A Few New Problems

[Mortville]

Here are the recent problems with my 2002 Snap...Any help or suggestions would be greatly appreciated!

1. Passenger side brake light only seems to work when it wants to.
2. Dash lights for heat/cool controls work when the want to. Some "jiggling" of the knobs gets them to come on.
3. Sometimes have trouble getting out of "Park" (auto tran.) Have to push on brake many times to get the mechanism to disengage.
4. EPC light came on and went off...what does that mean?
5. The light that tells you that your rear spoiler is up comes on sometimes for no reason
6. Getting rattling/creaking from rear hatch....worse in colder weather

This is all I can think of for now. The reason I am asking for help is because I am almost done with my lease and am thinking of buying it out. Are these bad signs?

Thanks!

[Deserion]

1. Needs new brake light bulb holder
2. Bulb behind fan speed knob loose - needs replacement
3. Needs new brake switch (is under recall)
4. Believe is attached to #3, not sure
5. Not sure
6. Spoiler could need lubed

-Des

[tdibugman]

3 and 4 are related.

6 - try moving the blocks on the body (in the hatch opening) up a bit to create more tension on the hatch. I did and mone no longer rattles.

2 - Pull the fan speed knob off (pull straight out. Wrap the knob with a towel, and carefully use pliers). The buls is behind there. Probably just loose.

cheers
Chris

[hannaco]

When pulling the fan speed knob out, put the switch in the second position.

[Mortville]

Thanks for the help!

[Mortville]

Ok...so I pried the fan control switch to check the bulb and now my fan does not work!! No heat, air, or defrost! Any suggestions? Blown fuse? Help!

[squeebug]

5. could probably be that the spoiler needs lubed or something. I believe if it comes on while you are driving, it is to show there is something wrong with the spoiler.

[fohveh]

#5 The spoiler light, from my experience recently is actually caused by a gear (made of plastic of course) that operates the speedometer. The spoiler is receiving bad readings so it deploys at inappropriate times and/or the light just stays on. The gear is cheap and remedies this problem. VW shops know of this problem I'm surprised not to find it mentioned often in the forums. If you drive really fast you may notice the speedometer becomes more inaccurate as you pass 65-70mph and up as this gear is slipping and grinding because once again as with all things plastic in a VW its falling apart and not contacting properly. I bought one for five bucks from the dealer.
#2You have a bad filament in your bulb thats why it goes on and off, now by attemting to remove it you seem to have inadvertently shorted the switch and blown a fuse of which I don't know which one.

#4/#3 Brake switch on recall get it fixed for free at the dealer.

#1 Socket most likely, they get quite burnt up in the rear, if not burnt up then just bend the prongs out more so the bulbs have better contact. I have found bulbs from my dealer have consistently given me problems with filaments as well, they go on and off until they just burn out, try an auto store bulb for better reliability for the rear and hopefully for the fan switch as well since yours already had a poor filament as I mentioned.

[tdibugman]

Originally Posted by Mortville

Ok...so I pried the fan control switch to check the bulb and now my fan does not work!! No heat, air, or defrost! Any suggestions? Blown fuse? Help!

I bet the switch was renstalled in the incorrect position (see hannaco's tip). Try pulling the switch off again and reinstalling.

[Tom Servo]

On 2 the whole air section on the dash doesn't light up on my friends jetta, could that be a bulb too? all the other lights come on except for those ones. Or is there a fuse that you guys know of that is burnt out? I was just curious too see where or what to do with the lights.

Tom Servo

[hannaco]

Yes, that little hard to work with fat hands bulb has a bad habit of burning out.

[Mortville]

Well I took the car in to be serviced and it was full of problems I didn't even know existed! They fixed the brake switch. The brake light was due to a bad socket. The blower and dash light were due to "an electrical problem" which was prob. also causing the spoiler malfunction. In addition, my coolant sensor was bad, turbo valve was bad, and the battery was almost dead! Everything was replaced free of charge under warranty (and I got to drive an '06 Passat while they had my car). The only problem is, they broke my rear defrost switch in the process of fixing everything else. Now I have to wait for the part to come in and take the car in again.

Does anyone feel in their honest opinion that this is not a car I should buy out from my lease? I would appreciate any comments positive or negative!

OK...now I have just discovered that my heated seats don't work either. They did the night before I brought it in to the service dept. (it was the only heat I had). Guess I'll give them a call tomorrow!! Here we go again!

[vwdeano]

I've got an '02 Snap Orange as well... Normal warranty fixes-coil packs, window regulators, brake sensor. They also had to spend some time on the heated seat switches(seats heated, but it was all-or nothing). I have replaced the coolant temperature sensor and the flasher relay. In four years, the only thing that I have had to do myself are the sensor and the relay. Not too bad, as new, complicated cars go. I love the car and it attracts almost too much attention, LOL! I would say if you like the car, buy the manual and take care of small items yourself. Out of warranty, only take the car in to the dealer for things you can't do yourself.

Dean

[Tom Servo]

Hey when they were working on your car and you got to drive the 2006 passat, was that pretty nice? Your car almost klind of seem like mine had a few problems when I got it now, the only thing I don't know if the spolier in the back rises up or not. Is the light on that suppose to come on when its up or, what does that light mean. Ya when I got my car fixed they didn't give me no car to use while they put the transmission, but now it's working ok for now. hopefully it won't find something else to break down on.

TOm Servo

[woj1978]

Originally Posted by Tom Servo

Hey when they were working on your car and you got to drive the 2006 passat, was that pretty nice? Your car almost klind of seem like mine had a few problems when I got it now, the only thing I don't know if the spolier in the back rises up or not. Is the light on that suppose to come on when its up or, what does that light mean. Ya when I got my car fixed they didn't give me no car to use while they put the transmission, but now it's working ok for now. hopefully it won't find something else to break down on.

TOm Servo

In my 2001, the spoiler light only comes on (blinking) when I slow down below 12 mph. Once I speed back up, the spoiler will retract and the light goes out. Not sure if it comes on when it goes up or not. I've only gone fast enough once (over 93 mph for the 2001's) for the spoiler to go up automatically. I usually put it up with the dash switch.

[Mortville]

The '06 Passat was OK, but I prefer my Beetle. I found the Passat a little bland with no character...but when you're used to riding around surrounded in orange leather, anything would seem bland!

One more question I have is that it seems ever since I got the car back, my gas mileage is really bad. I haven't officially chaecked it yet, but the needle seems to be moving much faster thtn normal. Would this have anything to do with any of the work done on the car that I mentioned above? I am calling the dealer today to set my appt.

[Tom Servo]

I would think that there might be a problem with the fuel gage if they worked on it. but i would check air filter and sparkplugs and have them check your fuel filter. But I would call them and tell them that I losing alot of gas. there might be there something else that they could of missed. that's opion

Tom Servo

[Mortville]

Well, The car is back at the dealership and I'm driving another Passat.

They fixed the rear defrost (which they broke), but they called to tell me that they can't figure out the heated seats! I'm getting a little concerned because they worked fine the morning I brought it in for the initial service. How can it be that difficult for them to figure it out? So my car has been there for two days now. I really hope that this is not a sign of things to come...or I may not be able to keep the car.

[Growler]

which dealer has your baby? where in Ohio are you located?

[pdoel]

I honestly would not be that concerned with your problems. These all seem to be rather minor things. The car is a 2002, was produced over 4 years ago. So if this is the extent of the problems, that's not bad at all.

As for the gas mileage. It's really hard to judge just based on how quickly the needle seems to move. I get about 100 miles from fill up to 3/4 of a tank. Another 100 miles to 1/2. But then after that, it drops rather quickly. The best way to judge is to fill up, keep track of your mileage, and on the next fill up, divide the number of gallons filled up by the number of miles you drove that tank. Keep track of that for awhile to give yourself a good idea of what you are getting.