Jetta vs me

Revster

Member
Joined
Mar 6, 2018
Location
Manitoba
TDI
2006 Jetta
Hello all,

I have done a ton of reading on here but this is my first time posting. I have a 2006 Jetta TDI that I am pretty sure hates me. My father-in-law gave me the car after it sat for 6 months. My first day driving it left me stranded 2-hours from home. After some reading on this site I figured out it was the immobilizer. So I sent my ECU away for the immo delete treatment.

Today I fired it up, immo delete worked and the car is starting fine however it is running on 3 cylinders and THE AUTO TRANS NO LONGER WORKS!!:( With the car in D it will drive in 1st gear but will not shift. I am however able to shift the gears in the manual mode.

Other than the immobilizer issue this car ran beautiful. The ECU gets flashed while the car sat in a heated garage and now it doesn't run properly and the transmission doesn't work! Could some sort of mistake during the flash cause these issues or do I just have really bad luck?

I have been searching but have not found anything similar, but sometimes you need to know what to search. Let me know if you know of a thread I should read or if you can help. thanks!
 

Tdijarhead

Top Post Dawg
Joined
Nov 10, 2013
Location
Lawrenceville PA
TDI
2003 TDI Jetta Daughters Car, 2001 TDI Beetle, Wife’s car, 2005 Golf TDI Mine, all 5 spds
Seriously converting to manual is the solution to the problem. Once the engine is up to snuff and you’ve replaced that paperweight transmission with a 5 or 6 spd you’ll have a car that will go several hundred thousand miles.

Do a search on this site of the conversions that have been made and are being made. The model years 99.5-03 were the worst auto transmissions vw ever made, so many conversions have been done. 04-06 were a little better but apparently not yours.
 
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Revster

Member
Joined
Mar 6, 2018
Location
Manitoba
TDI
2006 Jetta
Seriously converting to manual is the solution to the problem. Once the engine is up to snuff and you’ve replaced that paperweight transmission with a 5 or 6 spd you’ll have a car that will go several hundred thousand miles.

Do a search on this site of the conversions that have been made and are being made. The model years 99.5-03 were the worst auto transmissions vw ever made, so many conversions have been done. 04-06 were a little better but apparently not yours.
I get that it is a viable option. I am just not willing to invest that much of my time into this car. I have 3 motorcycle projects on the go that are on standby till this car is out of the shop. I would rather spend my time on bikes.

I heard back from the tuner, they said to send the ECU back to them. I am going to start there. I still think it is strange that the car went from running beautiful (when the immo let it start) to having an engine and transmission problem in a period of a week while sitting in a heated shop. I want to eliminate an issue with the ECU before I start chasing my tail.
 

325_Guy

Veteran Member
Joined
Jun 21, 2011
Location
West Central Texas
TDI
MkV Jetta
Applying Troubleshooting Principles 101 here: Check your grounds in the engine bay.

Transmission replacement, absent any other troubleshooting steps, would be rather ridiculous at this point. Might as well add "buy new car" on the flowchart.
 

Carlos_TJ

Veteran Member
Joined
Aug 3, 2014
Location
Tijuana Mexico
TDI
2009 Bora (BXE PD)
I would start with a VCDS scan of the car.

Both the engine and the transmission problem could be caused by many different things. Some of them simple, others far more complex. But throwing darts in the dark is no good.

These cars have very powerful on board diagnostics.
Most likely there is extensive data collected by the ECU waiting for retrieval.

Dont bother using Vato Zone code reader service. They just cover generic OBDII codes.

Look for someone in your area with VCDS. There is a list by location on this same site. Most people with VCDS will help a brother out.

What you decide to do once the data is interpreted will be a far more objective and rational decision.

Good luck
 
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Revster

Member
Joined
Mar 6, 2018
Location
Manitoba
TDI
2006 Jetta
Thanks for the feedback guys. The question I am asking is not what could these problems be or how to trouble shoot them. What I was asking was could some sort of error have occurred during the flash to cause these problems? I don't want to waste a bunch of time (which I don't have much of) trouble shooting it if the issue is in the ECU.

The company that flashed it did not come out and say that it could be the flash but they said to send it back to them they will see if the data needs to be written again.

I think by saying that they are saying yes its possible it was the flash. I think it would be an extreme case of bad mojo for a vehicle to develop two pretty big issues at the same time while parked in a shop.

I am planning to pull the ECU out this weekend and ship it monday.
 

Revster

Member
Joined
Mar 6, 2018
Location
Manitoba
TDI
2006 Jetta
Located a guy about 50 miles away with VCDS that does scans. Here is the results:

RE engine issue....

2 Faults Found:
005736 - PD Unit Injector; Cylinder 3 (N242)
P1668 - 000 - Electrical Malfunction
Freeze Frame:
Fault Status: 01110000
Fault Priority: 0
Fault Frequency: 1
Reset counter: 255
Mileage: 202829 km
Time Indication: 0
Date: 2000.00.00
Time: 00:01:28

Freeze Frame:
RPM: 924 /min
Speed: 0.0 km/h
Load: 0.0 %
Voltage: 11.63 V
Inj. Quantity: -0.85 mg/str
Temperature: 4.5°C
(no units): 0.0

000771 - Cylinder 3
P0303 - 000 - Misfire Detected
Freeze Frame:
Fault Status: 01110000
Fault Priority: 0
Fault Frequency: 1
Reset counter: 255
Mileage: 202829 km
Time Indication: 0
Date: 2000.00.00
Time: 00:08:23

Freeze Frame:
RPM: 777 /min
Speed: 0.0 km/h
Load: 0.0 %
Voltage: 14.52 V
Inj. Quantity: 2.96 mg/str
Temperature: 18.9°C
(no units): 128.0

Re trans.....

1 Fault Found:
18149 - Clutch Pressure Adaptation
P1741 - 002 - Limit Reached
Freeze Frame:
Fault Status: 01100010
Fault Priority: 0
Fault Frequency: 255
Reset counter: 2
Mileage: 202866 km
Time Indication: 0
 

Revster

Member
Joined
Mar 6, 2018
Location
Manitoba
TDI
2006 Jetta
Interestingly he cleared the codes and the engine ran good on the way home. It was back to building RPMs quickly and the power returned.

However the trans was the same.
 

crazyrunner33

Veteran Member
Joined
Jul 11, 2006
Location
NC
TDI
'10 Golf(bought back)
Try running an adaption on VCDS for the DSG transmission. It's basically a relearn process.
 

JETaah

Vendor , w/Business number
Joined
Jan 18, 2001
Location
mi 48836
TDI
96 B4V, 1999.5 jettaIV,2005 BEW Beetle
Try checking the wiring harness along the front of the engine over the starter.
There is a well documented history of strange occurrences that can happen when bared wires touch one another. The tip off may be the injector code. It is most likely the in-head harness which happens often enough or the fat wiring harness previously mentioned. You may have more than a couple of un-insulated or broken leads along that run.
 

Revster

Member
Joined
Mar 6, 2018
Location
Manitoba
TDI
2006 Jetta
Try running an adaption on VCDS for the DSG transmission. It's basically a relearn process.
Yeah I read about that after I got back. It was a 50 mile trip to get the codes read, didn't know about that till after.


Try checking the wiring harness along the front of the engine over the starter.
There is a well documented history of strange occurrences that can happen when bared wires touch one another. The tip off may be the injector code. It is most likely the in-head harness which happens often enough or the fat wiring harness previously mentioned. You may have more than a couple of un-insulated or broken leads along that run.
Just read about that today. I pulled the air box and battery to locate that, the plastic cover is still in place and in tact around the wires? Does the rub occur inside the protective cover? Maybe i should open it and check them.

I am planning to change trans fluid/filter and fuel filter just to eliminate them and might as well while I have the battery box off. Based on the dirt on the filter covers they likely both need done.

Thanks for the tips guys, I appreciate it.
 

JETaah

Vendor , w/Business number
Joined
Jan 18, 2001
Location
mi 48836
TDI
96 B4V, 1999.5 jettaIV,2005 BEW Beetle
Yeah
That where it all happens.... inside the corrugated loom..
Pull them out, pull the tape off, and separate them. Look them over.
 

Revster

Member
Joined
Mar 6, 2018
Location
Manitoba
TDI
2006 Jetta
Changed the DSG oil and filter as well as fuel filter, no change. Not that I was really expecting that to clear up the two issues.

I also checked the wire bundle under the starter. I actually noticed a couple of very small wires had little nicks out of them (but no bare wires).. I put some tape over to then just to see if that made a difference. It did not.

All the grounds look good, so other harnesses seem damaged.

I am still really stuck on the ECU flash being the cause. The car ran great no signs of tranny trouble and a smooth running engine. As soon as the ECU flash is done the Transmission doesn't work and the engine can hardly keep its self running. Two major problems in two different system developed over a period of a week while the car sat still.

KermaTDI did the immo delete. I am thinking about sending the ECU for someone else to look at. Any recommendations?
 

crazyrunner33

Veteran Member
Joined
Jul 11, 2006
Location
NC
TDI
'10 Golf(bought back)
Have you talked to your tuner about this yet? That would be the first door I'd be knocking on before turning a single wrench.
 

crazyrunner33

Veteran Member
Joined
Jul 11, 2006
Location
NC
TDI
'10 Golf(bought back)
It's probably not the tuner's fault on this one, or if it is, they added to existing problems. How did you determine that the immobilizer was the issue? Why did the car sit for 6 months?

If the two issues with the transmission and the number 3 injector are related, then it's more than likely some sort of wiring issue rather than an ECU issue. Either way, it's easier to first focus on this injector issue. The confuser isn't happy with what it's seeing from #3, so check that the injector harness has a good connection, along with the connector going to number 3. Also check the continuity from the #3 injector and connector. Along with the continuity in the injector harness for the #3. If the continuity is looking good, swap the injector with another one and see if the problem moves or not. Afterwards, consider a compression test and check your timing.

Diagnose the issue before throwing parts at it.
 

Revster

Member
Joined
Mar 6, 2018
Location
Manitoba
TDI
2006 Jetta
It's probably not the tuner's fault on this one, or if it is, they added to existing problems. How did you determine that the immobilizer was the issue? Why did the car sit for 6 months?

If the two issues with the transmission and the number 3 injector are related, then it's more than likely some sort of wiring issue rather than an ECU issue. Either way, it's easier to first focus on this injector issue. The confuser isn't happy with what it's seeing from #3, so check that the injector harness has a good connection, along with the connector going to number 3. Also check the continuity from the #3 injector and connector. Along with the continuity in the injector harness for the #3. If the continuity is looking good, swap the injector with another one and see if the problem moves or not. Afterwards, consider a compression test and check your timing.

Diagnose the issue before throwing parts at it.
Thanks for the input!

I am definitely not going to just start throwing parts at it. I did the tranny oil and fuel filter cause it needed done anyways, but that is all I am doing without knowing what it wrong.

I determined the immobilizer was the issue by what it was doing was exactly as described on this site as well as the tuners site and youtube videos of same problem. It was an intermittent problem the car would start then immediately turn off and the immo light would flash. or it would start and run beautiful. There was never any in between, zero hint of a misfire and zero tranny issues. ***the immo delete worked the car starts and runs every time now. **** so that issue was solved.

The car sat because my mother-in-law passed away, it was her vehicle.

I have gone as far as I can. I have checked all the connections I can see. I have 3 motorcycle projects I am starting today so I am going to take it to the local VW guru today and leave it with him.
 

Revster

Member
Joined
Mar 6, 2018
Location
Manitoba
TDI
2006 Jetta
UPDATE:

Been back and forth with the VW tech he has gone over every inch of that electrical system and tested all of the injectors. He even went as far as to swap in a new harness. No change. He has reached a dead end and says there is no reason the car should be running this way other than a problem with the ECM. He believes the flash is causing the issue.

I contacted the tuner and advised of him of the findings and he requested I send the ECM back to him. So I just need to get the car back and then I will pull the ECM for the 3rd time and send it back.

I will advise of the results for anyone else that runs into this issue.
Thanks to all of you that offered advice on this.

On a side note the motorcycle projects are going great. Helped my daughter strip her dirtbike down to the frame for a complete rebuild and some powder coating.
 

Revster

Member
Joined
Mar 6, 2018
Location
Manitoba
TDI
2006 Jetta
Another update:

ECU back from KermTDI no change. Engine doesn't run properly and transmission does not shift. It is exactly the same as it was the first time I got it back from them. The tuner told me he wrote it from a known good ECU.

So I have not exhausted all of the suggestions on here.

At this point I am thinking I need either a new ECU or to send mine to someone that can test/repair this one.

Anyone have suggestions on that? Anyone have a ECU for sale from a 2006 Jetta?
 

Revster

Member
Joined
Mar 6, 2018
Location
Manitoba
TDI
2006 Jetta
A couple guys PM'D me some advise to get my hands on a gauge and ECM from and junked car and I was able to do just that. It was shipped today, I have an ECM, gauge cluster and a key fob on the way.

Now... my question is, can the key be taken apart? I will have the matching key for the immo but the teeth likely wont match my ignition.
 

Revster

Member
Joined
Mar 6, 2018
Location
Manitoba
TDI
2006 Jetta
FIXED!! Swapped in an ECM, gauge cluster and key fob from a wrecked Jetta and it is running and shifting as it should. It was 100% the ECM, either it went bad or the flash made it that way.

The only system that is not working now is the stereo. It displays CODE 1000 so I am guessing it needs to be pared with the ECM? I will have to research that.
 

Revster

Member
Joined
Mar 6, 2018
Location
Manitoba
TDI
2006 Jetta
FIXED!! Swapped in an ECM, gauge cluster and key fob from a wrecked Jetta and it is running and shifting as it should. It was 100% the ECM, either it went bad or the flash made it that way.
The only system that is not working now is the stereo. It displays CODE 1000 so I am guessing it needs to be pared with the ECM? I will have to research that.
Found my code in the manual all systems are operational! Its nice to get a couple wins after so many losses.

Thanks for the help everyone that gave advice!
 
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