i dunno if any of you can help with this, but my moms car has a problem.(imagine that) (stupid german engineers). so yesterday she, like many of us, got stuck in the downpour in her 5 spd, '02 VW passat 1.8t. she claims that everything was fine till she was about five minutes from home, when the speedo quit working, cruise quit, and CEL came on. my electrician father attributed this to some sensors getting wet and let the car sit and dry out for 24 hrs. he also disconnected the battery to clear the CEL and checked the fuses. now, the car runs fine, boosts fine, everything is fine, no CEL, but the speedo and cruise will not work.

my mom has had this car torn completely apart before having problems caused by the abs system. one wrong aspect tire caused us over $20 grand in shop time and pretty much everything was taken apart and put back together. im wondering if this could be another abs problem.

i am wondering how the car measures speed, is it measured by a sensor or somthing that could've gotten wet and shorted out? he thought that maybe the sensor for the ABS and the speed were the same one, because the speedo quit workin once before when it had all the other problems.

if any of you have any info or insight on this please let me know. this car has been nothing but problems to my parents and id hate to see them have to have it in the shop for any amount of time more than it already has. thanks

First of all I am sorry to hear about your moms car. second of all I would assume that it was speed sensor in the transmission. On the side of the transmission right before the output shaft there should be a speed sensor. That sensor is supposed to be water proof but who knows anymore. Shit keeps getting cheaply made anymore.
Here is the sad part, the only way for someone without a tester to test the sensor would be to put a new one in the car. I would suggest a junk yard but then you dont know if that one works either! Good luck!

If its an 02, doesnt it have any kinda of warrenty?

unless it has crazy mileage.....

TSI- does the car's VIN have a number or a letter in the first position. if it is a letter then it was accually put together in Germany, if it is a number then it was put together as cheap as possable in Mexico (BTW... not intended to be a slam on Mexicans).

German engineers are some of the best in the world and most VW dealers stand behind the work pretty good. try for the warranty.... good luck!!!

Maybe just a blown fuse?

Maybe just a blown fuse? You said he checked them, but did he test them?

well today the speedo works fine. cruise is still a no go and the CEL came back on and the little screen beeped and said "emissions workshop." it'll probably be going to the shop next week.

If VW is so great, why sell the Jetta? A friend of mine had a 97 GTI VR6, and it was a great car until a freak wiring problem caused it to burn to the ground in the middle of the night.

Factory stock interior, minor bolt-ons... Fire was reported to have started under the dash, near the firewall. BTW, I like VWs as well, but I naturally play Devil's Advocate.

i know that the only vehicles made/engineered better than the germans could possibly be the italians, i do love german cars. but i dunno what hanz and franz were thinkin when they built my moms passat. you think dsms can be problematic. SUDs in bloomington had to get a guy from germany who couldnt hardly speak english who worked at a vw plant to come work on the car. he still coulndt figure it out. turns out, tires plus put the wrong aspect tire on one of the wheeld and it, simply put, destroyed the entire electircal system. that screwed up the ABS system, the ecu went bad, it boosted too much and blew the turbo, the mas went bad, you name it, and it probably broke or failed. we had to take tires plus to court over the whole thing and ended getting most of the money back. it was a big deal to say the least.

Wow man! will let us know what it is when you find out!

Any word?