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Comment by pc86 | Hacker News Reader

Did you buy or lease it new from the dealership?

Any time I go in for service they ask if I've registered for the package yet and bug me to do so (presumably so I get the dealership card and they know I'll be back).

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You didn't need to buy it new from a dealership to get the package.

I bought mine used from a 3rd party dealership (non-VW specific), and still got the goodwill package.

I bought it used with 80,000 miles on it. Second owner.

I'm a big do-it-yourselfer and generally avoid dealerships.

BTW If you haven't changed your serpentine belt lately, do it! Mine broke at 90,000 miles, wrapped itself around the timing sprocket, cause the engine to jump timing and broke 7 valves. Cost me about $3500 for a new head. Apparently it's fairly common.

That would be timing belt, not serpentine belt, I think. (Just in case someone wants to go looking through service records or talk to a service advisor about the job.)

Nope, it actually was the serpentine belt. The serpentine belt shredded, wrapped around the crankshaft and worked its way into the timing cover, caused the timing belt to slip, which, since this is an interference motor, was disastrous for the valves.

Forum threads:

https://forums.tdiclub.com/showthread.php?t=424956

https://forums.tdiclub.com/showthread.php?t=407745

There is a design flaw that allows a shredded serpentine belt to work it's way past the timing cover and wreak havok. When I took apart the engine, the timing belt was in-tact.

There is now available a guard that you place behind the main crankshaft pulley to stop this from happening but I can't find it right this second.

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