Fla_Panther
Active member
Last week I had car trouble on the way home from work. I was going to wait until I had a diagnosis before I come here and post to ask for advice/opinions but at this point enough has happened that I wanted to write it all down before I forget any of it. No diagnosis has been found yet, this is just what's happened so far.
9/24/14 WED - I work at night. I believe it rained over night. Driving home in the morning, I came off the highway at a major intersection, merged and started slowing for a red light ahead. As I approached, within the last 10-15 feet I noticed the engine was revving higher than it ought to, like it wasn't coming out of gear. As I came to a stop I felt a bit of a "thunk" as the transmission came out of gear. It wasn't so bad that I was really freaked out, but enough for me to think, "That's not right, I'll have to talk to my mechanic about that."
I was supposed to be getting with him this weekend or next so I wasn't too concerned at that moment. Sitting at the red light I happened to notice that my tach was at 0. I turned off my radio, turned off the key, and tried to start the car. It would crank but not turn over. Sometimes when I cranked it was displaying "ESP Error". I called AAA and my mechanic.
My mechanic's a good friend but not certified on diesels. He couldn't find a TSB relating to that error and Google results weren't conclusive so he suggested I take it to the mom & pop VW place near my house (D&A Auto). I wasn't thrilled about this, as neither D&A nor the two dealerships in my area are on the preferred mechanics list this website's put together, but I knew there was a chance something was going to happen with this car and have decided to hold onto it and see what happens, so here I am. Towed it to D&A.
9/25/14 THURS - D&A calls me, he thinks it might be the HPFP and suggests I tow it to a dealer. He says if it is that, it's a recall item and VW will pay for it, he doesn't charge me for the diagnostic he's done.
In talking with him he says he charged the battery and though it cranked he couldn't get it to turn over. He pulled codes for the glow plug (which I already knew about) and for the first O2 sensor (which was new). Said he knows someone at Kuhn VW in Tampa, that person walked him through a few things, including looking at the top of the fuel filter. When I asked about metal flakes he said there were none on the top. When I suggested it might not be the HPFP his response was, "Well, the flakes can settle to the bottom" (of the fuel filter).
He said the mechanic at Kuhn had handled about 15 of the HPFP replacements and was familiar with the work, but Kuhn is 16 miles across the bay in Tampa (much harder to get to in traffic) and I wasn't sure about the HPFP at this point so I had AAA tow it to Bert Smith, which is 3 miles away.
9/26/14 FRI - Haven't heard from Bert Smith all day, call them at 3:30. They return my call, haven't gotten to it, will look at it Monday.
9/29/14 MON - Worked at night, came home and slept until 3:30. Had 11 missed calls, no messages. Left voice mail for Bert smith, got dressed and headed over there. Got there before they called me back. Service person goes to get the mechanic that looked at my car, says he has some questions for me. Mechanic wants to know the story, I tell him the same thing I told the service guy.
They haven't diagnosed anything yet, but he doesn't think it's the HPFP, pressure is good and no flakes. He says the serpentine belt is off and all chewed up. I didn't notice that when I popped the hood at the scene and D&A didn't mention anything about it. When I mention D&A the mechanic frowned and said, "Yeah, we know the guy." When I mentioned that he knew someone at Kuhn and suggested I could take it there they were clearly not happy with that either.
I asked about the ECM wiring under the windshield wiper cowl, which I'd read as possibly related to the ESP error, he said the ESP error is commonly displayed when starting the car (I had never noticed it before), and that if that wiring was damaged the ECM wouldn't communicate and the car would not be responding at all. I asked if the serpentine belt could be wrapped around anything that needed to turn to keep it from turning over, they didn't think that would be a problem. At this point they still don't know what it is, said they would keep digging.
On the way home I call D&A and ask about the serpentine belt to see if that would jog any memories, he says he didn't see notice wrong with it, but that he'd not dug any deeper into it after his friend at Kuhn suggested the HPFP. Can't say I'm thrilled that he didn't notice it, but I didn't either so I'm hesitant to make any judgement calls. Still, can't help but wonder if he and I both missed it or if something odd is going on there.
9/24/14 WED - I work at night. I believe it rained over night. Driving home in the morning, I came off the highway at a major intersection, merged and started slowing for a red light ahead. As I approached, within the last 10-15 feet I noticed the engine was revving higher than it ought to, like it wasn't coming out of gear. As I came to a stop I felt a bit of a "thunk" as the transmission came out of gear. It wasn't so bad that I was really freaked out, but enough for me to think, "That's not right, I'll have to talk to my mechanic about that."
I was supposed to be getting with him this weekend or next so I wasn't too concerned at that moment. Sitting at the red light I happened to notice that my tach was at 0. I turned off my radio, turned off the key, and tried to start the car. It would crank but not turn over. Sometimes when I cranked it was displaying "ESP Error". I called AAA and my mechanic.
My mechanic's a good friend but not certified on diesels. He couldn't find a TSB relating to that error and Google results weren't conclusive so he suggested I take it to the mom & pop VW place near my house (D&A Auto). I wasn't thrilled about this, as neither D&A nor the two dealerships in my area are on the preferred mechanics list this website's put together, but I knew there was a chance something was going to happen with this car and have decided to hold onto it and see what happens, so here I am. Towed it to D&A.
9/25/14 THURS - D&A calls me, he thinks it might be the HPFP and suggests I tow it to a dealer. He says if it is that, it's a recall item and VW will pay for it, he doesn't charge me for the diagnostic he's done.
In talking with him he says he charged the battery and though it cranked he couldn't get it to turn over. He pulled codes for the glow plug (which I already knew about) and for the first O2 sensor (which was new). Said he knows someone at Kuhn VW in Tampa, that person walked him through a few things, including looking at the top of the fuel filter. When I asked about metal flakes he said there were none on the top. When I suggested it might not be the HPFP his response was, "Well, the flakes can settle to the bottom" (of the fuel filter).
He said the mechanic at Kuhn had handled about 15 of the HPFP replacements and was familiar with the work, but Kuhn is 16 miles across the bay in Tampa (much harder to get to in traffic) and I wasn't sure about the HPFP at this point so I had AAA tow it to Bert Smith, which is 3 miles away.
9/26/14 FRI - Haven't heard from Bert Smith all day, call them at 3:30. They return my call, haven't gotten to it, will look at it Monday.
9/29/14 MON - Worked at night, came home and slept until 3:30. Had 11 missed calls, no messages. Left voice mail for Bert smith, got dressed and headed over there. Got there before they called me back. Service person goes to get the mechanic that looked at my car, says he has some questions for me. Mechanic wants to know the story, I tell him the same thing I told the service guy.
They haven't diagnosed anything yet, but he doesn't think it's the HPFP, pressure is good and no flakes. He says the serpentine belt is off and all chewed up. I didn't notice that when I popped the hood at the scene and D&A didn't mention anything about it. When I mention D&A the mechanic frowned and said, "Yeah, we know the guy." When I mentioned that he knew someone at Kuhn and suggested I could take it there they were clearly not happy with that either.
I asked about the ECM wiring under the windshield wiper cowl, which I'd read as possibly related to the ESP error, he said the ESP error is commonly displayed when starting the car (I had never noticed it before), and that if that wiring was damaged the ECM wouldn't communicate and the car would not be responding at all. I asked if the serpentine belt could be wrapped around anything that needed to turn to keep it from turning over, they didn't think that would be a problem. At this point they still don't know what it is, said they would keep digging.
On the way home I call D&A and ask about the serpentine belt to see if that would jog any memories, he says he didn't see notice wrong with it, but that he'd not dug any deeper into it after his friend at Kuhn suggested the HPFP. Can't say I'm thrilled that he didn't notice it, but I didn't either so I'm hesitant to make any judgement calls. Still, can't help but wonder if he and I both missed it or if something odd is going on there.
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