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help with VW (rant)

S

SHAWNSTER

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Location
DALLAS,TX
need some advice-we bought a certified pre owned 01 VW Passatt from a dealer called Rusty Wallis Volkswagen in DALLAS, TX back on 7-29-04. since we've had it the car has broke down and been towed several times-we put only 9800 miles on the car (the car only had 40,940). This is my wifes child mobile. So last week the ac started stinking real bad, so i took it in to the dealer (was told on phone warranty covered) and i get there and turns out water has been getting in the ac/ heater core and water mold and mildew are brewing inside there-not covered and at least $1-2 k to fix(tear dash and heater/ac apart) so i ask what causes this-the service manager says using the air(go figure) and i should have known this would happen-i says its not in the manual then is this common sense? he says yes- I am almost positive that this is a preexisting prob that has been there b4 we owned the car. So the only thing i can think of is to call VW of AMERICA (which i left a vm for a supervisor to call) is there anything that yall guys would do as far as getting them to fix or any recourse we have-mind you my daughter rides in the car with other kids and mold and mildew blowing out. any advise apreciated.

thanks
 
Before you do anything else, make sure that you read and understand the warranty yourself. Don't take the dealer's word on coverage.
 
mold bad news..

They make some spray stuff I heard about on "Car Talk" ,a NPR radio car related question and answer show -(www.cartalk.com)-they use it to kill mold and mildew in car A/C systems..I think it was called "Friggie-Fresh" or something like that,A/C and refrigeration mechanics use it to kill mold in A/C units and refridgerators.....

I'm currently sick for the second time in two months with flu like symptoms--last month it was diagnosed as bronchitis,but now I'm wondering if I was exposed to mold in my ford contours A/C unit--got sick the day after a long ride in it both times!--but this last time I didn't use the A/C,just let air come thru the dash vents..your post has me wondering now! :confused: --I dont get any odors out of it though..

I dont know what to tell you about the warranty,or what to do about geting the VW people to fix it for free--maybe a call to your attorney general in your state could do something for you,since its a health related safety issue..they will likely light a fire under the VW dealers butt!.. :haha: :crazy:
 
update

so later today i called the used car sales manager( who was the salesman that sold us the car) and he said he will have them partially clean out and deodorize what they can without pulling the dash and what not apart-he says it is a spray that kills mold and mildew. he says it is a common prob on any car supposedly-but i have had at least 20 cars in my life and never heard or smelt this sht b4-he also says it may fix the prob or it can come back several months down the road-they have had good and bad luck with it-he said it cost $200 but he will take of it-so i will take it in 2morrow and see-but i am still waiting on VW of AMERICA to call and see what i can do-will let yall know
 
I'm no expert but it's my understanding that mold from the AC is usually due to the evaporator unit not being able to drain condensation. There should be weep holes for the moisture to drain. That why AC cars leave a puddle when parked. If the holes are clogged, mold will grow.

I worked for VW years ago and the area Service Rep can really wield some power. Usually they make things right (for the customer). You might also want to talk to an AC shop out there for some more intel. Gotta be plenty of them in TX, right? :D
 
could always put what they call an "afterblow" module on it that cycles the fan after the vehicle shuts off. dries off the evap core so mold and mildew cant grow.

unless your blower motor works off a ground circuit, the one gm sells should work in your car. only a 4 wire hook up too. part # is 12497910, not sure on the price though.

some of the gm's with auto air can have that feature turned on with a scan tool. maybe vw's can too.

ryan
 
VW's are notorious for the bad smell too. I have a passat and GTI and they both smell at times. A good way to protect against this is to turn off the AC a minute or two before you turn off the car. This allows moisture trapped in the unit to get out.

In regards to the other issues, you may have bad coilpacks. Is it a 1.8T?
 
Yes , bad coil packs.
These are VW warranty if the car has less then 70K miles .
Or possibly a bad MAF , also under warranty.
Either one would throw a check engine light code.
 
MAF usually won't cause the engine to die, but rather run bad preceded by horrible mileage. Trust me, I am on my third MAF!
 
coil packs

yes it is a 1.8 turbo and yes 1 time it was 2 coil packs, 1 time a line popped off the turbo and would not go over 18-20 mph-but they fixed it no cost
someone mentioned turning off the ac b4 shutting the car off, the ac shop by my house says that is bull-the principal is correct but no other car has where you need to do that-also all the water does drain on the ground when car sitting and ac is on-also i was told b4 that on the maf its not a recall, but an extended replacement if part fails, anyone elso know this?
 
like was posted above. You should be able to get a good deal on the MAF. Go ask around on the vortex. I spend a lot of my time over there too. UKGTI is my log on over there.
 
:haha: :haha: Welcome to the wonderful world of VW. They should change their motto from "Drivers Wanted" to "Mechanics Wanted". :D
I dont even bother taking my daughters 01 1.8T to the VW stealership. They have their head up their ass. Took her car in for a secondairy air (emmision) problem. All they did was clear the code and tell her not to worry about the CEL. The service guy told her "They come on all the time". :confused:
CEL came back on. Same code I looked at it and found a bad Vaccume line to secondary air divertor..Very Easy fix. Dont see why the stupid VW service could not find it.
Then she went in for a 1128 MAF code. Car was still running good but CEL on. They cleared the code and I think just cleaned the MAF instead of replacing it like they should have.. It totally failed a few weeks later.
After that I said screw VW they aint worth the time and hassle just to get a free part. Nearest dealer is 150 miles away.
Ended up buying a MAF sensor off Ebay to fix it. Been fine ever since.
I prolly work on that POS VW more than all of my other cars and trucks combined. Just put 4 coils in last week. plugs,POS rotting vacume lines. Gas cap cover and trunk opening without pushing any button(Spooky :eek1: ). ECT, ECT,
Cant wait till the back window falls out.
Someone once told me once "People who love Vdubs are crazy. I think he may have right. my daughter's Jetta is driving me insane. :p: :p:
 
count me as crazy then too. Two VW's. One is a Passat Turbo, and mine is a VW GTI 2.0 that I supercharged. I have not had hardly any problems with either, although I know a lot of people who have.
 
synthetic oil is whats recommended by VW aswell as whats in them when they leave the showroom floor.
I have a 00 1.8t passat and had little to no problems.
Just , like whith any car , keep them maintained on all there maintenace procedures.
 
My Jetta was the best...

Best car I had was my 86 Jetta--bought it for 100 bucks,and drove it 5 years--only thing I had to change was the clutch,only because the new one someone hust installed had the anti-chatter springs come out of the disc at low milage..got 43 MPG too.!!..It was the one and only water cooled VW I ever owned..but mine was a DIESEL!! :D ---no MAF,computers,etc..I'd buy another one in a heartbeat!--don't think I'd buy a gas powered one though..I agree they can be a nightmare.. :crazy:
 
The a/c mold issue can happen to any car/truck with a/c. Even more so in a area with a very humid climate. The a/c evaporator gets cold with the a/c on right? so what would one expect to happen to a chilly chunk of aluminum in a humid climate? Sounds a lot like a cold beer can on a hot sticky afternoon with condensation forming on the outside right? Its the same principle. With the fan speed on medium to high, the airflow is blowing the condensation off of the evaporator and then it drains out to the ground. But when you turn the fan speed down (usually when you are getting TOO cold) the airflow isn't enough to keep the condensation from collecting on the evaporator. It still may drain when parked, but some is still sitting within the fins of the evaporator. Park it and shut the key off and the condensation stays there, the car warms up and you have a perfect breeding ground for mold and mildew, a hot moist place for this crud to grow.

Someone mentioned the GM afterblow module, which could work, but you would have to see how the blower is wired up. A simpler approch would be to get into the habit of shutting the a/c off a few blocks before you get to where you are going. Turn it to vent and kick up the fan speed. This will give you the same effect of the afterblow without installing one. It is a habit my dad got me into years ago.

Granted, if the mold/mildew have already started you got to get it cleaned out. In some cases, not just the evaporator and the surrounding hvac case, but the ducts too. That stuff is NASTY and the spores can cling to most surfaces, so I'd say scrub it all down with disinfectant.

Now is it warranty? Not sure how VW would go, but when I was at GM I dealt with similar issues and as long as it was in warranty we generally took care of it and in most cases installed the afterblow module. Out of warranty was a whole different ball game, we looked at case by case. GM did have a bulletin on the use and install of the afterblow module if that tells you anything. The issue is, nothing is physically wrong with the a/c as it has to be able to cool well enough for the condensation to happen. The problem is when some of the condensation is still in the evaporator when it shuts off. Could they have designed it better? Yes. But did anything actually fail according to thier design? No. That's where VW might say no to warranty.
 
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