GTI Problems & Warranty Issues

[Dom23]

Hello,

Newbie here looking for some help.

I own an 03 GTI 1.8T. I have around 49,000 miles on it. I never had any problems until recently. I was driving home and my oil light comes on. I lose power (Can't go faster than 40MPH) and the engine starts to make a clank sound (It sounds alot worse than the diesel engine cars that have that clank sound). I pull over and turn it off. I proceed to read the manual about the oil light coming on. I decide to not take any chances and have the car towed to my local VW dealership.

Now here's where the fun begins. So, I bring the car to the dealer and the dealer says to me "Since this is an oil related issue, in order for us to proceed with the warranty claim we need to see maintenance records for your vehicle". I'm stunned by his request. I did all the oil changes myself with the exception of a few that I took to a local garage. I also kept a log on excel that had the date, mileage, etc for all my oil changes I did. I always go about 3000 miles between the oil changes. I can't even get copies of receipts from my credit card statements since I paid cash for the oil & filter. So, I present the 3 receipts from the local garage & my log to them since I never kept the actual oil & filter receipts from the local auto store. (NOTE TO ALL; IF YOU DON'T KNOW ABOUT VW'S WARRANTY POLICY, MAKE SURE TO KEEP ALL YOUR AUTO SERVICE RECORDS!) Needless to say VW denies me the warranty claim since I cannot provide receipts that show I bought the oil & filter.

VW says the can give me an estimate to repair. They come back with $375 to drop the oil pan since the car is getting no oil pressure. I say no thanks and have the car towed home. My sister has a Passat and she talked to her VW mechanic (he's in another city about 30 miles away)about my situation. He said to bring the car down and he'd see what he can do to get it covered under warranty. I bring it to him and eventually have the same issues. VW take the stance that I'm having these problems with my car because my car was under maintained. They need to recipts before they are willing to cover under warranty. So I've been w/out the car for about a month (I'm lucky I had another vehicle to use during this). I finally break down and say charge me an hours worth of labor ($125) to see if you can find out anything on the car.

They find that I had an oil line clogged. They unclog the line and then replace the oil & filter. The oil light is now off and the clank sound is gone. However, there is damage to my turbo because no oil was flowing through it. So, they want to charge me $500 to take off the turbo to diagnose it. Still no warranty because they still claim the car was under maintained. I ask if there was a way to disconnect or bypass the turbo since the car seemed to be running ok. They say no. I proceed to ask if the car is driveable and what would happen if I drove the car and the turbo breaks. They say since there was no engine damage from the oil issue, the car should be ok to drive and if the turbo breaks I would notice loss of power. That's it. Since I did not have the $$$ to get the turbo looked at I decline the work and pickup the car. The rep was cool and did not charge me for the labor to unclog the line just charged me for the oil change.

I take the car and I notice the Turbo is whining. I was driving home last night and guess what happens: I hear a pop, the car hesitates for a sec then white smoke blows out from my exhaust whenever I accelerate. Now I beleive I have a blown head gasket. I checked the oil dipstick and it showed no oil. I'm assuming the oil is lodged in the cat converter somewhere? So, I have the car towed home and it's sitting in front of my home. I'm not sure what to do now. Any help/advice is appreciated.

Thanks,

Dominick

[Civicsiassasin91]

OMG thats the worst story ive ever heard! I have 2 '03 gti's and now im scared. any clue why you might got a cloged oil line anyway?

[Dom23]

No idea where it came from. VW said it was the dirty oil but I find that hard to believe since I changed the oil regularly.

Good luck with GTI's. I take it you have not had any problems?

-D

[lauralikewhoa]

I've had no warranty problems with my '03 GTI.
But then again, I got free scheduled amintence when I got it- so they can't really say that when the little "VW Dealer" stamp is in the book.

That sucks to hear man, don't think it's VW or your car.
The only problem specific to the GTI that's been widespread is the engine coils, but I'm sure you knew that already.