29th Apr 2007, 07:39

I owned a 1.8LT. Turbo VW Jetta, with 120,000km. Can any one advice me what may be the cause of the turbo going down Momentarily?

It feels like a electric fault and all hoses are in fine condition.

Can anybody help me?

7th May 2007, 09:54

I bought my 2002 1.8L Turbo Jetta when it first came on the market, in the fall of 2001. Besides all of the recalls with this model, I've been fairly happy with it. Here are the issues I have had with it to date. Note I have 111,000 miles on it.

- The drivers side brake light doesn't seem to have very good connections, it works until I go over a bump and then the tail light goes out. If I hit the corner panel the light comes back on again. Not so bad, but I got pulled over because of this too many times.

- The engine wants to stall when I first start it up unless if I let it warm up first.

28th Sep 2007, 12:07

OK! so it's so funny that I found this site, because I was looking on-line for some parts for my 2002 VW jetta. Recently my engine light came on and the car has stalled about 3 times since, I bring it to get looked at and was told it's a Crankshaft position sensor. this is not the only issue I have had, I've had the car for 2 years now, when purchased it had 40,000 miles, about 3 months after purchasing the transmission went, good thing that was covered. Is it my VW or do the headlights and brake lights go out all the time?? I have not been pleased with my Jetta, and will not purchase another one ever!!!

21st Nov 2007, 22:59

Hmm... It sounds like all the major problems are with the 2002s. I haven't seen too many comments on other model years. Perhaps that was just a bad year? My family has owned VWs forever and has always had good luck with them. My dad, for instance, bought a Jetta brand new in 1988. He put 188K miles on that thing and when he sold it, it was still running great with no problems. I just bought a '04 Jetta GLS 1.8T and love it! The only problem is the latch on the center console which was broken when I bought the car. If I start having tons of problems with it, I'll get back to you. If I don't, it will be safe to assume there are none.

--A loyal VW customer.

1st Feb 2008, 18:22

Wow. This is our 5th VW and the only one we've had problems with. You guessed it - a 2002 VW 1.8 Turbo. I love the car, but I just got a call from the mechanic that we need a new transmission. $5,178.00 for a transmission with only 77,000 miles. We've also had the radio go out - twice. And an ignition coil replaced. We also had the sunroof issue where the drains got plugged and flooded the floor on both the drivers and passengers side.

My spouse takes immaculate car of the car with regards to routine servicing and maintenance. Looks like I need to get prepared for more issues in the near future.

7th Sep 2009, 14:00

At first I bought a 2002 Jetta with 1.8 turbo, I never had any problems with that car.

At 24000 miles I traded it in for a 2003 Jetta, same 1.8 turbo, but with the 5 speed tiptronic trans. I've already put 7600 miles on this car, and so far these are the problems I've had at 30000 miles.

I replaced the rear brake pads. This is maintenance at 70000 miles.

My car started to heat up. One day I was running late, I punched at an intersection, and a mile down the road I noticed my temp rising. I later found out that the waterpump's impeller is made of plastic, so it broke in half, so I installed a pump with steel impeller, timing belt, tensioner and pulleys; that took care of that.

With my trans I've had the hard down shifting and up shifting trouble. When this happens, I pull off the road making sure it's safe turn off the car, wait two minutes, turn the car on and take off. If it doesn't help, I stop again, turn it off, wait, turn on again, put the trans on manual shift, and use it for a while, then later go back to automatic mode. You should learn to do this. Or just try it some time; that way if this happens, you'll be ready, because this happens suddenly, and I have heard of cylinder valves dropping into pistons; that would be a costly job.

Right now the existing problem is, sometimes I want to start it and it just starts and starts. After a while it will turn on, but it sounds like it's running it two cylinders. I keep my pedal half way, then it starts to clear up and it will run OK. I'm not too sure I'm going to try the crank sensor. If it helps, I'll let you know.

18th Jan 2010, 20:31

I have the same ol story! 2002 Jetta 1.8t, 66k miles and needs a new transmission. Dealer and manufacturer are pathetic. I have had nothing but problems from day one. I take good care of my cars and refuse to accept the blame. This is the biggest ripoff of my life. I am going to have to eat a huge loss on this one and nobody at VW cares one bit. I believe that if this was a "rare" thing then they would help people out. It is not rare but VERY common, and that is why they will not help in any way. They would go broke trying to fix all the lemons they made. I wish they would just be honest and admit that. Not everybody can afford to take these types of losses in this economy. If anyone out there is ready to lead a revolt, I'm ready to go!

20th Jun 2010, 11:32

I must say that I am surprised at all of the negative comments on the Volkswagen Jetta GLS 1.8T. I purchased a used 2002 model with 110K miles. After spending approximately 3000 USD for initial repairs, I am very happy with it, it needed a little TLC, but looked to be a new car. I now have a total of 12K USD in it. I am former law enforcement and have my fair share of racing, both rally, and Ford Formula 2000. Needless to say I drive the $#@&!! out of my vehicles. This is my grocery getter and children hauler and I look forward to driving it daily. I do have a strange rattle coming from the front, when taking off from stops, but I am not overly concerned. But I think overall, despite its quirks, Volkswagen deserves a "well done" pat on the back.