04 jetta wagon will not start.

Hello, I have a or Jetta wagon that currently will not start. Started having low power this morning. Loud turbo whine, very low power, and no smoke. Later on it it threw a 2099 code. As I was limping it home the turbo whine was varying from loud to quiet with it finally getting quiet and it felt like it was dragging the motor down until it died. Then it would not restart but would still try to fire as I'm cranking on it. After I got it home I noticed a broken wire going into the plug that branches out to the egr valve, boost cooling valve and manifold switching valve which are located at the top of the firewall above the brake booster. I hope/think this might be my issue and maybe get an easy fix. Either way I want to fix this before I start looking further. I've taken a pic of it but it's not giving me the "attach photo" option and I don't want to have to register at photobucket or wherever. What I want is to know what that harness is called so I can order a new one. I've tried searching and can't find anything. The wire broke right where it exits the thick rubber cover and I do not think it'll be easy to get to and solder. Anyone have any ideas?

As far as the EGR wiring harness goes, I would just source a used one. A good place to buy parts is off people parting cars. You can look here, on facebook(tdi owners for sale group), or on craigslist.

The ASV could be stuck which could possibly cause a no start. 2099 is a boost related code so perhaps you have multiple things at play here. I would for sure fix your wiring. Perhaps other more experience people here can chime in.

Often boost codes are related to vacuum leaks, actuator operation, or n75 operation. This is a good writeup for limp mode: http://forums.tdiclub.com/showthread.php?t=179589

I just going to try to solder it when I get home. I'll have to remove some of the rubber to get into the wires enough to solder in a little bite of extra wire then shrink tube. I'm still trying to find a new one to buy but I don't know the term for the harness but it's the wires that plug into the n75 valve and all the other components in that little cluster on the firewall. I don't know why I can't attach a picture from my android a50 phone.

So I soldered the wires but it still will not start. If I let it sit for awhile when I try start it it will idle rough for a couple seconds then die. Other than that it seems like its starving for fuel as I'm cranking. The broken wire that I fixed goes to the plug that's on the tube that connects the valve cover to the intake tube. Is this like a pcv valve on a gasser? If so I'm wondering if it tripped a emissions code and shut it down or something. Can these cars shut down and not start unless the code is reset or battery reconnected or something? Does anyone have any ideas what I should do next. Any help would be greatly appreciated. Thank you.

IIRC that thing is a heater of some sort for the PCV system.



If those wires are having issues, there will probably be others.


What's going on with the wires, is it rodents or something?

No rodents. Just a spot in the wire where the insulation got stiff and the vibration of the motor did the rest until it were thru. I'm thinking my antishutter valve might be shut on it. When it quit on the highway it felt almost like an exhaust brake dragging it down and now will only idles roughly for a few seconds then won't start at all till it sits awhile.

I would think if you had wire chaffing in those spots (unusual), that you might have some of the more common areas with issues. One area of concern is the bundle of wires that go under the battery and then to the engine.


Unrelated, but is your lift pump good? Fuel filter?

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Thank you for the input so far. Just for reference the lift pump turns on with the key but was running kinda loud with cooler temps. All the dash lights and glow plug lights turn on fine before I crank it over. The 2099 code was for underboost also but I cleared it to see if it would start. The wire looked like it broke because the black wire cover cracked and thru vibration took the wires with it. It's like the air is choked off to it when starting. It went into limp mode where it has no boost and very low power in the morning on the way to work then after checking the 2099 code after work 8hrs later it ended up dieing on the highway a few miles down the road. Before it died it had varying levels of turbo whine intermixed with very low amounts of boost with a steady pedal and when it died the whine quieted down and felt like an exhaust brake was dragging the motor down. I'm going to try to find more info on what to start checking next. Thanks again!

I took the boost tube off of the antishutter valve and she started right up and idled fine which eliminates a clogged intake or cat, or bad antishutter valve Unless I sucked something in that blocked the intake my guess is I probably need a new turbo Also, I don't know how much boost there should be at idle but there wasn't really anything coming out of the boost tube when idling.

Don't say goodby to your turbo just yet, as there's no boost at idle... in fact, very little even if you rev the engine in the driveway.

Engine has to be working against a load and putting out waste heat in order for the turbo to do its thing.

It's also true that the car does not need a functional turbo to start.

My guess is that you've not quite found the real issue yet.

I get that but it will not start at all if I put the boost pipe back on which proves that it's not getting enough air going thru the turbo. If it's not the turbo then I don't see how else the motor would not get air because I removed the pipe before the ASV, egr, and intake. The turbo rpms were fluctuating a lot with a steady pedal before the motor died and decelerated like it had an exhaust brake. Also, I had about 2 tbl spoons of oil at the pipe/ASV but I don't know how much is normal.

A couple tablespoons is "normal" if it built up over the months since the last time you drained the system. It's not normal if it happened all at once.

The next step might be to pull the intake boot off the turbo intake end and inspect... maybe the shaft broke and the impeller has moved forward to block the inlet, maybe the turbo ingested something that's blocking the airway.... several possibilities.

I agree and thank you for your responses. I'm guessing I need to access this from under the car? I'll need to get her up on blocks and remove the skid plate. This will be my first time working on the back side of the motor so I still need to research further. Thank you for the help.

Yup, get the front end up on blocks, pull the plastic splash pan, if it's still there, and you'll easily find the turbo on the back side towards the firewall.

Pretty easy to get to, in comparison to other things on that engine.

Vince Waldon said:

Yup, get the front end up on blocks, pull the plastic splash pan, if it's still there, and you'll easily find the turbo on the back side towards the firewall.
Pretty easy to get to, in comparison to other things on that engine.

Click to expand...

Got it done and confirmed my suspicions when the center of the impeller fell out when I removed the intake tube. Now I need to start looking for a good quality turbo for a good price. I've seen cheap options on ebay but I'm guessing the quality can be questionable? I'll start researching turbo removal/installation and start plugging away. Again thanks to all who have responded!

Bought a new turbo from kerma tdi, flushed the intercooler, cleaned the tubes, intake and egr. It took a while with all the ot I've been working. But, once I got it reassembled it runs great. Thanks to all who helped.