Water Pump

The GTI was brought into my local shop for a radiator fluid change, mostly because the water pump is such a known issue. And what did they find? Leaking from the engine block. A visit to the dealer confirmed the water pump was going. It was using about a cup a fluid a month for the past few months, so it's not entirely a surprise. That cost $1208.91.

I also had the front passenger seat belt tensioner fixed, since it wasn't working properly.

All the dings and dents were fixed by their paintless dent repair guy. 

We'll just call this a mid life tune up.

Mileage: 69,504

70,000 Miles

With a road trip to Las Vegas approaching, I had the oil changed a little early at 69,270 miles, using an ECS Tuning kit (oil, filter, drain plug).

I changed the cabin air filter from ECS myself using a helpful YouTube video. Last time I was charged $35 for this, with dealers charging upwards of $85. It's not complicated, although getting it back in was a bear, mostly because of the last step, a felt cover with wing nuts that's poorly designed. Still, I would do it again for $35. It wasn't at all complicated.

I'll have the tires rotated in the next week before the trip. It looks like they'll be good for another 10,000 miles, if I'm lucky.

The coolant hasn't been changed. There is no service interval for coolant, and there's discussion if this means it's lifetime or not. Still, many get their coolant replaced around this time. Like the fuel filters I continually change, I'll be extra safe with the coolant as well. Parts are on order.

I haven't had any other problems since the coil pack incident at around 60K miles. On my to-do list is a paintless bodywork tune up for various dings.

Mileage: 69,270

Intake Manifold Warranty Extension

Received a letter stating intake manifolds and fuel injectors for 2011-2012 vehicles will be included in the federal emissions warranty, 10 years or 100,000 miles. Mine was fixed right within the standard warranty period, but the letter offered to reimburse those who weren't so lucky.

More Coil Pack Problems

269 miles after coil pack #4 went bad, #2 went out.  Or at least that's what I'm hoping. I had the other three replaced, since labor to diagnose the bank is more than the parts. If the problem continues, it might be more serious, but when the coil packs are replaced, it does fix the problem.

So this 60,000 mile service has so far cost me $855.

60,000 Miles

The 60,000 mile service is much like the 40K, but without brakes and tires. I went with parts from ECS Tuning again. That included oil and oil filter (and drain plug), spark plugs, engine air filter, cabin air filter, windshield wipers (not shown) and the fuel filter. The fuel filter is one of those every 20K mile things that's not listed, but recommended by enthusiasts. It's not cheap either as it costs $50 in labor of the $200 I spent.

Parts came out to around $160 plus shipping (another $40). With the $200 in labor, it came out to a $400 service.

Everything went fine. At first. Three days and 80 miles later I was getting on the freeway when the car starting sputtering with reduced power. The EPC light and Check Engine lights went on and the engine seemed to be missing on a cylinder. I took it back to the same shop, thinking something might not be attached properly.

The problem turned out to be a bad ignition coil (or coil pack, as I've heard it called). These $50 parts would seem like a service item, based on the number of people that have them go bad. It's also not uncommon, according to the forums, to have them go bad right after a service. So add another $155 to the service, I guess. It's still way cheaper than the dealer.

Intake Manifold Follow Up

After a couple hundred miles on the new manifold, I'm happy to report performance has improved. The improvement comes from smoother power, smoother shifts, likely from cleaning the fuel injectors, although it's possible the bad intake manifold may have also had an effect on performance. The care drives like it's new, which it should after only 45,000 miles. It's a subtle change.

I'm curious to find out tech tip 24-09-02, if anyone has access to the database.

Intake Manifold Kaput

On the way to work the other day, my catalytic converter light went on. That's what it says in the owner's manual, but my service tech informed me it could mean 80 different potential problems. They just put catalytic converter there to make people feel better, since it's covered under the 80,000 mile federal emissions warranty.

I scheduled an appointment for the following week and was told not to worry about it. It would probably go off. Perhaps bad gas. It did go off later that day, but I was still able to capture the codes it was throwing using the VCDS software. A search on the web brought up many people with intake manifold problems, usually at around the 35,000-45,000 mile mark. I was now a member of this club. I emailed my service manager four days in advance, in case they needed parts. He didn't look at it until I was standing there this morning (we're now waiting on the parts).

What I got:

2 Faults Found:
008213 - Intake Manifold Flap Position Sensor (Bank 1)
               P2015 - 000 - Implausible Signal - Intermittent

005386 - Engine Off Timer Performance
               P150A - 000 -  - Intermittent

As these are intermittent problems, it wasn't surprising the light turned off, but the error was recorded and needed to be addressed. I think these errors are also related to my rough idle problem I've had for about a year. The RPMs would stay still, and there would be periodic shudders from the engine, even with the AC off.

Thankfully, the GTI has a 50,000 mile drivetrain warranty, so after several hours of diagnosis, I was set up in a loaner car, a 2014 Jetta Dash Rattle Edition with only 2,000 miles. The new intake manifold was arriving from another dealership in the late afternoon, so the car wouldn't be ready until the next day.

The repair would have cost $800-1,000, according to my service rep. The question, I suppose, is whether this is likely to happen again at the 90,000 mile mark. My guess is I won't be the one to find out.

Mileage: 44,852