In mid April my son ran out of gas and someone stopped to help him. Thinking he was giving him gasoline he dumped in kerosene. My son started the car and immediatly shut it off because he could smell the kerosene. The car was taken to Volkswagen Southtowne for repair.
The Kerosene was removed from the tank, a fuel pump was replaced in the tank, and the car was sent home with the instructions to run a couple of tanks of gas through the car and bring it back to be tuned.
During this time the water pump failed and the head gasket had blown. Again in the beginning of May the car was taken to Volkswagen Southtowne for repair. The head was sent for rebuilding and we had asked for the piston rings at that time to be replaced because the engine was starting to burn a little oil. (193000 mi.) It took weeks to get the head back and the engine put back together.
During a test drive of the vehicle the engine threw a rod and left a big hole in the side of the engine. At first they told me that they didn't feel that they were responsible for the engine because of the milage. They still ordered a used engine with, what they told me had approx. 93000 miles on it. They put this engine in the car and I was told that the repaired head and piston rings have been replaced on to the used engine that they put in along with a new clutch. There is no way for me to verify this.
Because they had given my son a rental car and he had it for about three or four week while the repairs were taking place, they told me that the car was repaired and I paid for it on July 2. My son drove the car home, about 3 mi. He said it quit on him several times and that it was blowning black smoke. I called and talked with Kevin the service writer that had told me the car was ready, and asked him why he had lied about the car being done. He told me that they wanted the rental car back, and that they no longer wanted to work on the car. I had just paid $2026 for the work and the car still had major problems.
After several contacts with VW USA, Butch the service manager called me and told me to bring the car back and they would fix the problem with no labor and parts at their cost. They have changed parts 90% sure on everyone that this one is the problem. As far as I can tell they have replace every part in the fuel system and the car will still not start after it has warmed up and is still running very rich. They only thing left is the computer and guess what, they now think that this is the problem, or the wiring.
It is now the 27th of August and the they still have the car. The total right now has been: 1st time $550,2nd time $2026, this time who knows. This is a 1990 Jetta that cost $2400 to begin with. The mechanic that has been working on the car the last time said that my son should have been told not to repair the car because of the cost, and after all of this the Service Manager Butch said that we should consider not putting any more money into the car. (Volkswagen Southtowne $3000, customer 0.)
My son drove this car for a month before the first incident, and the experts at Volkswagen Southtowne, can't even diagnose a problem on one of their own cars? Just change every part and hope you run into the right one sooner or later I guess. I don't believe that I should have to pay for a single part that was trial and error. None of them has made a bit of difference to the operation of the vehicle.
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