Tale of woe: P0544 --> DPF failure

Ann · Jan 25, 2020

/rant-ish and a warning....
My husband and I travel during the winter....left Maine, headed to FL, we have family in NE Florida. 09 JSW (almost 135k miles) gets flashing glow plug light. vagcom says P0544, sensor 1 for exhaust temp bank 1.
Easy fix, hubby changed one out pre diesel gate and is covered under the emission warranty. Easy peasy!
Called local VW dealer, make appointment. Dealer says, yup, needs a sensor, we will order part and call when it arrives (this is day after Christmas). By Monday, now I have a check engine light and DPF light. Back to dealer, part is on back order, dunno when it's arriving, we will call you. (No mention about "you shouldn't be driving the car, let's get you a loaner) Monday afternoon the car has lost acceleration, and barely makes it up some overpasses....back to dealer. It's yours, let me know when it's done, I need to go to Maine and will be back in two weeks.
While in Maine I get a call, it's done! That same afternoon...nope, it's not. Test drive shows another code, wasn't real explicit on what it was...more parts on back order, we will call....
I return to Florida, hey what's up with my wagon? First ordered part, was shipped the wrong item, order again, more back order, fixed, then new code, more ordering, etc. I'm driving a borrowed car from family, never offered (I never asked) a loaner. (Monday Jan 20th)
By midweek, I get a call...your car needs a DPF and we can't get one until April...would you be interested in trading your car in? (Setup?)
How about a loaner until April? That I can tow behind my motor home on our planned trip out west??? Can't do that, we can't do a loaner for three months and you can't take a loaner out of state....
So, now I'm in a jam. The borrowed car needs to go back to its owner, my wagon is dead, most likely because dealer didn't say "don't drive it! Let's get you a loaner" when I brought it in on Dec 26. And no DPF until April? How are you doing emissions modifications?? And why are all these parts on back order? Not enough made for the modifications? Or are the modifications failing??
Super frustrated ?
And a warning....if you have a bad sensor - GET A LOANER! Don't drive your car!!!

Mozambiquer · Jan 25, 2020

Ann said:
/rant-ish and a warning....

My husband and I travel during the winter....left Maine, headed to FL, we have family in NE Florida. 09 JSW (almost 135k miles) gets flashing glow plug light. vagcom says P0544, sensor 1 for exhaust temp bank 1.

Easy fix, hubby changed one out pre diesel gate and is covered under the emission warranty. Easy peasy!

Called local VW dealer, make appointment. Dealer says, yup, needs a sensor, we will order part and call when it arrives (this is day after Christmas). By Monday, now I have a check engine light and DPF light. Back to dealer, part is on back order, dunno when it's arriving, we will call you. (No mention about "you shouldn't be driving the car, let's get you a loaner) Monday afternoon the car has lost acceleration, and barely makes it up some overpasses....back to dealer. It's yours, let me know when it's done, I need to go to Maine and will be back in two weeks.

While in Maine I get a call, it's done! That same afternoon...nope, it's not. Test drive shows another code, wasn't real explicit on what it was...more parts on back order, we will call....

I return to Florida, hey what's up with my wagon? First ordered part, was shipped the wrong item, order again, more back order, fixed, then new code, more ordering, etc. I'm driving a borrowed car from family, never offered (I never asked) a loaner. (Monday Jan 20th)

By midweek, I get a call...your car needs a DPF and we can't get one until April...would you be interested in trading your car in? (Setup?)

How about a loaner until April? That I can tow behind my motor home on our planned trip out west??? Can't do that, we can't do a loaner for three months and you can't take a loaner out of state....

So, now I'm in a jam. The borrowed car needs to go back to its owner, my wagon is dead, most likely because dealer didn't say "don't drive it! Let's get you a loaner" when I brought it in on Dec 26. And no DPF until April? How are you doing emissions modifications?? And why are all these parts on back order? Not enough made for the modifications? Or are the modifications failing??

Super frustrated [emoji36]

And a warning....if you have a bad sensor - GET A LOANER! Don't drive your car!!!

If you find a tdi shop, often what your can do is either get the dpf baked, or delete it (can be questionable in some areas check your laws) I have worked on a lot of dpfs, mostly on bigger trucks, they are a real pain!

Sent from my S60 using Tapatalk

Ann · Jan 25, 2020

Mozambiquer, Maine requires yearly safety inspections, I'm not sure if they run an OBD check unless there's a MIL lit

Ann · Jan 25, 2020

Actually, I shouldn't have to do anything...and wouldn't want to....deleting the DPF voids the emissions warranty....and they should fix it...if it takes three months, then I should have a loaner for three months. There should be no difference between if I was a local resident and my sole car was my JSW or being "on the road" away from home and my sole vehicle is non drivable due to VW's parts availability issue.

Mozambiquer · Jan 25, 2020

Ann said:
Actually, I shouldn't have to do anything...and wouldn't want to....deleting the DPF voids the emissions warranty....and they should fix it...if it takes three months, then I should have a loaner for three months. There should be no difference between if I was a local resident and my sole car was my JSW or being "on the road" away from home and my sole vehicle is non drivable due to VW's parts availability issue.

That would be correct. Deleting it will void the warranty, which is a whole different ball game. They are supposed to cover the repair, and probably want you to trade in to roll the cost down the road to someone else. They probably wouldn't give you full trade in even for it, since it's not operable.
Hope you get it figured out!

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Ann · Jan 28, 2020

Since I'm not local, I ended up in a crappy jam.

The dealership had no loaner cars and "we can't do anything for you." I called VW customer service, then a half hour later I'm told the dealer would reimburse me $35 a day to get a rental car. Ended up trading the wagon in for a used Escape so we could leave town (which threw a - thank goodness not life threatening - check engine light after 60 miles).

Today I got a call from a regional manager with some workaround, and told her too late, I traded in the wagon because I needed a vehicle. She apologized and said THERES A NATIONWIDE BACKORDER ON DPFs AND THEY DONT KNOW WHEN THEY WILL SHIP.

I just found another DPF failure thread here, and I'm sure if the tech would have said not to drive my car when I came in the first time, I wouldn't need a DPF (now). However, it appears that it's a problem. So maybe good I got rid of it and glad the Gold TDI we looked at was crap (and couldn't have a trailer hitch installed) so we won't get caught again further down the road.

ebain21 · Jan 29, 2020

That seems like a really unfortunate situation being in an out of the area and needing a car. For others: VW states in the emissions warranty that a loaner must be provided for any repair over 3 hours. Cars with a CEL/MIL will not regen so continuing to drive it can cause further issues (EGR filter clogging with soot getting through the DPF, Soot getting back up into your intake/turbo from the EGR, Etc.) Push the dealer to give you a loaner and fight when they push back. Get VWoA involved if needed. When my DPF got replaced, I told them I was keeping the loaner until it was fixed even when they said I could drive my car.

Ann · Feb 1, 2020

The dealer has it listed for sale.... I guess if you want to wait until April when they *might* have a DPF for it.....

Oh yeah...did you notice the spare is on the left rear? The original wheel is bent and needs replacing....
And that cloudy headlight. Well, I guess in Florida (no inspection), it doesn't matter, but in Maine it does.
I ordered and received a new wheel and headlight assembly (thanks ID Parts) a few weeks before the sensor went bad, so I will have those things to sell at some point....

https://www.vwstaug.com/used-St+Augustine-2009-Volkswagen-Jetta-TDI+20-3VWTL71K49M347982

Tale of woe: P0544 --> DPF failure

Ann

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Ann

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Ann

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Ann

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Ann

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