Recall for glow plugs and computer program change

I got a recall notice has any one done this yet I was wondering if the re flash was going to have any performance issues as in a decrease in power.This is for 2004 - 2005 Jetta 04 -06 Golf ,Beetle

OK, went to the dealer here in Laurel MD to set up an appointment to get my glow plugs changed out. My car is a 2006 Golf TDI, with automatic. Everything I read on here says my car has the ceramic plugs. Am I wrong? Guy behind the service counter says the recall is only for manual transmission cars AND that my VIN isn't in their computer for this recall. WHAT GIVES? IS VOA releasing the VIN's in batches?

Also, this is a three owner vehicle, with me being the third owner. The first owner is still listed in the VOA data base as the current owner of the car. Anyone know how to fix that??

Thanks

ritsco said:

OK, went to the dealer here in Laurel MD to set up an appointment to get my glow plugs changed out. My car is a 2006 Golf TDI, with automatic. Everything I read on here says my car has the ceramic plugs. Am I wrong? Guy behind the service counter says the recall is only for manual transmission cars AND that my VIN isn't in their computer for this recall. WHAT GIVES? IS VOA releasing the VIN's in batches?

Also, this is a three owner vehicle, with me being the third owner. The first owner is still listed in the VOA data base as the current owner of the car. Anyone know how to fix that??

Thanks

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tell the tech guy at dealership to go back to school to reflash his grade 6 reading skills.
The recall letter says:
On affected ....(model names, including jetta, nb, etc)....and manual transmission, dealer will inspect and if necessary update the ECM. (period, full stop)
On all affected vehicles, dealer will inspect and if necessary update ECM and change glow plugs.
Your car is listed as "all" affected vehicles. I suggest you to contact VOA to sort this out.

plus, at the bottom of the recall letter, you VIN is listed there. So you are entitled to be free serviced for this recall campaign

give you some heads-up
I called another local dealer asking for this specific recall. The service manager pops up computer and told me that my vehicle is qualified for this one which includes update both ECM and glow plugs. So it was same story as yours.
However, he said my vehicle is qualified for another recall which only updates ECM software.
I discussed further with him, and finally he admitted it was a mistake and my vehicle is qualified for both ECM and glow plugs update.
I will bring my car in tomorrow and post the story afterwards.

Thanks for the info. I will head over to the dealer when Oliver is finished with me car and get this sorted out. I didn't get a recall notice, but I will attemot to make my point without it.

All,

I just got back from Ourisman VW in Laurel, MD. I have to say, the service manager was really nice and he went to great lengths to find out if my car was actually involved in this recall or not.

Well, it turns out my car, as of now, it is not effected. He pulled up all the VIN groups affected by this recall as of 30 July and my serial number was not in those groups.

I guess the recall is not for ALL 2004-2006 Golfs, just VIN specific groups. Oh well, I am either safe or screwed!

The recall letter specifically indicated ALL 2004-2006 diesel engine models.
Also, the TSB has a chart for VIN range. It says ALL VIN

Well, our 2005 Beetle TDI with manual trans does not come up in the VIN database for this recall either. Just for the recall that involves re-programming the ECM but not changing the glow plugs.

jqian, you'll love this. That TSB you mentioned came out November 2008..... March 2009: Our car goes into dealer under warranty for glow plug CEL. They disregard the TSB that is in force and throw an 11 volt (OE is 7 volts) ceramic glow plug in cylinder #1 and call it done.

I only recently discovered the situation because its my wife's car. They now refuse to correct the situation, all the way up through the management.

I opened a case with VOA about it (failure to comply with TSB during the March warranty repair). Wish me luck.

I think they may be releasing them in batches to spread it out a little bit so that dealers arent swamped with a hundred calls to make an appointment for recall......


Thats what I heard through the grapvine anyway

jqian said:

The recall letter specifically indicated ALL 2004-2006 diesel engine models.
Also, the TSB has a chart for VIN range. It says ALL VIN

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The recall does not cover ALL of these cars. It says they will inspect the car and if necessary....

Some of these cars did not have Bosch ceramic plugs in them, but NGK plugs (from the factory). But since the VINs can sometimes not give all the info, in some cases they want to verify the car's equipment.

It is very possible that cars with VINs NOT in this recall but WITH Bosch ceramic plugs WILL eventually be in a further campaign, but not this one. This happened with the brake light switches. The B5s were not recalled until the A4s were almost all already mailed out and done.

SootFoot said:

Well, our 2005 Beetle TDI with manual trans does not come up in the VIN database for this recall either. Just for the recall that involves re-programming the ECM but not changing the glow plugs.

jqian, you'll love this. That TSB you mentioned came out November 2008..... March 2009: Our car goes into dealer under warranty for glow plug CEL. They disregard the TSB that is in force and throw an 11 volt (OE is 7 volts) ceramic glow plug in cylinder #1 and call it done.

I only recently discovered the situation because its my wife's car. They now refuse to correct the situation, all the way up through the management.

I opened a case with VOA about it (failure to comply with TSB during the March warranty repair). Wish me luck.

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sounds to me this is ridiculous.
The recall letter mailed out recently at the end of july 2009 says
"affected models AND manual transmission" vehicles need to be reflashed ECM.
"all affected models" vehicles need to be reflashed ECM AND replace glow plugs.
First of all, I don't understand why the transmission makes the difference about glow plugs.
TSB as you mentioned was came out last year, it clearly stated all the VIN without mentioning transmission at all.

I called VW of Canada customer care couple of days ago to raise my concern on this confusion. The woman on the phone was totally clueless, but kept saying dealers would do their jobs due diligent, blah...blah....She sounded like blaming me not trust dealers (of course I don't trust dealers!).

VW of Canada or US (presumably) are totally helpless and incompetent. They don't know and don't care what you talk about.

Anyhow, I finally found a local dealership in Toronto that is helpful and knowledgeable and honored everything said in both recall and tsb letters.

I have an 04 Jetta TDI and have received the recall notice from VW. The problem is the only VW dealer on my island has gone out of business. A local mechanic who works mostly on VWs has arranged for a VW tech to fly in from Oahu and do the work on my car and two others on a weekend later this month. This is supposed to cost me nothing. Apparently the time-consuming part of the job is re-flashing the ECM, which is to take an hour and a half. We'll see. In any case, this looks to end much better than I'd have thought.

might there be a way to find out if one has NGK glow plugs (already) via a VIN # ?
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rcracer said:

might there be a way to find out if one has NGK glow plugs (already) via a VIN # ?
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valid or INvalid ?

Glow plugs

rcracer said:

might there be a way to find out if one has NGK glow plugs (already) via a VIN # ?
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Click to expand...

No, easy way is to carefully remove 1 glow plug and see if it is Bosch or NGK. Be sure you don't break it! Oh is dealer breaks glow plug while removing it you will pay the extra labor charge to get pieces removed from cylinder if mechanic tells you. I fear that he might send you on your way without telling you a piece is in yor cylinder wrecking havoc to be discovered miles & miles down the road.