8th Jul 2004, 19:36

I purchased a 2001 TDI hoping to save some money on fuel costs, however I have spent SO much on maintaining this car I am considering a gas car. The glow plug harness broke last summer, the MAFS in April, and now it is sluggish again. I am so disapointed in their customer service...

19th Jul 2005, 23:29

I love bragging of 50mpg in my TDI. I'm starting to grow weary of the repairs & maintenance. Windows dropped to the floor two times, that was covered by warranty. Timing belt was changed at 40k per dealers advice then was told "oh, it's a manual we could of waited till 60k" He still took my $600.00. Mass Air Sensor was changed at 72k, (loved the 400.00 bill for that), check engine light came on & off for awhile till it was fixed by doing something to the brake light. Arm rest latch broke & after being quoted $60, bought the replacement for 2.50 & fixed it myself. This week the turbo went out, 1200 miles shy of warranty expiring still dealer wants 482.00 for maintenance of something else & hey they are in there and it's been 60K since my last timing belt so may as well get that done. So I'm still paying over $1000.00 Add this to changing synthetic oil loyally every 3-5K, servicing it as scheduled. I'm wondering if I'm losing mpg overall. Interior is peeling everywhere, seats attract every piece of lint on the earth & are hard to clean. Last week my rarely used sunroof wouldn't close till I played around with it a bit. I wanted a Passet TDI, but I'm struggling to think it will nickle & dime me too.

20th Jul 2005, 10:41

I have a 2002 TDI Golf and have been having no end of problems with it. Right now I just want to sell the car and cannot get it running right long enough to trade it in. I have 98,000 miles on the car.

So far I have had the Glow plugs replaces along with part of the wire harness for about $500.

Timing belt replaces for about another $500.

Check engine light on more times than I can think of. Each time it costs me at least $50 to have them look at it and turn it off.

3 mass air flow sensors so far. Paid for the 1st and gotten the 2nd to free. Problem is that it is bad again and dealer does not want to replace even though it shows as bad and is still under the 12k warranty.

Had intake cleaned for about $800 and still have power loss problems.

I have been trying for about 6 months to get this car fixed right so I can trade it back to the dealer I got it from. If I had known about the high cost of “normal” service on this car I never would have gotten one.

28th Jul 2010, 21:00

Don't even know where to start.

So the turbo blows, the dealer states it's because the waste gate is blocked up. TDIs don't have waste gates but a vein system. So 3k later, the turbo is installed.

Now a new problem, copious amounts of white smoke pours out upon start up. Little to no power and the engine runs super rough. Dealer replaces the glow plugs and harness, in doing so they break two vacuum lines and the oil dip stick tube. No change in how it runs.

So, now we decided to pull the head and replace the head gasket and pressure check the head. All is fine with the head and gasket is replaced. Guess what? No change. Still smokes and will not obtain a safe speed and must be towed home.

So I am now $3,000 into the car over its blue book value. Anyone who thinks they want a VW TDI please drop on by and I'll let you bask in the white asphyxiating smoke it produces.

Oh, and I discovered most VW dealerships have little to no knowledge of how to diagnose or fix these vehicles. When asked if they would buy one, well, I haven't found anyone at a VW dealership who would.

21st Dec 2010, 11:03

I have and 2001 Golf TDI and have liked the fuel economy over the years. To date I have 133000 miles and problems started in the last 20000 miles.

The 2001 recommend that the time belt be changed every 40000 miles. It is hard to find a good mechanic, so I have had mine changed 4 times, once with the water pump. I consider this part of owning a car of any type.

The loss of power was a problem, as it turned out it was the EGR since it uses some of the exhaust to warm the incoming air for turbo they tend to clog up. Was around $500 plus to clean and back on the road.

Recently (in the last 5000) there has been problems...

Now the car quit while driving, with no warning at all. Been to 2 mechanics and the dealer and no one seems to know what is going on. I am now into this $1200 and no end in sight. With the car only worth $3500 to $4500 I guess it may be better to part it out.

It seems to not keep a prime, one of the mechanics can get it started with WD-40 and it will run but it will not start on its own. I am pulling it back from expensive mechanics to trouble shoot on my own again. I may grow old doing this. I can also sell it while it is running and mention never turn it off...

The dealer and corporate has been little help in this solution. TDI club has been excellent with many great opinions, but so far not the fix it solution on this one.