Help Please! Issue galore...

Kayakngal

New member
Joined
Sep 15, 2018
Location
St. Louis
TDI
2010 Jetta TDI Sportwagen
Alright I had the timing belt replaced about 4ish months ago. While driving down the interstate the car went into neutral - wouldn't budge in drive or reverse so, AAA on it's way (highly recommended FYI). It goes to a foreign car shop because last time I took it to VW dealer they screwed me royally - now I think they're all just out to screw people. Pessimism is so unappealing but it's REAL.

Owner of repair shop gave the the "worst case scenario cost " of $4,400 which I didn't need to pay anyone $250 for that info...so, I had a friend come and trailer it back to my house - went and bought a Chevy and have the VW sitting in my garage now. It will go into drive and reverse randomly, it went into neutral with the "depress brake to start" dummy light on - which I've been told may be the universal safety mode to save the engine.

Another thing my VW did was drain a almost new battery TOTALLY dead - so, I took it to O'Reillys and they tried to charge it but it wouldn't take a charge. They told me the battery had overheated so much that it had expanded and they gave me a new battery (it has a 5 year warranty).

I've had so many problems with this dang car ... I've never in my life (and I've owned more cars than I care to mention) had a radio just stop working, A/C broke, etc - all before 100,000 miles! Ugh.

Anyway, I was told to keep the battery disconnected in case it's draining it while it sits. It randomly goes into drive/reverse and then yesterday I started it and it wouldn't go into either gear drive or reverse. I think this is a sensor but I'm not 100% - obviously.

Last time I put my issues on this site I saved $700 by buying a part a machinist made that resolved the issue. I'm hoping there's another VW miracle just waiting for me - I like the VW for kayaking and it's hitchback so I kind of want to keep it so, I'm searching for answers...

Thank you :)
 

crazyrunner33

Veteran Member
Joined
Jul 11, 2006
Location
NC
TDI
'10 Golf(bought back)
If you don't have VCDS or don't want to spend a ton of money on it, you can rent it for a reasonable price with a deposit.

While you wait for VCDS, I'd go ahead and clean all the grounds. That's the first thing I do when I see something funky happening like that.
 
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