prepilot_3ck
Member
Hey everyone,
This is my first post here. I'm looking for a new home for information regarding my 2003 Jetta TDi Wagon. I have forums for my RV and my Land Rover, but now I need a home for my VW. I hope this is it. I'm on my 5th VW, always bought new with warranty etc, but this time... I got a 2003 Tdi with 250K on it. So I'm going to need some community help.
Here's my situation.
I picked up a 2003 VW Jetta Wagon from a local used car dealer. Body is in GREAT shape, it looks brand new. Almost no rust, no paint issues (standing back a few yards), interior is.. appropriately worn for 226K miles (when I got it) etc. I think I paid $5K for it. The only thing I wasn't excited about was the auto trans, but whatever. It's my commuter, I'm not too worried about it. The trans slipped quite a bit too, when it was hot outside, but I dealt with that and figured I'd just replace it when I had time/money to do so.
I've had it about 1 year now, and added about 25K miles to it, mostly highway. I drive 60 miles round trip to work, and I make monthly trips to Chicago and Milwaukee with it (500 round trips). It's been great. Best $5K I ever spent. Anyway, about a month ago, the turbo blew up and dumped all my oil and then the engine broke. I took it to a local repair shop that I like/trust/etc. and they swap the engine, turbo and while they had it opened up I asked them to replace the trans too. Done. All used, but new(er) than what I had in there. A week later I pick the car up and it runs great. No dash lights, trans feels good, it's got more power than it's ever had. The tubro REALLY whines, but MUCH louder than the last one, but there's plenty of power.
The second round trip to work, I'm coming home, and the engine light comes on, and the engine bogs down. It's like someone put a governor on it or something. RPMs come up, but it hesitates to shift, and there is no power to the wheels. Peddle to the floor, the engine at 4K RPM and I'm barely moving. Eventually the trans shifts, but it's just not going. I can still hear the turbo whining, so it appears to be engaged.
I take it back in to the shop, the next day I get it back and they had replaced the Mass Air Flow sensor. Great. Drove it to work the next day and it was great. 2nd day, same problem. Engine light, no power, shifting hesitates, etc.
I take it back in. "Thermostat is stuck, we cleaned it up, it's good now".
The next day, same problem. I take it back and say, "have another car, keep it as long as it takes." They replace a temp sensor, and drive it for a week as a parts runner car or something. They put like 200 miles on it" They call me and say it's ready. I show up, and my car isn't there. The mechanic says, "right after we called you, it started doing it again. We'd like to hand on to it for a few more days".
They replace another sensor or something and put another 200 miles on it. I pick it up last night and drive it home. I noticed the trans/power thing again, but no engine light. Well, this morning on my way to work, I wasn't even 3 miles from my house and the light came back on and I was crawling again. I'm taking it back in tonight.
Anyone have any ideas what the problem could be? Is the noticeably loud whine from the turbo significant? Could that be hooked up wrong? Is there anything else anyone can thing of that I might suggest to the repair shop? The engine codes seem to always be sensor related, temp,air flow,etc. but I don't know specifically. They have suggested it might be something with the ECU. They haven't charged me a dime for the past month or so of work since the engine/trans replacement so that's been nice. However, suggesting the ECU (or something not related to the engine/trans replacement) is going to start costing me. So, before they start throwing more parts at it, does anyone have any suggestions?
Thanks,
Brian
This is my first post here. I'm looking for a new home for information regarding my 2003 Jetta TDi Wagon. I have forums for my RV and my Land Rover, but now I need a home for my VW. I hope this is it. I'm on my 5th VW, always bought new with warranty etc, but this time... I got a 2003 Tdi with 250K on it. So I'm going to need some community help.
Here's my situation.
I picked up a 2003 VW Jetta Wagon from a local used car dealer. Body is in GREAT shape, it looks brand new. Almost no rust, no paint issues (standing back a few yards), interior is.. appropriately worn for 226K miles (when I got it) etc. I think I paid $5K for it. The only thing I wasn't excited about was the auto trans, but whatever. It's my commuter, I'm not too worried about it. The trans slipped quite a bit too, when it was hot outside, but I dealt with that and figured I'd just replace it when I had time/money to do so.
I've had it about 1 year now, and added about 25K miles to it, mostly highway. I drive 60 miles round trip to work, and I make monthly trips to Chicago and Milwaukee with it (500 round trips). It's been great. Best $5K I ever spent. Anyway, about a month ago, the turbo blew up and dumped all my oil and then the engine broke. I took it to a local repair shop that I like/trust/etc. and they swap the engine, turbo and while they had it opened up I asked them to replace the trans too. Done. All used, but new(er) than what I had in there. A week later I pick the car up and it runs great. No dash lights, trans feels good, it's got more power than it's ever had. The tubro REALLY whines, but MUCH louder than the last one, but there's plenty of power.
The second round trip to work, I'm coming home, and the engine light comes on, and the engine bogs down. It's like someone put a governor on it or something. RPMs come up, but it hesitates to shift, and there is no power to the wheels. Peddle to the floor, the engine at 4K RPM and I'm barely moving. Eventually the trans shifts, but it's just not going. I can still hear the turbo whining, so it appears to be engaged.
I take it back in to the shop, the next day I get it back and they had replaced the Mass Air Flow sensor. Great. Drove it to work the next day and it was great. 2nd day, same problem. Engine light, no power, shifting hesitates, etc.
I take it back in. "Thermostat is stuck, we cleaned it up, it's good now".
The next day, same problem. I take it back and say, "have another car, keep it as long as it takes." They replace a temp sensor, and drive it for a week as a parts runner car or something. They put like 200 miles on it" They call me and say it's ready. I show up, and my car isn't there. The mechanic says, "right after we called you, it started doing it again. We'd like to hand on to it for a few more days".
They replace another sensor or something and put another 200 miles on it. I pick it up last night and drive it home. I noticed the trans/power thing again, but no engine light. Well, this morning on my way to work, I wasn't even 3 miles from my house and the light came back on and I was crawling again. I'm taking it back in tonight.
Anyone have any ideas what the problem could be? Is the noticeably loud whine from the turbo significant? Could that be hooked up wrong? Is there anything else anyone can thing of that I might suggest to the repair shop? The engine codes seem to always be sensor related, temp,air flow,etc. but I don't know specifically. They have suggested it might be something with the ECU. They haven't charged me a dime for the past month or so of work since the engine/trans replacement so that's been nice. However, suggesting the ECU (or something not related to the engine/trans replacement) is going to start costing me. So, before they start throwing more parts at it, does anyone have any suggestions?
Thanks,
Brian
