malfunction indicator lamp, what should I do?

[tech.henderson]

I need help trying to figure out what to do with the bug I just purchased. The malfunction indicator lamp just went on while in the middle of driving it to work and it will not turn off. Luckily it is not flashing (yet). What do I need to look for before I waste money at the dealership. I have a powertrain warranty on it that is currently active.

What I could use are some steps to find out what to do. Its a 2000 1.8T 34500miles NB.

Thanks in advance

P.S. I acidentally mispelled malfunction somehow so that it actually spelled something else and so it bleeped it out. How very funny.

Extra P.S. Thank you Nor for editing my post to be gramatically correct

[Toad]

i would get the codes read, bring it to an autozone or something and they'll do it for free. If hte car is running fine, it's most likey a bad sensor or vacuum hose somewhere.


I'm assuming that you have a laptop or something for your job, may i suggest investing in a vag-com cable.

[noR]

Take it back to the dealership you got it from and tell them they didn't fix the problem. If you JUST got it, and it JUST threw a MIL, then it probably had an existing problem.

Or get a Vag-Com and start the process of becomming your own chief mechanic. Computers and Cars are pretty much the same deal these days.

[Fowvay]

Since your New Beetle is nearly 6 years old there are probably a few things that need to be replaced strickly from an age perspective.

1) The very brittle and miserable cloth braided vacuum lines. Mine started leaking years ago. I upgraded them with Silicone lines but even some synthetic rubber ones from your local autoparts store will trump the junk that VW put on.

2) Your stock DV (divertor valve) with 34k on the clock it is extremly likely that it is leaking. I would replace it with a proper mechanical (non membrane) divertor valve from either Forge or Bailey. Give www.ecstuning.com a try on that one.

It seems that more than a few 1998-2000 VW's suffered thru a few batches of bad MAF (mass air flow sensors) your's may very well be on it's way out. I went thru a number of them untill I finally got a good one.

Either way... I would have the dealer you bought it from run the codes and fix the problem.. after all you did just buy it.

[tech.henderson]

Dealer wants money just to run the codes, I plan to take it to an Autozone. I have a limited Powertrain warranty still in effect that I might be able to use which brings me to the next question. Are there any good extended warranty sites out there, has anyone used them, and are any good? I might decide to do a full thread about the warranty to get a better response. But for now thank you all for your help. Plus I like the idea of using a laptop to troubleshoot my issues.

[noR]

Get the codes and specific #'s from AutoZone and maybe we can help decipher them if the autozone guy doesn't have a plain english answer for ya.

Good luck with the warranty thing.