Unsure where to go from here

[gixxerfool]

You n me both! I got this car 3 months ago after my 2002 Mercedes E430 decided to break on me and need a new transmission. In the 3 months I've owned it, the clutch went out, had it replaced by carmax, then had my shop look at it, and they found the cv axle was leaking fluid everywhere due to being reinstalled improperly, so I've only really DRIVEN the car for a month and a half, after owning it for 3 months :/

Sorry to hear you have had so many issues. With the transmission being out and back in, I wonder if all of this is being caused by that.

 

[jimlloyd40]

Sorry to hear you have had so many issues. With the transmission being out and back in, I wonder if all of this is being caused by that.

That was his Mercedes not his VW.

 

[GTI Jake]

That was his Mercedes not his VW.

He had the clutch replaced in the VW.

Definitely a probable cause, the starter could have a bad connection or loose hardware causing the issue. If they screwed up the axle installation there’s no doubt they could’ve been careless with the starter

 

[jimlloyd40]

He had the clutch replaced in the VW.

Definitely a probable cause, the starter could have a bad connection or loose hardware causing the issue. If they screwed up the axle installation there’s no doubt they could’ve been careless with the starter

Right. The guy I quoted was talking about a transmission being replaced and that was in his Mercedes.

Off topic. I went for a ride in a GTI in Phoenix with a guy that bought your IC, DP and exhaust and the exhaust sounded great.

 

[gixxerfool]

That was his Mercedes not his VW.

He had the clutch replaced in the VW.

 

[jimlloyd40]

He had the clutch replaced in the VW.

You are correct.

 

[gixxerfool]

You are correct.

Seems weird he has had all of these issues since. I don’t think I would trust Carmax otherwise, but I gather they paid for the repair.

 

[NuggsOnMyMind]

Right. The guy I quoted was talking about a transmission being replaced and that was in his Mercedes.

Off topic. I went for a ride in a GTI in Phoenix with a guy that bought your IC, DP and exhaust and the exhaust sounded great.

Yeah the transmission went out in the Mercedes, but the clutch went out in the VW. Carmax "repaired" the clutch, and messed up the cv axle and potentially the starter when they replaced the clutch. And when I had my independent shop take a look at it, thats when they found the messed up cv axle, and replaced that, and carmax paid for that repair as well.

 

[NuggsOnMyMind]

Seems weird he has had all of these issues since. I don’t think I would trust Carmax otherwise, but I gather they paid for the repair.

I didn't like that I had to use carmax, but I needed a car with a manual transmission, really liked how the mk7 Gti looked and drove, and then got this one. HOPEFULLY thisll be the last of the mechanical issues for a while, from what I've heard/read, these cars are pretty reliable if you do the maintenance regularly, and I dunno what the previous owner did, but I'm fixing whatever they didnt

 

[gixxerfool]

I didn't like that I had to use carmax, but I needed a car with a manual transmission, really liked how the mk7 Gti looked and drove, and then got this one. HOPEFULLY thisll be the last of the mechanical issues for a while, from what I've heard/read, these cars are pretty reliable if you do the maintenance regularly, and I dunno what the previous owner did, but I'm fixing whatever they didnt

First thing I did was update all the maintenance, since lord knows what was done when I bought it

 

[GTIfan99]

This is one of the main reasons I avoid buying used, I know not an option always, but I can still bite you with new cars. A 92 GTI, 93 Corrado, 01 A4 and 08 STI all bit me new. It can happen.

 

[NuggsOnMyMind]

First thing I did was update all the maintenance, since lord knows what was done when I bought it

Yeah, I'm still going through and updating any and all maintenance, I got pretty much everything done, another thing that puzzles me aside from the starter issue is theres a constant, "check license plate light" light that comes on. I'm debating replacing the lights with white LED's and just living with that error message

 

[Diggs24]

If it has LEDs already and they don't have cancelers or the coding wasn't changed it will give that error.

 

[NuggsOnMyMind]

This is one of the main reasons I avoid buying used, I know not an option always, but I can still bite you with new cars. A 92 GTI, 93 Corrado, 01 A4 and 08 STI all bit me new. It can happen.

Ideally, one day I'll make enough to buy new, but unfortunately the budget of a 21 year old college student is a BIT slim to be honest I'm just glad I have a car thats fun to drive AND a manual transmission! Hopefully when this is done, I can get around to installing the amp and sub I had in the mercedes, as well as looking more into upgrading to the IS38 turbo from the Golf R I've seen mentioned around here

 

[GTIfan99]

Ideally, one day I'll make enough to buy new, but unfortunately the budget of a 21 year old college student is a BIT slim to be honest I'm just glad I have a car thats fun to drive AND a manual transmission! Hopefully when this is done, I can get around to installing the amp and sub I had in the mercedes, as well as looking more into upgrading to the IS38 turbo from the Golf R I've seen mentioned around here

Yeah, totally get it, I had a couple used GTI's early on. Fun cars, but they'd been beat on by first owner and dumped.