1997 Volkswagen Jetta GLX review from North America

Catalytic converter burned up.

O2 sensors burned up.

Battery acid leaked on coolant reservoir and caused leak.

I had bought a '97 Jetta GLX VR6 back in 2004, and it ran excellent for a couple of years till the battery started leaking out battery acid onto the bottom of the coolant reservoir tank, which put a hole in it and was leaking coolant, so I replaced it and cleaned all that battery acid with baking soda and water.

The guy at the dealership told me that he also own a 97 Jetta, and said that it's a known problem with these cars.

Then shortly after that, my tire blew on the freeway in the fast lane, and I had to pull over onto a rocky pavement on the left. I had the tire replaced and started my car up, and it lost power. It ran really bad uphill. I could only go about 45 miles an hour on the freeway.

I drove like this for about a month and then had my spark plugs and wires replaced. I notice a little crack in the ignition coil and replaced that. Then I took it for a test drive and it ran way worse than before. It would only go about 20 miles an hour, then it just turned off and start smoking really bad... black smoke... I freaked out and thought my car was on fire. When it stopped smoking I noticed that the O2 sensor on the catalytic converter was all burned to crisp. I took off my catalytic converter and it was all burned up and crumbling. So I haven't been able to get my car fixed for the past 2 years due to high priced parts. Supposedly the catalytic converter can only be purchased through Volkswagen because of some OBDII compliant thing for smog reasons. CRAZY! I'm hoping that it's just that problem.

Has anyone have had any similar problems?

Angela.