Engine Light, Door Sensor, Help! on a '01

[MoeFaux'sBug]

I've got a 1.8L 2001 New Beetle with a slew of problems. Being a girl who is inept at cars, and being a starving college student, well, the poor Bug doesn't get the luxury of going to the dealership right now and with all these problems, I just don't know what to do.

I'm hoping that by listing all the Bug's problems that I can save myself some money and time when I finally *do* get her repaired. Also, I'm wondering if any of my car's problems are related.

So, here we go:

Broken A/C
I live in Las Vegas. Having A/C trouble is *not* cool. I first started having trouble two summers ago, when the A/C would just stop working. Sometimes it was okay, others it wasn't. I took it into the dealership twice, and both times when they looked at it, they said everything was fine and that it was blowing cold. Of course, both times it would stop working after leaving the dealership. Lucky for me at that point, it was near the end of the summer and I decided to sweat it out.
However, this past summer I couldn't take it anymore and brought it in to the dealership once again. I paid a little over $100 for them to take a look at it and tell me that I needed to spend $600 (?!?!?!!!!) on three new fuses and coolant. Needless to say, I decided to sweat out last summer too. This was the first of the major issues I've had with my Bug.

Engine Overheating Light
Oh dear, this one seems bad. For the past month and a half, the red engine overheating light has been giving me hell. It will flash on with the three warning beeps about 10 seconds after I start my car, regardless of being staitionary or in transit. It's been cold out (around 50 degreesF) so I can't imagine my engine is actually hot.

I took my car to Sears in hopes that my Bug's due oil change would fix any ailments. My fluids were checked and nothing seemed out of place in that regard.

YES, I know it's awful to continue driving with this issue, but I'm usually broke and at a loss as to what the real problem could be. A fan? Do I need a coolant flush? What?

Anyhow, the light will come on after startup, beep three times, and then flash for a while, beep again, flash some more. Then it will go out. And then start all over again. The constant beeping really doesn't help my stress level that is already sky high in worrying about what is wrong with the Bug. Ugh.

BUT. This problem only began after I accidentally (oops) drove over a median in the dark in a rush to get to a gas station. Could I have possibly loosened something underneath? Am I just grasping at straws in hopes that my car engine doesn't explode on me?

Battery Dies
Maybe I was wrong to accidentlly leave my lights on (how was I supposed to hear the "headlights on warning" when I have this other beeping to deal with?) But, my battery died last week and it was dead dead dead. I've had some weirdness occasionally in starting my car before, but this was the first time I needed a jump. Then today, the Bug just died in a parking lot. I ran into the store for less then 10 minutes, came back out, and she was dead. Nothing was left on, and she just died. A jump started her up right away, but it was still a pain.

Because of battery weirdness, I don't even listen to the radio for even a minute after turning off the engine. Listening to CD's or the radio when the engine is off makes her hard to start sometimes.

Door Sensor Fails
If the overheating sensor beeping wasn't annoying enough, now I have this! This problem started off as something little and now has evolved into something else. It began by the car giving off a "beeeeep beeeeep beeeeep" and the light in the door coming on. My Bug thought the door was open. Hmm. Opening the door and closing it would make it stop.

Now the problem has progressed and the door sensor will continuously beep one loud "BEEEEEEP!!!" and the Bug's dome lights will come on. Mind you, the door is untouched, and this usually happens when I'm on the freeway. Fun! The combined beeping of the door and the temp light, along with barreling town the freeway and opening and closing my door, well, let's just say it makes life more intersting.

Please note that the door is completely latched when this happens. HOWEVER, it is probably related to a past problem I had which was that the door latch was loose. I finally found someone to screw it in for me, but still, my door thinks it's broken. That might also have something to do with my....

Door Handle Broken
Oh yeah, the whole handle and lock mechanism is loose. Sometimes when I pull the door handle, it comes out far past where it should. I push the handle and the lock thing back and it sticks in there, but it's still loose. Bet that has something to do with this...

Alarm Randomly Goes Off
Oh boy! It's always embarassing, but still exciting in a scary I just-jumped-out-of-my-Converse-and-nearly-peed-myself kind of a way. Sometimes the door is wide open and the car will just be possesed, lock itself, and set the alarm. All while I'm standing there with the door open. Other times it will make me crazy by sounding the alarm after I've locked the car with the remote and am walking away. I really don't like when it does that. I always end up swearing at my Bug and then feeling guilty about it.

So those are my major problems. Non major things are:

Airbag Light On
This has been on for several years. My Bug was involved in a slight accident with an embankment on the side of the road that tore up the bottom of the car and broke the fog lights. Bug belonged to my friend and was not yet under my ownership at the time, and the car was repaired by my friend, however, the airbag light has been on since then. The airbag was NOT deployed in the accident. I don't know how the dealership missed this when they repaired the damage to the car.

Armrest Latch Broken
I don't care about this. It's only a slight nusiance when a friend will get into the passenger seat and try and flip up the armrest, therefor dumping everything in the armrest into the back seat.

Plastic Things Broken
The plastic guard that goes under the car fell off a long time ago. The plastic guard that covers the lights in the trunk fell off, too, after I got the Bug repainted.

So, that's it. She needs some new tires eventually, but the current Michillens seem to be okay. The damn headlights go out like crazy, and a headlight related thing is why I stopped going to the dealership, since they decided to charge me $100 to change a bulb when they used to just do it for the price of the bulb. Now I just call up my exboyfriend; he's fixed it once before.

I'm thinking of taking it to Sears but I would like to tell them exactly what is wrong with it so I don't end up spending ANY extra money since I don't have much to spare. I have a friend who would like to look at it, but I'm afraid to let any guy under the Bug's hood if they don't really know what they're doing. He said something about resetting the computer (??) but I don't trust him enough to let him mess the Bug up.


Please guys, I know I'm new, but if anyone can help me out...well, I'd really, really appreciate it. My Bug "My One True Love" is bright tangerine orange with hot pink rocker panels and I love her to bits. Everyone says it matches me perfectly. I'd be really happy if I can get everything fixed and back to going on road trips again!

Thanks & Cheers,
Moe

[MoeFaux'sBug]

Now it won't start at all. I think I'm going to cry.

I just don't know what to do. It's ridiculous.

Why does something I love so much have to cause me so much pain?

I suspect that while I have problems with the battery, it's being aggrivated by something. Nothing is being left on in the car...but I wonder if the door is unlocking itself by thinking it's unlatched (which it does while I'm driving, but I don't know about when it's left locked). So I think the door light turns on and drains my battery.

But I don't know a thing about cars. Anybody? Anyone, please??

[boblamb58]

Door lock: needs a new latch mechanism.. the part is about $140 from a dealer.. another hour of labor for the install, unless you fell mechanically inclined enough to get your door panels apart. (Voice of experience speaking.. mine went last year)

Battery: after 5 years.. assuming it's the original.. probably should be rplaced.

Engine overheating: most likely at this point in time, a bad temp sensor. I went through that as well, except I did not get the red flash, just blue at the wrong time.


A/C : unless you really want to fix it.. live with it.. ride with the windows open (assuming it's not raining, of course).. I know, no help.. I rarely use mine no matter how hot it gets here.

THe rest: I have no idea.

Good luck...

[hannaco]

To go along with the door handle, there is a micro switch in the same area of the door. This can cause the wiredness of the lights/alarm going on and off. You can do a search for the words door and switch. Aaron do you have a link?
The temp sensor is only about $6 from the dealer. Only takes a few minutes to fix.

[MoeFaux'sBug]

So...

Last night I had to jump her again. But, I found out that my engine can't be over heating and that temp sensor is a lie. It started flashing and beeping when my engine wasn't on and I just had the key in. Then the oil light went on, too.

Once she was started, none of the stuff on the dash worked. The gas guage, the RPM, and MPH, were all not working. Even when I was driving down the road, it still said I was going 0mph. So it's really screwed up, huh?

Right now she's dead. Tried jumping her once more and it wouldn't take, even though there was still signs of life.

I guess my Bug will be sitting in the parking lot for a long time...poo.

Thanks for the help anyway.