Good TDI shop in Houston

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tensorworld

Member
Joined
Feb 9, 2010
Location
Houston
TDI
2004 Jetta TDI
Hi, I have been reading the forums for a while but this is my first post. I just bought a 2004 jetta TDI and it broke (91k miles). It was running fine and then started having problems starting as the weather got colder. I thought it was the glow plugs and I called the dealership and sure enough they had replaced the ceramic ones with the metal ones and so I figured it was that. I had it towed to the dealership so they could look at it and 250 dollars and several days later they told me it was a relay. I haven't picked up the car yet and assuming everything is fine with it, I live in Houston and it's cold like 4 days a year so I don't care what they do to it if it wasn't the glow plugs. However, I have this suspicion they aren't as keen as they think they are and I want to know if there is a place in Houston I can take my car that isn't going to f*** around with me. I bought the car for work and I drive around 50k miles a year and I need this thing to work every morning when I go out to start it and on the rare occasion it doesn't work I need to be able to get it to a ship that knows what they are doing and doesn't take 3 days to tell me it's a relay. Thanks in advance for any help guys.
 
C

CharlieT

Veteran Member
Joined
Dec 10, 2008
Location
Houston, Tx
TDI
Audi TTqTDI, B4V, B5.5V, '12 NMS SEL
You are pretty limited in Houston for TDI work, I have ended up doing it all myself on my 3 TDIs.
1. Which VW dealer ?
2. Who changed the glow plugs ? and when ? has the car been run since then ? (trying to figure out from you post if the glowplugs were changed months ago ? or this was the fix ?)
3. Possible they did not complete the necessary firmware upgrade when the glow plugs were changed, resulting in burned out plugs (hard/no start). Do you have evidence they did this ?
4. What relay ? do you have a part # ? I can think of 2 possible candidates, lift pump relay or glow plug relay ?
 
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T

tensorworld

Member
Joined
Feb 9, 2010
Location
Houston
TDI
2004 Jetta TDI
CharlieT said:
You are pretty limited in Houston for TDI work, I have ended up doing it all myself on my 3 TDIs.
1. Which VW dealer ?
2. Who changed the glow plugs ? and when ? has the car been run since then ? (trying to figure out from you post if the glowplugs were changed months ago ? or this was the fix ?)
3. Possible they did not complete the necessary firmware upgrade when the glow plugs were changed, resulting in burned out plugs (hard/no start). Do you have evidence they did this ?
4. What relay ? do you have a part # ? I can think of 2 possible candidates, lift pump relay or glow plug relay ?
Click to expand...
1. VW West Houston
2. They changed them in August last year. car ran 7k miles since
3. I don't know if they did the update, I can ask
4. I don't know the relay either. I am currently in south florida and will pick up the car tomorrow and will get the part number, what part it was, and have them let me start the car in the cold morning air to make sure it starts and they didn't just replace some part and it still wont' start when it's cold. If it doesn't start right up the S*** will hit the fan and I will start calling VWoA for an advocate unless someone gives me a better idea.
 
C

CharlieT

Veteran Member
Joined
Dec 10, 2008
Location
Houston, Tx
TDI
Audi TTqTDI, B4V, B5.5V, '12 NMS SEL
1. Good news, they are (in my opinion) the only hope with Houston VW dealers. I have performed several informal surveys, and they were the only ones who could answer any TDI questions correctly, and were shocked (but not surprised) by the responses I got from others.
Example : correct oil for PD engine, glow plug recall, they even knew about BSM for the BHW.
Doesn't make them good, but certainly I would not expect to take it somewhere else and get a BETTER opinion !

2. Good, so the plugs are 7 months old. How has the oil usage been ? any increase in oil usage between changes ?

3.I would ask them, they should be able to provide the firmware revision that is installed. Refer HERE for correct revision. Else find someone with VCDS to check it for you (I am BW8 & I10, and can check for you).
HERE are my BHW codes.
Note : this recall has now been stopped by VW, apparently the software update resulted in poor COLD start (as in -20 Deg F, not Houston temps).
If you are having issues at Houston temps (30-40 Deg F), it could be the software upgrade was not performed, and the new 5 volt Steel glow plugs have been burned out. (The ceramics they replaced were 7 volt, hence the need for software upgrade to drop the voltage).

4. It will be interesting to see what they tell you tomorrow. It will be 32 in Houston tonight, so colder start should be no problem. Before you start it, pop the hood and check the coolant hose by hand and check it is not warm (ie they cheated). Post up the part number of the relay they changed. It sounds like this might be lift pump, a common issue. It would be interesting to know.

Good luck, give me a shout if I can help. I have VDCS and 3 TDIs, one is a BHW, so pretty similar to your BEW.
 
T

tensorworld

Member
Joined
Feb 9, 2010
Location
Houston
TDI
2004 Jetta TDI
CharlieT said:
1. Good news, they are (in my opinion) the only hope with Houston VW dealers. I have performed several informal surveys, and they were the only ones who could answer any TDI questions correctly, and were shocked (but not surprised) by the responses I got from others.
Example : correct oil for PD engine, glow plug recall, they even knew about BSM for the BHW.
Doesn't make them good, but certainly I would not expect to take it somewhere else and get a BETTER opinion !

2. Good, so the plugs are 7 months old. How has the oil usage been ? any increase in oil usage between changes ?

3.I would ask them, they should be able to provide the firmware revision that is installed. Refer HERE for correct revision. Else find someone with VCDS to check it for you (I am BW8 & I10, and can check for you).
HERE are my BHW codes.
Note : this recall has now been stopped by VW, apparently the software update resulted in poor COLD start (as in -20 Deg F, not Houston temps).
If you are having issues at Houston temps (30-40 Deg F), it could be the software upgrade was not performed, and the new 5 volt Steel glow plugs have been burned out. (The ceramics they replaced were 7 volt, hence the need for software upgrade to drop the voltage).

4. It will be interesting to see what they tell you tomorrow. It will be 32 in Houston tonight, so colder start should be no problem. Before you start it, pop the hood and check the coolant hose by hand and check it is not warm (ie they cheated). Post up the part number of the relay they changed. It sounds like this might be lift pump, a common issue. It would be interesting to know.

Good luck, give me a shout if I can help. I have VDCS and 3 TDIs, one is a BHW, so pretty similar to your BEW.
Click to expand...
First, thanks for all the answers. I was actually pleasantly surprised when I went to pick the car up today and it started first time with a cold engine (35 degrees I think).

2. I have driven it 2400 miles since I got it and changed the oil 20 miles after I got it and it hasn't burned a measurable amount. As a side note, I read a lot on the oil and ended up using the Mobil TDT.

3. They said they did the update with the software but I have no idea if they did it right. I wouldn't mind taking you up on the offer to use your VCDS.

4. 1jo-906-381-A. Part was 40 bucks and labor was 200. So around 2 hours to find a relay was bad.

Finally I am going to need to get the timing belt done in around 8k which would be within 6 months easy. I am looking for someone who can do it for me if it doesn't sound like a good idea to take it to these people. They also want 1000 to do it and I know it's not cheap to do.
 
jetta 97

jetta 97

Vendor
Joined
Dec 25, 2008
Location
Dallas (McKinney) ,TX ,USA
TDI
2 X Jatta MK5 2006
That is 109 relay and it take about max 30 min to swap with old one.
if your glow plugs light was not coming on or when you scan car you can see lot of B+ faults ,that relay is first thing to do. Normal shop will charge 1HR of labor + part.
 
TornadoRed

TornadoRed

Top Post Dawg
Joined
Aug 3, 2003
Location
West Des Moines (formerly St Paul)
TDI
2003 Jetta TDI wagon, silver; 2003 Jetta TDI wagon, indigo blue; 2003 Golf GL 5-spd, red (PARTED); 2003 Golf GLS 5-spd, indigo blue (SOLD); 2003 Jetta TDI wagon, Candy White (SOLD)
tensorworld said:
4. 1jo-906-381-A. Part was 40 bucks and labor was 200. So around 2 hours to find a relay was bad.
Click to expand...
You will soon know whether that was the real problem. Failures are more common in 2001-and-older models, though most of the bad parts should have been replaced. Yours is the first 2004 model with a bad Relay 109.

Half that $200 labor charge was probably the diagnostic test -- unless you go in telling them what the problem is and what you want them to do, they will always charge for the diagnostics.

$40 is very high for that part, but I guess it is what dealerships charge. At least one online vendor sells them for $10, and IMO everyone should have a spare... just in case.
 
T

tensorworld

Member
Joined
Feb 9, 2010
Location
Houston
TDI
2004 Jetta TDI
jetta said:
That is 109 relay and it take about max 30 min to swap with old one.
if your glow plugs light was not coming on or when you scan car you can see lot of B+ faults ,that relay is first thing to do. Normal shop will charge 1HR of labor + part.
Click to expand...
Ya the glow plug light wasn't coming on and I even told the mechanic that and he seemed to be confused about where to go. This is what I am talking about.
I want a mechanic that has done this 100 times so it's an in and out job not several days and several hours of diagnostic work.
 
M

Mach1

Vendor , w/Business number
Joined
Sep 27, 2005
Location
Spicewood, Tx.
TDI
05.5 Jetta 5 spd, 06 Jetta DE DSG, 04 F250 6L, 2000 F250 7.3L
Houston is very limited in the Tech dept..I dont understand it...In the Austin area there is a couple of good techs/people and in the Dallas/Ft Worth area a good handful...SA, has a couple.

But in Houston..The third largest city in the US, we dont know of anyone to recomend or send you to..

We just havent found or 'KNOW' of anyone..We thought we knew a shop, but had to reverse our thoughts on them after some questionable work..

It just doesnt make sense..
 
T

tensorworld

Member
Joined
Feb 9, 2010
Location
Houston
TDI
2004 Jetta TDI
Mach1 said:
Houston is very limited in the Tech dept..I dont understand it...In the Austin area there is a couple of good techs/people and in the Dallas/Ft Worth area a good handful...SA, has a couple.

But in Houston..The third largest city in the US, we dont know of anyone to recomend or send you to..

We just havent found or 'KNOW' of anyone..We thought we knew a shop, but had to reverse our thoughts on them after some questionable work..

It just doesnt make sense..
Click to expand...
Ya it sounds so weird. There has to be someone around here. I was thinking of having people who have their cars serviced somewhere chiming in about whether it was good or not. So am I best to go to Austin to have the timing belt done or is there someone around here who is trusted enough?
 
TornadoRed

TornadoRed

Top Post Dawg
Joined
Aug 3, 2003
Location
West Des Moines (formerly St Paul)
TDI
2003 Jetta TDI wagon, silver; 2003 Jetta TDI wagon, indigo blue; 2003 Golf GL 5-spd, red (PARTED); 2003 Golf GLS 5-spd, indigo blue (SOLD); 2003 Jetta TDI wagon, Candy White (SOLD)
Austin is not that far, to make sure the job gets done right.
 
jokila

jokila

Vendor
Joined
Dec 3, 2004
Location
Houston, Texas
TDI
2003 Jetta GLS, Manual
Mach1 said:
Houston is very limited in the Tech dept..I dont understand it...In the Austin area there is a couple of good techs/people and in the Dallas/Ft Worth area a good handful...SA, has a couple.

But in Houston..The third largest city in the US, we dont know of anyone to recomend or send you to..

We just havent found or 'KNOW' of anyone..We thought we knew a shop, but had to reverse our thoughts on them after some questionable work..

It just doesnt make sense..
Click to expand...
Houston has decent dealerships, believe it or not. Didnt say perfect but there are 6 dealerships to choose from. It's the 4th largest city in the US and there are plenty of VWs running around here.

Oscar, at Momentum VW of Jersey Village is a real honest tech and sharp in my experience. good luck.
 
T

tensorworld

Member
Joined
Feb 9, 2010
Location
Houston
TDI
2004 Jetta TDI
jokila said:
Houston has decent dealerships, believe it or not. Didnt say perfect but there are 6 dealerships to choose from. It's the 4th largest city in the US and there are plenty of VWs running around here.
Oscar, at Momentum VW of Jersey Village is a real honest tech and sharp in my experience. good luck.
Click to expand...

Oscar doesn't want some side work does he? I pay cash.
 
jokila

jokila

Vendor
Joined
Dec 3, 2004
Location
Houston, Texas
TDI
2003 Jetta GLS, Manual
tensorworld said:
Oscar doesn't want some side work does he? I pay cash.
Click to expand...
Probably not going to happen. He and other techs there did do so in the past, but if it's a VW it has to go through a service writer is the rule.
 
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