My friend just bought a 2004 Jetta GLS, as the titles says, and I was wondering if any of you car experts know about some reoccurring problems that Jettas have had. All information is appreciated.

 

what motor

 

2.0L I4

 

Probably should have asked this BEFORE they bought the Jetta

 

01M transmission seems to fail before 150k, regardless of whether you change the fluid or not.

 

Common problems: Window regulator failure, MAF sensor, 02 sensors, Coil pack failure, rear brake caliper failure, oil seeps(engine and tranny), headlights and tail lights(while not expensive it is annoying and they seem to go on these cars more then most) and very frequent tune-ups to prevent the all to common multiple cylinder misfire code from showing up.

Uncommon problems I've seen: faulty fuel tanks, dealer only plastic vacuum hoses cracking/breaking, secondary air injection problems

In fact if the CEL is off, it probably means something is wrong. In terms of reliability its about as bad as a modern car gets

 

Dunno, but my auto instructor has a '03 Jetta 2.0 5MT and it has been fairly reliable. The only problem that he has on it was a sensor failure at around 20k ??? that was fixed under warranty. Other than that, I did a full 40k service on it before I graduated and the car hasn't given him any problems to this day I think.

 

He has been very lucky, VW's of that era are just terrible in terms of reliability, I'd go as far as saying worse then GM bad - but as you know I am jaded, I hate all cars

 

Wow thanks for the info guys. I'll def have to tell him about this.

 

Its a hit or miss with VW. They can be reliable or a total nightmare but the list iTimmy is pretty common. Although my buddy has a 03 1.8t with 90k miles and its been perfect.

Of course hes done all the preventive maintenance.

 

i know those things, and the mkiv golf/gti, have bad coil pack problems...

heres a list of recalls:
http://www.automotive.com/2004/12/vo...lls/index.html

and heres some reliability information:
http://consumerguideauto.howstuffwor...lf-jetta-2.htm

and your friend should of done this the other way around!

 

!! to that. Between my family and my uncles family, we have 5 VWs and 4 of them are great but one, an 06 Passat, is sitting in their driveway with its 3rd broken alternator the dealer fixes it but then it craps out again after a few hundred mile....