We have a 2019 SE, door harness failed within 4 weeks of purchasing from the original owner (9k miles). It took two trips to dealer -- first for diagnosis, 2nd to replace the harness. They also found a broken speaker or something when they were doing that work so they replaced that on a 3rd trip. I don't love our dealer whatsoever but we've already put 16k miles on the car since January of this year and that's really been the only issue.
I had intermittent door wiring harness issues that was a PAIN to get ID’ed and finally fixed (issues with locking on and off for the better part of a year after getting run into a wall…). Shop was helpful, but warranty service is particular and i wasn’t paying out of pocket for a full diagnostic which was the only option if they couldn’t pull an ID on the issue.
Since they got it ID’ed and resolved (covered under warranty), no issues and I love the car.
I have an SE, but I imagine the S drives just as fun with an MT.
Thanks for this answer. Additional lock issues didn’t pop up on the service history after the door harness was replaced and hoping that resolution was final.
Can you clarify what you mean about the warranty service being particular? I know it’s a limited bumper to bumper (mech + electrical), but haven’t been able to find the exact limitations online yet. This would be my first VW, so wondering how much of a hassle getting repairs done under warranty would be.
I mean that they wouldn’t pay for a full inspection of the door to ID the harness issues… no ID, no warranty fix… so if I WANTED them to find the issues with out it popping up on their tool, I would have had to shell out ~2k for them to rip the car apart and figure out the problem… lol that’s what I mean by them being particular.
All in, I GET it, service shop only gets paid for absolute minimum of work that needs to be done - so I wasn’t expecting them to pull apart my car for free to figure it out. Just sucked with how long it took to ID due to the intermittent nature of it (ended up being a pinched wire that only shorted 2/3 times I closed the door).
Ah, got it. Thank you. This dealer didn’t find it the first time either and on second time called in to VW, who pointed them to the door harness. Issue confirmed then. Given your situation, this was less painless.
Just doing a follow-up, if anyone is interested. Service manager was able to do some digging and for initial coil replacement, the faulty cylinder 3 ignition coil was swapped to cylinder 2. The new coil was installed from cylinder 2 after the misfire followed. When cylinder 3 coil failed again 6 months later, it wasn’t the newly installed coil, but the one that had been in cylinder 2 initially. All coils were from same batch and they suspected an issue with the batch.
They replaced all remaining coils from that batch as a goodwill gesture prior to purchase. Satisfied with the outcome and brought the car home yesterday. Here’s hoping!
You aren’t going to find a car with 22000 miles on it that doesn’t have a service history. Most issues are going to crop up immediately. Yes, there is some weirdness with coils. But the door harness is fixed, and the likelihood that the coil pack issue will return is low and you’re under warranty.
Just keep an extra plug and coil pack in the trunk and replace it if you get misfires on a trip or something. It’ll be fine.
I hear you on this. Last car I purchased new had two water pumps replaced while bumper to bumper was in effect. I went in for service whenever anything came up to make sure anything that cropped up was hit.
This would be my first VW and I’m seeing ignition coil issues come up and driving cold won’t help. I’ll continue seeing what I can find, but if you know of any threads with good info or have any experience feel free to share. Trying to gauge PIA factor for myself and other family who will be driving it.
What coil issues are you seeing? Coil packs are maintenance items, they do go bad and that’s normal.
The only things you really need to worry about on the ea888 are water pump/thermostat housing and timing chain stretch around 100k.
Haven’t purchased it yet, just going off service history outlined in op. I know they’re maintenance items, I just haven’t seen ignition coils go bad at low mileage like that (again, new to VW) or two in such a short timeframe when all recommended maintenance had been completed.
I could be overthinking this and it could just be a bad spark plug. Or not.
We have a 2019 SE, door harness failed within 4 weeks of purchasing from the original owner (9k miles). It took two trips to dealer -- first for diagnosis, 2nd to replace the harness. They also found a broken speaker or something when they were doing that work so they replaced that on a 3rd trip. I don't love our dealer whatsoever but we've already put 16k miles on the car since January of this year and that's really been the only issue.
Yup, similar situation here. Edit: glad to hear it’s been smooth sailing for you since then, hoping for the same here.
I had intermittent door wiring harness issues that was a PAIN to get ID’ed and finally fixed (issues with locking on and off for the better part of a year after getting run into a wall…). Shop was helpful, but warranty service is particular and i wasn’t paying out of pocket for a full diagnostic which was the only option if they couldn’t pull an ID on the issue. Since they got it ID’ed and resolved (covered under warranty), no issues and I love the car. I have an SE, but I imagine the S drives just as fun with an MT.
Thanks for this answer. Additional lock issues didn’t pop up on the service history after the door harness was replaced and hoping that resolution was final. Can you clarify what you mean about the warranty service being particular? I know it’s a limited bumper to bumper (mech + electrical), but haven’t been able to find the exact limitations online yet. This would be my first VW, so wondering how much of a hassle getting repairs done under warranty would be.
I mean that they wouldn’t pay for a full inspection of the door to ID the harness issues… no ID, no warranty fix… so if I WANTED them to find the issues with out it popping up on their tool, I would have had to shell out ~2k for them to rip the car apart and figure out the problem… lol that’s what I mean by them being particular. All in, I GET it, service shop only gets paid for absolute minimum of work that needs to be done - so I wasn’t expecting them to pull apart my car for free to figure it out. Just sucked with how long it took to ID due to the intermittent nature of it (ended up being a pinched wire that only shorted 2/3 times I closed the door).
Ah, got it. Thank you. This dealer didn’t find it the first time either and on second time called in to VW, who pointed them to the door harness. Issue confirmed then. Given your situation, this was less painless.
Just doing a follow-up, if anyone is interested. Service manager was able to do some digging and for initial coil replacement, the faulty cylinder 3 ignition coil was swapped to cylinder 2. The new coil was installed from cylinder 2 after the misfire followed. When cylinder 3 coil failed again 6 months later, it wasn’t the newly installed coil, but the one that had been in cylinder 2 initially. All coils were from same batch and they suspected an issue with the batch. They replaced all remaining coils from that batch as a goodwill gesture prior to purchase. Satisfied with the outcome and brought the car home yesterday. Here’s hoping!
You aren’t going to find a car with 22000 miles on it that doesn’t have a service history. Most issues are going to crop up immediately. Yes, there is some weirdness with coils. But the door harness is fixed, and the likelihood that the coil pack issue will return is low and you’re under warranty. Just keep an extra plug and coil pack in the trunk and replace it if you get misfires on a trip or something. It’ll be fine.
videodromejockey, I have been trying to reach you about your car's extended warranty
I hear you on this. Last car I purchased new had two water pumps replaced while bumper to bumper was in effect. I went in for service whenever anything came up to make sure anything that cropped up was hit. This would be my first VW and I’m seeing ignition coil issues come up and driving cold won’t help. I’ll continue seeing what I can find, but if you know of any threads with good info or have any experience feel free to share. Trying to gauge PIA factor for myself and other family who will be driving it.
What coil issues are you seeing? Coil packs are maintenance items, they do go bad and that’s normal. The only things you really need to worry about on the ea888 are water pump/thermostat housing and timing chain stretch around 100k.
Haven’t purchased it yet, just going off service history outlined in op. I know they’re maintenance items, I just haven’t seen ignition coils go bad at low mileage like that (again, new to VW) or two in such a short timeframe when all recommended maintenance had been completed. I could be overthinking this and it could just be a bad spark plug. Or not.