Emissions Upgrade Question

Hi! I am new to the forum and site! Thank you all for being out there!!

I had my TDI 2013 Beetle Convertible upgraded to meet the regulations. Since having the upgrade, my beetle is not the same. I am curious if anyone else has experienced issues with performance as the dealership keeps insisting the issues have nothing to do with the upgrade.

My beetle is a manual transmission, and it is experiencing what I believe to be performance issues. The beetle stalls out and is struggling to start in am. I park it in a heated garage. There is an underlying rattle noise. And, the most noticeable issue is when driving and trying to maintain a consistent speed, the beetle is ‘struggling’ or ‘lurching’ as if it has no fuel or too much fuel, and it will stall out.

I have had the beetle back to the dealership 3 times. Only to have it returned to me twice, stating there was nothing wrong with the beetle. I was finally able to duplicate the consistent speed issue to the dealership this past visit. They agreed to a performance issue and have no resolution as of today. They are bringing in a specialist on Monday. I am concerned.

My beetle has had zero issues until the emission upgrade. Has any other owner experienced a similar issue?

Any suggestions, comments welcome.

Eehauber said:

Any suggestions, comments welcome.

Click to expand...

OK, you said it. The dealerships are ****ty and have no idea how to work on or even approach the TDIs, as they hire sub-par technicians. An independent shop has to maintain customers based on the quality of their work, but a dealership does not. The brand alone will give them a constant customer base for service that is poorly done and priced too high. Therefore, they don't care if they do poor work because there will be some poor bloke with cash in hand behind you to have his car trashed: "But hey, I got a free car wash! And tyre shine!". Okay buddy, good job. I would avoid the dealership like I was Donald Trump and the dealerships were my tax returns.

The issue is 100% with the fix because the fix is both garbage and bull****. I would take the car to a TDI tuner and get a tune put on it to restore the driver's feel. You don't even have to sacrifice any of your emissions equipment. If your state has emissions, then ask the tuner about that issue in particular. He would be able to help you much more than any of us idiots punching keys can. Even if you don't want a tune, the tuner will know more about the car than the dealership ever could.

Email German Diesel Motorwerks. Their website is here. They are in Mount Pleasant Mills, but they can point you in the right direction. GDM is a top-notch company.

Eehauber said:

Hi! I am new to the forum and site! Thank you all for being out there!!


I had my TDI 2013 Beetle Convertible upgraded to meet the regulations. Since having the upgrade, my beetle is not the same. I am curious if anyone else has experienced issues with performance as the dealership keeps insisting the issues have nothing to do with the upgrade.


My beetle is a manual transmission, and it is experiencing what I believe to be performance issues. The beetle stalls out and is struggling to start in am. I park it in a heated garage. There is an underlying rattle noise. And, the most noticeable issue is when driving and trying to maintain a consistent speed, the beetle is ‘struggling’ or ‘lurching’ as if it has no fuel or too much fuel, and it will stall out.


I have had the beetle back to the dealership 3 times. Only to have it returned to me twice, stating there was nothing wrong with the beetle. I was finally able to duplicate the consistent speed issue to the dealership this past visit. They agreed to a performance issue and have no resolution as of today. They are bringing in a specialist on Monday. I am concerned.


My beetle has had zero issues until the emission upgrade. Has any other owner experienced a similar issue?
Any suggestions, comments welcome.

Click to expand...

... constant speed issue. What does it do on cruz?

... if you tune it you may lose your 11 -162,000 warranty.

... most likely I am going to do the fix. I care not about "performance." BUT if the thing becomes a dump--- WAR, and the owner is entitled to the benefit of the doubt.

.... If that does not work i will bad mouth VW to 10,000 humans

>upgrade Emissions
all i hear is, make less power, dumb the engine down, make things worse.

2015vwgolfdiesel said:

... if you tune it you may lose your 11 -162,000 warranty.
... most likely I am going to do the fix. I care not about "performance." BUT if the thing becomes a dump--- WAR, and the owner is entitled to the benefit of the doubt.
.... If that does not work i will bad mouth VW to 10,000 humans

Click to expand...

What good is a warranty if the dealer has no clue how to make the car run right in the first place?

The only thing you are "entitled" to is to keep grabbing your ankles until you grow tired of it and just go away. VW doesn't care. You will be told that since their dealers are franchises your business is with the dealer not VW.

People bad mouth VW all the time. Nothing new there. I guess you could escalate your "WAR" until you are led away in a straight jacket in the interest of public safety...........

Eehauber said:

I have had the beetle back to the dealership 3 times. Only to have it returned to me twice, stating there was nothing wrong with the beetle. I was finally able to duplicate the consistent speed issue to the dealership this past visit. They agreed to a performance issue and have no resolution as of today. They are bringing in a specialist on Monday. I am concerned.
My beetle has had zero issues until the emission upgrade. Has any other owner experienced a similar issue?
Any suggestions, comments welcome.

Click to expand...

Does sound like you are starting to get some traction on the issue. Let's see what the specialist has to say. The dealer confirming your complaint is a giant step in the right direction.

Some have reported workmanship issues with some dealers that performed the "fix". Most of what I have read seems to point to little to no performance issues from the fix. Not being able to hold a constant speed and hard starting would put you in the group of people that Mongler eluded to.

Almost forgot. Don't get a tune. Any honest tuner will tell you that before you get a tune, the car has to be functioning properly and that a tune will not magically fix existing problems.

Thank you! I will let you know the feedback I receive from the dealership.

Ol'Rattler said:

What good is a warranty if the dealer has no clue how to make the car run right in the first place? ... snip... .

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... Ratter, You're right. Come June 2018, I will take the $25,625.54 Buy Back.

.... Bye bye DSG & TDi

.... I hear the 2018 SE Golf has a (7?) DSG

.... pricey, but $25,625 might cut it.

..... Do you trust the 72-72 warranty on those gassers?

Hi, I wanted to provide an update. My VW is still at the dealership. The VW field service specialist advised to test the glow plugs. They ran through that testing. Result, my beetle still exhibited the same symptoms. Next up, VW advised to test the crankshaft motor sensor. They changed it out and thought they solved the issue. Result, my beetle still exhibited the same symptoms.

Dealership admitted they are at a loss and do not know what is wrong with my beetle. They believe the issue is connected to the emission upgrade. Repeatedly apologized to me and stated that they are committed to resolving the issue without any costs to me.

The dealership has provided me a loaner each time.

Currently, I am driving a Gulf All Sport Wagon’17- 4 motion which has been absolutely AMAZING in the snow. I was driving through 3’ + unplowed roads alongside trucks and SUV’s. I am from Erie, PA and we received a record 60” snowfall in a few days. That car is just a beast in the snow!!!!

Tell the dealership you'll just settle trading for the wagon...

There are some really good aftermarket fixes for these cars. And they run like a raped ape and use less fuel afterwards to boot!

Seems to be hit or miss, some people have nothing but bad to say, some do not even notice, others say they notice but not enough to complain about with the $5k pile of cash they were given along with it (and some take the cash and plan on an aftermarket "fix" with it anyway).

oilhammer said:

... snip...
Seems to be hit or miss, some people have nothing but bad to say, some do not even notice, others say they notice but not enough to complain about with the $5k pile of cash they were given along with it (and some take the cash and plan on an aftermarket "fix" with it anyway).

Click to expand...

.... there is another way to spend the $8,000 (in my case)

.... if mine is bad, buy a 2018 (or) 2019

.... so far the 2014 and 2013 Golf (S) models are holding there NADA-KBB retail values well