Just thought I'd write a note to let everyone know what just happened to my 03 Jetta TDI wagon...
I got it new in '03 and before 20K my coolant light went on. Brought it to the dealer and they said to just add some. I told them I was worried because if there was a leak, it wasn't coming out the bottom of the engine. When they said not to worry about it, I figured it was a bubble from the initial fill, maybe, and bought a bottle of coolant, added some and the light went out. This being my first diesel and first VW, I didn't know what to expect. By 30K the light was back on and I made a stink at the next maintenance. They claim they pressure tested it and found nothing, and topped it off. Again, light came on. By this point I'd added a quart. Incidentally, I never had the temp gauge show anything but normal behavior. At 40K I gave up on the dealer because of this and other issues, brought the car to another dealer. They found a problem and called me before I even got home from dropping the car off, told me the head gasket was leaking. I made an appt. to fix it and when they got it open, found a cracked engine block instead. A week later, I had a new engine and have zero problems since. They said they had not happen with this TDI engine before and VW was going to look into it. The dealer got me a rental for the 12 days it took, and even had some peeling paint redone while they had the car.
The original, lazy, not-too-bright, wouldn't-bring-a-skateboard-there dealer?
Danbury (Weeks) VW. (CT)
The excellent, you-have-to-go-there-if-you're-in-the-area dealer?
New Milford VW. (CT)
J