# muffler rust in brand new Routan?



## 02golftdi (Aug 27, 2008)

One day after I bought the Routan, I found the rust as shown in the pic: 

I called dealer, they said it is normal. I am not happy with that. My Jeep also made by Chrysler doesn't have these rust after 4 years. 

Is it really normal? that is a brand new car


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## 02golftdi (Aug 27, 2008)

https://lh5.googleusercontent.com/-lBZ7V6wwQ4o/Tlxr5n1iknI/AAAAAAAAABM/sW-f1RpO8RM/s720/rust3.jpg 





02golftdi said:


> One day after I bought the Routan, I found the rust as shown in the pic:
> 
> I called dealer, they said it is normal. I am not happy with that. My Jeep also made by Chrysler doesn't have these rust after 4 years.
> 
> Is it really normal? that is a brand new car


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## 02golftdi (Aug 27, 2008)




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## Steveaut (Sep 16, 2010)

My initial impression is that it does look like an excessive amount of rust for a newer vehicle. What does the warranty cover in this regard? It is telling that the Routan only gets a limited 5 years/100k mile corrosion warranty whereas the other models by VW get 12 years unlimited miles. What I don't know is what the limited corrosion warranty covers.


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## VWroutanvanman (Feb 12, 2011)

*No rust*

I checked my '10 SE (with 18,000 miles) exhaust and found the hanger had rust on it, same as the picture, but the muffler did not. It looks like the rust spots on the muffler in the picture are spot welds that are rusting. Doesn't look right. What's the warranty on exhaust? Ask to see the VW rep. if the VW dealer won't help you. Is there an excessive amount of rust on other parts of the chassis? Maybe the van spent some time in water, at least up to the bottom of the muffler. More crappy chinese steel?


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## 58kafer (Jun 27, 2007)

The rust on the hanger is correct(plain steel). As far as the exhaust, I'd say no way. The only thing I could think of is for 2011 the used a cheaper grade of stainless steel. Now there are several grades of SS. The cheaper the grade the more prone to rust and magnetism it has. I would keep on the dealer about it, I doubt the warranty would cover it. 

As far as the corrosion warranty----take a read of it, they all seem to me that you'd be better peeing into the wind and hoping you didn't get any on you. I think the warranty is a perforation warranty, basically if your car forms rust on it and the paint peels off, oh well. You need to have holes through the body panel. harder to happen. 

Go to the dealer and check other Routans on the lot even Dodge and Chrysler vans, even go to another local VW dealer if you have any close. Don't give in.


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## 71sbeetle (Apr 12, 2002)

Rustans 

Here's ours when it was brand new, now 2 years later all the visible hardware (including the door catch) are rusted ....


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## 02golftdi (Aug 27, 2008)

crazy!!

Is it under the warranty? Rust in the first day, it will get worst than yours after 2 years.


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## 71sbeetle (Apr 12, 2002)

Nah the pictures I posted are when the van was brand new, it's worse now.


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## 02golftdi (Aug 27, 2008)

is it possible to ask the dealer to change another new car due to the rusty part in the second day?

in addition, bluetooth connection voice instruction is in French, dealer has no idea how to fix it.


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## 71sbeetle (Apr 12, 2002)

You mean get a new vehicle ? No they won't, they gave me a hard time just warrantying what I have there.
You can change the language somewhere for Bluetooth, is only the BT in French or the whole radio ?


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## 02golftdi (Aug 27, 2008)

the whole radio.......

you means the extended warranty for that?


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## 71sbeetle (Apr 12, 2002)

yeah you can change it in the menus, look in the manual it'll tell you how to do it.
And no we tried getting them to change out the rusted components a couple of months after we bought the car they hadn't done it so I took a couple of pics and posted them online, they replaced the stuff, but a year later it was back to being the same .....


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## 02golftdi (Aug 27, 2008)

where did you post your pic?

I checked the manual, the manual is not very well updated, they changed the radio design. I can't find that button, neither the dealer technician. The voice is also in french, do you believe that?

I found the rust the second day I bought the routan. It is not a few months after. My friend working in body shop checked it and told us that it is not normal for a brand new car in the first day! We are in Texas, no rain for months!! Very disappointed for this car. 

I owned passat, beetle,golf, and my sister owns a tiguan. A VW family!! Now I have a JSW TDI, I love them all. but not the routan, horrible experience!!

We bought it for our second coming baby. My wife is very angry about that. She asked the dealer to change the car, of course, pending and waiting........It bothers her a lot and made her emotional. Yesterday, she was asked to lay on the bed for a few days after the pregnant exam!!

like my friend said: Chrysler Van with VW service? come on................


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## 71sbeetle (Apr 12, 2002)

I had it on Facebook and linked it to the dealer's FB page, got a lot of comments on it 
What radio model do you have ? RER ? I changed my radio to French when my in laws were visiting back in Jan, then I changed it back, and yes it changes everything lol.
We noticed our had that kind of rust less than a week after we bought it.


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## Steveaut (Sep 16, 2010)

02golftdi said:


> where did you post your pic?
> We bought it for our second coming baby. My wife is very angry about that. She asked the dealer to change the car, of course, pending and waiting........It bothers her a lot and made her emotional. Yesterday, she was asked to lay on the bed for a few days after the pregnant exam!!
> 
> like my friend said: Chrysler Van with VW service? come on................


I agree that it looks like more than the usual amount of rust. But it's not something that you or your wife should become so upset about that it effects her pregnancy. It sucks that it might one day cause a problem, which I highly doubt. But there are plenty of cars with rust under them and you can't see it unless you are underneath and it rarely affects operation down the road. I have had many chryslers and none of my problems were ever rust related. And thats after owning some for more than a decade. At this point, it's a non-issue in terms of operation and appearance. And I doubt it will ever effect anything about the van for as long as you own it. The worst case scenario that I can imagine is that you have to replace the muffler in five years. 

As far as my Routan goes, it doesnt have this amount of rust under it. It almost looks like yours went through salt water and wasn't washed off or something happened to the vehicle or some parts in transit to production. Mine still looks new, no exageration. We live in the snow and they salt the roads in the winter. And I don't have any worries about that at all. We do keep the vehicle garaged in the evening and in the winter we go through auto car washes that spray underneath to get the salt off. Maybe that was/is the key. 

As to the rest of my Routan, I love it. I was one of the very skeptical and upset members on this forum when I first bought it. I was mad that it was a Chrysler produced product. Look at some of my old posts, I was not a happy camper. But it turns out that it's not a Chrysler in the areas that matter to me, both interior and exterior quality and appearance be the top of my list. I absolutely love my Routan. If I was in the market today, I would buy another Routan. In fact, if I owed less on my 10' SEL I would be looking for a Premium 2011. That is the one regret that I had from day one. I wish I bought the Premium instead. And I wish I could have negotiated down another thousand or negotiated in a rack.


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## VWroutanvanman (Feb 12, 2011)

*Rust*

From looking at the pictures posted that show rust, a lot of what is seen is perfectly normal, and should not affect the opration or life of those parts. The stainless steel muffler I'm not so sure about, but I bet you'll get a normal life out of that part also. Companies save when they don't paint a steel part, and a coating of "oxidation" won't hurt, so hopefully you'll not worry about this so much, and enjoy the Routan experience. I'm sorry to hear of your poor dealer experience, they sure can be hit or miss. My dealer here in FL has been pretty good, they just replaced front rotors and pads and covered them under the warranty at 18,000 miles.


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## 58kafer (Jun 27, 2007)

Rust

Check your build date inside your door jamb. That will give you an idea on when it was transported. Could have been transported during the winter months and blasted with salt, then sat at the local storage yard-- unwashed. Not much you can do really. The pics look like there is pitting in the exhaust pipe, that would be the only thing of concern for me, but like others said, it probably wouldn't fail in under 5 years.

71Sbeetle, if those pics are right from the dealer lot, those control arms look like they have a few months of road grime on them or she was in the low part of the dealer lot in a puddle of water.

Glad our SEL was in the showroom a few months.


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## 71sbeetle (Apr 12, 2002)

When I saw that rust after we bought it, I looked up more info from the van. We bought it 08/31/2009, it had been dealer traded from a dealer in Northern Florida a few days before, but it was only on that other dealer's lot for about 4 weeks, before that it was in storage .... for a whole year !!!


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## Steveaut (Sep 16, 2010)

71sbeetle said:


> When I saw that rust after we bought it, I looked up more info from the van. We bought it 08/31/2009, it had been dealer traded from a dealer in Northern Florida a few days before, but it was only on that other dealer's lot for about 4 weeks, before that it was in storage .... for a whole year !!!


It sounds to me like there was some known water damage. Possily hurricane?? That would make sense why they put it into storage. Let it dry out a bit. Then trade it out and put some distance between them and the vehicle and a potential bad faith/breach of contract claim. 

I hate to shed that negative light on the situation and hopefully I am wrong.


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## 71sbeetle (Apr 12, 2002)

No it shows it was stored in Canada before even being sent to a dealer.


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## JETwagen (Mar 1, 2002)

71sbeetle said:


> When I saw that rust after we bought it, I looked up more info from the van. We bought it 08/31/2009, it had been dealer traded from a dealer in Northern Florida a few days before, but it was only on that other dealer's lot for about 4 weeks, before that it was in storage .... for a whole year !!!


Where did you find out this information from? opcorn:


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## 71sbeetle (Apr 12, 2002)

JETwagen said:


> Where did you find out this information from? opcorn:


VW Hub !


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## Steveaut (Sep 16, 2010)

That has got to be water damage. I checked mine again and the more I look at your pictures, there is no way that is normal. I seriously suspect that if a dealer traded it, they may have done it for this very reason. If you bought it new and it was never used, even by the dealer, I would got back to VW with a letter and pictures. Explain the deal to them and ask them to review the photos. See what happens. If your purchase was used, then you are probably out of luck with VW. They are going to say someone abused it. At that point, you can try to push the dealer that traded it. But that couldn't have come from the production line like that.


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## 71sbeetle (Apr 12, 2002)

Me or the OP ? We bought it brand new, VW didn't care ...


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## 02golftdi (Aug 27, 2008)

it is a brand new car!!!

and the check engine light is on today!!!!!!!!!!! 

What the hell! it is less than 3 weeks!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!


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## 71sbeetle (Apr 12, 2002)

Welcome to the world of owning a Chrysler ..... I need to get rid of mine !


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## 02golftdi (Aug 27, 2008)

that is the reason I saw two routan with less than 4000 miles in carmax!


rust problem is not solved yet, and check engine light is on!!!

what can I do? 

My wife is so exhausted to call and call......I don't have time to go to the dealers once a week. They are 30 miles away from my home!


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## juvefan20 (Mar 24, 2001)

Stinks to hear that you are going through all that, thanks to your post though before I picked mine up I had them put the car on a lift and checked everything. Then once I got home and took out the compressor and undercoating gun and went to work on a ton of spots around the wheel wells that were primed metal. I could see that rusting in just 1 winter here in Western NY so I made sure to clean and protect some of those areas. I would recommend this to many of you located in the rust belt.


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## 02golftdi (Aug 27, 2008)

I am in Texas, no rain for months, can't believe it is rusty in the first day.

I checked all other Routan and even Chysler T&C in dealers and parking lots, they are all good !

something must happen to my car before I bought it


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## Steveaut (Sep 16, 2010)

02golftdi said:


> that is the reason I saw two routan with less than 4000 miles in carmax!
> 
> 
> rust problem is not solved yet, and check engine light is on!!!
> ...


It would help if you could back up a little and tell us more about your problems. You are calling the dealer over and over about what? And what is it you are going to the dealer once a week for? It is my understanding that a check engine light recently came on and that you have the rust problem, which definitely looks like a problem. What are the other reasons you are callling the dealer and going to the dealer. What other problems are you having?


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## 02golftdi (Aug 27, 2008)

I don't call dealer anymore, useless...........

It has some small problems.........but that is not a big deal, it can be fixed.


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## 71sbeetle (Apr 12, 2002)

Looks like we're trading in our Routan on Friday !


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## Steveaut (Sep 16, 2010)

71sbeetle said:


> Looks like we're trading in our Routan on Friday !


Congratulations! I assume you got a TDI Jetta Sportwagen that you mentioned. What is the damage if you don't mind me asking? I will be in the market for another TDI, probably sportwagen, in the next 6-12 months. Did they treat you decently on the trade?


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## juvefan20 (Mar 24, 2001)

I don't think it will be pretty since unfortunately for him he spent about 44K on his Routan. Sad to see him go though because he does know his VW's.


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## 71sbeetle (Apr 12, 2002)

Got a 2012 Jetta Sedan TDI Premium Manual  They gave me just over $20k for the van, we owed just under $30k, but in the end, with no money down and the negative equity we will save on monthly payments and also on gas mileage, should save us about $250 a month which was the main goal. I'm going to take the stuff off of the Routan right now


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## Steveaut (Sep 16, 2010)

71sbeetle said:


> Got a 2012 Jetta Sedan TDI Premium Manual  They gave me just over $20k for the van, we owed just under $30k, but in the end, with no money down and the negative equity we will save on monthly payments and also on gas mileage, should save us about $250 a month which was the main goal. I'm going to take the stuff off of the Routan right now


What do you have to sell?????


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## 71sbeetle (Apr 12, 2002)

Steveaut said:


> What do you have to sell?????


PM'd you :thumbup: Will be listing in classifieds soon too.


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## 2011Routan (Sep 23, 2011)

I heard about the rust on the Routan and started getting a little worried since I saw some rust on my new Routan. One would think this problem was unique to the Routan after reading all the posts. Have any of you tried googling "muffler rust on new car"? I did, and the results show that this can happen with any make of car...it's weather related. I live in the Northeast and we've had an incredibly wet summer and the Routan had been stored outside before it was sold.

My father owns a Passatt wagon (made in Germany) and even that gets rust when it's wet out. He's not worried. 

Not to say that one shouldn't be concerned and not keep an eye on things, but it's not a reason to get overly upset.


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## luckeydoug1 (Feb 11, 2001)

It's the massive amounts of surface rust on many other parts underneath the Routan, not found on other WVs stored in similar situations, that has me more concerned than the rust on the muffler.


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