[djsilvera]

Hi folks:
My friend Irene has a 98 Passat that has given her grief recently. She noticed:
1) a power stering fluid leak between the bottle and reservoir/(cooler?)
2) a CEL. The dealer told her it was a bad MAF, it couldn't be cleaned, and that (this is funny) "we've never seen one of these break before".
3) a broken vacuum hose from the manifold to all the other switches. This is the 20V engine.
Have any of you folks encountered any of these problems. What should she expect to pay for parts and labor? She got quoted from 900 to 1200 for it all.
I know the MAF is at least a 200 dollar part -- could cleaning it really work?
As for the vacuum hose -- is this really a 250 dollar part? And what couldve caused the power steering leak?
Thanks,
Dan

 

[djsilvera]

Re: Please help: Dealer Service giving my friend a run-around (djsilvera)

its a 99 passat...

 

[mauslick]

Re: Please help: Dealer Service giving my friend a run-around (djsilvera)

as seen in the standard issue maunual for service mangers for Volkswagen cars: page 32 paragraph 2: answer to any thing wrong with car :" WE'VE NEVER had (enter one or more: one break, be defective, it's within spec, it's your fault, it' not covered under warrenty, it was an act of God) and DID YOU BUY THE CAR HERE?
If customer is insistant, and shows printed TSB off of internet, proper response:
"There' is a lot of false information on the internet"

 

[vwfool2000]

Re: Please help: Dealer Service giving my friend a run-around (djsilvera)

I have a '99 Passat and I had 2 of those happen to me at the same time and I fixed both myself.
I had a CEL that turned out to be a bad MAF and broken/cracked vacuum hoses off of the manifold. See the pics below:

Both hoses were cracked right at the manifold and also farther down the line. The hoses were so brittle from the heat under the hood that they just fell apart in my hand when I was replacing them.
To replace the hoses the dealer is going to want a lot for just the labor and about 10 bucks a meter for the hose and you need about 2.5 to replace both hoses.
My MAF was also bad and was told that it needed to be replaced. I removed the MAF and cleaned it. Now it's back to normal. The MAF was about $370.00 from the dealer and they wanted a couple hours worth of work to replace it too.
So I would recommend DIY if you/she are up to it. It's pretty easy actually you just have to take your time and do it right. But if you do do it yourself, you'll only spend about $12.00 for everything.
If she wants to get a new MAF, I have one, never been opened, still in the box that I'd sell for way below the dealer's price of $370.00.


[Modified by vwfool2000, 2:26 PM 11-28-2001]