I have had a few VW’s. First was a 1991 VW Fox. Loved the car, hated how it looked, had no problems. Then it was on to a 2001 GTI 1.8t, Loved the car and the looks. Then a 2002 Jetta GLS 1.8t, Loved that one too. Only repair was an O2 sensor. Next it was a 2003 Jetta GLS 2.0, for my wife, her choice. Have had not one problem with it and we both love the car. Then I splurged and got a 2004 Passat GLX. Not one problem with the car. Next I am looking at getting a 2005 GLI, and let me fortell the future……probably not going to have any problems. My father drives a 2004 Touareg V8, has had no problems. My grandfather drives a 2004 Phaeton V8, no problems. I am beginning to see a pattern here.

Hi,

I recently bought a second hand GOLF 1999 gas. The person I bought it off lost the manual. Anyone know where I can get it without having to pay $30 US for it?

Timing belt breaks…..Valves hit pistons………rebuild head….check pistons for cracks and all that happy stuff….re assemble entire top half of the motor…….now the motor seized…….now what do i do……any info on recalls service bulletins or manufacturing problems or web sites that i could look at………..please help…..

I’ve had two problems with my 2002 Jetta and was wondering if anyone has had the same experience. My check engine light keeps going on and off for no apparent reason. Also, I’ve had some strange squeeking and banging noises coming from the area of the wheels when I drive. My car makes way too much noise when I drive over bumps. The problem seems worse the more weight (people) I have in the car. My local mechanic could find solutions to neither problem.

I have replace 4 oil pans at $400 a wack on my ‘99 GTI with factory suspension, cracked again today on a softball size rock laying on a perfectly paved road and seized up the engine.. these VW cars are junk.. does anyone know of an after market steel oil pan that will dent rather than crack like cheap VW aluminium??
German engineering sucks!!! nothing like a good Jap car…

Does any on know how to reset the alarm. For some reason the alarm on my 2001 jetta has gone to shit. It wont let me start the car it just keeps going thru some kind of code in the dash.

9/20/99 purchased a 2000 Jetta GLS 5sp 2.0 liter 115 hp 4 cylinder $20,614

First Month:
Air conditioner leaked and had to be recharged.
Check engine light came on.
Gear shift knob broke. (loose)
Check engine light on again…..Second time.

3 Months Later:
Burning oil at 3k……Dipstick was dry. Burning 1 quart every 1,000 miles.
Glove box hinge broke…..
Rear defroster had two strands that didn’t work.
Sunroof broke.
Front floor mats broke.
Seatbelt recall from VW.
Front window fell out and crashed inside of the door.
Engine light came on…..Third time

Numerous calls to the VWOA #800 line?.no luck.

6/11/00 Wrote letter to VW Dealership outlining my concern about the oil consumption
Started oil consumption test at Dealership.

Talked with 2 Service Managers (one quit) and VWOA Rep. Both said oil consumption was “”normal”". Told by dealership and VWOA rep. that this was a “”break-in”" process and it would disappear at 15k. It didn?.

Dealership ignored me.

Young VWOA Rep. taught me how to read a dry dipstick. (I was rebuilding engines in the 60’s!)
Given VW Technical Service Bulletin #92-01 dated 1-31-92….said .85 quarts per 1,000 miles is Ok. I said 1 quart of oil per 1,000 miles is way too much! I was correct.

It is very? very easy to run one of these vehicles dry of oil in between oil changes. I can? imagine purchasing one of these Jetta? ?sed?without knowing the history.

6/22/00 Replace front floor mats…..second time.
6/25/00 Check engine light (mil) on again…..3rd time

7/18/00 Contacted lawyer at http://www.lemonlaw.com

8/3/00 Lemon Law / Breach of Warranty Case filed in court against VWOA.
8/22/01 Front window crashed into door…….second time.
9/25/01 Went to Arbitration Court
9/25/01 Negotiated Settlement just prior to court appearance.
9/25/01 Won Settlement (It took 14 months)
9/25/01 Told to start going to a different VW dealership with a different VWOA Rep.

Something is wrong with the brakes?.
10/19/01 Replaced the rear brake pads 40k……front pads were perfect! (?) Rear pads were completely worn out…..front pads still had 3/8″”……either defective pads or defective braking proportioning. This is a 5 speed…..the car stalls in first gear with just one click on the emergency brake! (and we don? ride the brake!)

Talked to new VWOA rep. He said it was known for the 2.0 liter engine to burn oil because of defective rings. He said the first VWOA rep. should have told me that and offered to fix the problem.

He said that deglazing the cylinder walls and new rings would fix the problem. It didn’t.

One of my biggest beefs with VW is that they are not honest with you. They extend ?arranties?..to original owners only? like with the oxygen sensors, but why not an outright ?ecall? Would this be the basis for a class action suit????? If thousands of vehicles had problems, and it had to recall all of the following items..?.the glove box hinge breaking , engine (mil) light remaining on, dash lights malfunction, rear brakes wear issues, broken clutch problem, broken sunroofs, oxygen sensors malfunctions, window regulators issues, cup holder breaking, oil consumption and ring problems, broken floor mats, air conditioner leaks, and mass air flow sensors malfunctions. Thousands of people are having the same problems??Who is there to help us? It isn? VW?

Here are several other links to glance at?.

http://www.myvwlemon.com/ubb/Forum1/HTML/000252.html

http://www.myvwlemon.com/ubb/Forum1/HTML/000155.html

http://www.myvwlemon.com/ubb/Forum1/HTML/001114.html

12/22/02 42k?Oil consumption has tapered off a little?only adding 21 quarts of oil since purchase. Average of 1 quart every 2,000 miles. Still too much.

1/07/02 43k New rings and deglazed cylinder walls…..part of the settlement to stop oil burning.
1/07/02 Replaced broken front mats (3rd time) with rubber mats.
1/07/02 Replaced temperature gauge sensor.
1/07/02 Replaced Mass Air Flow Sensor…..to fix engine light. This probably broke the oxygen sensors listed below.
1/07/02 Fix glove box hinge……second time.
1/07/02 Fix both front windows with new clips……3rd time.
1/07/02 VWOA Rep. refused to fix rear window defroster. (too costly!)
12/14/02 Glove box hinge broke…..third time.
5/13/03 Car wouldn’t pass state inspection…..2 Oxygen sensors……$360. (later reimbursed)

6/22/03 Waiting for official VWOA recall on glove box hinges. Mine has broken 3 times?.and is currently broken. We only use it 6 to 8 times per year! (Max.) Come on VWOA?It is ?ust like?the window regulators and mass air flow warranties!

7/24/03 Front window crashed down into door…….4th time

7/26/03 75k Talked with VWOA Rep. Told him the car had 75k and still burned oil at the rate of 1 quart per 1,000 miles and that the new rings and deglazing didn’t help. VWOA rep. said he couldn’t help with the oil burning. (Said that rings and deglazing cylinder walls usually was a ?ix?for oil consuming engines) Also told him the front window fell down into the door for the 4th time and the glove box hinge broke (3rd time) He said that he would pay for the windows…..”"now”" they had stronger plastic clips……but I would have to pay the labor for the glove box.

7/28/03 Car in shop to fix front windows……4th time.

7/28/03 Declined offer from VWOA rep. on repair of glove box hinge…..I wasn’t going to pay the labor. (Figured these people are stupid!?.why should I pay the labor for a repair?.if they keep putting the same defective hinge on?and getting the same failure!) Sure glad they don? work on the space shuttle.

10/1/03 VW Window Regulator Litigation notice received. My windows broke 4 times.
11/04/03 Dash lights blink…..sometimes they work…..sometimes they don’t.
11/22/03 Intermittent trunk light…..same way.

11/28/03 Mass Air Flow Sensor Warranty Extension……noticed received from VW. Looks like they brake every 2 years….mine was replaced at 2 years…. 43k. The extension notice says 7 years or 70k. I am screwed again…..my car has 80k and broke at 43k. Wonderful.

3/12/04 Front of plastic cup holder brakes off?hardly ever used. I fixed it with a piece of stiff wire.

6/15/04 90k?I have added 45 quarts of oil since purchase! 1 quart every 2,000 miles.

7/19/04 91k Replaced plug and plug wires and oil change ($258)……(This should have been done at 50k…..kids!) …..No beef with this as it is normal (missed maintenance)……but $258 is very expensive for 4 plugs, plug wires, and an oil change.

7/19/04 Mentioned that the car still burned oil to the dealership ….They asked if I was the original owner……told to start an oil consumption test (again!) at 91k. Told to drive it 1,000 miles and come back.

8/24/04 92k….Drove it 1,000 miles…..Technician agreed that it burned oil at the rate of 1 quart per 2,000 miles and that the new rings were not helping. I was told it needed a new engine and that they would order one.

Minimum of at least 20 repair visits to the dealership so far?(That is 40 trips, down and back?correct?) I have only had it 48 months!

9/01/04 Source for legal opinion on VW oil consumption

http://www.lemonlawclaims.com/Volkswagenoilconsumption.htm

9/10/04 92k Dropped the car off at the Dealership to have an new engine installed.

9/11/04 Told that the new engine comes with a new water pump, timing belt, and plugs. (I just put new plugs in last month!) But they found the clutch to be 80% worn……20% good….so they would recommend replacing it…..($350) The first mechanic said the clutch should go to ?round?160k…..with normal usage. Now they get in there at 92k and say it is 80% worn out……With this cars history, and all the deceit, how can I believe what I am told? They also suggested replacing the vacuum hoses ($40) and the coolant flange at ($35)…..which is known to break (?). I have no beef with the alternator belt at ($55) that is normal at 92k or less.

9/17/04 93k Took the car in for tires?noticed the rear rotors were ?lightly grooved?and needed turning down. The grooving was more than likely from the first set of factory pads that wore out so quickly and got metal to metal ?or a day? Rear pads need replacing again (1/8?remaining)?first set of rear pads went 40k?.and now it has 93k. (Replacements were VW OEM pads! Oh great!) The fronts are original, need replacing (93k), no beef with this?but they still have a ? of meat remaining!(?) This cars wears out ?ear?pads twice as fast as the fronts! Something is wrong. This is ?nheard of?in cars with front wheel drive. Should be equal or slightly more wear on the front pads! We don? ride the brake?.either! And it is mostly highway driving?.

This story just keeps going?.

Owned the golf since 2000 and put more than $3k into it and I am still paying it off. PISSED.
New problem–”"car door alarm modulator”". Cannot unlock the doors with the key–the locks don’t go up and the alarm light stays on. If you open the door the alarm goes off–have no way of turning it off since my remote broke a year ago. Had to have car towed since I can’t even get into it. Anyone have same problem?

As you all know by now, my 2000 GTI VR6 has 87K on it and I’m planning a cross country trip. My car is completely stock. Any aftermarket goodies anyone can recommend to help with performance and fuel consumption that won’t hurt the car in any way?

HELP – Okay, so I have some random address to which I can send a complaint letter and copies of service receipts but does anyone have any specific names to whom I can forward my complaints and hopefully see some action?

Long story short…I leased a new 2002 Cabrio in the spring of 2002 and have had the car in the shop 8 times since then for 5 different problems. That means that for 3 of the problems I had to take the car in TWICE because the dealer did not fix the problem the first time. He is a list of the problems I have had:
1. Immediately after leasing the car I realized that the right rear window wouldn’t go down – when I called to make a service appointment the service rep told me that the reason I was having problems was because I had a convertible so I didn’t have back windows. I can’t even tell you how much that boosted my confidence in VW service right from the start. Needless to say the brand new car needed a new motor for the windwo.
2. A few months into the lease, my turn signals went out and the next day my car was completey dead. I hadn’t left anything on to cause a dead battery. So I jumped it and after much fighting was able to obtain an appointment for my brand new car…they charged the battery and said that I blew the turn signals when I jumped the dead battery – the only problem is that, as I mentioned to them over and over, the turn signals went first. So, surprise, surprise, a couple weeks later on the day after Xmas I went to start the car and it was dead again. Needless to say I took it to another dealer and the problem was finally correctly diagnosed as a faulty battery. I must mention also that the dealership from which i bought my car reluctanctly gave me this beat up old Ford Taurus station wagon to drive while the new dealership gave me a brand new Jetta which is what I expect when I am foced to get service on a brand new car due to yet another manufacturing blunder.
3. One day, after refueling my car, it took me about 10 minutes to get the car started and the MIL light came on. I took the car to the new dealer and they replaced the fuel pump relay. Within a week I had the exact same problem again. Took it back and re-diagnosed it as a leak in the fuel valve – brilliant, couldn’t they have diagnosed that the first time?
4. The passenger door bumper stip just popped off for not apparent reason. Not a huge deal but yet another two trips to the dealer – gotta love it.
5. My most recent visit to the dealer was due to three things…Engine light on forever – tried the whole uncapping and rescrewing the gas cap to no avail. Also, brakes grinding at almost every stop. Finally there has been something rolling around in between the floor of my car and the frame – not a huge deal but I figure it should probably be attached somewhere and with my luck it will be a major part that has come loose. They told me they couldn’t find the loose part and blamed the engine light on a faulty temperature sensor – suprise, surprise, another faulty part on my car. As for the brakes, they said that they were absolutely fine and that they coudn’t explain the grinding noise. Now, four weeks later my husband has my car in the shop becasue the brakes are nearly shot to the point where I almost hit someone on my way home from work earlier this week. Plus they make a horrendously loud sound every single time they are applied. During my fun converstaion with the service rep this morning he basically said that “”sh.t happens”" and that they had no way of telling four weeks ago that my brakes were having troubles. WHAT???? He basically said that I should be happy because they could have just charged me for new brake pads which I “”didn’t need”". Conveniently that would have only run me about $180 then but now that I have continued to drive on the faulty brakes and nearly got into an accident, additona parts have been ruined and need to be replaced to the tune of almost $600. Hmmmmmmm…

Anyway…thanks for listening.

KD