2002 Volkswagen Jetta from North America - Comments

I have replaced my radio (recall) once, but now it has a very low volume and the balance and fader does not work - any ideas?? Yes my dome like also has a mind of it's own, that's a weird deal. My mech. says that I have a wiring problem connected to my glowplug so I have a check engine light on now.. Yes, I like the car, but it really bugs me that it has so many little problems.. Germans need to stay away from electronics.

Last week my passenger side window fell though my door on my 2002 1.8T. Due to the extended 7 yr warranty, the window was replaced. The car was also losing small amounts of coolant over a six month period, but not overheating... that was also covered (despite the fact that my warranty was up last month) they replaced the water pump. Then just recently, the Jetta's radio died, and I took the advice from the previous post and slid out fuse #42 for about 10 sec and slid it back in and the radio works again... THANKS!!!

I wish I had found this website several years ago! I too have a 2002 Jetta. Today my passenger window fell into the door frame. Recall on the ignition coils? I had not heard about that one.

Soon after I bought my car, the radio mysteriously stopped working. If I did not drive the car for a day, the battery would be dead and I would need to jump it. After a jump, voila! The radio would work! Until it died again. Repeat the process several times. Actually, I haven't had a problem with my radio for a while now (knock on wood).

The reason I bought the car was because I loved my 1996 Jetta GLS! Great mileage, comfortable, quick. And it went for six years and 186,000 miles. The only major repair I had done on it was to replace the front wheel bearings.

Compared to that, the 2002 model was such a disappointment. And I could never figure out how the overall size of the car could get bigger, yet the trunk was smaller, the back seats had less leg room, the passenger and driver seats had less leg room, the seats were narrower, etc.

For what it's worth, it's four years old with 86,000 miles on it. And except for the radio and the window today, I have not had many of the problems I see posted here. But I am thinking I should not use my seat warmers anymore!

Thnaks to the person who said about fuse 42... to fix the radio problem.. I'm 17 and just got a 2002 jetta.. and everythings been going wrong... the window fell in the door... now the radio.. and there must be a break in the line that drains water form the sunroof to the outside because it seems to drain into my car.. if anyone knows about that please comment back... and also there seems to be some kinda of brake cable or whatever you call it hanging under the car.. so I need to get looked at.. and the oil leeaks... and they've treied to plug it.. but it still does... uhh, but what can I say I love the car!!

I purchased a used 2002 Jetta in 2005 and I am having similar problems. My radio went out on me and I thought I would have to purchase another one until the battery died and I had to jump-start the car. Luckily, the radio came back on, but now the car won't start without a jump-start. I also have a check engine light on caused by the temperature thingamajig going bad, so I guess that must be fixed. I can drive about a quarter of a mile and restart the car and the temp light will go out until I let the car rest overnight. I'm glad to see everyone's comments so I don't feel like I bought a lemon.

I currently have a 2002 Jetta which I leased new in 2002. While I have had numerous annoying issues that the dealership corrected, the car has performed well. I have had to have the radio replaced after the third time it stopped working. The sunroof has leaked multiple times which the dealership finally fixed by cutting off the pinched ends of the drain hoses found in the front door jambs. A continuous check engine light which was reset many times was finally corrected by replacing the catalytic converter and the transmission got stuck in 4th gear and required a new solenoid in the transmission. All of these were covered by the warranty. Now that the lease is about to expire, I hope to sell the car so I had the dealership replace most of the interior trim parts which scratch easily.

I've also had issues with the radio dieing for no apparent reason. After a bit of searching on the internet I have found this comment:

"I was told by a serviceman at my dealership that if you leave a CD in the radio too long, then the computer in the radio messes up. Removing and replacing the fuse will reset the computer. If you remove your CDs from the radio on a regular basis, you should not have this problem."

This does tie in with the other radio problems people have reported and the fix of removing fuse 42 for a few seconds. Sounds like VW have/had a software bug in their radio, removing power for a while resets the software and fixes the problem until the next time you leave a CD in for too long.

We just purchased a 2002 Jetta about 7 months ago. I love this car! To my dismay last week the passenger side window made a loud “thunk” when I tried to roll it up (power windows). What was I to do? Try to roll it down of course! At that time the window fell into the door…the very next day the radio mysteriously quit working. The alarm light was still blinking on it, but no other power was present. Today we removed fuse 42 and then replaced it after about 10 seconds as advised in this forum, it worked…THANK YOU to the fella who posted that advice!

We took the car in to get the window fixed…$648.00, whew, that is a lot of green. After rooting around online we have decided to replace the window regulator ourselves, which is what caused the window to fall. Apparently it has plastic tabs that drive the window up and down; these plastic tabs are known for breaking. I have seen metal replacements; however after talking to the parts guys at our local import parts store, he informed us that the plastic tabs are a feature used to save the motor in the event that the window was binding. Not sure how true this is, but it seems reasonable. Here is a link we found that gives step by step instructions with very good illustrations on the replacement of the window regulator, which incidentally is costing us $87.90 vs. $648.00.

I posted the advice to remove and re-insert the fuse to get the radio working again. I'm glad I could help.

As far as the window tabs go. VW should replace the plastic tabs with metal ones when they fail.

I can't believe you were charged for the repair.

Contact VW customer service!

I had a similar problem with the radio on my 2000 Jetta VR6 but mine went a little further. I was driving home from Romona when my radio died. Didn't really notice at first for I thought I went out of frequency range. Then about 5min later the ABS light turned on, Then the seat belt light turned on, then the engine started running really rough. So I pulled over turned the car off and waited a few min to turn it back on. Nothing. Just made that dead battery clicking sound. I have some knowledge on these cars so I opened up the hood and unplugged the battery to reset the computer. To my surprise I blew one of those big fuses that sit on the battery. Stuck out in the middle of nowhere I replaced the fuse with a piece of a hose clamp I found on the side of the road so I could make it home. After getting home I replaced the five dollar fuse and it blew again within a matter of minutes. I put the clamp piece back on and everything works fine again. but I notice my homemade fuse was getting hot. To hot to touch.

But no codes have flashed yet. What is the deal? and does any one know what that fuse runs? it's the fuse on the left side of the box that is mounted on top of the battery. I believe it's a 110 amp fuse. I can't find any info on this fuse and the VW dealer is no help either.

I submitted an earlier post with comments of a link to a DIY for the window regulator on a 2002 Jetta, I forgot to put the link in...sorry. FYI, I replaced the window regulator today, fairly simple, just time consuming. http://forums.vwvortex.com/zerothread?id=1015107.

I have a 2002 Cabrio that sat for about a month. When I tried to start the car the battery was dead. I replaced the battery, but the car still will not start. It turns over and and has plenty of juice and gas. It still will not start. I replaced the spark plug wires and cap. I tried pumping the gas pedal and you smell the gas, but it still will not start. If anyone has had a similar problem and found a solution please give me a call. Al Demsky 717-838-8200. Thank you for any help or suggestions.

Today, I went to roll down my passenger window and there it went! Right into the door. I see other people have had this problem. One poster mentioned a recall? I went online and looked at the recalls (I've been there done that with the radio, brake lights and seat spring popping out). Does anyone know of a recall about the window? How did you get it fixed? I'm so fed up with these little problems, I am really thinking the dealer should take care of this one.

Thanks for the info!

The window regulators can be replaced free of charge by VW. They have a recall notice/service bulletin for them.

Also the sunroof has a drain plug insed each of the front side doors that can sometimes be clogged with detritus. Pinching the black valve will cause the blockage to free itself or using an airhose to blow it clear will work. I learned that the hard way after finding 3 inches of water on the drivers side floor. :(

Seems like a theme - today, my 2002 Jetta 1.8t had the front passenger window fall into the door. This is horrible since I can't secure my car and I have to get emergency service now. I had the same problem with the radio, but applied the 42 fuse fix and that worked - but I lost some of my radio channels (no big deal). What's worse is my check engine light comes on sporadically now and the engine seems to trip and surge and trip and surge, even though I've had every car service and oil service at the suggested interval. I had the engine flushed recently and the only good news is that I'm still getting 30+ mpg on the car, but I'm starting to doubt the quality of the car. I only have 59100 miles on it, so I actually expect this car to last much longer. Hopefully it holds together, but I'm thinking I should have gone with the Honda in 2002 now =/