Cryin' the blues...

[Adam Liss <Adalis@worldnet.att.net>]

	Hey everyone - I can't believe my bad luck.  I want to share this with all of you; partly as a warning, and partly to find out if anyone else has had these problems.  I have a '97 Jetta GLX, black with cloth.  The only mods are the CD changer, the AIRcondition tape, and smoked side markers.  Now, understand, this car is just one year old, and has under 10K miles, is cleaned and cared for.  About a month after I got it, the AC hose burst.  Fixed under warranty.  Three weeks ago, I was driving in Queens (NY) and the radiator fan motor (the one that stays on when you shut the ingition) cracked and broke.  I pulled over, got my free tow to Brooklyn, and two days later, got a new motor and belt, also F.U.W..  Yesterday, after driving around, I parked and went to the bank.  Ten minutes later, I got back into the car, put the key in the ignition, turned the key, and heard an explosion.  Smoke came out from under the hood.  I popped the hood and checked - the battery had exploded.  Got my tow to the dealer, and today I was told that a call to VW told the service dept. that this had happened to four other cars.  Seems there was a batch of bad batteries put into these cars.  The service manager said that they were washing out the engine bay with baking soda and water, and would repeat the process after this one dried.  Now, here are some questions:  Am I the only one with this shit luck?  Also, after sitting at the dealer for like, 19 hours before getting washed, how much of my engine compartment is going to melt?  Thanks for any response.         Adam