never had any problem under the hood until my last service job

[Ankf00]

a couple weeks ago, find a mechanic, good yelp reviews, near work, used to be a VW dealer mechanic & travelling mechanic for audi. it's his shop and he has 2 or 3 fellow guys under him.

service done, money paid. driving back to work the overheating/low coolant light goes off. Engine has oil, coolant reservoir has plenty to spare.

call mechanic, he says jetta's have a horrible thermostat, it breaks easily and at the VW dealer they'd give them away for free b/c it was so common, just come in the next morning and he'll replace it right quick, I can drive it no worries.

I go in the next morning, he's not there b/c of a personal emergency, ask him on the phone if he'll be there between 10-11 (said this was something that would only take him a couple of minutes to do). Show up at 10:30, he's not there, other guy said he just left for personal emergency and won't be back today. none of those guys had a clue how to replace the thermostat. ok, I'll just come back the next work day.

next work day comes and goes, didn't have time to head into the shop although i should've, because on the way home smoke comes from under the hood while I'm on the freeway, get the car towed back to his shop. the next day he tells me the impeller of the water pump broke and a cooling hose blew. So the engine was running w/ 0 coolant for a good few minutes while I made my way to the shoulder, and then while highway patrol bumped my car from behind to get it off the road. All for that ****ing $3 thermostat he said they used to change on ever Jetta that would come intot he dealer standard, and for some reason didn't do to mine, and decided to not be around the next day, but no big deal w/ closed tstat you can drive anyway. :mad: He fixes, again I pay.

2 weeks go by, this weekend I'm all the way over in Berkeley on a hot ass day w/ my 7 mo. pregnant sister, and the overheat/low coolant light goes off again. :mad: Turns out the thing's STILL leaking coolant. Thankfully there was a Walgreen's right where I stopped where I could pick up coolant.

Take it in today, now he tells me the head gasket is leaking after doing a pressure test on the cooling system.

I never had a single problem w/ anything under the hood until I took it to his shop, plenty of ppl from work go there, my Jetta's the cheapest piece of junk that I've ever seen in his garage, it's all Audis and Mercs.

I want to choke this bastard. :mad:

[trish]

I guess that's how he gets return business. :rofl: You might want to take your car somewhere else.

[chop456]

Some of the VW thermostats are extremely hard to install without breaking them. The head gasket thing doesn't make sense to me, though. If that's what it is, I'd think you'd have all kinds of crap in the reservoir. What year Jetta? Is there a temp gauge or just an idiot light? Coolant temp sensors are notoriously unreliable, but steam from under the hood would seem to rule that out. :gomer:

Take it to a different shop and get an opinion before you pay this yahoo a grand to do the HG. He probably wouldn't do it right anyway. Just about any shop should have the pressure tester that attaches to the reservoir.

[TravelGal]

I think you nailed it when you said there aren't any other Jetta's in the shop. He's practicing on yours. Let him do it on his own time. And dime. :irked:

[Gnam]

That sucks man.
check PM's

I hear Pontiac has some sweet deals... :p

[Methanolandbrats]

Thermostat had nothing to do with it. The plastic impeller on the waterpump broke and caused the initial overheating because water was not circulating. The VW thermostat is no different than any other thermostat. If it's a 2.0 motor you're lucky the broken impellor parts did'nt jam the timing belt and take out the motor because the timing belt drives the water pump on that model. The water pump with plastic impeller should be replaced with the model that has a metal impeller. If it got so hot "smoke" came out, you probably warped the head.

[emjaya]

I'm not a VW expert, but almost every alloy head I've seen overheat has warped the head and blown the head gasket, sooner or later. Mostly sooner. :\

[Ankf00]

Thermostat had nothing to do with it. The plastic impeller on the waterpump broke and caused the initial overheating because water was not circulating. The VW thermostat is no different than any other thermostat. If it's a 2.0 motor you're lucky the broken impellor parts did'nt jam the timing belt and take out the motor because the timing belt drives the water pump on that model. The water pump with plastic impeller should be replaced with the model that has a metal impeller. If it got so hot "smoke" came out, you probably warped the head.

so I need to choke a VW design engineer instead? the "smoke" was the coolant when a cooling hose blew, spraying fluid all over the engine bay, streak marks everywhere.

FML

[oddlycalm]

so I need to choke a VW design engineer instead?
Sorry to hear about your sled. Water pumps fail. Real problem wuz the mechanic who was too busy with his own **** to take the time to discover the actual cause.

oc

[Methanolandbrats]

How many miles on the car? It's critical to change the water pump when the timing belt is changed. Was that done? I like to change both a little early on those cars. There are also several stretch bolts that hold the right front motor mount. They must be replaced and torqued correctly or they WILL break. Many people who don't know what they are doing reuse them.

[dirtyboy]

Many mechanics will open their mouth too early and diagnose the most common problems. In this case the thermostat. When they say it’s an easy fix the customer gets happy. When it turns out they were wrong the customer gets ubber pissed off. Anytime you overheat the engine you are going to have potential cylinder head issues. Hopefully its only the gasket and not a crack (make sure its tested or else you may be back there in another two weeks).

The older I get the more I hate working on cars. I don't even know the engine size in my new car and that's how I like it.

[Ankf00]

How many miles on the car? It's critical to change the water pump when the timing belt is changed. Was that done? I like to change both a little early on those cars. There are also several stretch bolts that hold the right front motor mount. They must be replaced and torqued correctly or they WILL break. Many people who don't know what they are doing reuse them.

67'ish when I took it in for the service, timing belt changed after the pump blew

and yea dude said they'll do a pressure test to a crack

have the extended warranty and it should be covered, have a feeling they'll try to weasel out of it though.

[chop456]

have the extended warranty and it should be covered, have a feeling they'll try to weasel out of it though.

VW? Unpossible. :laugh:

[Ankf00]

VW? Unpossible. :laugh:

FML

[JohnHKart]

I am so lucky to have my mechanic. I actually tested him (without knowing it) first time I ever took my car there. Told him the ripoff artist that replaced my radiator told me I needed a head gasket- and instead of doing the 800 dollar job he just told me I just needed a 10 dollar hose. Guy that works on my music gear is just as good. Very very lucky.

John

[oddlycalm]

Many mechanics, doctors, appliance repairmen, HVAC techs, plumbers, nuclear engineers, electricians, financial engineers, and contractors of all stripes will open their mouth too early and diagnose the most common problems.

Fixered that for ya...:D

oc