June 11th Day 3 of a new job, headed home early morning when suddenly on a major HWY I have no motor ability. Car is dead in the middle of driving no gas no sound, just shut down. I coasted off the side of the road and waited 2.5 hrs for a Tow truck. I had a serpentine belt go in the past on an old Caddy. Thought this must be what happened. Steam come ng out of the hood, puddle of water running out on the ground. 430am after like I said 3rd day on a new job. I live in Philly job was across the bridge in Jersey. Abandoned by my VW GTI 1.8T after working third shift, trying to get home to my 3-month old.
Then later that day ( Once a tow company would tow me over the bridge; my insurance carrier contacted 30+ 6-places answered on a Sat morning... All said no...they kept trying til we got that 6th place to agree to the tow) 12-miles from my front door. Mechanic calls, ma'am it's not good news. He explained what a timing chain is...I had no clue. Said he won't know the extent of damage til he gets my head off top of my engine {shrug} OK that means what? You could have been lucky, but 95% sure you're gonna have bent valves if not more engine damage bc it happened as you where driving on the Hwy. (65mph zone) estimate $12-1500. I won't know til I pull the head. Well he pulled the head; all valve stems bent needs to sent off to a machine shop and he's now going to inspect the pistons & crank. Estm. $15-1800. I asked him to see if we could get a reconditioned or rebuilt engine cheaper then fixing a dead horse so to speak. I'm waiting 3-wks to hear if he found a better deal on an engine.
Kelly Blue Book value of car approx. $3500 amount of repairs I've done since 2013 when I bought this used hunk of metal for $7500. Plus two yrs extended warranty that cost 2K and covered Nothing...Let's see if I include this $1500 it would be $4K dumped into the car. Total being about $14,000 on this car. Sad thing is I'm still making my last years payments on it. Now It's been a headache since day one. Stay Tuned
June 11th Day 3 of a new job, headed home early morning when suddenly on a major HWY I have no motor ability. Car is dead in the middle of driving no gas no sound, just shut down. I coasted off the side of the road and waited 2.5 hrs for a Tow truck. I had a serpentine belt go in the past on an old Caddy. Thought this must be what happened. Steam come ng out of the hood, puddle of water running out on the ground. 430am after like I said 3rd day on a new job. I live in Philly job was across the bridge in Jersey. Abandoned by my VW GTI 1.8T after working third shift, trying to get home to my 3-month old.
Then later that day ( Once a tow company would tow me over the bridge; my insurance carrier contacted 30+ 6-places answered on a Sat morning... All said no...they kept trying til we got that 6th place to agree to the tow) 12-miles from my front door. Mechanic calls, ma'am it's not good news. He explained what a timing chain is...I had no clue. Said he won't know the extent of damage til he gets my head off top of my engine {shrug} OK that means what? You could have been lucky, but 95% sure you're gonna have bent valves if not more engine damage bc it happened as you where driving on the Hwy. (65mph zone) estimate $12-1500. I won't know til I pull the head. Well he pulled the head; all valve stems bent needs to sent off to a machine shop and he's now going to inspect the pistons & crank. Estm. $15-1800. I asked him to see if we could get a reconditioned or rebuilt engine cheaper then fixing a dead horse so to speak. I'm waiting 3-wks to hear if he found a better deal on an engine.
Kelly Blue Book value of car approx. $3500 amount of repairs I've done since 2013 when I bought this used hunk of metal for $7500. Plus two yrs extended warranty that cost 2K and covered Nothing...Let's see if I include this $1500 it would be $4K dumped into the car. Total being about $14,000 on this car. Sad thing is I'm still making my last years payments on it. Now It's been a headache since day one. Stay Tuned
- 03gti_1.8t, Philadelphia, PA, US