Girl Friend is having Problems with New Beetle

[VDUB13]

My girl friend has a 2001 beetle GL, 5 spd with the 2ltr. She has had it for about 6 months and it has so far been a really good car but latly it has been acting really weird. When she idels or is sitting in neutral her car vibrats really bad. the exhaust also smells like rotten egg. I dont know much about volkswagons but i know that exhaust smelling like rotten egg can mean that your cats are plugged up. but like i said im not really a volkswagon guy. she also is getting horrible gas milage. I thought that maybee she had gotten some bad gas but we are on the third tank of gas from a differnt gas station and the problems are still there. We took the car to the local dealor and they where no heldp...they just said there was no problem and if there was it would cost us $500 just to figure out what it was and then we would have to pay more to fix it. Is there anyone who can help us figure out whats going on? My girlfriend would be crushed if she had to sell this car.

[SPIRU]

If your cat is indeed bad take the car to a different dealer since the one you already took it to is feeding you some BS, and they will replace it under warranty. Sounds like that could be your problem.

[rcy]

Any check engine light coming on?

[VDUB13]

Nope, no check engine light. I am pretty sure that the cat is the problem i just want to be sure. I think i will just replace the cat and see if that does the trick. If anything she will have new a cat. Any suggestions on a new cat...after market....stock....whats good out there for these cars.

[Deserion]

How many miles are on the car? If under 80k, the catalytic convertor replacement will fall under the emissions warranty.

-Des

[VDUB13]

It has 63K. but i called the dealor about an hour ago and they said it wasnt under warrenty anymore.

[from Margaritaville...]

Forget the dealer, call VW of A Customer Care and find out if they'll step up for it. The worst they can do is say no. I don't trust the dealer's motivations on this one...

[dnyed]

Good luck to you and your girlfriend. I hope it works out!

[Smileybug]

Well I had gotten a letter from VW a few months ago about the cats in these things...it was basically a recall. I dont know what years it was good for though.

[beetlejuice]

I would first check that you have the updated coolant temperature sensor. It is on the driver side of the engine in a coolant hose, about mid-way down, with a connector coming straight up. If yours is black (under the connector) it is the old unit. Go buy a new (green) one for $6 at the dealer and install it yourself. Could be the problem.
juice

[Deserion]

The emissions warranty is 8 years / 80,000 miles. It does cover the catalytic convertor.

-Des

[Porkchop]

Originally Posted by Deserion

The emissions warranty is 8 years / 80,000 miles. It does cover the catalytic convertor.

-Des

Des is right - in fact, it is a Federal requirement, not a VW one. Here is an excerpt I posted on the old forums:

Additionally, there are a few other major emissions components that may be covered by the Emissions Defect Warranty for a longer period, such as eight years/80,000 miles (129,000 km) for the 1995 and later Federal version of the warranty. A sample list of these items is as follows:

Catalytic Converter
Engine Control Module
On-Board Diagnostic Device

I would do a search online under federal emissions warranty and then take that information to the dealership. They have to fix/replace the cat under federal law.

[VDUB13]

So Yeah i called the dealer and asked for the Gen Manager and acted like i was interested in buying a new beetle and wanted to know about the warrenties. When he told me that the emissions warrenty was 80k 8 years i then told him that i actually owned a beetle already. I then explained to him that his service manager told me that there wasnt an emissions warrenty, and that he also told me that there was nothing wrong with my car shaking or the exhaust smelling like rotten eggs. after that they were very helpfull. Turns out that the MAS and O2 sensors both died. Yeah so got the car back a couple of days ago...it runs great.....and my girlfrien is happy she doesnt have to get rid of her baby. Thanks for all of the help.