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Please help, I have a 2001 VW Passat, 1.8 Turbo engine, 4 cylinder, 109K miles, I am the only owner.
I checked through the past posts but did not see anything like mine, hopefully someone can please help me. If I overlooked a post, please help reference it for me.
In the past few weeks, I have had my check engine light on. At first it was intermittent every 2-3 days, then when it was constant (1 month ago), I brought it into a VW Dealer. They told me my coolant temperature sensor was bad and my vacuum hose needed fixing - codes were P1128 or 17536 and P1654 or 18062 (dealer paperwork). I paid $335 to fix it, they said that should take care of the engine check and the smog. However, a couple days later, the engine light came back on. I brought it back into the VW dealer and they said now my MAFS needed to be replaced which really irritated me because I thought the $335 bill would have taken care of it. I asked them why they didn't tell me that sooner and they said they hoped the vacuum hose would have fixed it as a first step and weren't sure about the MAFS. But now they are sure since the check engine light came on again. The codes read P0303 and P0171. I checked with a hand held device and got the same code. A local mechanic got the same code and resetted it before I could ask them not to. 20 miles later, it light came back on. I did not use my hand held to read the codes again, I guess I should have, but I assumed the code would be the same. I decided to take the car down to my Dad's mechanic with whom he trusts, I'm not sure I feel the same (it was a 60 mile drive which is why I didn't go there initially). Now the problem is, the mechanic reads different codes, he gets 17536 or P1128, and 17956 or P1548. I don't understand why the codes are different.
What should I do? I notice the P1128 is the same as the VW dealer code (pre-repair code), so I think I should go back there to follow-up since the same problem resurfaced, but I don't fully trust the dealer yet I don't want to pay the mechanical to fix something I already paid for.
Another question: Does it make sense that codes change when no work is done on them? I have a smog check that is due by 1/18/09 so I don't have much time to decide on whether to fix or not.
Also, if this information helps, my timing belt broke this past Jun 08. The valves and head were busted so I paid $2600 for new timing belt, valves, head. Could these new codes be caused by workmanship from the Jun08 repair?
Please help. And if anyone cares to offer any advice on keeping the car or not. I guess I want to keep the car because it was painful to put almost $3000 in the past 6 months to revive it. Some repair costs is better than a monthly car payment, but if the occasional repairs continue, it's no longer worth it. Perhaps I should just take the hit and get rid of the car? Since my smog needs to be done by 1/18/09, perhaps I will need to just pay for repair, then try to sell the car?
Any help would be greatly appreciated. Sorry for the long post, just wanted to provide information to get some help.
Lynn
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