List of typical problems on the 05-06 TDI Jetta

cujet

Veteran Member
Joined
Jun 5, 2005
Location
Florida, Hurricane central
TDI
2006 Jetta
I wanted to start a running list of typical problems with this model car. These items are "common" and owners would do well to understand these problems.

1) Dual Mass Flywheel (DMF) rattle and eventual failure on the DSG equipped cars. The NHTSA should know about this one.

2) EGR cooler leaking exhaust and boost, due to a failing "soft" seal on the valve shaft. The EPA should know about this one.

3) Dragging rear brakes due to Parking Brake cable adjusted too tight from the factory and/or rear caliper return springs too weak to return the caliper lever to the "OFF" position.

4) Camshafts wear out rapidly. From what I see, this is common.

5) Somewhat less common is the DSG "Mechatronic" unit failing. This is the transmission valve body.

6) Fuse issues. The fuse box is poorly designed and made. Often fuses don't make proper contact due to the lack of "spring" on the single sided contact tabs. Don't mess with the fuse box if not necessary.

7) Headlights not properly aimed from the factory. Difficult, but not impossible to adjust them correctly. Dealers put caps to prevent adjustment.

8) "rubberized" switchgear delaminates, showing the white plastic underneath. Such as the radio knobs and the window switches. This is ugly.

That should start the list! Please feel free to add items.

Chris
 

oilhammer

Certified Volkswagen Nut & Vendor
Joined
Dec 11, 2001
Location
outside St Louis, MO
TDI
There are just too many to list....
Couple things to add:

Torx screws on door skins come loose, usually the uppers on the fronts.

Trunk latch switch gets flakey and shows the trunk open (this part has been upgraded, so this has been addressed)

The fuse box has been upgraded as well.

Have yet to see a BRM with a cam issue myself. I think all PDs are predisposed to cam/follower wear, and there is a new lifter now. But I have yet to see it as an epidemic.

The DMF (both manuals and automatics) has been upgraded several times, not sure if they finally have a durable part yet.

None of the A5 customers I have would show any considerable brake wear, in fact they seem to be much easier on brakes than the A4 cars. Most get rear brakes in the 50k+ range at the lowest it seems. Although I do see the inner pads wearing faster than the outers.
 

Schwin

Member
Joined
Jan 3, 2009
Location
Barrie, Ontario
TDI
2006 Jetta TDI w/ DSG 453,954 Km, 2013 Jetta TDI w/ DSG.
(Intake Flap Motor V157 with Intake Manifold Runner Position Sensor G336) part # 03G-128-063-A. The valve flap stem seal leaks allowing oil into the flap position sensor then the Valve motor pinion chews up the cheesy plastic swing gear. Hence the click and grind just after engine shut down. Should be checked reguarly befor this happens.
 

maloosheck

Veteran Member
Joined
Jan 9, 2006
Location
Sterling, VA
TDI
2K6 1K2 BRM, 2K8 7L6 BWF, 85 16 MF
I would suggest to define "typical" and "common" first...

Knocking on wood, out of the problems mentioned above only two of them happened to my car: DMF and trunk latch. But I can find a long list of things that happened to at least 2 people:

- windshield washer hose breaks at hood hinge
- the fuel flap lock blocks
- rubber bushings of front suspension fail
- leaks around sunroof
- transmission leaks
- engine leaks around valve cover
- clock-spring/slip-ring wires break
- climatic resistor pack fries (probably problem with blower motor)
- climatic/climatronic motors click
- footwell area heating does not work
- seat heating does not work
- glow plugs break and destroy engine
- battery in remote discharged quickly
- center brake light reflection on the rear window
- passenger side airbag connector - resistance too high

Which ones fall under "common" and "typical"?
 

Vipervnm

Veteran Member
Joined
Jul 27, 2006
Location
Kingwood, NJ
TDI
2006 Jetta TDI Package 1
Headlight issue is annoying and I wouldn't really classify it as a problem, just not ideal...but not difficult to fix unless you took your car in for the recall that plugged the adjusters before you adjusted your lights.

The only actual problems I've had with the vehicle were with the poor quality Conti tires and the sunglasses holder latch in the overheard console. Mechanically, the Jetta has been flawless for me. I can't speak for the camshaft yet because I haven't looked at it. However, I disagree with the description of the camshaft issue as 'common' and 'wear rapidly'. There is no where near enough data to prove it's common and 150,000 miles isn't rapid..sooo.
 

audis6avant

Well-known member
Joined
Sep 25, 2005
Location
New Jersey
TDI
Jetta, 2006, Blue Graphite
my repair history...

- rear center armrest locking mechanisn (upon taking delivery)
- oil leak on turbo line (approx 20k)
- rear door lock actuator (approx 25k)
- trunk latch mechanisn (approx 30k)
- oil leak from valve cover gasket (approx 50k)
- EGR valve stuck open (approx 55k)

All of the above with the exception of the EGR valve were repaired/replaced under warranty. Car is a 2006 DSG with about 59k miles (took delivery 9/05).
 

Almagne

Well-known member
Joined
Sep 27, 2006
Location
Conshohocken, PA
TDI
2015 Gray Jetta. 2014 Black Jetta. 2006.5 Gray Jetta--retired.
Many have had problems with the wiring to the LED turn signals on the side-view mirrors.

In other words, one side stops working.
 

sohccammer427

Veteran Member
Joined
Jan 19, 2007
Location
Eastern North Carolina
TDI
2015 Passat SE TDi 6 Speed Manual
My driver side door rattles when the radio has low bass notes. Passenger side does not do this. I am planning of removeing the door panel one weekend to investagate.

____________
'06.5 Jetta TDi
 

DieselDavid

Veteran Member
Joined
Sep 6, 2005
Location
Maryland
TDI
2015 Passat SE TDI 6M, 2015 Golf SEL TDI DSG
For many people the clock runs slightly slow, although a few people have found their clock to run slightly fast.

Although the odometer is quite accurate, the speedometer shows that we are traveling faster than reality.

The MFD does not display accurate average fuel economy estimates. It tends to be overestimate the values, generally about 114% of the actual values.

In my opinion the radio does not display the ID-3 tag information in MP3 files properly. We should be viewing the artist name, the album title, and the song title. Viewing the folder number is not extremely useful. Unfortunately this is how the radio was designed to operate so technically it is not a problem - but it is worth including in this list.
 
Last edited:

emdeeaitch

Veteran Member
Joined
Dec 2, 2004
Location
San Jose, CA
TDI
2012 Golf TDI
TPMS sensors, rear brakes

I know a couple of other guys, and myself makes 3, who have all been having our TPMS sensors die just about 2 years into the car's life. But this is not just a Jetta issue. This is anything in the 2005-6 timeframe. My friend who has had all 4 die is in a Toureg. So far My 2006 Jetta has had 3 of 4 sensors die. The dealer is replacing them under warranty and does not give me a specific reason for their deaths, but I think it's safe to say that VW was just using really cheap batteries. This is major nuisance item, because the computer only registers that a sensor is out without specifying which one (though some later iterations are said to identify which wheel it's coming from). That means that in the version I have, they have to do a time consuming troubleshooting routine to locate the defective sensor before they can replace it. In terms of actual time and component cost, it would be cheaper to just replace all 4 at once if you were paying for it yourself at full labor rates, but since VW is free to abuse the dealer, they have to painfully locate each one and burn more time than the parts are worth. Thus far, they have wasted somewhere between 12 and 15 shop hours cumulatively on my car to replace 3 TMPS sensors. I'm just hoping the 4th one dies in the 6K miles I have left in warranty.

I'm also having the aforementioned issue in which the caliper on a rear break does not return to full open quickly enough and rubs for a moment before, as well as excessive rubbing in the first seconds of operation after releasing the parking break. My inner pads have also worn out on the rear faster than the outer pads. I have 44k on my near death rear brakes, which is better than some of you are getting, but far worse than my A3 Jetta on which all 4 breaks made it to 70K.
 

oilhammer

Certified Volkswagen Nut & Vendor
Joined
Dec 11, 2001
Location
outside St Louis, MO
TDI
There are just too many to list....
It takes about 45 seconds to read a TPMS sensor. Hardly time consuming. Basically 30 seconds for the reciever to read one sensor to get the protocol locked in, then another 15 to walk around the car. Unless that first sensor won't read, then you have to try on another one. So maybe you spend a minute or so. This is with a hand-held TPMS tool (a universal tool that works on most every car). I think VAG has a specific SST for the task, but I am not certain. Either way, it is easy.:cool:
 

DidJettarun

Veteran Member
Joined
Nov 16, 2008
Location
South Carolina
TDI
A5 2005.5 Jetta A4 2003 Jetta
Here is one more for the list:

The airbox intake valve...probably incorrectly named but it is the little door in the airbox that allows heated air off the manifold into the engine and is controlled by a wax plug that fails and leaves the door open. I believe that this feature was intended to melt ice/snow that accumulated in grill blocking air inlet. VAG does not sell this part separately... you have to purchase an entire new airbox assembly ($200). Using shims to close the door to allow cool dense air into engine....Priceless!
 

velociT

Top Post Dawg
Joined
May 10, 2006
Location
Not Austin, TX
TDI
06 Jetta TDI *sold*
DidJettarun said:
Here is one more for the list:

The airbox intake valve...probably incorrectly named but it is the little door in the airbox that allows heated air off the manifold into the engine and is controlled by a wax plug that fails and leaves the door open. I believe that this feature was intended to melt ice/snow that accumulated in grill blocking air inlet. VAG does not sell this part separately... you have to purchase an entire new airbox assembly ($200). Using shims to close the door to allow cool dense air into engine....Priceless!
OR you could have spent less than that on a BL cold air intake which deletes that feature.
 

emdeeaitch

Veteran Member
Joined
Dec 2, 2004
Location
San Jose, CA
TDI
2012 Golf TDI
oilhammer said:
It takes about 45 seconds to read a TPMS sensor. Hardly time consuming. Basically 30 seconds for the reciever to read one sensor to get the protocol locked in, then another 15 to walk around the car. Unless that first sensor won't read, then you have to try on another one. So maybe you spend a minute or so. This is with a hand-held TPMS tool (a universal tool that works on most every car). I think VAG has a specific SST for the task, but I am not certain. Either way, it is easy.:cool:
I believe you are correct on the later and better TPMS units, but my car (as well as many others) have the crappy units that VW slammed on us when they were trying to meet the first year of 20 percent of cars shipped compliance under the new federal law, which is now up to 100 percent as I understand it. The later units, as explained to me by several people, agree with what you just said. But every time I have brought my car in, they have to do a painful procedure in which they deflate the tires one at a time and do a process of elimination to figure out which one is reliably at fault. Part of the issue seems to be that their behavior is intermittent when they begin to die, which may be an issue of dying battery strength. The intermittency greatly exacerbates the diagnosis... whatever it is, the amount of time they are spending to diagnose my TPMS sensors is real. After 3 times, I'm sure of that.
 

emdeeaitch

Veteran Member
Joined
Dec 2, 2004
Location
San Jose, CA
TDI
2012 Golf TDI
DidJettarun said:
Here is one more for the list:

The airbox intake valve...probably incorrectly named but it is the little door in the airbox that allows heated air off the manifold into the engine and is controlled by a wax plug that fails and leaves the door open. I believe that this feature was intended to melt ice/snow that accumulated in grill blocking air inlet. VAG does not sell this part separately... you have to purchase an entire new airbox assembly ($200). Using shims to close the door to allow cool dense air into engine....Priceless!
Wow. I'm glad I read this before I drove another 50K in my car.... So, is there any thread about how this affects fuel economy? My car historically gets better MPG in the winter, presumably due to the aforementioned cool dense air, so it would seem relevant. Is there a thread on how to shim this? ... sorry for being slightly off topic.
 

oilhammer

Certified Volkswagen Nut & Vendor
Joined
Dec 11, 2001
Location
outside St Louis, MO
TDI
There are just too many to list....
emdeeaitch said:
I believe you are correct on the later and better TPMS units, but my car (as well as many others) have the crappy units that VW slammed on us when they were trying to meet the first year of 20 percent of cars shipped compliance under the new federal law, which is now up to 100 percent as I understand it. The later units, as explained to me by several people, agree with what you just said. But every time I have brought my car in, they have to do a painful procedure in which they deflate the tires one at a time and do a process of elimination to figure out which one is reliably at fault. Part of the issue seems to be that their behavior is intermittent when they begin to die, which may be an issue of dying battery strength. The intermittency greatly exacerbates the diagnosis... whatever it is, the amount of time they are spending to diagnose my TPMS sensors is real. After 3 times, I'm sure of that.
Yes but they ALL send a signal. It is just how you interpret that signal on the car side that is different. The dealer probably just does not want to buck up the $600+ for the tool that allows you to do so.

The later systems have better OBD data, and the sensor was updated to the 'D' suffix (formerly an 'A') but the frequency is still the same: 315 MHZ, so the handheld tool works the same early or late. :)
 

DidJettarun

Veteran Member
Joined
Nov 16, 2008
Location
South Carolina
TDI
A5 2005.5 Jetta A4 2003 Jetta
The post that has pictures of this "valve" in the airbox is in this section Airfilter / Prefilter...If you search these words in this A5 Forum...sorry but I have not learned how to post a link
 

fuzzywulf

Member
Joined
Sep 30, 2007
Location
Edmonton
TDI
06 Jetta
Car rattles everywhere when cold and the floor heat is not very good turning on the A/C helps but still poor
 

MyAvocation

Top Post Dawg
Joined
Jun 9, 2004
Location
Hoffman Estates, IL
TDI
2017 Passat SEL TSI
Some DSG issues I and others having:
- car leaps forward or reverse immediately upon starting engine
- shift into gear, but little or no movement (corrected with 'fuzzy logic' reset)

One brake issue:
- press pedal for first time and it goes to the floor with no braking. press again and works fine

NOTE: All these issues occur at very cold temps (in my case) below 15°F, and are very intermittent.
 

Tim Birney

Veteran Member
Joined
Dec 14, 2005
Location
Dearborn Heights, MI
TDI
05.5 TDI
There are no "Typical Problems" on the MKV platform.
There are typical issues that are witnessed by posts on this forum, and there are many of "us" that do not have those problems, and many of the Non-TDIClub/VWVortex owner's that do not share these problems.
 

cujet

Veteran Member
Joined
Jun 5, 2005
Location
Florida, Hurricane central
TDI
2006 Jetta
Tim, I beg to differ. If you want, come down to Florida and visit my dealer/mechanic. They are fairly honest about the "typical" problems they see. And, you know what, the EGR cooler, the flywheel, the dragging rear brakes and the DSG mechatronic unit are what the A5 is known for.

Show my dealer an engine rattle and he will tell you flywheel, without delay. Same with a hissing noise, EGR cooler. He knows it well. I wonder why????????
 

Tim Birney

Veteran Member
Joined
Dec 14, 2005
Location
Dearborn Heights, MI
TDI
05.5 TDI
Odd indeed. My own Local Dealership might be able to match that list also.
I might be one of the lucky ones (knock on wood), but I would still inject that the problematic 05/06 TDI issues are seemingly common to a minority of the cars that were produced in those years.
Overall, a list of common problems, or perceived problems that are common to VW TDIs on the MKV platform is relative to what the TDICLUB discussion covers. I am sure that there are many problems that a VW Dealership could classify as "common", but more in relationship to the MKV Chassis, than the actual power train.

Rear Brakes dragging/maladjusted, and the Washer Hose construction come to mind.
 

bfloyd4445

Active member
Joined
Apr 15, 2010
Location
oregon
TDI
2011 Golf 2dr all options
geez..and i am about to buy a 2010 golf four door or jetta wagon tdi dsg

are they really this junky?
 

oilhammer

Certified Volkswagen Nut & Vendor
Joined
Dec 11, 2001
Location
outside St Louis, MO
TDI
There are just too many to list....
bfloyd4445 said:
geez..and i am about to buy a 2010 golf four door or jetta wagon tdi dsg

are they really this junky?
Hehe, don't let it get to you too much. They have their issues, but honestly everything these days seems to. I'd buy one, no problem. Just so expensive. :cool:

The above posts are over a year old, some things have changed since then. This is THE best place for TDI knowledge.
 

Bob S.

Top Post Dawg
Joined
Aug 17, 2006
Location
Central MD.
TDI
A B4V, some ALHs & BRMs
bfloyd4445 said:
geez..and i am about to buy a 2010 golf four door or jetta wagon tdi dsg

are they really this junky?
Personally, I would not call in "junky".... Maybe interesting or always keeping one guessing as to what will develop next....
 

ssamalin

Veteran Member
Joined
May 13, 2007
Location
Southern CA
TDI
2015 Mercedes E250 Blutec. Previously: 2006 Jetta TDI
Tim Birney said:
There are no "Typical Problems" on the MKV platform.
There are typical issues that are witnessed by posts on this forum, and there are many of "us" that do not have those problems, and many of the Non-TDIClub/VWVortex owner's that do not share these problems.
6.5 man jetta, no problems at 100k except I replaced the cam at 80k.
 

PAJettaTDI

Well-known member
Joined
Sep 1, 2005
TDI
2015 Passat TDI SE 6 Spd
For those of us who have never dealt with such a thing, how would one know that the camshaft is worn out or may need replaced? Not exactly a thing you would want to rip apart and look at if you didn't have to.
 
Top