VW, I have to vent!

drrpm

Senior Chief Petty Officer
Joined
Oct 24, 2008
Messages
707
Re: VW, I have to vent!

Its a 19 year old car and still runs well so thats pretty good for a start. Of course they are a PIA to work on. The designers either have no clue or just don't care about ease of maintenance and repair.
 

Philip_G

Chief Petty Officer
Joined
Apr 6, 2010
Messages
634
Re: VW, I have to vent!

If it ain't air cooled, toss it back. All VW water cooled products I worked on were the worst designs ever. Actually, even the air cooled VW's had a lot of wacky designs, luckily, many of them were sound.

VW's heating and cooling designs are only second to the complete crap built by Volvo.

Two brands of car I will most likely never own again. Except maybe a 60's bug.

the heating system in my tdi is quite good, they were bright enough to put an electric aux heater in since it can take as much as a half hour or more on cold days to get the diesel coolant temp up. :eek:
 

Stachi

Lieutenant Commander
Joined
Jul 14, 2009
Messages
1,671
Re: VW, I have to vent!

I must have jinxed myself......I had a '03 Jetta in my shop yesterday after it had been hit in the right front.... took most of the hit on the wheel....bent the lower control arm , snapped the tierod in two,...found out after replacing those parts that the axle was bent as well...it took 7 tries with aftermarket axles to get the correct one ! Finally got it back together , 4 wheel alignment and out of the shop.....
 

Subliminal

Chief Petty Officer
Joined
Oct 21, 2009
Messages
555
Re: VW, I have to vent!

I must have jinxed myself......I had a '03 Jetta in my shop yesterday after it had been hit in the right front.... took most of the hit on the wheel....bent the lower control arm , snapped the tierod in two,...found out after replacing those parts that the axle was bent as well...it took 7 tries with aftermarket axles to get the correct one ! Finally got it back together , 4 wheel alignment and out of the shop.....

That's funny...it took me 2 tries to get the right one. Rock Auto is being a pain on accepting back the wrong one they sent me. Grrr.

At any rate, point well taken about the 19 year old car. However, my daily is a 91 Dodge W250 and working on that is so straightforward it's ridiculous! Even the bolts are metric.

It is a fun little convertible...as long as you don't have to work on it. ;)

IMG_2685.jpg

IMG_2684.jpg
 

Stachi

Lieutenant Commander
Joined
Jul 14, 2009
Messages
1,671
Re: VW, I have to vent!

bring the axle you removed with you and show them the difference....I have no problem returning parts...we spend thousands of dollars a year thru our shop...they know better ,... we will buy parts from elsewhere if they give us a problem.... most times if we are not sure which of two parts will fit , they send both and we return the one we don't use
 

Subliminal

Chief Petty Officer
Joined
Oct 21, 2009
Messages
555
Re: VW, I have to vent!

bring the axle you removed with you and show them the difference....I have no problem returning parts...we spend thousands of dollars a year thru our shop...they know better ,... we will buy parts from elsewhere if they give us a problem.... most times if we are not sure which of two parts will fit , they send both and we return the one we don't use

Rockauto.com is online...i got a great deal on the axle, but it's wrong...dangit! And I had to use the original for a core with the one that actually worked.
 

Stachi

Lieutenant Commander
Joined
Jul 14, 2009
Messages
1,671
Re: VW, I have to vent!

Rockauto.com is online...i got a great deal on the axle, but it's wrong...dangit! And I had to use the original for a core with the one that actually worked.

That blows brother.....did you have to send them the core first ? If so , they should have matched it ...Did you get the correct axle someplace else ? Send them the part #and reciept,.... of the one that was correct for the application......if you used a credit card , call your credit card co. and explain the situation...they may be able to take the charge off for you...I hope that company makes good on the deal for you...good luck.
 

ezbtr

Captain
Joined
May 1, 2002
Messages
3,087
Re: VW, I have to vent!

I had an 86 Golf a few years ago, was easy to work on, except the heater core. Motor didnt leak or burn a drop at 100K, easiest water pump I ever replaced, after redoing whole cooling system except rad., got 28 mpg, great little runner.
 

bomar76

Lieutenant Commander
Joined
Jun 27, 2002
Messages
1,963
Re: VW, I have to vent!

So, the Original Poster buys a 19 year old used car and complains about it?

ROFLMAO....
 

180shabah

Rear Admiral
Joined
Mar 26, 2005
Messages
4,995
Re: VW, I have to vent!

So, the Original Poster buys a 19 year old used car and complains about it?

ROFLMAO....

...and almost stripped out the bolts because VW didn't see fit to provide the correct toold as part of the purchase....

...hate to hear his thoughts on chevy 4.3s - might have to go to the parts store 2-3 times, so many differences on the guts....
 
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