MONEY PIT

Well it has been a year, but boy has it cost me lots of $$$$

When I got the 2000 TDI Jetta it had 109,000km and in good shape. Came with 3 problems. Broken seat warmer driver seat, broken glove box and one power mirror defrost not working. Over the last year had all repaired and put on 73,000kms.

Now the $$$$ in Cdn funds

Besides the ongoing maintenance of replacing air filters, brake pads, timing belt and serpentine, here is the list of additional costs........

MAF $300 Got a deal because of Fred'sTDI Club
Oil pan guard $400
Glow Plug Module $254
Glow Plugs $407 (plugs were $266)
Passenger window lifter $418

At this point my service provider shook his head and said "Nothing personal Tom, but I hope I don't see you for awhile." He has been good and grew up in Germany with VW's.

Now the wiper motor is gone and will set me back another $300 with labor and taxes.

How much savings is the 54mpg really saving. Oh yes, I have only gotten 60mph on one trip to the west coast.

Has anyone had any satisfaction from talking to VW of Canada about having a lemon?

I do like the car and the diesel, but at what cost? /images/graemlins/mad.gif
Maybe I should have bought a Toyota or Honda? /images/graemlins/confused.gif /images/graemlins/confused.gif

of all the diesel car I have tdi is one of the car with decent power car and quite low maintainence for me. one has to learn how to do the basic maintainence yourself to keep the cost down. no matter what car if you take it to the dealer it will cost you. even mb and bmw are trouble some cars. all new japanese cars are giving a lot of problems. you can replaced your Bosch MAF at the cost of 200$ us and you can do it and only 5 minutes and the dealer will charge you 120$ for 1 hour labor. the glow plugs are only 80$ for 1 set of 4 from Harieux and can be replaced yourself in 15 minutes. the web site for "do it yourself" so you don't get rip off by the dealer. i have a 99.5 golf i bought used and had 100,000 miles already so far i put in 20,000miles in 8 months. so far i replaced a maf, strut, all my brakes pads and these are just normal maintainence. get your hands dirty with some help from fellows members you can have a nice high milage TDI

The MAF I replaced myself. The older Glow Plugs ran about 1/2 the price of the new ones. Unfortunately don't have the time or desire to start fixing everything, and in a car of this cost, it seems a little excessive for things breaking. I travel about 70,000km/yr so don't want to spend time fixing things. This is not a hobby car.

With all due respect, you didn't have to spend as much as you spent. Your mistake was taking it to the dealer.

I'm reasonably sure that the "glow plug module" was a waste of money. I presume that you had a "glow plug monitoring" fault code. The dealer followed the VW troubleshooting guide to the letter by replacing the relay. Problem is, the relay almost never fails; the official VW troubleshooting guide is wrong. It's always either the glow plugs or the harness. And I see you got the glow plugs replaced. Hopefully that was the REAL problem.

From any decent aftermarket VW parts source (I go to Frisco Auto Parts in Mississauga) Beru TDI glow plugs are about $40 each. They can be changed yourself in less time than it took you to book an appointment with the dealer, drive there, deal with the paperwork, and drive back. It's EASY. If you don't want to do it yourself, ANY independent mechanic can do it.

Regarding the passenger window, I presume that this was before VW extended the warranty on that. There is now a 7 year unlimited mileage extended warranty, and they WILL reimburse owners who have previously paid for repairs.

Thanks for the info on the window. I will contact VW. I am not working with a dealer, but a reputable shop who has a good relationship with VW.

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Tommy Longname said:
Thanks for the info on the window. I will contact VW. I am not working with a dealer, but a reputable shop who has a good relationship with VW.


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If you still have the receipt for that repair, then you should be able to get a refund. Not sure if they refund all of it or just the parts since it was done indipendantly, but push for a full refund. Others have gotten it, so should you.

As for the glow plugs, I agree with GoFaster. The relay was probably OK and I have bought glowplugs for as little as $20 each. A 5 min search would have saved you $500 in parts costs. And if you don't like to turn your own wrenches, any handyperson (neighbor, friend, local indipendant mechanic) could do the job in 15 min.

I don't mean to make you feel bad about your previous repairs. My intentions are to assist you so that it doesn't happen again. This site is by far the best resource for any vehicle owner and you should take advantage of it.

I wonder if your car was flood damaged? Not unheard of for a flood damaged car to be totaled, rebuilt and sold without disclosure.

Bought this car through a broker who goes to the auctions in Toronto. Bought sight unseen. Price was reasonable at the time, but will never do that again. Will either buy through dealer or through the service center (specializes in VW, Audi and other imports) I deal with.

Too bad, so sad, /images/graemlins/frown.gif

thanks for input guys,
Tom

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Tommy Longname said:
Oil pan guard $400


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Did you use the OEM steel one (that Dieselgeek sells) for a replacement? Seems that if you drive where breaking the plastic one occurs, you may find the steel one to be helpful to protect the oil pan.