Money Pit

*sigh*
In the past year here's what I've replaced. Brace yourself!
-Turbo
-Exhaust
-Rebuilt head and new gasket
-timing belt
- Passenger performance DP
-stainless exhaust turbo back... and Cat
-Suspension overhaul: New bilstein TCs and new tie rod ends, ball joints, bushings, rear axle bushings, shock mounts, etc
-Heater core
-nozzles
-Tune
-GLI interior
-New brake calipers
-Rotors + Pads
-Brake lines
-Complete fluid flush (coolant, PS fluid, brake fluid)

Ive been thinking lately that this car has cost me nearly as much as a new car would have! Why do I love the dumb thing? It's practically rebuilt with all new major components, so i should be good for quite awhile.
220k on the clock and should see alot more.

Let's compare to a Ford.

In 60k miles:

Head (60k miles)
Head gasket (60k miles)
ignition switch (20k, 40k and 60k)
valve cover gasket (oil leak at 24,000)
cooling system hoses (all leaking/dry rotted for no reason before 40k miles)
5 door seals (leaked day of pickup 10mi)
A/C compressor at 15k, 33k and 42k miles
Radios: 21k, 30k, 36k
Wiper motor @ 40k miles

Is the TDI really that bad in comparison?

I'd say that repairs (sometimes) run the whole range of parts on certain car models. It's random from car to car, some models have stellar reliability, and some are true lemons.

My 1993 Oldsmobile Cutlass Supreme:
- 2 alternators
- Struts all the way around
- Brake discs and pads
- Tires and oil
- Outside front door handles
- Intake gaskets

That's it in 16 years of ownership - currently at 185,000 miles and runs close to like it's new.

Our 2005 Hyundai XG350 since new 4 years ago and 90K miles:

Timing belt, water pump, tensioner,etc - to maintain 100K warranty ($950.00)

Two sets of tires (just put new ones on 5 K ago)

Fuel Temperature Sensor ($184.00 repair)

Oil & Filter every 5 K miles.

When we get another 40K out of this fine car, we will trade it on a new Hyundai, or just keep it until 200K.

tperretta said:

*sigh*

Ive been thinking lately that this car has cost me nearly as much as a new car would have! Why do I love the dumb thing? It's practically rebuilt with all new major components, so i should be good for quite awhile.
220k on the clock and should see alot more.

Click to expand...

Were things replaced because they we're broken, or upgraded because you got the *fever*...

We're all ill!

tperretta said:

*sigh*
In the past year here's what I've replaced. Brace yourself!
-Turbo
-Exhaust
-Rebuilt head and new gasket
-timing belt
- Passenger performance DP
-stainless exhaust turbo back... and Cat
-Suspension overhaul: New bilstein TCs and new tie rod ends, ball joints, bushings, rear axle bushings, shock mounts, etc
-Heater core
-nozzles
-Tune
-GLI interior
-New brake calipers
-Rotors + Pads
-Brake lines
-Complete fluid flush (coolant, PS fluid, brake fluid)

Click to expand...

Bold were not replaced, rather upgraded. So take em off the list and stop crying

And then how many were caused by upgrades.

Lastly, how many are maintenance.

Cars do cost some money to own, even the wife's Honda van requires fluid changes, belts, tires, brakes, etc. Can't count that crap.

to be fair I know happy Focus owners, we're just not one of them. I blame it being a "first year" car -- 02 Wagon, first model year. Total lemon. Sad, I actually like the interior of the car a lot.

You do have one part right...
Part of it is my own fault. Some were upgrades. The turbo grenaded, so i put the 1856 and that kinda snowballed into exhaust, intake, tune, etc.


The head gasket and heater core were the worst of the repairs. Both within a month of eachother!

I had a jeep before the car.
I owned it for 220k miles then sold it. The only thing i did was replace the alternator, water pump, and change the oil at normal intervals. Had a pontiac bonneville that had 340k miles and only had a radiotor, water pump, oil changes, and replaced a coil pack. Cant beat that.

There are plenty of waaaaay more reliable cars out there. I wouldnt pick a ford, but there's plenty of other options. The downside - they are not as enjoyable to drive.

All depends-did you buy the Jetta new or used-unless you know the care the PO gave the vehicle-you more than likely will start replacing things.It all adds up-I should've realized that when I bought mine-the PO told me they never touched the TB(I bought it from a side dealer)and it had 136k on it.They traded it because it had low power.I think I have easily paid more in repair and parts to it than what I paid for it($4500). But...but...I HAD TO HAVE IT!!!!!!! I am at the point now where I do not want to sink any major money into it-the body has detiorated quite quickly the past 2 winters.

tdidieselbobny said:

All depends-did you buy the Jetta new or used-unless you know the care the PO gave the vehicle-you more than likely will start replacing things.It all adds up-I should've realized that when I bought mine-the PO told me they never touched the TB(I bought it from a side dealer)and it had 136k on it.They traded it because it had low power.I think I have easily paid more in repair and parts to it than what I paid for it($4500). But...but...I HAD TO HAVE IT!!!!!!! I am at the point now where I do not want to sink any major money into it-the body has detiorated quite quickly the past 2 winters.

Click to expand...

I bought it used with 109k on it. Never had a problem until now, so I still think I did ok. 220k on a car before doing repairs is pretty decent. Maybe not as low maintenance as most hondas or toyotas, but still good.

It was well taken care of before me. I bought it when it was four years old and was in really nice shape. Of course, I have kept up on things when needed also, so Im planning on it going for another 100k now that the major stuff is done with.

You basically have replaced everything that I have(on my 98)-I haven't done the interior,but I have done the injection pump.You should be good to over 300k now....

tperretta said:

(snip) It's practically rebuilt with all new major components, so i should be good for quite awhile.

Click to expand...

__. In the latest New England Journal of Medicine, it's been noted by psychological researchers that people who spend a lot of money often have their sense of humor greatly hightened. Man, that's really great -- you should write jokes for Jay Leno or somebody.

98 NB 250k
Past year not including maintenance items
Struts & Shocks Including mounts
Complete exhaust
Alternator
Starter
Sway bar bushings
ball joints
Tie rods
Lower control arm bushings
Brake lines
relay 109
radio
I repaired the heater cluster rather than replace
Center dash with vents (vents broke)
I repaired my drivers seat mechanism
vacuum lines
N75
front wheel bearings
front & rear springs
glow plugs
egr valve (leaking)
rear axle bushings
Maintenance items
8 oil changes
Front brakes twice(first set wore out way too fast)
T-belt/Water pump
2 air filters
intake clean out
3 fuel filters
2 headlight bulbs
2 headlight retainers (they break)
Windshield
Needs:
Injection Pump-Noisy-Only a matter of time
distance traveled 47k

02 Toyota tacoma
brake lines
Lr axle bearing and seal
All else maintenance items
Brakes F&R
Tires
Distance traveled 18k

Wifes 2005 Suzuki Aerio SX
A/C relay
Maintenance items?
Tires
2 sets front brakes (it eats them every 20-25k)
Trans flush
Coolant flush
3 oil changes
2 Air filters
Distance traveled 41k

mrGutWrench said:

__. In the latest New England Journal of Medicine, it's been noted by psychological researchers that people who spend a lot of money often have their sense of humor greatly hightened. Man, that's really great -- you should write jokes for Jay Leno or somebody.

Click to expand...

haha, having a sense of humor is the only way!

tperretta said:

haha, having a sense of humor is the only way!

Click to expand...

__. Considering my financial blood-letting of the past couple of months, it's the only thing keeping me (relatively) sane. But I love this car and none of my recent problems are "VW's fault" (deer hit, bad maintenance by a previous owner, and a flakey installer's error). You don't buy transportation, you just rent it. Sometimes, the rent goes up on you unexpectedly.

mrGutWrench said:

__. Considering my financial blood-letting of the past couple of months, it's the only thing keeping me (relatively) sane. But I love this car and none of my recent problems are "VW's fault" (deer hit, bad maintenance by a previous owner, and a flakey installer's error). You don't buy transportation, you just rent it. Sometimes, the rent goes up on you unexpectedly.

Click to expand...

I just cant get rid of mine either. I love the thing.

Ive got so much work into it at this point, that I feel like I'd be losing more than a car. Ya know what i mean? Ive made it my own... more than a car.

You're right, cars are full of surprises, financially speaking. Gotta just shrug it off because letting it ruin your day doesn't do anyone any good or fix the car.

My bad head gasket was VW's fault, although, I cant really get too upset at a turbo that lasted 200k miles. 200k miles on suspension aint bad either. Any car would need that. The two killers were the head gasket, head rebuild, and heater core. The last of those was a complete nightmare of a job.

tperretta said:

You do have one part right...
Part of it is my own fault. Some were upgrades. The turbo grenaded, so i put the 1856 and that kinda snowballed into exhaust, intake, tune, etc.


The head gasket and heater core were the worst of the repairs. Both within a month of eachother!

Click to expand...

Just out of curiosity, which went first? The heater core or the head gasket? The reason I asked is that many moons ago I had a one year old (at the time) '85 or '86 Ford Taurus wagon. The dealer suspected a leaky head gasket so he pressurized the cooling system. When the pressure didn't drop, he pressurized it some more. On the way home I started getting steam coming through the defrosters. He pressurized it so high that he split the heater core! I took it back the next day and they denyed any wrongdoing. When I questioned the timing of the heater core split, they just said "well, you never know when those things are going to go". This was on a one year old car with only about 35K miles on it.

That was my last Ford.

Maint?

Leaving out tires and oil changes....

1999 Ford F-150 90K (purchased new)

Two brake jobs

2002 Ford Taurus 85K (purchased new)

Battery
One brake job

2000 VW TDI 170K (purchased with 120K in July 07)

MAF, Brake Fluid Replaced
Intake Manifold cleaning
Timing Belt
Lower center engine plastic cover
Window regulator clips
Brake pads and rotors
Battery
Rear rotors and pads.

Starter

Front Rotors and Pads
Glow Plug Harness
Oil Plug stripped out - threaded larger after pulling pan

AC compressor, dryer, exp valve
Large cooling fan

Suspension is pretty much toast, time to spend some more money!
But hey, I've never got below 47 mpg and it is definitely a fun car to drive.




1971 Ford Bronco bought in 1984 with 80K

WAY too much to list (Rock crawler, lots of broken parts, but the motor and trans never failed. You can rebuild a Holley carb with a screwdriver and paperclip on the trail)

While we are on the subject of moneypit, the worst car I ever owned was a 1984 Chrysler Laser Turbo. The motor was decent providing you nursed it with good oil and let the car idle for a minute before shut down to save the turbo bearings. The following was replaced on this car in the 129k I owned it:

1. 3 Power steering racks
2. 2 sets of brakes
3. speedo cluster
4. speed sensor
5. coolant sensor
6. AC hose
7. timing belt
8. right front wheel bearing
9. Vacuum pot in dash for AC (warranty)
10. AC cycling switch
11. Alternator
12. 2 batteries
13. Valve cover gasket twice
14. Tranny gear shaft unit in 5 speed gearbox (not a cheap fix at all)
15. Theromostat
16. 1 blown radiator hose
17. 48 oil changes as I changed slightly more often than the factory required and I used at the time nothing but Valvoline Turbo V motor oil, which was a 15w40. When I got rid of the car it had the original Turbo charger in it yet.
18. Clutch cable
19. 3 sets of tires
20. I also believe some sort of a voltage regulator puked too.
21. Others have had lots of head gasket issues etc. I will say it went like snot when it worked right....

K5ING said:

Just out of curiosity, which went first? The heater core or the head gasket? The reason I asked is that many moons ago I had a one year old (at the time) '85 or '86 Ford Taurus wagon. The dealer suspected a leaky head gasket so he pressurized the cooling system. When the pressure didn't drop, he pressurized it some more. On the way home I started getting steam coming through the defrosters. He pressurized it so high that he split the heater core! I took it back the next day and they denyed any wrongdoing. When I questioned the timing of the heater core split, they just said "well, you never know when those things are going to go". This was on a one year old car with only about 35K miles on it.

That was my last Ford.

Click to expand...

The head gasket most likely failed first, but I found out about it when my heater core blew. If the heater core wouldn't gone out, It wouldve taken me longer to find the bad head gasket.

What happened was I replaced the heater core then took the core for a drive. When i started driving more spiritedly, the coolant hoses blew off the heater core inlet/outlet and sprayed coolant everywhere. At that point, I knew the old heater core probably was ok but the super charged coolant system destroyed it. The hoses never blew off the old core because they were seated pretty well after 215k miles. It just turned into a high pressure system that destroyed the core.

It sounds like ford screwed you. Heater cores arent made for high pressure. Yours probably did what mine did - failed under extreme pressure.

hevster1 said:

98 NB 250k
Past year not including maintenance items
Struts & Shocks Including mounts
Complete exhaust
Alternator
Starter
Sway bar bushings
ball joints
Tie rods
Lower control arm bushings
Brake lines
relay 109
radio
I repaired the heater cluster rather than replace
Center dash with vents (vents broke)
I repaired my drivers seat mechanism
vacuum lines
N75
front wheel bearings
front & rear springs
glow plugs
egr valve (leaking)
rear axle bushings
Maintenance items
8 oil changes
Front brakes twice(first set wore out way too fast)
T-belt/Water pump
2 air filters
intake clean out
3 fuel filters
2 headlight bulbs
2 headlight retainers (they break)
Windshield
Needs:
Injection Pump-Noisy-Only a matter of time
distance traveled 47k

02 Toyota tacoma
brake lines
Lr axle bearing and seal
All else maintenance items
Brakes F&R
Tires
Distance traveled 18k

Wifes 2005 Suzuki Aerio SX
A/C relay
Maintenance items?
Tires
2 sets front brakes (it eats them every 20-25k)
Trans flush
Coolant flush
3 oil changes
2 Air filters
Distance traveled 41k

Click to expand...

just give up

burpod said:

just give up

Click to expand...

roflmfao!

I just went for a cruise in the money pit! too bad the roads are wet... this car pulls hard

Anthony, let me know if any of those CELs come back on. I would be interested to hear what Kerma thinks of the logs. hopefully we got some good data for Charlie to fine-tune your maps with