Very disappointing ~33 mpg

I'm down about 4 MPG average with my 2013 buyback JSW (DSG) than I got with the 2010 JSW (manual) that I owned for 6+ years. Yes, it's disappointing, but expected. The sad thing is the 2017 1.4L Jetta sedan I owned for about a year-and-a-half got better MPG than my 2013 JSW, and using cheaper fuel to boot. Alas, it was a semi-useless sedan and had to go.



If not for the extended warranty, I'd do a DPF delete and retune right now.

My 2011 got 45 MPG cruising on the freeway, and 45 MPG commuting to work.
My 2011 buyback is lucky to break 42 on the freeway. I get 36 commuting to work.

jerrymander said:

My 2011 got 45 MPG cruising on the freeway, and 45 MPG commuting to work.
My 2011 buyback is lucky to break 42 on the freeway. I get 36 commuting to work.

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Ive always wondered if anybody "accidently" copied the ecu programing before the fix. The way you do before a delete?

Just sayin

JELLOWSUBMARINE said:

Ive always wondered if anybody "accidently" copied the ecu programing before the fix. The way you do before a delete?
Just sayin

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Any tuner could get you this.

JELLOWSUBMARINE said:

Ive always wondered if anybody "accidently" copied the ecu programing before the fix. The way you do before a delete?

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The issue isn't getting back the original MPG of these motors. The issue is not being able to do it without killing the extended warranty. And any potential repairs you may be faced with due to killing that warranty will destroy any savings at the pump you may have anticipated.

You have to choose. Live with the driving changes and lower MPG and keep the warranty, or (potentially) sacrifice it. If you flash the car back to stock prior to warranty work you may not have a problem.

Choice was easy for me. I want to enjoy driving the car, and I don't particularly love trusting a dealer, even for warranty repairs.

IndigoBlueWagon said:

If you flash the car back to stock prior to warranty work you may not have a problem.

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If it were me, I would assume the odds of having a problem with a warranty claim on a previously-flashed car to be 99.9999% (yes, they will be able to tell it's been flashed before - no putting that genie back in the bottle). I imagine VW will look for any possible excuse they can find to not perform expensive warranty work on these cars, and a flash will be the easiest justification in the world.

CDubber said:

If it were me, I would assume the odds of having a problem with a warranty claim on a previously-flashed car to be 99.9999% (yes, they will be able to tell it's been flashed before - no putting that genie back in the bottle). I imagine VW will look for any possible excuse they can find to not perform expensive warranty work on these cars, and a flash will be the easiest justification in the world.

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I had a warranty claim last year that resulted in a new ECU... which took 4 weeks to get

I had another warranty claim in early June for a clogged secondary catalytic converter... when there was still no ETA on the part in mid august (via the VW USA rep) I said screw it and did the whole Malone stage 2 and rawtek delete. I finally got the new secondary cat in November... I just traded the old one for the new one.
The warranty is worthless if it takes 1-5 months to get the damn parts.

tjg said:

The warranty is worthless if it takes 1-5 months to get the damn parts.

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Good point. And the warranty on the emissions components is worthless if you’re just ripping out the emissions system anyway. BUT my worry would be one of the other components, say, HPFP (that I believe is covered under the extended warranty) causing a catastrophic repair bill in the event of failure.

CDubber said:

Good point. And the warranty on the emissions components is worthless if you’re just ripping out the emissions system anyway. BUT my worry would be one of the other components, say, HPFP (that I believe is covered under the extended warranty) causing a catastrophic repair bill in the event of failure.

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My understanding of how warrantys are supposed to work is that they "only" look at the system that failed. So if you haven't been messing around with or modifying the fuel system hardware, then they're not supposed to void the warranty if a fuel system part fails. Granted, a tune that adjusts the fueling may be enough of a justification for them.


I'm probably just going to get an HP3 setup when I do the 120k timing regardless.

CDubber said:

Good point. And the warranty on the emissions components is worthless if you’re just ripping out the emissions system anyway. BUT my worry would be one of the other components, say, HPFP (that I believe is covered under the extended warranty) causing a catastrophic repair bill in the event of failure.

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I agree. I want to delete tune so bad I can taste deisel particullate matter. Unfortunately I live in a annual checked area.

I will use the warentie for all its worth meanwhile. Ive got a glow plug issue that shouldnt be a warrentie struggle coming up.

JELLOWSUBMARINE said:

Ive got a glow plug issue that shouldnt be a warrentie struggle coming up.

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I had a glowplug replaced under warranty in July on my 2011.

i have a 2011 jsw 6spd and i get high 30s to mid-40s all the time. i have noticed 5th gear on cruise gets better mpg than 6th until like 65-ish mph. but the mpg sweet spot is not more than 75 in 6th. 75+ and your mileage drops off, probably just aerodynamics. hard to resist autobahning in die sportvagen though, ja???

Porch said:

i have a 2011 jsw 6spd and i get high 30s to mid-40s all the time. i have noticed 5th gear on cruise gets better mpg than 6th until like 65-ish mph. but the mpg sweet spot is not more than 75 in 6th. 75+ and your mileage drops off, probably just aerodynamics. hard to resist autobahning in die sportvagen though, ja???

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Same here, my 2011JSW tachs 2k @ 65 in 5th. I can still hear my 4 speed 71 olds 442 taching well over 3k on the freeway back in the 55 mph days. We've gotten a bit spoiled, ha

Ive run this tank in 5th max. seems just as good if not better mpg? I wonder if it may even be better on the DPF?

Since the fix I’ve been running mid 30 around town and low 40s highway. Prefix economy in 6th was definitely better from 1400 rpm up. Hadn’t noticed a difference post fix but might be, I will have to check. Big difference post fix is short trips & warm up uses lots more fuel.

solution....

thanks everyone again for the ideas.

as it turned out, a caliper was locked up and not releasing pressure.

this went on for too long because my regular mechanic could not find the problem and replaced my brake pads without fixing the caliper.

it wasn't until just last week, I was experiencing puslation in the brakes, I took it to another mechanic and he noticed right away the rotor was too hot and then found the caliper issue.

I have been tracking my mileage on Fuelly and the tank before the new caliper was getting 31 mpg and the one after got 39.5. wow. I was still hoping for the 42-45 I was getting on my 2003 tdi, but this is much more acceptable.

thanks again.

tjg said:

My understanding of how warrantys are supposed to work is that they "only" look at the system that failed. So if you haven't been messing around with or modifying the fuel system hardware, then they're not supposed to void the warranty if a fuel system part fails. Granted, a tune that adjusts the fueling may be enough of a justification for them.

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Bet on VW finding any and every possible justification for not doing expensive warranty work on a buyback TDI. My money says a tune will be an instant disqualification in their eyes.

Funny, that was my first suggestion back on post #7. I'm glad you have it figured out now and hope you've moved on from the first mechanic with the TDI. It's worth while to have someone willing to dig a little deeper than simply throwing parts at it. Let us know how it goes when warmer spring temperatures allow for less warm up times and hopefully even better MPG's.

Pharcyde145 said:

Funny, that was my first suggestion back on post #7. I'm glad you have it figured out now and hope you've moved on from the first mechanic with the TDI. It's worth while to have someone willing to dig a little deeper than simply throwing parts at it. Let us know how it goes when warmer spring temperatures allow for less warm up times and hopefully even better MPG's.

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not to mention getting the studded snow tires off! i'm guessing i will hit that 42 im hoping for.