Hello

I'm new to this, so please forgive me if i'm posting in the wrong thread.

A little history of my car issue here. I've been away for a few years for school, and now that i've returned home and back to my 2003 Jetta (that my parents used the entire time) I have noticed that it randomly stalls when idol, or it 'lunges'/skips while driving. My parents said that they have been taking it to a dealership for service over the past couple years because of electronic issues (ie. doors wouldn't lock..) racking up an extensive bill. So, I opened the hood to take a look and see this alien object on the battery. I have no idea what it is, and i don't want to take it back to the crooks at the VW dealership who have been taking advantage of an elderly couple. So I lean on my fellow VW owners/enthusiasts.

I have attached a link below of what the object looks like, as well as what the dash looks like when it stalls and during its reluctance to start up again. The stalls happen more and more often, and at times it takes 30-60seconds to start up again. The car says it is in neutral "N" even though i have it in park. The time resets to 12:00 and my 'trip journey' ticket returns to 0. The radio doesn't turn on and all the doors lock as well.
Although, thats not all. Sometimes when I am driving it makes loud beeps, and a hazard light starts flashing on the dash.

Anyways - i'm thinking it may be this bizarre object on the battery that was placed there by the dealership. Can anyone help?

Thanks a lot!


Flickr: ce.scott@rocketmail.com's Photostream

 

Welcome to the forum.

It looks like someone has taped the fusebox onto the battery as the mountings have probably broken.

Make sure all connections are clean and tight.

You need to get your motor scanned for any error codes logged in the ecu and post them.

https://volkswagenforum.com/forum/ne...gnature-34185/

 

I'm a new user as well. Good job.