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CalebYoung00

New member
Joined
Jul 30, 2020
Location
Charleston SC
TDI
2011 Jetta SW TDI DSG
Hey there!
So right down to business... about two weeks ago I got the airbag, esc/abs, and tire pressure lights all of a sudden. Thanks to the helpful folks here who have had the same issue in the past I ordered myself a new wheel speed sensor over a week ago from ecs tuning and it is set to arrive in a day or so. (been driving it as normal) Then today as I was moving the car into the garage the brake failure warning came on and the dash said to check the engine and service now. I have a code reader (not vcds) that pulled the code u0415 which is a lost contact with abs system code. I have had the sunroof leaking problem and cleaned out the drain, but I know that water has been in the car earlier. When I drive the car, the speedometer does not work and the gas gauge is all over the place. (just drove on the driveway) I get a steering wheel light and the glow plug light flashing as well as the brake light flashing. The brakes work fine. Any thoughts? Check the wiring harness?
 

Mongler98

Top Post Dawg
Joined
Mar 23, 2011
Location
COLORADO (SE of Denver)
TDI
98 Jetta TDI AHU 1.9L (944 TDI swap in progress) I moved so now i got nothing but an AHU in a garage on a pallet.
get voltmeter
too much voltage or not enough will do this, this can come from many places lol grounding issues, bad battery, bad alternator etc.....
 

ray.dylan00

New member
Joined
Aug 4, 2020
Location
New york
TDI
2003 Jetta TDI
New to owning a TDI

Im new to this forum and I actually do not own a TDI yet but I’m looking into purchasing a 2003 TDI it has about 157k miles on it and I was told the turbo isn’t “starting” when he starts the car. I don’t know if it’s a known issue or not. I was curious to know if it’s something electrical or if the turbo may have failed? The car does have a check engine light on but I haven’t been told what it’s for yet. As I said I haven’t seen the car in person I’m looking into buying it and I want to get as much info as possible on the car. So if there’s anything else I should look out for please let me know. Thanks!
 

CalebYoung00

New member
Joined
Jul 30, 2020
Location
Charleston SC
TDI
2011 Jetta SW TDI DSG
If it is a voltage issue, could that explain why the issue only happens when the engine is on? Because if the engine is off (battery on) there are no issues or brake warning lights.
 

rocky raccoon

Veteran Member
Joined
Jun 11, 2020
Location
Greater metropolitan Beaverdam
TDI
2014 Jetta Sportwagen
Squirrely electrical issues like this are almost always the product of a grounding problem. The first and most obvious place to look is at your battery connections. Remove the cables, clean and scrape the posts and connectors then check again.

If that does not fix your problem, get the multimeter out and start checking continuity to chassis ground from various grounding points. On most cars (I am unfamiliar with this one) there is a ground wire cluster in the dash behind the instrument panel.

This can be difficult. Good luck and PLEASE post back when repaired. It will help many others.
 

redbarron55

Veteran Member
Joined
Jul 10, 2010
Location
Navarre, FL.
TDI
2012 Touareg TDI Executive
Without getting access to the VCDS and reading the proper VW codes you are chasing smoke and trying to nail jelly to a tree.
 

CalebYoung00

New member
Joined
Jul 30, 2020
Location
Charleston SC
TDI
2011 Jetta SW TDI DSG
So I didn't update y'all here for a few reasons... The first being that this semester of school was perhaps the busiest I have ever been... but the other reason is that I never did anything to fix it. I scheduled an appointment at the local import mechanic and as I got in to drive it over, everything was fine. So I waited another day and it was all fine. I have since driven it 8000+ miles and done an oil change with no problems. I did take it in to the mechanic eventually and they didn't find anything. Also, the wheel sensor did the trick!
 

Mongler98

Top Post Dawg
Joined
Mar 23, 2011
Location
COLORADO (SE of Denver)
TDI
98 Jetta TDI AHU 1.9L (944 TDI swap in progress) I moved so now i got nothing but an AHU in a garage on a pallet.
So for 5 weeks of off and on messing with things in my Euro Van, it turned out that a not so common but extremely difficult thing to diagnose is the "random self healing" or "phantom CEL / Symptom"
Solution. take the fuse/ relay block down from under the dash and wiggle/ push each and every wire going into the back and all the connections you can find under there. Problem fixed after 10 shop hours of tracing wires, trans diagnostics and parts swapping and testing on a speed sensor. Yea. wiring on these things are just.... UHG If it comes back, this is probably this issue.
 
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