03 TDI - Cracked block

Just thought I'd write a note to let everyone know what just happened to
my 03 Jetta TDI wagon...

I got it new in '03 and before 20K my coolant light went on. Brought it
to the dealer and they said to just add some. I told them I was worried
because if there was a leak, it wasn't coming out the bottom of the
engine. When they said not to worry about it, I figured it was a bubble
from the initial fill, maybe, and bought a bottle of coolant, added some
and the light went out. This being my first diesel and first VW, I
didn't know what to expect. By 30K the light was back on and I made a
stink at the next maintenance. They claim they pressure tested it and
found nothing, and topped it off. Again, light came on. By this point
I'd added a quart. Incidentally, I never had the temp gauge show
anything but normal behavior. At 40K I gave up on the dealer because of
this and other issues, brought the car to another dealer. They found a
problem and called me before I even got home from dropping the car off,
told me the head gasket was leaking. I made an appt. to fix it and when
they got it open, found a cracked engine block instead. A week later, I
had a new engine and have zero problems since. They said they had not
happen with this TDI engine before and VW was going to look into it.
The dealer got me a rental for the 12 days it took, and even had some
peeling paint redone while they had the car.

The original, lazy, not-too-bright, wouldn't-bring-a-skateboard-there
dealer?

Danbury (Weeks) VW. (CT)

The excellent, you-have-to-go-there-if-you're-in-the-area dealer?

New Milford VW. (CT)

J

Jerry Hi,
You were lucky they admitted it.
Good luck with the new engine.


"Jerry" > wrote in message
news
> Just thought I'd write a note to let everyone know what just happened to
> my 03 Jetta TDI wagon...
>
> I got it new in '03 and before 20K my coolant light went on. Brought it
> to the dealer and they said to just add some. I told them I was worried
> because if there was a leak, it wasn't coming out the bottom of the
> engine. When they said not to worry about it, I figured it was a bubble
> from the initial fill, maybe, and bought a bottle of coolant, added some
> and the light went out. This being my first diesel and first VW, I
> didn't know what to expect. By 30K the light was back on and I made a
> stink at the next maintenance. They claim they pressure tested it and
> found nothing, and topped it off. Again, light came on. By this point
> I'd added a quart. Incidentally, I never had the temp gauge show
> anything but normal behavior. At 40K I gave up on the dealer because of
> this and other issues, brought the car to another dealer. They found a
> problem and called me before I even got home from dropping the car off,
> told me the head gasket was leaking. I made an appt. to fix it and when
> they got it open, found a cracked engine block instead. A week later, I
> had a new engine and have zero problems since. They said they had not
> happen with this TDI engine before and VW was going to look into it.
> The dealer got me a rental for the 12 days it took, and even had some
> peeling paint redone while they had the car.
>
> The original, lazy, not-too-bright, wouldn't-bring-a-skateboard-there
> dealer?
>
> Danbury (Weeks) VW. (CT)
>
> The excellent, you-have-to-go-there-if-you're-in-the-area dealer?
>
> New Milford VW. (CT)
>
> J

That seems to be the way VW dealers are. Some good and some bad (very bad).
When I got my 99.5 jetta tdi in March of 99 I went to the dealer the next
day for some paperwork and mentioned to the service writer hat the steering
wheel was not centered when going straight ahead. His answer was "wait for
the springs to settle and it'll be fine". Well it's coming up on seven years
and 120k miles and the "springs have not settled yet"!
Your problem with the block is the exception. That only happens when the
corners head bolts are tightened when there's coolant in the blot holes.

JoBo

"Jerry" > wrote in message
news
> Just thought I'd write a note to let everyone know what just happened to
> my 03 Jetta TDI wagon...
>
> I got it new in '03 and before 20K my coolant light went on. Brought it
> to the dealer and they said to just add some. I told them I was worried
> because if there was a leak, it wasn't coming out the bottom of the
> engine. When they said not to worry about it, I figured it was a bubble
> from the initial fill, maybe, and bought a bottle of coolant, added some
> and the light went out. This being my first diesel and first VW, I didn't
> know what to expect. By 30K the light was back on and I made a stink at
> the next maintenance. They claim they pressure tested it and found
> nothing, and topped it off. Again, light came on. By this point I'd
> added a quart. Incidentally, I never had the temp gauge show anything but
> normal behavior. At 40K I gave up on the dealer because of this and other
> issues, brought the car to another dealer. They found a problem and
> called me before I even got home from dropping the car off, told me the
> head gasket was leaking. I made an appt. to fix it and when they got it
> open, found a cracked engine block instead. A week later, I had a new
> engine and have zero problems since. They said they had not happen with
> this TDI engine before and VW was going to look into it. The dealer got me
> a rental for the 12 days it took, and even had some peeling paint redone
> while they had the car.
>
> The original, lazy, not-too-bright, wouldn't-bring-a-skateboard-there
> dealer?
>
> Danbury (Weeks) VW. (CT)
>
> The excellent, you-have-to-go-there-if-you're-in-the-area dealer?
>
> New Milford VW. (CT)
>
> J

In article >,
Jo Bo > wrote:
>
> Your problem with the block is the exception. That only happens when the
>corners head bolts are tightened when there's coolant in the blot holes.
>

so maybe there was a bad head gasket, the dealer removed the head, replaced
it and then reinstalled it without checking for clear bolt holes, cracked
the block and blamed VW?




--
Eduardo K. |
http://www.carfun.cl | Freedom's just another word
http://e.nn.cl | for nothing left to lose.
|

The springs got to settle in before an alignment can be done. I think it's
around 1000-1200 miles then you would of got a free alignment. Do you mean
it's gone 120k without ever being aligned.

"Jo Bo" > wrote in message
.. .
> That seems to be the way VW dealers are. Some good and some bad (very
> bad). When I got my 99.5 jetta tdi in March of 99 I went to the dealer the
> next day for some paperwork and mentioned to the service writer hat the
> steering wheel was not centered when going straight ahead. His answer was
> "wait for the springs to settle and it'll be fine". Well it's coming up on
> seven years and 120k miles and the "springs have not settled yet"!
> Your problem with the block is the exception. That only happens when
> the corners head bolts are tightened when there's coolant in the blot
> holes.
>
> JoBo
>
> "Jerry" > wrote in message
> news
>> Just thought I'd write a note to let everyone know what just happened to
>> my 03 Jetta TDI wagon...
>>
>> I got it new in '03 and before 20K my coolant light went on. Brought it
>> to the dealer and they said to just add some. I told them I was worried
>> because if there was a leak, it wasn't coming out the bottom of the
>> engine. When they said not to worry about it, I figured it was a bubble
>> from the initial fill, maybe, and bought a bottle of coolant, added some
>> and the light went out. This being my first diesel and first VW, I
>> didn't know what to expect. By 30K the light was back on and I made a
>> stink at the next maintenance. They claim they pressure tested it and
>> found nothing, and topped it off. Again, light came on. By this point
>> I'd added a quart. Incidentally, I never had the temp gauge show
>> anything but normal behavior. At 40K I gave up on the dealer because of
>> this and other issues, brought the car to another dealer. They found a
>> problem and called me before I even got home from dropping the car off,
>> told me the head gasket was leaking. I made an appt. to fix it and when
>> they got it open, found a cracked engine block instead. A week later, I
>> had a new engine and have zero problems since. They said they had not
>> happen with this TDI engine before and VW was going to look into it. The
>> dealer got me a rental for the 12 days it took, and even had some peeling
>> paint redone while they had the car.
>>
>> The original, lazy, not-too-bright, wouldn't-bring-a-skateboard-there
>> dealer?
>>
>> Danbury (Weeks) VW. (CT)
>>
>> The excellent, you-have-to-go-there-if-you're-in-the-area dealer?
>>
>> New Milford VW. (CT)
>>
>> J
>
>

In article >,
Eduardo K. > wrote:
>In article >,
>Jo Bo > wrote:
>>
>> Your problem with the block is the exception. That only happens when the
>>corners head bolts are tightened when there's coolant in the blot holes.
>>
>
>so maybe there was a bad head gasket, the dealer removed the head, replaced
>it and then reinstalled it without checking for clear bolt holes, cracked
>the block and blamed VW?

That is a high possibility and has happened at other OEM dealers. This is
probably why VW wanted to take a look at it. :-)


--
Jeeps and dubs and everything's nice...

"Lost In Space/Woodchuck" > wrote in message
...
> The springs got to settle in before an alignment can be done. I think it's
> around 1000-1200 miles then you would of got a free alignment. Do you
> mean it's gone 120k without ever being aligned

Yes. It's at 120k miles and has never been aligned. After I couldn't stand
the crappy OEM tires that cupped I replaced them with a set of Michelins
(sp?) WeatherWise and they've got about 80k on them and are wearing very
well. I rotate them every other oil change. My thinking on front end
alignments is if it goes straight down the road, handles well and the tires
are wearing ok then it's fine. I try to stay out of dealer's service
departments because they tend to put the young guys with their ball caps on
backwards on warranty work. One took 1.5 hours to put a fuel filter on my
tdi and left it hanging because he lost the part of the clamp that you
tighten down. Talk about being ****ed! I only took it there because at the
time there was service for 24k miles included. They didn't have the filter
when I took it in so I had to go back.

JoBo

Eduardo K. wrote:
> In article >,
> Jo Bo > wrote:
>
>> Your problem with the block is the exception. That only happens when the
>>corners head bolts are tightened when there's coolant in the blot holes.
>>
>
>
> so maybe there was a bad head gasket, the dealer removed the head, replaced
> it and then reinstalled it without checking for clear bolt holes, cracked
> the block and blamed VW?
>
>
>
>
Wow, never thought of that! I don't know how long that would take, but
they called me within 30 minutes of when I dropped the car off. I had
pictured that they'd only had time to do the paperwork and take the head
off, but then I haven't done it so I'm not sure how long it takes.

Jerry

VW Internet wrote:
> Jerry Hi,
> You were lucky they admitted it.
> Good luck with the new engine.
>
>
> "Jerry" > wrote in message
> news >
>>Just thought I'd write a note to let everyone know what just happened to
>>my 03 Jetta TDI wagon...
>>
>>I got it new in '03 and before 20K my coolant light went on. Brought it
>>to the dealer and they said to just add some. I told them I was worried
>>because if there was a leak, it wasn't coming out the bottom of the
>>engine. When they said not to worry about it, I figured it was a bubble
>>from the initial fill, maybe, and bought a bottle of coolant, added some
>>and the light went out. This being my first diesel and first VW, I
>>didn't know what to expect. By 30K the light was back on and I made a
>>stink at the next maintenance. They claim they pressure tested it and
>>found nothing, and topped it off. Again, light came on. By this point
>>I'd added a quart. Incidentally, I never had the temp gauge show
>>anything but normal behavior. At 40K I gave up on the dealer because of
>>this and other issues, brought the car to another dealer. They found a
>>problem and called me before I even got home from dropping the car off,
>>told me the head gasket was leaking. I made an appt. to fix it and when
>>they got it open, found a cracked engine block instead. A week later, I
>>had a new engine and have zero problems since. They said they had not
>>happen with this TDI engine before and VW was going to look into it.
>>The dealer got me a rental for the 12 days it took, and even had some
>>peeling paint redone while they had the car.
>>
>>The original, lazy, not-too-bright, wouldn't-bring-a-skateboard-there
>>dealer?
>>
>>Danbury (Weeks) VW. (CT)
>>
>>The excellent, you-have-to-go-there-if-you're-in-the-area dealer?
>>
>>New Milford VW. (CT)
>>
>>J
>
>
>

I know it! Thanks!

Jerry

In article >,
Jerry > wrote:
>Eduardo K. wrote:
>> In article >,
>> Jo Bo > wrote:
>>
>>> Your problem with the block is the exception. That only happens when the
>>>corners head bolts are tightened when there's coolant in the blot holes.
>>>
>>
>>
>> so maybe there was a bad head gasket, the dealer removed the head, replaced
>> it and then reinstalled it without checking for clear bolt holes, cracked
>> the block and blamed VW?
>>
>>
>>
>>
>Wow, never thought of that! I don't know how long that would take, but
>they called me within 30 minutes of when I dropped the car off. I had
>pictured that they'd only had time to do the paperwork and take the head
>off, but then I haven't done it so I'm not sure how long it takes.

Maybe I am just paranoid


--
Eduardo K. | Some say it's forgive and forget.
http://www.carfun.cl | I say forget about forgiving just accept.
http://e.nn.cl | And get the hell out of town.
| Minnie Driver, Grosse Point Blank