Service questions for 1.8t.

[Willygood]

Currently my Beetle has around 119,550 miles.
Two years ago, at 119,258, the local VW dealer did the 120K service. Within a month, bad coilpacks and a lack of money sidelined the car in the driveway and there it sat until a mandatory smog test forced me to resurrect it a week ago. Coilpacks done under warranty, brakes done at a cost.. ugh.
It ran good from the dealer but CEL came on after drive home from smog station. Took back to dealer, their diagnosis: hose replacement and, I guess the diagnostic cost, would come to $515! Other than the cost, what bothers me is that this dealer has already replaced hoses, pipes & clamps to the tune of alot of money!

Brief repair history:
11/19/07 - 109,320
06A-906-461-LX Mass Air Meter, 1C0-145-712-E Line

8/11/08 - 111,860:
06A-103-221-BN Venthose, 034-129-101-B Valve, 06A-906-433-L Sender, 06A-145-790-C Pipe

The engine seemed to run fine even with the CEL. The repair sticker shock obliterated from memory the specific code descriptions thrown. Although I remember them mentioning an ABS code and a couple of engine codes.

Based upon the age of the parts replaced and mileage shown, would any of the above items need replacing again? Are there any other hoses, pipes or valves not mentioned that might need replacement to clear the CEL?

The service dept. mentioned a leaky valve cover gasket. Will this cause driveability / CEL scenarios?

Any information or justifications for more hose replacements will help. Thanks for listening.

[D2Beetle]

If your valve cover is bad causing oil to leak into any of the coil pack holes, then yes problems can occur that could cause the CEL light to come on.

[Smileybug]

Has the timing belt ever been changed?

[Willygood]

Yes. The timing belt/waterpump was changed in '06 @ 88K.

[IndyTom]

Originally Posted by Willygood

Yes. The timing belt/waterpump was changed in '06 @ 88K.

I guess you are due again Rule of thumb for the timing belt is 5 years or 75k miles. But I would worry about your hoses first.

Did they say which hoses need replacing? You can swap out all or any of the vacuum hoses yourself for about 50 bucks in silicone tubing. Over 500 is totally rediculous!!!

The valve cover gasket isn't that hard to swap out. I did mine in about 2 hours and half that time I spent cleaning the valve cover until is sparkled On the 1.8 engine the valve cover gasket comes in 2 parts. The gasket for the coil tubes and the gasket that goes around the valve cover. And then there is the flat seal and the half moon seal for the cam chain. Mine was leaking oil into the coil tubes and when I changed spark plugs the tubes were filled with oil. Big Mess and it can mess up your coils again. So I would swap it either yourself or have a shop do it. The dealer will charge you way too much for a 25 Dollar part to install. I bet they will charge you 200 bucks or more for that service.