Five Mechanics = Five Different Problems!?
 

First, I would just like to say hello! I'm new to the forums, and can hopefully find some help amongst the wise.

My girlfriend has a 2001 Passat with about 115,000 miles on it, bought at 96k. When it was bought, it ran absolutely fine, no problems at all up until about 2 weeks ago when she went to get her standard 3,000 mile oil change.
(The car has ran with absolutely no problems prior to this oil change)
From the oil change, she drives to my house (About 3-4 mile drive) and the hood is fuming smoke.
-I can instantly smell the coolant burning, look under the car, there's a coolant leak.
-Immediately shut the car off, let the engine cool down, and top the reservoir with water.
-Start up the car - NO LEAK at all...until the car is put into gear, then it SEEMS like pressure is building in the hosing system, and pushing the coolant up through the cap (Over-flow allowing cap).
-Bring the car to a mechanic buddy of mine, he says Passat's have a pressurized coolant hose system, and needs to be capped off properly, not just "Take the cap off and full er' up". Pressure-tests the system, finds no air leaks.
-Bring the car back to the oil change place (These guys don't know a thing) I'm told "There is no over-flow on this car" and that it's leaking through the cap because the cap is bad. I replaced the cap with a brand new one. Same problem. I'm told they can do nothing for me at that point.
-Bring the car to a mechanic nearby (Don't want to drive it too far) I'm told $200 and he'll find the issue within a week. A week later, I'm told he replaced the cap.........I take the car to PepBoys.
-PepBoys says "$40, we'll find your problem" They call the next morning and say it's the Head Gasket about $2,000 to fix it. They're not certified to do it.
-Bring it to a guy who says he can replace the head gasket for $1,500, he calls me back and says "The entire engine is shot, and it will cost $4,000 to fix the problem" I drove the car there fine, stopping when ever the temp bumped above the mid line.

A Honda Engineer works up the street from me, he says he doubts it's the thermostat, a hose leak, and thinks it's the "Broken water pump fans" or the Head gasket. But he refuses to even look at it since it's a VW =\

Please, ANY help would be much appreciate at this point, the car ran absolutely fine before getting an oil change!?

Welcome the the forum Craig. Attachment 3058

I would say is a coincidence that it started loosing water after the oil and filter was changed.

VW's do suffer with cylinder head gaskets we really need to know the exactly model your girlfriend has. https://volkswagenforum.com/forum/ne...gnature-34185/

They also suffer from water pump failure but this will cause the engine to overheat while its being driven. You could check the oil on the dipstick if its milky then there is water getting into the sump which is usually head gasket.

A cooling system pressure test should diagnose if the cyclinder head gasket has gone as pressure will build up quite quickly.

Hey Keith, thanks for the reply.

Out of all that, I can't believe I didn't put down the model!:confused:

I checked out your link to finding the Engine Code and putting that in, but the car is at the mechanic (Where the guy told her "The entire engine is shot") so I can't get that code for you, I put the Model & Engine size in my signature.

It's just really upsetting knowing that the car had absolutely ZERO problems, it gets an oil change and now the head gasket is shot? From what I've been reading, my gut is telling me it's either the "Air pocket in the hosing" issue, or the water pump issue.

PepBoys said it's the head gasket as well - any way they could have misdiagnosed the problem as well? I'm just trying to avoid a $2,000 repair bill if someone is wrong.

y girlfriend has a 2001 Passat with about 115,000 miles on it, bought at 96k. When it was bought, it ran absolutely fine, no problems at all up until about 2 weeks ago when she went to get her standard 3,000 mile oil change.
(The car has ran with absolutely no problems prior to this oil change)
From the oil change, she drives to my house (About 3-4 mile drive) and the hood is fuming smoke.
-I can instantly smell the coolant burning, look under the