Car stalling

Demojr90

New member
Joined
Jan 31, 2020
Location
St. Louis
TDI
2013 Passat
Alright so I have put about 5000 miles on my 2013 VW Passat TDI and I have already replaced the heater core and air conditioning. Now I have another curve ball. When I put the car in reverse it dies after a few feet of movement. My wife was driving it home from getting groceries and stated it was acting weird and taking way more power to make it up hills than she felt it should of. I walk outside and get in the car to test things out, put it in reverse and before I can reach the end of the driveway it just dies. I try several times and same result. I give it old gas and brake trial, it let me rev up to about 2400 rpms then cuts the power down to 8-900 again. I try backing up while it is in the 2000 rpm range, and the second I take my foot off the brake it stutters and stalls. I have an auto. It just got back from the dealer last week from having the heater core put in, I am starting to think someone didn't put something back on tight enough whether it be electrical or maybe vaccum. Any ideas? Has anyone else experienced this issue? My car has had spark knock from like the 2nd week I had it, maybe a faulty injector or fuel pump? Hit me with some ideas guys. I can work on it if I have to, I would just really like to get rid of labor costs....
 

Tom in PT

Veteran Member
Joined
Jun 7, 2017
Location
Twilight Zone, WA State
TDI
2005 Passat sedan - SOLD; 2013 Passat DSG; both purchased new
Is your extended warranty, from the dieselgate fix, still alive? I would not discount the potential of the dealer screwing up the heater core repair but it is impossible to say from this distance. If you do have the extended warranty still alive, consider using another dealer in the St.Louis area or if out of warranty go to oilhammer's shop.
 

anplushf

Member
Joined
Apr 12, 2008
Location
Wisconsin
TDI
2001 Beetle “Rudy” 350k mi, auto ☹ 2013 Passat Stock 147k & climbing
You get anywhere on this ?

I have a 2013 with the same symptoms. Mine seems to work better after it warms up. I commute 120 miles a day and have only dared drive it a couple of times in the last month. It seems to have almost no power on the freeway sometimes.

Have checked all the basics, MAF, vacuum lines etc. to no avail.

Thought it might be the DSG so serviced it and the oil looked great.

Any help would be great.
Thanks.
 
Last edited:
Joined
Mar 14, 2014
Location
Southwest Missouri
TDI
2014 Passat TDI SEL Premium
You get anywhere on this ?

I have a 2013 with the same symptoms. Mine seems to work better after it warms up. I commute 120 miles a day and have only dared drive it a couple of times in the last month. It seems to have almost no power on the freeway sometimes.

Have checked all the basics, MAF, vacuum lines etc. to no avail.

Thought it might be the DSG so serviced it and the oil looked great.

Any help would be great.
Thanks.
The dealership didn’t get my intake piping put back together correctly after my heater core replacement. It did set off a CEL, but it ran like crap.

Make sure fuel and air filters are clean. Other than that you might need to get it scanned to see if there are any codes or pending codes. There should be some misfire codes.
 

anplushf

Member
Joined
Apr 12, 2008
Location
Wisconsin
TDI
2001 Beetle “Rudy” 350k mi, auto ☹ 2013 Passat Stock 147k & climbing
Guess i will check my intake piping then.

I have scanned for codes its had some this winter that were intermittent but no current ones.

thanks.
 

anplushf

Member
Joined
Apr 12, 2008
Location
Wisconsin
TDI
2001 Beetle “Rudy” 350k mi, auto ☹ 2013 Passat Stock 147k & climbing
Piping checked out.

Found that the morons at the dealership and slit the hose / pipe that goes from the vacuum pump to the brake booster, i assume when doing my heater core, and didn't replace it.

i guarantee that was leaking, fixed that and still no joy.

it also seems the throttle response is very sluggish.

Tried blowing some air back towards the fuel tank to clear the in tank filter ?

I have worked on A4 tdi alot but these new ones are kicking my arse.

thanks.
 

anplushf

Member
Joined
Apr 12, 2008
Location
Wisconsin
TDI
2001 Beetle “Rudy” 350k mi, auto ☹ 2013 Passat Stock 147k & climbing
So finally got my VCDS for the CAN and hooked it up to do the Transmission calibration. No Joy.

Still dies when you put it in reverse or drive unless you feather the throttle.

Gonna test drive to see if i can break something i guess.
 

anplushf

Member
Joined
Apr 12, 2008
Location
Wisconsin
TDI
2001 Beetle “Rudy” 350k mi, auto ☹ 2013 Passat Stock 147k & climbing
SO loaded up VCDS selected all relevant monitors.

Only big one i noticed was the Air Mass actual Vs requested.

It is requesting 325mg/s and measuring 8 grams at idle. it stays way different like that throughout the power band.

Also noticed the load stays in the upper 90%'s while driving.


seems like an air flow problem.

Any ideas ?
 

two passat man

Well-known member
Joined
Dec 17, 2012
Location
montana
TDI
2013 passat black on black
I had a similar problem with my 2013 passat. I kept getting codes for multiple missfire and missfire #1 I was holding off on injector replacement as long as I could. Car drove good after warm up. My car finally showed the code for engine speed sensor. Changed speed sensor. Car drove night and day different.
 
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