Poor Ringo!

[Ringo*]

Well I was sitting in traffic on my way home wednesday night and my coolant light came on and since it was almost 90 out I decided to pull of and check the coolant, even though it always comes on and i checked it a few days ago. So I stop to yeild on to the regular street and I noticed little wisps of smoke!!! So then I really think I need to get some coolant and I get to a red light, more smoke, so I think I'll shut the car off to let it cool while I wait at the light, well light changes and Ringo doesn't start back up (which ok, everyone has said i shouldn't have turned him off, I didn't know ) So I am dead during rush hour in the left lane on Main St!!!! EEKK! And my grandma tells me to get out of the car since there is smoke so then I'm standing outside my beetle with his little blinkers on and cars whizzing by. One guy pulls over and asks if we can push it aside and I said, well its smoking right now so I don't know, so he leaves and a little while later two other guys showed up and they pushed me off the road to a side street and another guy shows up with a palm pilot full of numbers and i have to join triple A over the phone and wait two hours for a tow truck. I had them take Ringo right to a dealer since it wasn't far anyhow. Lucky they take my aftermarket warranty. So after a nervous day of waiting here is Ringo's diagnosis:
Broken Water Pump- Covered
Broken Coolant Flange- $184
and then they tell me the other fun things they find!
Suspension parts- mostly covered (I assume the shocks) but I get to pay $84
Hood Latch-$122
and this is where I hate myself:
Gas cap and resetting of codes so my check engine light comes on- $79
I can't complain because my warranty is covering $974.50 (and I only payed $1,000 for the warranty) and I only have to pay $469, sweet enough, but poor Ringo!

[dnyed]

Oh My Gosh!

Sounds like you are having a bad day. I hope all is back to speed very soon. Poor, Ringo.

[Shay]

awww Im so sorry that Ringo is sick

[The Cheat]

well, you got lucky.

you did the right thing by shutting him off, no matter what anyone says. had you kept running him, you'd most likely have grenaded the motor, now knowing the water pump is broken.

the coolant flanges break very easily once the car overheats...they should have used metal like most car companies...but that would have been too easy.

i must know, did they replace the timing belt while they were in there doing the pump? i mean, it's no additional labor at that point, would make sense to do it.

you did the right thing, glad to hear you averted disaster and got him fixed right.

[CaptainXeroid]

Bummah! Good for the warranty though, and it sounds like you avoided serious damage that might have occured.

How many miles does Ringo have and how long since the water pump was replaced, if it has been?

We had Aphid's water pump replaced @ 70k when we did the timing belt. I know VW recommends 105k, but they're not the ones who might be stranded if something goes wrong before then.

Here's hoping Ringo is back on the road and good as new very soon!

[noR]

for shutting him off; you should pull over and do that immediately anytime the red coolant light comes on really. I agree, w/Cheat; keeping ringo runing would be bad.

I'm glad that so much of it is covered by warranty, and glad you and ringo made it out of the chaotic situation unharmed. Way to go.

Sorry you're without him at the moment, but it'll get better.

[Ringo*]

I have had Ringo since December, and he has 106some odd miles, and i do not hve any old service records or any real history on him. I think if the timing belt had need to be replaced they would have told me, because they went and checked Ringo out all over which is how they found the suspension problem and the gas cap so I guess it was probably replaced. This is a very nice VW dealership with very nice customer facilities. I am glad Ringo will be okay and I hope I can get him before I work tommorrow or he will be there until Tuesday yuck! Poor Guy!

[missruby]

POOR RINGO!!!!

[phantom302]

Sorry to hear that Ringo isn't feeling well, Good job on your part for shutting him off. There was just a thread on here about someone blowing the head gasket and warping the head because they kept going after the temp. light came on. Hope he is back home soon.

[LadybugEwa]

Kudos for shutting Ringo off, you saved him from a much worse injury. You might have held up a bit of traffic, but you did what was best for him. Way to care for your bug!
Hope he's better than new soon

[Ringo*]

I got out of work tonight at 10pm and I got a message from my mom relaying a message from VW they have "one more suggestion" while they have Ringo in the shop, come on guys I can barely afford what we are doing here. They are closed now and I will have to call in the morning and see what it is. gimme my buggie back hes all alone and needs some hugs! I hope they are at least keeping him next to other beetles and not by the toyotas! I'll keep you guys posted on what they "suggest". I don't like the word suggest, makes me think they want to sell me something I don't need. We shall find out in the morning.

[scarabY2k]

Originally Posted by missruby

POOR RINGO!!!!

Yeah, what she said

Props to you for shutting him off post haste

[Ringo*]

Ringo's Back!!! I picked him up yesterday morning but then the poor guy had to sit at work all night and hes going to sit there all day today! I think his driving is castly improved though! I wish had more time to go crusing and just enjoy my buggie. I'll type up his full report when I have more time.

[Green Arrow]

I am wondering what the "one more suggestion" is that the dealership had... hmmmm... :

"We suggest you give us more money!" har har

Happy everything worked out okay in the end! VERY good to hear!

[Ringo*]

Well Ringo's story continues!! We took him up to syracuse (BTW if someone has a silver beetle and was at the carousel mall up there it was me parked next to you) and on the way back Ringo started shaking like I could see the wheel and my boyfriends arm shaking, so we get off and pull into k-mart hoping they have a service center, no luck, so i'm thinking we have to spend another night in 'cuse and miss a day of work when we are waiting to turn and i see a goodyear tire and the lights in the bays are on, great so we go there, they take it for a test drive and the guy drives out of the lot with his arm out the window acting like a big loser, trying to look cool and they look at the car, they don't find anything wrong with the tires and they where just aligned at VW a few days ago. And as we are getting back in the car the guy who backed it out for us says to my boyfriend "That's one of the funkier rides out there," So I keep hearing "Funk-ay Funk-ay" that stupid song and picturing ringo cruising and dancing to it, but we go back on the highway and we drive again and the shaking starts up again, then we went to an outlet mall for a few hours and it hasn't done it since, what gives? I dunno, but its back to VW tommorrow!

[Beetlemania]

Glad you averted disaster, Emmy! I hope everything gets squared away quickly!

[Ringo*]

I went there and they said since I can not get Ringo to do it again there wasn't much they could do, they said it would be a long time to get it in the shop that day and said to bring him back if i get him to do it again. Ringo hasn't done it since and I have been trying to replicate it. On another fun note I have relized my air conditioner just blows the hot air from outside so he has to take another trip to VW sometime

[Beetlemania]

Maybe he's just low on coolant? I hope this one goes easily for you! He's got to lighten up on you soon, I just know it! So glad you're being so patient with him!

[Ringo*]

I would hope that after my car overheating and and them replacing the water pump and coolant flange tht they filled Ringo back up with coolant, if not human stupidity never ceases to amaze me. I gotta check my warranty and see if it covers air because i am nt enjoying having a sauna for a car.

[GatorBeetle]

I figure he means R134 Coolant in the AC system...