(Warranty) 2001 1.8T Volkswagen Jetta currently 49,000 miles

Hello,

RE: 2001 1.8T Volkswagen Jetta Repair Cost

I have been fortunate not to put alot of money into repairs, but I have spent countless hours at the VW dealerships. Every time I come out of the dealership after explaining an issue with my car to the service manager, I then feel like the bad guy. I have never been so stressed out about a material object. I come home and want to rush back to the service manager and tell him her I am sorry for acting like such a jerk. Instead I call the VW care line like a baby and get nowhere. They do deal with people on a case by case basis, but I have never received any help.

My windows have fallen down in the dead of winter and in the middle of the summer. I have had the same window problem happen to me(4) times. (I never paid for them to fix it.) Word to the wise get them to put the rental car in there name not yours.

Recently on Friday December 5th my check engine light went on. I quickly checked my manual and I read that the issue might be the catalytic converter. I then brought my car into the dealership to get it checked out.

They found two things after running the diagnostic test..

  1. The Catalyitic Converter needed to be replaced (covered under warranty) Efficiency below the threshold
16804 PO420 035

  1. The Recirculating valve for the turbo charger needs to be replaced (covered up to 24,000 miles) (part is bucks total with labor 5)

17608 P1200 035 coding 7500

My question to the group did anybody have these same issues and how did you handle them?

What do we all do after we own the car for 9 years and the warrany is over?

Who wants that expense?

Thanks,

Jab7

Reply to
Jab7
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I only got one thing to say "cars cost money to keep them going" You can't expect to own the car and not spend some money over time! It's just like your body: if you feed it junk food and don't exercise then you going to have problems sooner or later. As many know I'm a VW tech and guess what I have owned VW's, Audi's, Chevy's and have spent more money on all of them than I would of wanted too. And many times more than I think I have had too. MY 1990 Audi 90 Quattro which I owned for 7 years required an engine overhaul at a mere 107,000 miles which included piston ring, cylinder head overhaul, etc. Should it of needed done considering it's a German engineering... NO, but sometimes things just happen. So $1500 later in parts the project was done and I sold the car. Last December 2002 my daughter purchased a 99 Passat 1.8t with just 50,000mile and I purchased a 99 GLX Passat June 2003 with 40,000 miles and guess what "we both purchased Toyota's extended warranties"! If you haven't maybe you can get into an extended warranty policy offered by your dealer if you have "ticked" then off over the last 2 years, or maybe they can tell you who to contact for the warranty? Bottom line: if you own a car, truck, or anything it's going to cost you money to own the years.

Reply to
Woodchuck

Was this a Freudian slip or did I miss something? (I just woke up).

Reply to
Darryl

Jim B.

Reply to
jimbehning

You heard correctly, we purchased our Passats from a Toyota dealer 3 miles down the road! Now you ask why we didn't purchased them from the VW dealer I work for... well they were cheaper at the Toyota dealer. Just doesn't look good have a VW setting on the Toyota sales lot!

Reply to
Woodchuck

I don't want to argue with you WoodChuck but

How is buying an extended warranty the correct answer to fixing a massive problem?

In my eyes that is even more money out of my pocket. I am spending more money to protect myself against issues that are really Volkswagen's problems.

By the time my car is out of warranty hopefully Volkswagen would of stepped up to the plate and fixed many of their known issues at their cost not mine.

They want $1,600 for a catalytic converter? (seems steep (under warranty now...

I could still get an extended warranty from the dealership because the service manager I ticked off last week will be replaced by a new service manager. During the 2 years that I have owned my Jetta I have dealt with 10 different service managers. I have to say not one of them knew about my cars issues in the way they should know about them.

Woodchuck you are right cars have issues. I owned a 1988 accord and I had over 180,000 miles on it and all I ever did was replaced the clutch, the control arm, and tires. I bought the car for 4,000 grand with 120,000 miles on it. Of course the Honda had other issues like a new alternator and I did replace the exhaust pipe and most of the tube coming from the engine. But again this car had over 150,000 miles at that time.

I take care of my Jetta. I use premium gasoline, new tires, brakes, and why would the catalytic converter break along with the air recirculator? The car is only 2 years old.

Jetta issues - glove box broke, windows fell 4 times (only fix if it breaks)>70,000 miles somebody else's problem , catalytic converter failed, ignition coils fixed, mass air flow sensor (0pen issue not broke won't fix until breaks > 70,000 miles my problem!!!),

Woodchuck you are a Tech is 245.00 (labor and parts) to replace the Air Recirculator the right price.(17608 P1200 035 N249) How much time does it take to change it out? What is that part and what does it do?

Thanks,

Jab7

Reply to
Jab7

Sure it does. There is a reason why Toyota is number 1. Look at all the non Toyota trade-ins at Toyota dealers and you think it doesn't look good? Think about it. Of course they have used Toyotas too but not many and those that they have most have been bought from auctions for resell. Ask me how I know... :) The reason they are cheaper is high turnover in order to get more room for Toyota resell and new. The extended warranties are probably not a Toyota dealer warranty but a third party warranty sold by Toyota. General Electric sells third party warranties. It's called something like Royal Blue Shield?

Reply to
Peter Parker

Sometimes one is too close to the woods to see the trees. :-)

The extended warranty companies are now realizing that many dealers resell vehicles and abuse the extended warranty by only fixing the vehicles after someone buys them. Extended warranty companies will soon force dealers to inspect the used vehicles for flaws and confirm no problem before they warranty them or the dealer will have to pay out of pocket if a problem exists as the vehicle rolls off the lot.

Extended Warranties are good. Abusing them is bad. Lucky for me my 94 Jetta had all of it's issues resolved before my warranty ran out. The problem with VW is that the parts are too expensive compared to domestic products like Jeep. I own 2 VWs, 1 Jeep and

1 Honda. The Honda is the oldest and had the least amount of problems.

They should resolve old issues by the time the new model year comes out. Instead of redesigning the comfort features, redesign the bad hardware and electronic engineering first. Make the underlying running components reliable and then make it more stylish.

I replaced my CAT (It really didn't need it) for $90. A Walker direct fit CAT. See what I mean about expensive?

Congrats. They know. They just don't want you to know that they know.

Honda has started to loose it's reliability too lately. Toyota has been going strong and they have the best automatic trannys if you are into automatics.

They left out the reliability when it came to the design.

Hardware and electronics. The drivetrain has been okay if you stayed with the plain 2.0L. I have seen more complaints about the TDI engine and the 1.8T. Turbo has it's weaknesses and so does diesel if you have a heat runaway issue. Diesels will literally melt inside. The last sentence is more a general sentence torward diesel designs.

Woodchucks dealership and customers values are much better than most that I have delt with. Dealers are unregulated and it depends how close you are to metro areas too. You have to shop around but most of the time it's a chore.

That's why I do most of my work myself. However even dealer techs will eventually get to an age where they will have to start taking pain pills before they go to bed and when they get up in the morning to go to work. As you get older, that kind of work can put you in trouble if you make an improper move or mistake. You can take out your back and joints fast.

Most techs don't go past the age of 55. :(

Reply to
Peter Parker

Dealers aren't regulated?

Think Again.

Every VW dealer has to conform to something called Brand Standards. Dealer's that fail to do so run the risk of being put on credit hold, delayed shipping of new vehicles, CSI ratings are affected and it can bring a dealer down.

VW Dealers are very closely regulated by Area Executives and After Sales Managers.

Reply to
Pete Cressman

I have called around about the Air Recirculator and many dealerships don't have the part in stock. The last guy told me that they don't carry the part.

He also said (service writer) that they have only fixed one car all year with that same issue.

Does anyone know a good mechanic in Baltimore, Maryland or York, Pennsylvania that works on Jetta's?

Does anybody know what this part does? Again I own a 2001 1.8T Jetta.

Could the Mass Airflow Sensor be malfunctioning and tripping off the engine light.

jab7

Reply to
Jab7

|I have called around about the Air Recirculator and many dealerships |don't have the part in stock. The last guy told me that they don't |carry the part. | |He also said (service writer) that they have only fixed one car all |year with that same issue. | | |Does anyone know a good mechanic in Baltimore, Maryland or York, |Pennsylvania |that works on Jetta's? | | |Does anybody know what this part does? Again I own a 2001 1.8T Jetta. | |Could the Mass Airflow Sensor be malfunctioning and tripping off the |engine light. | | | |jab7

Rex in Fort Worth

Reply to
Rex B

Well, if you had them do your last oil change, maybe they overfilled the oil? A lot of folks complain about dealers overfilling the oil on tdiclub.com, and I know I've had it happen personally last time the VW dealership did my oil change. I got out a Pela pump and pumped out the excess later, but I wonder how much damage may have occured to my cat before I got around to pumping?

I do my own oil changes now that I don't have any more free VW service (good riddance)... Not looking forward to my 60K timing belt change though.

Reply to
Ed Schlunder

Uhh, what makes you think that diesels produce excess amounts of heat? Straight from the TDIClub FAQ:

"Warm-up - Because the TDI engine is so efficient, it puts less heat into the cooling system than comparable gasoline engines. A TDI engine will not reach operating temperature by idling. There is no point starting the car a few minutes before you plan to use it in order to have a warm interior - it isn't going to happen." ... "The best way to warm up a TDI engine is to start up and GO, after minimum essential warm-up. It's generally recommended to drive gently for the first few minutes, until the temperature gauge approaches the normal range. When done this way, the warm-up period is not too different from that of a gasoline engine."

Also, the TDI engine doesn't have any ignition coils to fail -- it uses compression ignition after all.

Maybe you've heard more complaints from TDI owners, but maybe that just means TDI owners like venting more than 2.0L owners... ;-)

Reply to
Ed Schlunder

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