03 TDI - Cracked block

Jerry Hi, You were lucky they admitted it. Good luck with the new engine.

That seems to be the way VW dealers are. Some good and some bad (very bad). When I got my 99.5 jetta tdi in March of 99 I went to the dealer the next day for some paperwork and mentioned to the service writer hat the steering wheel was not centered when going straight ahead. His answer was "wait for the springs to settle and it'll be fine". Well it's coming up on seven years and 120k miles and the "springs have not settled yet"! Your problem with the block is the exception. That only happens when the corners head bolts are tightened when there's coolant in the blot holes.

JoBo

so maybe there was a bad head gasket, the dealer removed the head, replaced it and then reinstalled it without checking for clear bolt holes, cracked the block and blamed VW?

:)

The springs got to settle in before an alignment can be done. I think it's around 1000-1200 miles then you would of got a free alignment. Do you mean it's gone 120k without ever being aligned.

That is a high possibility and has happened at other OEM dealers. This is probably why VW wanted to take a look at it. :-)

Yes. It's at 120k miles and has never been aligned. After I couldn't stand the crappy OEM tires that cupped I replaced them with a set of Michelins (sp?) WeatherWise and they've got about 80k on them and are wearing very well. I rotate them every other oil change. My thinking on front end alignments is if it goes straight down the road, handles well and the tires are wearing ok then it's fine. I try to stay out of dealer's service departments because they tend to put the young guys with their ball caps on backwards on warranty work. One took 1.5 hours to put a fuel filter on my tdi and left it hanging because he lost the part of the clamp that you tighten down. Talk about being pissed! I only took it there because at the time there was service for 24k miles included. They didn't have the filter when I took it in so I had to go back.

JoBo

Wow, never thought of that! I don't know how long that would take, but they called me within 30 minutes of when I dropped the car off. I had pictured that they'd only had time to do the paperwork and take the head off, but then I haven't done it so I'm not sure how long it takes.

Jerry

I know it! Thanks!

Jerry

Maybe I am just paranoid :)

Just because you are paranoid, it doesn't mean VW isn't out to get you!

I simply do not trust VW mechanics to even wash my TDI Golf, let alone maintain it. You're very lucky that your engine was under warranty. My advice is to frequent

and find someone there wholives near you that can do the maintenance and repairs (if needed).That way, you can rest easy that your car is being handled well.

A radiator will slowly loose coolant without any dripping if the cap isn't holding the proper pressure (say 16~18lbs). This was probably the only issue with yours. VW dealerships make $2K~$3K for labor installing an engine. They probably soaked VW for a warranty repair it didn't even need, just to get the labor charge. Dealerships burn their customers at every chance they get. They wouldn't think twice about burning their supplier ie VW for unnecesary warranty work either to make a few bucks in labor.

Well, normally I'd agree but until the warranty runs out, only the dealer will do the work for free. Plus, this new dealer has done nothing but good work so far so unless something happens I'll keep going to them.

Could be, but the inside of the coolant bottle was all black. They said it was contaminated from the engine, and I don't see how it could have been from a leaking cap.

That tdiclub navigation really sucks. It doesn't even have a search...

Yes, it does have a search. Open the forums and on the right hand side of the lower menu bar it says ... and I quote ... "Search". There's also an advanced search as an option to the normal search.