warranty/VW Customer Care

Even if VWoA would be willing to do something, there is still the stealership, which could stand in your way.

Try putting yourself in the VWoA shoes: you have two statements, one from (very often clueless, but convinced) customer and one from the dealership, which employs a bunch of "trained professionals", whatever it means :) Which one would you believe more? :)

Of course, VWoA could say "do whatever it takes to keep the customer happy, we pay". But it is way different from saying "ok to change the faulty cylinder under the warranty" and requires _much_ more commitment from the VWoA side.

Of course, morons at the stealership is the problem of VWoA, not yours. But I would still try to speak to other dealerships in your area. In case of success you could provide a feedback to VWoA and know the proper place for the next time you need one.

Reply to
draugaz
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Possibly. I'll revisit the question as to whether or not it's the slave cylinder if/when VW decides no deny me.

I completely understand this, which is why I expect to be fixing it myself. It's a shame though, and there's really no reason for anything to be bad at 47k. VW could "do the right thing" and maybe keep a customer, or deny me and definitely lose a customer. Sure, one customer is no big deal, but it adds up. It's no secret that customer service isn't what VW is known for. I knew that going in, so I'm telling myself "I told you so." ;-)

Very true.

Unfortunately, the other local (closer actually) dealer is bad enough that I'd really rather avoid them. I did intend to take the car there first since I didn't want to drive it any more than necessary and they were closer, but they couldn't look at it for nearly a week.

Time is a big issue. I've mentioned in another post, I have a newborn and a 2 y/o. It's not a good time to be down a car. I need to get it going. Fixing it myself might be the best solution from that point of view.

Craig

Reply to
Craig Faison

Hmmm, I haven't seen such a good cause for calling someone a Sexist Pig in many years ....

John

Reply to
John Horner

Hi all,

Well, I decided not to take the $550 gamble and brought the car home. At least I do know the dealer did try to bleed the system... The rubber cap missing from the bleed nipple and the missing bolt that secures the airbox were good clues.

Anyway, I brought the car home and took a look. First, I bled the system with a vacuum pump to make sure it wasn't an errant air bubble trapped in there. No change. Then I pulled the slave cylinder to make sure it was actually working - and it was working just fine. So, out came the transmission.

The (surprisingly small) springs in the clutch disk that absorb the rotational shock are falling apart. I'd guess that one/some failed and started allowing some rotational freeplay which caused others to fail. The metal portion of the clutch disk that should be contacting the springs got hammered into submission and started to wear away too, allowing maybe 3/16 of an inch of rotational freeplay. Eventually, it started getting 'side to side' freeplay as well, which seems to have led to the clutch disk being off center with the center portion of the assembly. Or something like that.

Anyway, it's broken. There is essentially no wear on the friction surface, pressure plate or flywheel, but I'm sure VW wouldn't have agreed to pay since it could be argued that abuse could've caused the failure. I know it didn't, but my wife and I are the only ones who really know how we drive the car (it gets babied), so there's not much I can do about it.

Oh well. I'll see if anyone local has a clutch kit in stock today and get it back together ASAP.

Anybody want to buy a nice 1.8t wagon w/a new clutch?

Thanks for all of the insight and ideas.

Craig

Reply to
Craig Faison

Thanks for the update. I suspect you saved yourself the $550.

Reply to
C_S

That wonders me, you would normaly clearly notice such a freeplay, especially when stepping on/off the accelerator. Thats strange, as it does not match the symptoms. Oh well, sometimes the strangiest things happens...

Good luck then :) I am slowly searching for the similar car, but you are on the wrong side of the pond :)

Reply to
draugaz

No kidding... when going over the possibilities in my head, I kept ruling something like that out since the symptoms (or lack of) didn't really fit that. There wasn't a hint of chatter, shudder, vibration, noise, etc. to go along with it. Strange indeed. When I get a chance, I'll post a photo of the clutch disk.

The new clutch kit won't be in 'til tomorrow, so either tomorrow night or sometime over the weekend I should be able to put it back together and be done with the issue.

Craig

Reply to
Craig Faison

Dumb reply.

I have seen plenty of bad manual drivers of both sexes. MY wife put 135K miles on a 95 golf with original clutch and has 75K on clutch #1 in 02 jetta wagon. That said, I have seen a lot of really early clutch failures on VW's that are associated with something breaking, not something wearing out.

To original poster...complain loud and often to VWoA as well as dealer. I have become a very squeaky wheel in recent years (an unfortunate necessity with more recent VW's) and have gotten some help. (New A/C in out of warranty eurovan-woohoo!!)

Good luck.

Tony Bad

--------------

02 Jetta Wagon 01 Eurovan MV 91 Jetta 1.6 Diesel 86 Jetta 79 Rabbit 1.5 Diesel (semi-retired for now) Schwinn Continental 10 Speed Radio Flyer Pedal Car (my daughter made me add this)
Reply to
Tony Bad

From the "you've got to be kidding me" department...

Clutch came in on Friday and it wasn't the right part. Found one 65 miles away on Saturday morning, so I went to get it. Install went smooth and quick with no problems. 2.5 hours for reassembly and cleanup. It drives fine.

Now, here's the "funny" part. I fixed the clutch Saturday afternoon. Took the car for a test drive and parked it. This morning (Sunday) I took it to the store. I put the passenger side window down and whammo. The power window regulator (or whatever it is that breaks) took a crap and the window fell down into the door. My 2 y/o daughter didn't so much like the

10 mile ride home in 40 degree weather with the window wide open. ;-)

Sigh.

Craig

Reply to
Craig Faison

Wow, bad luck does come in bunches.

I'd probably trust dealer diagnosis on this one...

Reply to
C_S

BTW, the first 4 months after I bought my (used" '03 Passat, I had three electrical problems:

  1. Secondary air pump relay failed;
  2. Bad ground connections causing intermittent headlight and turn indicator problems; and
  3. Homelink visor failed

Car had 19K on it when I bought it, so not likely "infant mortality." I told myself that if this keep up, it will be sold as soon as it goes off warranty.

Not at all like my 95 Passat GLX, which went 10 years and 100K miles with pretty much no major failures and probably about 5-6 minor ones.

Reply to
C_S

Which VWs have the extended window "recalls" or warrantees?

Reply to
dave AKA vwdoc1

I have recently been having problems with my 2006 jetta tdi, i have only had the car 3 months, 1 month out of that the dealer had it waiting on parts, putting a new clutch in it. they covered it under warrenty. A week after i got it back from the service department the clutch broke again. Both times the same thing happened. I work 3rd shift and drive anywhere from an hour to three hours back and forth to work, After i have been driving for an hour or so, coming into construction the first time and a toll booth the second time. I go to down shift when i relize that the pedal is stuck to the floor. manage to get the car stopped safely and pull the clutch up but after that you can tell its broke. i can barely get the clutch to move at all after that. The car does not stall out. This time VW refuses to cover it under warrenty. They say its driver error. i have been arguing with no results that something else is causing this. I have had manuals before and never have had a clutch problem. This is a brand new vehicle. So i went and insisted on seeing the parts and took the Destroyed clutch assembly with me to a few tranny shops and they agree with me, there are no signs of me abusing this vehecle. It looks like it exploded. They want 1900. to fix it, if i take it anywhere besides vw my warrenty is void, And seeing they dont want to find what is causing this problem its just going to happen again. I am lost for words (at least nice ones). The last time they replaced the flywheel and the clutch assembly. Does anyone know what might cause this besides < DRIVER ERROR> Please help.

Reply to
jenny

No idea what might cause that recurring symptom... Even "driver error" shouldn't be destroying anything anywhere near that quickly. Heck, outright abuse shouldn't be breaking things that quickly.

I assume you've contacted VW Customer Care? I'd make it very clear that my next contact would be with a lawyer, and follow through if necessary.

I can at least understand VWs position on my car since the clutch was out of warranty, but for a 3 month old car - no way. Have you checked into lemon laws in your state?

Good luck! Craig

Reply to
Craig Faison

For a 6-month old car, this should never have happened. Since it did, the dealership should have repaired it (correctly) at no charge. They didn't, so you probably should contact the VoA home office for assistance. If that doesn't help, and a different VW dealership won't help either, complain to the Better Business Bureau and let the situation be known to the local media and perhaps even picket the place. Nothing will get their attention faster than a lot of bad publicity.

One other thought: does your state have a lemon law? If it does, you might be able to use that law to exchange your "lemon" for a good car. Mention that to VoA and your dealership.

By the way, make sure all of your communications (with VoA, the BBB, VW dealerships, etc.) are done in a calm, polite, civil way. Anger (which you are entitled to) will just defeat your purpose.

Note that I have not suggested getting a lawyer. I don't have anything against them, but the best result you could hope for with their participation is to win a lawsuit. The financial award would go mostly to them, not you, unless the lawyer is your brother-in-law.

Regards.

Reply to
Papa
98 and up NB, 99.5 and up Golf and Jetta. VW put a 7 year warranty on them unless they changed policy.

Reply to
Lost In Space/Woodchuck

No, the best result you could hope for with a lawyer is that the dealer/manufacturer realizes that you are serious and they respond to his or her letter immediately in a positive way. Sometimes it's amazing what a lawyer's letterhead can accomplish.

Reply to
Brian Running

I absolutely agree. Still, there are lawyer's fees to pay - and they don't come cheap.

Reply to
Papa

hmmmm Nothing on the Passats? :-( Thanks Lost In Space! That is news I can use.

Reply to
dave AKA vwdoc1

I took this course of action today. 10 trips to the dealer for warranty work (and one trip that VW wouldn't cover) in the 3.5 years I had it was too much for me. The thought of paying for stuff (even just parts) out of pocket when the warranty expired combined with the unexpected clutch failure was enough to make me want to jump ship. I hope the new owner has better luck than I did.

Craig avoiding modern VWs from here on out...

Reply to
Craig Faison

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