anybody own a Volkswagen vehicle?

[steve8462]

i was hoping to find somebody with good VW knowledge. i am literally stumped with my 2005 jetta 2.0 they should rename this car the Code mobile!

[SoFlaFiat]

My wife drives a passat. I don't work on it
Too many wires and hoses!!

[fiat218]

My mechanic is a Volkswagen man, that's his specialty

[garion]

I have an Audi with a 2.0T like yours... I've done some work on it...

[narfire]

Had one (78 Wabbit) have a 92 Golf (I have to replace the tranny) and currently drive a 07 Passat 3.6 4motion wagon.
First two I can/did work on, the 07 not so much. As mentioned no shortage of codes, faults, bells, dinging, idiot lights....I'm fortunate to have the go-to VW place about 200 yards down from my shop. I do swap the winter and summer tires myself though

[steve8462]

word to the wise. avoid the 2.0 "BBW" code engine. it is the most horrific engine to work on and the parts are hard to find and expensive. there was one hard plastic curved vacuum hose that was no more than 8" long and the dealer wanted $87.00 for it.

the variable timing is next to impossible to get set perfect enough to get it to quit throwing check engine codes.

the spark plugs are $15.00 each
a set of four plug wires that will last more than a month are $129.00
the coil pack $149.00 is best to use BOSH only because anything less will crack and fail under the heat because its mounted directly to the block

i could go on for ever but there is no need to. just make sure if you are looking at a 2000-2005 Volkswagen or Audi with a 2.0 make sure you look at the top of the timing belt cover there is a decal there that will give the specific engine code. if it says BBW TURN AND RUN AWAY AS FAST AS YOU CAN!!!!!

[htchevyii]

Too late to help you, but for the people that I know, they gave been money pits. Usually not major powertrain issues, but lots of little stuff, coolant hose leaks, emission problems, electrical, etc. My brother in law just replaced his 05 turbo Jetta, because he said it cost him $1000 every time he took it to the dealer. Hope yours is something simple and cheap.

[garion]

I've had a couple Audi's, and other than a AC compressor blowing up on me, they've been solid.. Though my current (2.0T) tends to burn more oil than I like (1qt every 2k-3k), its not horrible. The 3.0 I had was solid, never an issue...

[PetrolAppraiser]

That 2.0 is a dog of an engine but has mixed reviews. Some folks swear by it, others despise it. I'm not familiar with the specific BBW model but I grew up hearing 2.slow a lot (brother was an avid water-cooled vdubber in high school) and am familiar with its reputation to say the least.

Not sure if cross-forum linking is looked down upon here but this place:

http://forums.vwvortex.com/forumdisplay ... gine-Forum

might be a handy resource for ya although it sounds as if you resolved your issue already.

I drive a 2013 GTI with the 2.0T. So far, the water pump failed at 14k miles (replaced by VW under warranty) and I'm all set for the coilpack to go out on me any day, have had a few of rough starts in ownership. But for what the car cost new versus its competitors and how the driving experience has been so far - I won't complain. If I were to incur an additional $1,000-2,000 in maintenance or part failures (knock on wood) outside of warranty I'd be ok with it. It is neither a Camry nor a 911. Now if the DSG goes out.....

[TX82FIAT]

I had a 5 speed 92' VW Golf second generation 8 Valve 1.8L Wolfsburg. I ran up to 220,000 miles before selling it to a college kid in 1998. Car ran like a top with few issues outside of normal wear and tear. This is were it gets interesting, my brother had a similar 92' Golf with a 2.0L and 16 valves made in Mexico. His car was in the shop every other month once he hit the 80,000 mile mark. He blew the head twice and had a guy charge him to remove the engine in order to replcae the exhaust manifold. His car was great up to about 80,000 miles??

[garion]

Well, I'm up to 111k on my 07 2.0T.. Other than burning more oil than I like, its been fine. VW's may be different, because they're transverse mounted.. I have Quattro, so mine is mounted the 'correct' way.. I've done the timing belt on it myself, which wasn't bad (at 94k), at the same time I did the water pump (replaced with a metal impeller, instead of the cheapo plastic).. I do oil changes every 5k on it, and have a K&N air filter that I clean/reoil twice a year.

My 3.0 had no issues, except the AC compressor blowing up.. I got up to 140k on that one before it was totaled in an accident..

[steve8462]

to update, the 2.0 "BBW" engine is a variable timing California emissions model. the parts are harder to find and more expensive.

after installing a new head gasket from a Felpro head gasket set i bought at Autozone, i had to remove the head again because that head gasket didnt fit exactly. (it allowed compression to slip past the gasket into the oil guides) and i was very careful when installing it, following the correct newton meters of torque.

i called the VW dealership and gave them my VIN# and he said that nothing else would work on that engine except the single part number head gasket. the one from autozone cross-referenced to three other VW engines. so Autozone had incorrect information in their computer system causing me to have to do this job twice. never mind the fact that i had to get yet a third set of "single use stretch head bolts".

i started this thread as a heads up for spider owners that might have a VW as their daily driver. i'm not knocking Volkswagen, i actually enjoy working on them because you can see the quality and precise engineering as you work on them.

[PetrolAppraiser]

That's a bummer Steve, good advice and hopefully autozone corrects their reference numbers.