About 2 years ago I purchased a 2002 VW Jetta 1.8t because I heard they were great cars and they were very reliable. I have had nothing but problems from day 1 of owning this car. To start the center console does not stay where you put it, second of all the windows suck they break all of the time! Third it seems like it has spent more time on a tow truck than driving because the coils go out or the water pump or the cheap plastic parts they use to put the cooling system together break and that is only to name a few problems! This car is a MONEY PIT.
The most recent thing that has happened to me was at LITHIA VW OF THORNTON. About a month ago I had to replace the water pump, oh well not that big of a deal they go out. But I should have known it a Volkswagen, there has to be more wrong than that. When the water pump went out I noticed the belt was squeaking and also the temp gauge was climbing. So I pulled over and called to have my dad trailer it home. The water pump was replaced after a grueling 13 hours of work. Also the coolant flange broke being the cheap plastic piece that it is, so my dad super-glued it back together. The car was back running with no leaks after a new battery of course!
About 70 miles after that on my first day back from work after being off for 2 weeks on my honeymoon; and keep in mind only after 70 miles of driving since the water pump incident, it started to overheat on my way to work. I pulled once again off to the side of the interstate and notice a bunch of steam coming from under the hood. I raised it and noticed the coolant coming from the overflow valve on the cooling system. I also noticed a strange smell coming from the coolant. I was not sure what it was.
I then called a tow truck once again; I think I know the number by heart! It was towed to LITHIA VW of THORNTON. I then met with the service advisor told him what I saw happen under the hood. I told him where I saw the coolant coming from and made sure to mention the smell coming from the coolant. I agreed to pay the diagnostics and went on my way to work. Later that same day I received a phone call saying that they found a hole in a hose and that the coolant flange was cracked. I find that hard to believe because there was only coolant coming from the overflow valve, not anywhere else.
So me just being the person I am just wanted my car back and fixed. So they told me for the diagnostics, coolant hose and coolant flange it would be around 608.00 to fix that is ridiculous price to pay for a hose and a cheap piece of plastic that was not broken to begin with. So when they were done with that they called me and told me the car was ready. I drive the 28 miles to the dealership, get there and find out the car is not ready and that it needed more work.
I was rather mad, because I just wasted my Saturday afternoon driving there. They also told me that the tech drove it and it and felt the transmission slipping. So I thought oh great another problem. They told me the tech that was working on it would be back on Tuesday. So a few days go by and it's now Tuesday. The service manager calls me and tells me a lot of bad news. He told me the car needed a new transmission and new cylinder heads to fix the overheating problem. It would cost around $7800 to fix the transmission and the cylinder heads. The transmission would cost 4800 and the cylinder heads 3000. He was not even sure if it was the cylinder heads that needed to be replaced, but they wanted to start with that. That is a pretty costly thing to start with.
I told them to no further work on the car because I still owe $8000 on it and there is no way that I am going to eat $7800 to fix it. After doing extensive research and talking to numerous techs at different dealerships, I found out that they make a carbon test to see if there are exhaust fumes in the coolant, which will tell you if the heads are warped. That would explain the funny smell on the coolant.
So on Friday I went to go and talk with the service manager and tell him my discovery. He then told me the tech smelled the coolant and did not notice anything funny about it. While at the dealership I went out and took the cap off stuck my face into the coolant reservoir and it smelled like the tailpipe on a car that is how bad the coolant stunk like carbon. But he still told me that was "NORMAL". I tried to bargain with the service manager and tried to meet him half way on the $640 repair bill. He would not budge. So I paid the bill in full because I did not want them to have my car any longer.
I believe they could have done a better job diagnosing the cars problems so it did not cost $640. If he would have just done the carbon test first I would have been more willing to work with them on the issue. I feel they are wasting my hard earned money as a consumer by diagnosing using the shotgun method. I now have the car in my possession and noticed the check engine light is on when you start the vehicle, which was not on when I took it in. Also when it is running the engine light blink and the car stutters. So that makes me wonder what they really did to my car.
They also tried to sell me a new one to replace the old one. I let them know that there is not a chance in hell that I would drive another VW! On the same Tuesday I found out all of the bad news I went and bought a new ford f150 because I will never ever buy a foreign car ever ever again. $250 a month payment on the Jetta that I still owe $8000 on!
