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1999 New Beetle

Hi All,

I purchased this beetle for my wife in January. She had always wanted one. It only had 27000 miles on it and seemed too good a deal to pass up on. It runs fine and handles well. Its problems are the same ones that I've been reading about at various places online. Stuck Fuel door, trunk wont open using inside door switch, now the latest, Check Engine Light. An OBD2 tester shows it as being a bad oxygen sensor. After more researching, I have determined that a lot of people with VW's have to deal with this issue many times (sometimes in the same year). I have garnered a lot of information from

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I want to keep an objective viewpoint as most of the people writing to that board seem to be disgruntled, either because of the car or because of a bad dealer experience. So I am asking here. Is this a lemon? Or can the car be driven with a reasonable amount of maintenance. OK, personally, I dont think an oxygen sensor should have gone bad after only 27000 miles, but I dont have a problem replacing it if necessary. I just dont want to have to keep replacing it. Any thoughts or explanations on this? Is it a bad sensor installed by VW? Can an aftermarket sensor be better? Am I thinking too much? TIA, Andy

Reply to
Andy
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Possibly too late for any 7 year 70,000 mile emission warranty I guess. :-(

I have not worked on one yet, but I might be purchasing one with a bad engine cheaply. If the guy calls me back! HELLO!!! lol

It is best to get a more informative tool like the ross-tech.com interface along with a Bentley manual so you can know what is happening. NO the 02 sensor should not fail under "normal conditions" after only 27,000 miles. Now are those actual miles for this vehicle? Did you get all of the service records? It was driven less than 4,000 miles per year? hmmmm

JMHO

Reply to
dave AKA vwdoc1

Hi, Thanks for posting. Yes, the mileage was certified. The car does also show subtle signs of not being driven much. (like almost no wear on anything insude or out) At first I considered myself "lucky" for finding such a low mileage car. Now I'm having second thoughts. I have always done "my own work" on my vehicles as I have had training in the past. I do admit however that there is always a learning curve in the automotive industry as technology changes, and I enjoy learning about it. I just dont want it to be "in vain". Thanks for the link to ross-tech. Cheers, Andy

Reply to
Andy

Ahhh you can do the work yourself then!!! ;-) The New Beetles have things a little tighter in the engine compartment and you will get used to taking the front of the vehicle off on occasion!

I also think that VWs should be driven and are not even broken in until they pass 100,000 miles. So plan some trips in your New Beetle and enjoy it! Oh and put it on a maintenance schedule! Brake fluid flush, oil changes, general inspections, etc. Also join a group that discusses NBs so you can gain wisdom through other NB owners' experiences. ;-)

Reply to
dave AKA vwdoc1

O2 needs replaced, what is the fault code?

Reply to
Lost In Space/Woodchuck

PO134 also PO135

I have replaced the O2 sensor, cleared the fault code and the CEL went off. I will see now how long it stays fixed.

The old one had a grey color on the sensor business end. Grey or tan indicates proper fuel mix, yes? Black indicates too rich, white indicates too lean.

Reply to
Andy

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