Hi Torando Red. I own a 2001 beetle. My current problems are probably related to glow plugs but my troubles with the local dealership go back a few years. I bought the car from them and that experience was very positive. The first couple of years I owned the car (while it was still under factory warranty) the service was good too. However, once the warranty expired the quality of service went downhill and the cost for simple repairs skyrocketed. A little over a year ago I got a check engine light and took it to them for a diagnosis. They told me that two glow plugs were bad and I agreed to have them do the repairs. I don't remember what the cost was now but it was pretty steep. When I went to pick up the car they told me that the glow plug issue was taken care of but they thought I might also need a new MAF. They said they could do that job under warranty but they also recommended that I have the intake system pulled and cleaned for around $600. At the time I did not have the money and I was planning to leave on the road trip the next day. I asked it the MAF could wait a couple of weeks and was told it would. Half way to California it failed completely and I was forced to have the car towed over 100 miles to Las Vegas where it could be repaired. I had to rent a car in Vegas and abondon my VW there for three days while they ordered parts and made the repairs. The Las Vegas dealership treated me very well and they did not charge me anything for the repairs. The towing bill and the car rental however were costly.
About a week ago the CEL came on again. This time I took the car to Auto Zone and had the code read for free. According to the information I found here at the TDI Club the code indicated bad glow plugs (again!). I checked the resistances on them and they all seemed to be fine so I decided to give the dealership another chance. They told me that indeed two of the four plugs were bad and they wanted $400 to replace them. That was supposedly down from the normal fee of $600. Thanks to fellow TDI club members I now know that changing glow plugs is no more difficult than changing spark plugs in most cars and that is something I know how to do. I declined the dealership's offer to "fix" my car and I will do the work myself.
Needless to say, I have had it with the local VW dealership and I do not want to be reliant on them in the future. I will be coming up on 80K miles
soon and I will be needing to replace the timing belt. I am thinking about trying it myself but I would like to have a good mechanic available if I get into trouble. There are a couple of pages of independent mechanics in the phone book but I need to find one that I know has experience with small diesel engines and that I know I can trust not to rip me off.