BRM power loss on highway

chessmyantidrug

Active member
Joined
Dec 20, 2009
Location
Wichita Falls, TX
TDI
2006 Jetta
Last Thursday I drove from Wichita Falls, TX to Austin, TX. Somewhere south of Belton (about 3 hours into my drive) my car loses power. I had been cruising at 70 mph most of the way and my car suddenly couldn't maintain speed. I tapped the brake to get out of cruise and tried accelerating, but the engine just would go. I'm not sure how else to describe it.

I recently had the water pump, timing belt, and EGR cooler replaced. This was my first trip out of town since having all of those replaced. I had experienced similar issues before, but never this pronounced. Last August, I was driving through Utah and my engine was struggling to maintain 75 mph going uphill. In the six years I had owned this car, that was the first time that had happened.

I have had engine code P0101 pop up before so I'm led to believe the MAF sensor is bad or going bad. My dad and I did our best to clean it last night, but some symptoms persist. The worst one is trying to accelerate in fifth gear. It feels like my engine can't do it if I press in the accelerator too far. My biggest concern is losing power during cruise control.

Could this be something other than the MAF sensor? Any input is greatly appreciated.
 

N.CaTDI

Veteran Member
Joined
Apr 9, 2010
Location
NorthBay San Francisco, CA
TDI
2005.5 Jetta
Sounds like you are going into limp mode. If you stop and turn off engine wait a few moments and start again do you have power? If so I would get VCDS check to see what error codes you have. Mine use to do this and it was the turbo which was fixed by the zip tie mode
 

chessmyantidrug

Active member
Joined
Dec 20, 2009
Location
Wichita Falls, TX
TDI
2006 Jetta
On my way back from Austin, I had to fill up. I stopped long enough to do that and grab Burger King and still had power issues. They intermittent the rest of the way home. I can hook up my car to a laptop tonight or tomorrow and get whatever information will help.

Edit: I forgot to mention this only happens in fifth gear. I was able to maintain 60 mph in fourth gear, but I didn't feel comfortable with my engine running at 3000 RPM.
 
Last edited:

relumalutan

Veteran Member
Joined
Dec 6, 2012
Location
Michigan
TDI
06 Jetta TDI Special Edition
This might be a long shot, but when I experienced the same issues, I changed the fuel filter and the car drove like new. In my case, the previous owner never changed the fuel filter, it was clogged, restricting the flow to the engine.
 

chessmyantidrug

Active member
Joined
Dec 20, 2009
Location
Wichita Falls, TX
TDI
2006 Jetta
This might be a long shot, but when I experienced the same issues, I changed the fuel filter and the car drove like new. In my case, the previous owner never changed the fuel filter, it was clogged, restricting the flow to the engine.
I actually haven't replaced the fuel filter in a while. I'll definitely have that done the next chance I get.
 

chessmyantidrug

Active member
Joined
Dec 20, 2009
Location
Wichita Falls, TX
TDI
2006 Jetta
Definitely start with a new FF. I'm going 20K miles now, but for the first few years I only got 15K miles before I noticed some sluggishness.
We changed it out today and took it for a spin on the interstate. We noticed the difference from the first time I got in gear. Acceleration was smoother in every gear. I gunned it on the on-ramp and no hesitation whatsoever from my engine.

Now I just need to set aside some money for the rest of the issues and I'll be all set.

Once again, thanks for the input.
 

chessmyantidrug

Active member
Joined
Dec 20, 2009
Location
Wichita Falls, TX
TDI
2006 Jetta
Looking back on it, it makes sense. I hadn't replaced the fuel filter in about five years or so. It was long overdue. I'm terrible at keeping up with routine maintenance.
 
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