U.S. Army surplus sale and painted it red and white the army had scuffed the chrome & painted the whole truck dark green and it was a good paint job too, the truck did not have any rust to body or frame anywhere and still did not when I sold it. It had very heavy duty suspension and twin I beam front would stretch out until the inside of tires were inches from each other. The inside of doors and cab were left green and had a good shine to it but the red paint put on it faded out in a few years but stayed like that and never came off like the white did and it had to be painted again a few times. The wide rims on it were already on it when I bought it I do not know for sure if they were put on by the army or stock and I used some paint stripper on them and three were chrome and one was not so I painted all of them white. One time a 4500+ pound car (Cutlass supreme) ran off the road and down a hill about 75 foot and I stopped and I took them to get some long rope and we hooked them up and I started forward about 50 foot and could not feel it behind me so I stopped got out and walked back and when he could see me coming started saying keep going so got back in an pulled it out and could not tell it was back there.

The plastic timing chain tensioners on older VR6 engines (2.8) are infamous for failing around 100K miles, causing catastrophic engine failure - amazed to hear VW apparently never corrected this on 3.2 and 3.6 models. There ARE class action lawsuits pending v VW by owners of '08-'13 2.0 TSI re similar faulty timing chain setup, but I can't find any for VR6 models, and its my impression that this was a far more widespread issue with the VR6 v 2.0 TSI engine.

Yes I think so too, very widespread, I understand that the litigation is or was pending without any motion approved by the courts that would keep VW from continuing to use the faulty parts, They were allowed to use up all they had on hand, and possibly continue to manufacture them too, so they did not default on orders already contracted. Its time for everybody to band together to demand action over the auto-makers actions, they knew they had issues and continue to use anyway. VW also had issues with not being addressed like the other auto-makers and that is the use of plastic gasket materials, We all know even a child knows that plastic burns/melts/degrades/dry-rots over time without any internal engine corrosion. Plastic degrades even faster in the presents of fuel & oils and heat. The Head gaskets on all the newer autos made in the last 20 years are total neglect for buyers trust.

enginecreator- Couple of things; I was looking again at the picture you posted of your Ford Explorer that rolled over after a tire blowout, that was your truck, correct? I just had all the tires on my vehicle replaced because they were over six years old..... It's important to realize that, just because you may have tread on the tires, it doesn't mean they are SAFE.... rubber wears out, gets brittle like an old rubber band. And, secondly, VW should be ashamed of themselves, they build lousy cars, cheap out on quality components and leave their customers out in left field... Terrible.

Unfortunately, a lot of people don't​ understand what it really takes to keep a car maintained when it comes to timing belts, tires and other critical components that are subject to weathering... The timing chain is a completely different issue.... these internal components like the tensioner should really last the life of the car.. I suppose that someone could argue that the "lifetime" is up for debate... maybe I think it's 200,000 to 250,000 miles and VW thinks it's only 100,000 miles... I think most people today would expect 200,000 miles from most cars..... that's pretty common... At least with the timing belt, you're in control on when it gets replaced.... Let me be clear; a timing belt is a maintenance item, not a repair.. where a broken timing chain is a repair.... It's expected to last for a really long time....and even though someone may say, you'll hear the chain get noisy... Most people will not and it will likely be TOO late and you'll wind up with a blown engine like this poor soul..... Thousands of dollars ... disgusting.

It was almost new, think it was a little over a year old and tires were OEM. Not mine tho, I know about the event and saved a picture from the family it happen too. They had no warning, the tire fell apart at moderate speed and when the rim touched the hard surface it caught on it. If I remember correct it was a Wrangler Fire Stone or was Wrangler something. My Family member was police (retired now).

enginecreator- I just got new tires for one of my vehicles and on the advice of a friend I decided to have a tire pressuring monitor system installed on the tires....it sends a wireless signal to a monitor on the dashboard letting me know the current tire pressure and temperature of the tires... In addition, the system will sound an audible alarm anytime any of the tires starts losing air pressure or if there's a sudden loss of air pressure ... pretty cool....I figure if it prevents a major blowout it's worth the cost..... The tread on my old tires looked like there was available miles, but, they were over six years old....the front tires were starting to show evidence of cracking.. that's never a good sign... Good luck with your vehicles...

Thanks